SuckaMC

I liked the whole trilogy more than most it seems. Can't believe how long its been. I need to revisit them soon.

PatD

I'll play devil's advocate and say that the Matrix sequels have some redeeming value in that they tried to do something different as mainstream films go. They could have taken the safe route and gone for a TOTALLY brainless, cliched action movie with nary a word of exposition. Instead, they went in an unusual direction of heavy exposition, spiritual allusion, and even killing off popular characters. This was not a Zac Snyder or Michael Bay-type fanboy blowjob as so many tentpole films have become. There's a leaner, meaner, perhaps even subversive sequel in the creative DNA of Reloaded, Revolutions, and The Animatrix. It's too bad...

inri222

I will have to disagree. IMO they are money grabs trying to disguise as something more sophisticated with all the theological mumbo-jumbo.

They even had a phone

bluetoast

Yeah the speech definitely wasn't in the comics. I remember because that portion was leaked, along with Evie's response ("Are you a crazy person?"), and I was like "What the fuck is this and what kind of robotic response is that?"

moviefan2k4

BANG!

Seriously though, it must've taken so much work for Hugo to memorize that.

bluetoast

Maybe that's why James Purefoy got fired.

RocShemp

I thought the official story was that James Purefoy quit because he was disatisfied that his face was never to be seen.

Suposedly there's still some footage of Purefoy in the movie. I'm guessing the scene when V is fencing while watching The Count of Monte Cristo.

Qui Gon Jim

I agree here. The Matrix is a really great film, the culmination of a lifetime of the Bros. refining it over and over. I would probably put the film in my top 10 since everything in it is so very well done. On top of that it was groundbreaking with the SFX.

When it was successful, and they HAD to make these sequels, it is like they came up with a bunch of cool sounding set-pieces, and then strung this loose plot to tie them together and then tried to glue some strength to the whole thing with some spirituality and theology. They are really a mess.

Look no further than the meeting of Neo and Seraph. It is like they had an idea where two guys fight in a restaurant, and they shoehorn this in where it just doesn't seem to fit. Why would they fight, and then go, "Ok, we're friends."?

Another big difference for me in the sequels is the believability. In The Matrix, the fights, while fantastic, never really veered into territory that looked phony outside of the reality of the film. In the sequels, it seems like guys land a million punches with no effect, or worse, they throw tons of fists with no seeming contact. It looks like they are fake fighting. It is sort of hard to explain in words what I am getting at here.

In the entirety of the sequels, that chase scene with the rigs is my favorite part. Lots of tension, cool FX, nice direction, very cool. I'd bet this was something they conceived in part for the original film and had to file away.

Qui Gon Jim

I agree 100% with this. Exactly what I was getting at.

Dr. DVD

Retrospectively speaking, the trilogy as a whole is full of great visuals but ultimately buckles in the end. I actually enjoyed Revolutions in the theater initially. However, the first viewing of it was part of the "zero hour" deal where it opened at the same time all across the world. I had spent the night before watching the first two along with the pertinent parts of the Animatrix. Furthermore, I had completed the video game tie-in over the preceding summer. Basically, I was about as privy to everything the movie had to offer as possible. Also, kind of cool to view something at a movie theater at 9:00AM. The second time was in IMAX, and of course we all know IMAX can lead one to overpraise a movie a bit due to the way the visuals overpower you.
Do I still think these movies are good? Yes. Great? Nope. Revolutions really needed to do more than just blow off everything from Reloaded in the first act and then be a pure action movie with CGI overload.

Supermallet

I will never forget seeing Reloaded for the first time. It was my freshman year of film school, and my entire freshman class went to see it together. It was a huge deal. We practically sold out an entire screen of a theater in Greensboro. Went out to dinner beforehand, big expectations. Everyone was shouting and cheering when the movie started. Then things got to Zion. We bided our time.

Then the rave sequence happened.

There was no more cheering after that.

When the film ended, we all shuffled off into the night. We didn't dare discuss what we had just seen. Could it have happened? Could we have hallucinated how bad it was?

Sadly, it was all true.

EddieMoney

You know what the worst part of Reloaded was? This line:

"Trinity. I know you can hear me. I'm never letting go. I can't. I just love you too damn much."

Jesus.

