So I've heard the Matrix is so so from a few people, well I think I know why some people are being disappointed. When the Matrix first came out people thought it was this spectacular and innovative. Well that's a half truth. Spectacular it was, it was an awesome movie that had levels of depth and awesome action. However it pulled most of these themes and action from other sources. It was a conglomeration of Anime influences and other stuff. Now the second one came along and added to the action and added to the confusion. It didn't necessarily get more deep, but it got more confusing... especially with that 10 minute orgy scene, I still have no idea what that was about. I think too many people have been expecting a Star Wars esque thrilogy. Well although I'm a big fan of the Matrix i don't think it can compare to the Star Wars stories. The way each star wars movie deepened the story, increased in intensity, and made us want to go to a galaxy far far away was unmatchable. It had characters we all could relate with, Girls wanted to be like Princess Leigha who was both part beautiful woman, part kick butt royalty. Han solo appealed to all those kids who were part bad guy part good guy. Me personally, I always wanted to be Jaba the Hutt. Eat all day, get scantily clad women dancing around me entertaining me, watch prisoners get eaten by my pet Rancor, and best of all eat frogs, man i could go for some frogs right about now...
SO stop comparing Matrix to other Trilogies. It will never be Jaws, it will never be the Godfather (Although that's not a trilogy, the third one is illigitimate in my mind), it is a sci fi action movie that looks deep, smells deep, and tastes deep. What does that mean, I don't know I havent' even seen the third movie yet. I'll let you know saturday night.
Posted by holtonian at November 6, 2003 08:42 PM | TrackBackLet me get this right, The Matrix pulls ideas and themes from all the other sources, and we're not allowed to compare them TO the other sources from which it ganks?
Right
Every story ganks stuff from other stories, including Star Wars and on and on and on. In fact, Star Wars was a ridiculous, I mean INSANE rip-off of a couple Kurosawa flicks. If you want, I can loan you "The Hidden Fortress" DVD, from which Lucas nearly did a 1 to 1 sci-fi translation in A New Hope.
The point is, ganking stuff from other sources, like you said, is something that every story does. And you're right, there's nothing wrong with The Matrix doing that.
The kicker is, like Tolkien argues in his "On Faery Tales", whether or not they pull those pieces together in an inovated & compelling fashion.
The Matrix did that in the first one. The second, and the third, not so compelling. Half the reason it aint compelling is that there are other films that are compelling, and it's pretty much impossible to not have baises, pressupositions, past experiences that will influence you're current take on a film. Heck, you had to references other movies to argue that one shouldn't reference other movies when viewing The Matrix.
All that to say, I dug the trilogy. Really dug it. And I'll own it on DVD if wiferino decides it's a needed addition to our collection.
I look forward to your thoughts after you see the 3rd one.
Oh, and the orgy scene was meant to be symbolic of the primal, animal difference between the humans and the machines. As Morpheus stands up and talks about faith, about belief, we're inspired to be the visceral, passionate humans we really are. But that's just my take on it.
Posted by: JosiahQ at November 6, 2003 09:12 PMI'm going to write up a review over on my blog once I figure out what I really think about Revolutions. I saw it last night, and even sleeping on it and having a whole day to think about it, I'm still not sure what exactly I think.
My brother (who was able to take advantage of the fact that it opened on the same day worldwide and saw it in India), thinks that it "sucked big time." His reasons, among others, were because he thought that there wasn't sufficent material for two movies, but beyond that, I can't comment without giving spoilers.
I happen to be totally confused right now. Josiah mentions Tolkien, which I think is an interesting thing to bring into the discussion, particularly because Tolkien argues that faery tales work best when they most closely image the pattern of the "True Myth," that is, the Gospel (thus, faery tales have happy endings because they are patterned after the ultimate happy ending of Christ's resurrection). I'm trying to figure out exactly how that fits with the Matrix movies, which have so much biblical imagery, but then at key points, toss in hindu or buddhist elements. But again, I can't go any farther without spoilers, so I'll save the rest for when I review it on my blog.
Posted by: kathryn at November 7, 2003 01:09 AMI like the wizard of oz.
Posted by: Concerned at November 7, 2003 07:14 PMPersonally I found the second two movies to be quite lame. So lame that I wish that I hadn't seen them so I could make up my own ending to the incredible first movie. Chris, I really don't think they had the whole story line written during the making of the first movie. They never expected the first one to be that big of a hit...but it was and they said, "hey lets make it a trilogy so we can bank on the following we had from the first movie." So they threw some quick notes together and created the second two movies which really had no real story at all. Throw in some orgy scenes, oh, and we need lots of action that does nothing for the non existant plot. And for that final scene...You can't have robots and humans living with some kind of peace treaty. So now the humans are going to live in Zion, a large underground cave, for the rest of the human existance. No, they need to regain the surface and with Neo's help bring the robots back to submission.
Some positive aspects: Great cinematography, cool fight scenes, and one of the greatest car scenes in the history of movies in Matrix: Reloaded.
Posted by: Jay at November 13, 2003 09:39 AM