this is basically the spiritual sequel to the wachowskis path of neo scene
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Timestamped at 16:54.
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Went to the Canadian premiere tonight. It ruled. Excited for everyone to see it.
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After seeing the original trailer in a cinema I have become unreasonably excited for this.
Like many, I’m doing the big rewatch in anticipation of Resurrections and (when you get to, what is it, the hundredth revisiting?) it’s the tiny things you pick up on with fresh eyes.
No real new insights on the original film. Straightforwardly it’s just reminding me that I need to just exert my will on the world and not let the external world rule my mental models. I think it was confirming my urge to quit my job.
For some reason I picked up on the fact that there is relatively little humour or smiling. The film definitely has lighter moments but very few effusive expressions of joy are seen (maybe a few moments with Tank and Cypher?). The only time Neo smiles much is when visiting the oracle (mainly out of bemusement and politeness). I don’t believe the movies are totally joyless or that this was necessarily a deliberate decision but looking back I get the impression that the original trilogy was very focused on being quite cool and profound in its general style which leads to a mild dourness in how each character or mannerism is portrayed. It’s a pretty horrific world to be fair.
The Matrix Awakens being a goofy dig at marketing and the whole trans-medial aspect of this franchise was actually kind of an uplifting surprise. I think levity is a good approach as part of the reboot strategy. If Resurrections is going to be taking a more light-hearted direction I think that could really work in its favour. An acknowledgement that this stuff is cool but let’s play with it as well.
One small detail I wish they’d given the once over is the seam on the fake punch point on a pillar in the subway scene. I will never unsee it.
The Final Flight of the Osiris has not aged well, and was always the weakest of the Animatrix anthology. Its partially because most videogame cutscenes look better than it does now (at least fidelity wise) and partially because it’s the only Animatrix short that doesn’t benefit from its medium. The sentinel chase is basically the same as it would appear in any matrix movie. The only advantage animation brings is showing how the human body can do ridiculous acrobatics within the constraints of the matrix. It also features probably the most erotic scene to come up anywhere in the franchise other than that scene. Sex inside the matrix is explored a little bit here and there but it’s usually in a more seedy context regarding control (orgasm cake, virtual prostitution). This is the closest this short has to a decent science-fiction idea but it’s mostly cheesecake. The initial fight scene felt like a neat exploration of couple’s recreational time even if it was to use Jue’s ass to sell copies. The idea of performing superhuman feats together with your loved one is a genuine dream.
I remember the Second Renaissance being longer in my head but still an enjoyable collage of ‘archive footage’ and narration. The final shot of the child playing in the snow + musical swell always gets me.
Gonna wrap up Animatrix and Reloaded tonight.
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it has been a couple years now since i last rewatched the series, but one of the things i remember finding kind of retroactively remarkable about the first one (at least) is how it still manages to feel somewhat ‘light’ despite not being overly quippy or self referential. like, i agree with you that it’s overall a pretty serious movie, but there is a lot of pulpy weirdness that is sort of humorous in its grotesqueness rather than being genuinely disturbing. and there is so much joy and exuberance in the way the characters move. this keeps it from feeling overly dour to me. it has a kind of playful energy about it despite never really trying to be ‘funny.’
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I agree, somehow it comes together and doesn’t end up completely morose. I think it’s a sleight of hand I have not really appreciated before.
I think the humour comes from reactions of awe when faced with the impossible. As well as more incidental stuff like the final tile collapsing after the lobby scene or Smith getting hit by a train.
I’d not thought of the source of joy as being the liberated bodies and choreographies but it seems so obvious now that you point it out.
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It’s been at least a decade since I last watched The Matrix and only saw Reloaded at the cinemas (never ended up watching Revolutions because everyone said it sucked, but did read the wiki plot summary years later) and from the trailers this kinda seems like a good way to go into watching this movie… idk… sorta having the cultural memory, the “idea” of The Matrix in your head, to which this movie is going to do some weird stuff with??
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The Matrix is light because it is a true action movie. We’ve been reconditioned over the past 20 years, action movies are now basically sitcoms. The snake has swallowed itself, the most popular action movies today are made by people who used to make action movie parody episodes for sitcoms.
The Matrix is a movie the creators had to make, this is not some bullshit sitcom Marvel movie that constantly undermines itself for a joke you’ll forget in 60 seconds and is desperate to lure you the cinematic equivalent of jangling keys, the people who made The Matrix actually believe in what they are making and you can feel it in every scene. Bad action movies are rightfully compared to theme park rides, you are strapped into the coaster car and pushed along the amusements. With The Matrix, you are compelled the travel alongside the movie and are actively invested in going along. That’s true lightness.
Watching the original Matrix in 2021 is (like watching most great movies from a time before whatever horrible movie era we are in now) the equivalent of waking up from the Matrix, it is freeing. It doesn’t matter it’s ultimately the sum of various other influences. Every scene is entertaining, everything is advancing you through a strange world you are desperate to discover more about. The bullet time scene has parodied to death but that moment is still momentous (none of the parodies recapture the sound design of the bullets). Playful is a really good way of putting it, the movie is a really well strung together set of novelties that build on one another, and for me that’s really what an action movie is all about.
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I had a blast rewatching Reloaded a few days ago. Hadn’t seen it since 2003 in theatres (twice) and it retains that big screen glow and sense of grandeur. I do find a lot of the series kinda dumb and even boring though, basically whenever they slow down to talk (a combination of stilted dialogue, that acting and a terminal seriousness (the action sequences providing much needed levity (would have liked to see some more of that wry camp they displayed in Bound)).
