New thought, sitting around today thinking about machine society, as I often do.
Have postulated on here previously that the canon material gives support for the idea that machine society is factionalized, and one of the primary schisms regards the treatment of humans. This means some of the most hardline rightwing antihumanists have to be Agents, right? They’re law enforcement. Machine cops.
Now think back to that iconic monologue Agent Smith gives Morpheus when he’s captured (it’s the smell). Imagine it now as a facebook rant by a punisher avatar beat cop who’s talking about driving in from the suburbs every day to drive his beat in a poor urban neighborhood. Pitch perfect. The Wachowskis are geniuses
one other thing i was struck by on this viewing of revolutions that i really appreciate now and is especially relevant to the ever-present discussions of the desexualization of popular american cinema is how much more human affection is present in this trilogy even beyond neo and trinity’s relationship. link and zee who are practically tertiary characters have a genuinely affecting reunion in revolutions. the hug between morpheus and neo has real emotional weight to it. i was thinking of how sad it is that in contrast the existential struggle which the characters in disney star wars face and how they relate to one another is solely filtered through workplace sitcom sensibilities. finn and poe feel more like co-workers than comrades. not only has sex has been stripped from the blockbuster, but human connection in general.
Most of the reviews Google wants to recommend I check out were exceptionally negative, although I didn’t bother reading why. Meanwhile several random people I follow online retweeted some extremely enthusiastic recommendations from critics. Social media is a land of contrasts, etc.
This is also my first time watching this since reading the text of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act which makes a phrase like “guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for” risible. (RIP Aaron Swartz.)
All the incredibly on the nose and corny Gremlins 2/New Nightmare stuff about what a Matrix 4 should actually be was of course enjoyable to me the metafiction showbiz sitcom liker but it does sort of undercut the earnestness of the ending. Of all the direct meta-mouthpiece stuff I did feel that the Merovingian’s pure hatred of the post-Matrix 21st century and the coffee date where Neo is just Lana had the strongest emotional punch. I do appreciate the feeling that Wachowski wants people to know that trying to get something out of art and the conversation about it is the point instead of trying to wikifyingly solve it like a puzzle or say “these are the themes” like in English glass.
I think Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving easily would have had the versatility as actors to play the new Smith/Morpheus roles but what can you do. Neat to see all the Speed Racer, Sense 8, and Cloud Atlas folks hanging around. Incredibly, deliciously handsome cinematography and lighting. It really felt like a movie ass movie. Loved seeing Telma Hopkins in a big budget movie. The old people makeup sucks just as much shit as Cloud Atlas but Jada still is fantastic.
The fights are probably not actually as well shot as Reloaded (or Speed Racer?). Like in a world where they crank out Wick-likes left and right and the guys from Woo Pings stunt team are doing tv shows like uh the fist fighting is actually not fantastic or up to the standard of the originals. Honestly if we are talking about pure action on screen then even…Shang Chi did is better as a martial arts movie despite looking worse. The gunfights, explosions, the zombie like swarm, all that stuff fuckin ruled. Chad Stahelski, the director of John Wick and Keanu’s stunt double in the original movie is in this movie as “Chad” the bluepilled Trinity’s new husband and ““Chad”” which is probably the best meta joke all around. All the most interesting parts were the new post Zion city of IO and the human machine relations.
The nanomachine baby-head from part 3 is just one way machines live now and the weird high scifi robot creatures like Kajuku or whatever they’re name was are kind of amazing, conceptually. They are probably my favorite part to think about I hope they do an Animatrix 2 to have a human-robot romance or something.
I wonder if there’s anything in this that explicitly contradicts The Matrix Online. The robots being all cagey about Neo’s body and just saying “it’s not liquified” and Morpheus’ death seems to line up with what happens in the movie.
I think the best thing the movie does is sort of double down on the fairy tale magic of Neo and Trinity’s romance like I would say that element is the one that retroactively improves the old movies the most.
Also despite the writers semi-teasing at the concept of the original movie as (simply) a trans narrative how are you not supposed to read the shit to Trinity being able to fly too and the now female sung version of Wake Up at the end as anything else but a reconciliation of self. I mean I know the whole beginning was partially about the futility of trying to psychoanalyze creators but wearing all the literal Matrix/Warner Bros/We gotta make a fourth one/lemons from lemonade stuff on her sleeve sure isn’t gonna help with that lol