Qui Gon Jim

If Eddie Money says a line is cheesy, then that has to carry some weight, right?

inri222

I saw Reloaded with my wife in the theater and after it was over we tried not to be disappointed. We told ourselves that it was just a setup for all the good stuff to come in Revolutions. After watching Revolutions we were wishing all kinds of evil upon the Wachowski's & Joel Silver. Yes it was that bad!

big e

I always thought Reloaded and Revolutions felt like a giant 3rd act of a story whose 2nd act we never saw. The only setup we got was "The machines are coming for us! Prepare for war!" My main problems with the sequels is that there were too many characters that popped up who were useless, too much exposition that went nowhere like the Merovingian's speech (I still have no idea what the hell he was talking about) and the talk Neo and the Anthony Zerbe councilman have (I forget his name), and they shove the philosophical bs down your throat. I would even say the fight scenes don't look that good; they look too choreographed/fake. The sequels are definitely movies that fall into the category of "trying to be so smart they come off as stupid."

EddieMoney

Give me one last look
As you walk away
I, I don't know what to say
I start callin' out your name
But I just can't find the words
I know will change your mind
I've tried a thousand times
But I just can't make it right

Someday I pray there will come a day
When I can open up my heart and love again
Until then I'll get by
Somehow I'll get by
I know I'll get by

bluetoast

I wonder what Prince thought of the sequels, considering he was a huge fan of The Matrix.

Dr. DVD

I actually thought Reloaded was better than the first movie after I saw it for a second time. It wasn't until Revolutions that it sank in that it was mostly pointless.

What's sad is that they actually set up some cool stuff in part II that never went anywhere. I remember debating with a friend that the Merovingian was actually an earlier incarnation of "the one" who had become a program after failing to save Zion. I didn't realize that all of those horrible acting Keanus on monitors were the other incarnations.

I am just glad the Wachowskis made V For Vendetta as a standalone and have left it as such. That and the first Matrix are pretty dang good on their own.

inri222

This is not me but I agree with most of this assessment :

http://letterboxd.com/jizzninja/film...x-revolutions/

The Matrix Revolutions 2003 *
Reviewed Nov 21, 2011

Fraser Mckissack’s review:

I thought the first film was revolutionary, I found the second to be too preachy and obtuse (and ultimately boring), Matrix Revolutions has its head so far up its ass it forgets that it's supposed to be entertaining and instead becomes lost in its heavy-handed metaphors and convoluted plot. Even the CGI is overdone to the point of tedium, the mass of robot sentinels during the attack on Zion become one blurry mess of vomit inducing grey and the mech-suits used by the humans are a total rip-off. I get the impression that the Wachowski's found themselves with a plot they no longer understood, but had invested so much into the trilogy they couldn't back out of their own bull-shit mythos. Now I prefer to watch the original Matrix as a stand-alone film and pretend the sequels never existed.

Solid Snake

They didn't direct V for V though. I've a love/hate for that film. Visually I've no grand fault for it. Narratively it's a bit rushed in gettints points across and predictable. Too on the nose to be of value and inspired. Loved the comic though.

RocShemp

I remember reading that the Wachowskis changed the plot of the sequels while shooting. All I know of the supposed original version was that Weaving wasn't playing the same Agent Smith but rather a new character called Smith 2.0. Apparently, Weaving grew a ponytail for the role (which had to be digitally removed from the footage that wasn't reshot), and apparently weaving had trained several months for fight sequences involving Capoeira.

Also, there was supposed to be a helicopter chase in Revolutions which was nixed and the footage was recycled as Neo flying to Trinity's rescue in Reloaded.

I would have been interested in seeing what they originally had in mind.

They reportedly directed one scene. When V kills all of Creedy's men at the end. The sequence that was all slo-mo and had comet trails on V's blades like a live action Soul Edge/Calibur movie.

Solid Snake

That I could believe.

I want to love that film so much but it lacks a soul. And it's trying so goddamn hard and I appreciate it for it but it fails. It can inspire an emotion that it wants but it's cheapened and too simple.

Dr. DVD

I know the Wachowskis didn't direct entirely, but given the director's recent output of movies, I'm inclined to think they might have been more hands-on as producers and writers than is typical. They're prints are all over it.

I enjoyed the movie on its own, but I will admit it lacks the punch of Moore's original. V in the movie was changed to pretty much be a tried and true hero. While he did do all of the screwed up stuff to Evie in both versions, he expressed regret in the movie. In short, the movie was too happy and Hollywood to be called a decent adaptation. While it's more entertaining than Watchmen, I think Snyder's movie captured the spirit of the GN better than V.

Josh-da-man

Matrix Revolutions puts me in mind of the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Both of them just completely crawled up their own asses and turned into banal philosophical gibberish.

Why So Blu?

Thread bump due to being so damn entertaining!