Revisiting the first one (which I’ve watched a lot more) I found those exposition dumps pretty tedious, they’re more charming in Reloaded because in the first Matrix there’s this sense of getting down to business, they probably felt this was their big shot at conveying this world, but by the second movie it’s much easier to just hang out with. Like, I still don’t really care about all the philosophical shit but I basically treated those segments like watching a long ass video game cutscene, allowing my eyes and mind to wander over the peripheral details while waiting for the “game” (punching, shooting, driving) to kick in again.
Or maybe it’s just that I’ve seen the first one so much I don’t care to hear all that mumbo jumbo again and it’s still kinda fresh for me in Reloaded. The Animatrix exemplifies my gripes I guess, squirming in my seat as they explain how machines created their own nation state and how humans blocked out the sun to thwart them (!?) only to be pulled back in with the miniature vignettes about anomalies at the edge of everyday living in The Matrix. And the action stuff.
Kinda apprehensive about rewatching Revolutions tomorrow because I remember it as a culmination of a lot of my least favourite things about the series. My friend got me a ticket to see Resurrection on opening night and I’m psyched but also feel like I’m performatively convincing myself/them of how much I love The Matrix. I mean, I do, but it’s also a bit silly and not terribly important to me but that’s fine! I’m glad the Wachowskis get to do their thing, like jdoe mentioned, you can feel they deeply believe in all the far out shit they’re setting out to do and that’s pretty great as far as the state of big blockbusters go these days.
And as action movies, I think the first one still might be the best just because they didn’t/couldn’t go completely ape shit. I notice little things like in the highway sequence (which still rules) where Morpheus stabs the side of the big rig with his sword like two feet from the top and then they cut to him standing on it like 10 feet lower, much further down, because that’s what’s needed to move this series of ridiculous ideas forward. Things get a little to ungrounded to be up there with the best Jackie Chan or John Woo or Die Hard or whatever, for me at least.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to type so much. I’m excited to see where this thing goes next.
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Once again saying that, in the midst of all this Matrix hype, if y’all haven’t watched Sense8, you should
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can’t get over how much they tried to cram into that finale
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some of my favorite parts of the matrix are the merovingian and the architect
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Well they got shorted a season, so, you know, lemonade
On rewatch, Program, I think, confirms something I love about Matrix and moving image generally; it’s how sound and music can effortlessly sync to arresting visuals as if nothing was easier. The swiftness and precision of that movement makes it a compelling short, at least aesthetically. World Record is still my favourite from the animatrix, perfect length for the premise and raw blend of sound and tension. Beyond has an absurdly Nickelodeon-esque English dub which, I don’t mind dubs, but, dang. A short which really could have almost no dialogue and be ten times more effective.
Reloaded Act 1 is rough as Morpheus is marched in front of Commander Lock’s hilarious steel desk. Lock tells him he’s a loose cannon and demands his badge. The film revives after the Merovingian is mentioned.
The chateau-highway sequence is just symphonic. Comes back to the enjoyment of moving image as music. The chateau fight > car park prelude > the big event itself is a sequence that gets stuck in my head. The scene even has decent worldbuilding (motorways are inherently lethal places to be in the matrix, first time we see agents interacting with exiles).
I laughed at the literal dun dun dunnn musical stinger at the end, I completely forgot about it. Some elements of the score are pastiche-y which I think plays very differently depending on when you view it. Many scenes in Zion/real space have a very classical Hollywood emotional register whereas the matrix tends to have the more iconic music invoking urgent awe, with occasional film genre reminders.
Compared to what I remember, Revolutions was actually kinda digestible apart from the complete gluttony of the 20 minute dock siege as we gorge on what should’ve been background stakes. Relegate the whole thing to a cutaway from the A-plot so we can imagine the rest. It’s not that the dock scene is the worst (it would’ve been a cool animatrix short maybe), it just doesn’t involve any (many?) characters we’ve spent any time with. It also gets weirdly ‘oorah’ as every minor character has their narrative duty assigned to them. This is my arc, there are many like it… There’s just not adequate room to introduce so many new characters that are generally less interesting and have less interesting decisions to make.
Usually I brace for impact when rewatching Revolutions but this time around I was struck by what I really like about the film; often small moments. I love the scene above the clouds. I like the determined regular guy energy Neo has in most scenes as a contrast to the messianic pomp and Hollywood special effects that surround him. I like Carrie Anne-Moss’ performance. I like that a lot of the film has this disquieting emptiness to it. Neo is effectively isolated most of the time as the matrix is subtly emptied of people. It’s an aesthetic that doesn’t really sit well with the Zion conflict and maybe requires more restraint than the budget permits. Overall, would’ve been cool to see it try a tone closer to 2001.
Bring on Resurrections.
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agree with a lot of this. absolutely incredible how tightly constructed, elaborate and lengthy the entire highway sequence is. the way it cleanly integrates computer generated elements with an astonishing amount of practical effects would already be a lost art by the time bay’s transformers was released. the major weakness of reloaded to me is how poorly paced and integrated all the world-building is with the plot in comparison to the first film. i even like a lot of it conceptually (including the cum cake (especially the cum cake)), but it just doesn’t mesh with the movement of the plot.
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What sticks with me about Revolutions is they stop the machines attackingthe human city as the machines form a Rat King in the sky above only to start falling down and we never see the effect of 10,000 squid robots crashing on to the city.
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