The Matrices (The Wachowskis, 1999-2021)

[willoneill]

SpoilerShow

Yeah, it looks like it's Neo (in John Wick style) and Trinity being called back into the Matrix by a "new" Morpheus to fight a "new" Agent Smith.

Also: "Tetralogy" ... just sayin'

[swo17]

I believe "quadrilogy" is also accepted vernacular. Also "cadence."

[MichaelB]

Not accepted by anyone I respect.

[swo17]

What if we split the difference and call it a quonce

[PfR73]

I enjoyed the Bound Easter Egg.

SpoilerShow

[domino harvey]

I maintain my original title for this thread, “The Matrices,” was the best

[swo17]

Correct as usual

[Pavel]

Keanu with a rubber duck on his head sealed the deal for me

[black&huge]

God... why did they opt for that color grading? The shiny car commercial look is what I 've always called it. Limitless, Jurassic World and Aquaman have it and it makes it difficult to look at. I really wish they would have gone more dull like in the first movie.

[Mr Sausage]

God... why did they opt for that color grading? The shiny car commercial look is what I 've always called it. Limitless, Jurassic World and Aquaman have it and it makes it difficult to look at. I really wish they would have gone more dull like in the first movie.

They might be using it expressively, as a visual indicator of the fakeness of the world in the matrix.

[Murdoch]

The trailer has me interested. As much as I don't like old franchises being resurrected over a decade after their original conclusion, I feel like the Matrix universe is a great way to explore just how much the internet and its related technology have become a threat in everyday society. I'm hesitantly optimistic, especially after having rewatched the original and feeling it held up well.

[black&huge]

God... why did they opt for that color grading? The shiny car commercial look is what I 've always called it. Limitless, Jurassic World and Aquaman have it and it makes it difficult to look at. I really wish they would have gone more dull like in the first movie.

They might be using it expressively, as a visual indicator of the fakeness of the world in the matrix.

I totally get that but the other three films had a distinct indicator for it and it was simply making things green but choosing solid architecture that had an equal part in creating the look of the Matrix. This is just lazy imo as just a way to serve that purpose easily by using the shiny/busy architecture with more shiny distracting grading over it. I mean if anything it looks like cloud atlas and juputer ascending but those movies looked awful as well

[beamish14]

God... why did they opt for that color grading? The shiny car commercial look is what I 've always called it. Limitless, Jurassic World and Aquaman have it and it makes it difficult to look at. I really wish they would have gone more dull like in the first movie.

They might be using it expressively, as a visual indicator of the fakeness of the world in the matrix.

I totally get that but the other three films had a distinct indicator for it and it was simply making things green but choosing solid architecture that had an equal part in creating the look of the Matrix. This is just lazy imo as just a way to serve that purpose easily by using the shiny/busy architecture with more shiny distracting grading over it. I mean if anything it looks like cloud atlas and juputer ascending but those movies looked awful as well

The original film had a beautiful, grey colour palette that was a victim of revisionist nonsense by the time the sequels arrived.

[Bumstead]

The tone is cute and playful, which is a welcome change from the laughably pretentious sequels. The first film, especially, had a very distinctive look and affect (Dick Pope, different DP). RESURRECTIONS was lensed by John Toll, Lana Wachowski's regular cinematographer ever since SENS8. With CLOUD ATLAS and JUPITER ASCENDING, they've now really embraced the warm, contrasty HDR look that screams "Hey, I was shot on the RED and colored at Company 3!". I like the analogy of the slick car commercial quoted above!

[colinr0380]

It reminded me a bit of that Jonathan Glazer Levi Jeans commercial!

But it looks really exciting (I note that is is co-written by David Mitchell, the novelist who wrote Cloud Atlas) and its great to see Carrie-Anne Moss in there too, sharing in a new journey. I see from the imdb page that from the sequels that Lambert Wilson is back as the Merovingian (sadly no sign of Monica Bellucci though) and Jada Pinkett Smith is back as Niobe. But I wonder what to make of this being directed by only one of the Wachowskis, with Lily seemingly not involved.

[PfR73]

The first film, especially, had a very distinctive look and affect (Dick Pope, different DP).

Heads up, it's actually Bill Pope, also known for his collaborations with Sam Raimi and Edgar Wright, who did the first trilogy (and Bound). Dick Pope is Mike Leigh's cinematographer.

[Bumstead]

The first film, especially, had a very distinctive look and affect (Dick Pope, different DP).

Heads up, it's actually Bill Pope, also known for his collaborations with Sam Raimi and Edgar Wright, who did the first trilogy (and Bound). Dick Pope is Mike Leigh's cinematographer.

Ah yes, totally right—thanks for fact checking! I sometimes get the two "Popes" mixed up. Bill's known more for style (music videos background), while Dick is your classic English artist with a painterly style.

[PfR73]

Paolo Sorrentino's The Two Popes, coming this fall on HBO.

[The Narrator Returns]

But I wonder what to make of this being directed by only one of the Wachowskis, with Lily seemingly not involved.

What I’ve heard suggests that Lilly just isn’t interested in filmmaking anymore, she’s been working on a Showtime series for two seasons now and seems happy doing that.

[RIP Film]

As much as I don't like old franchises being resurrected over a decade after their original conclusion, I feel like the Matrix universe is a great way to explore just how much the internet and its related technology have become a threat in everyday society.

I always appreciated that the movie came out right at the cusp of the internet as we know it; and also that the simulation took place in 1999 because, as Agent Smith said, it was "the peak of your civilization". That sometimes rings true with me, since you could argue our relationship with technology after the turn of the millennium has become so dysfunctional that it becomes a question of who the master is. We also live in a time that is deeply nostalgic, for the 90s, the 80s, etc. So I suppose to me, The Matrix has a kind of authority here, or least a unique opportunity to offer perspective. There's that scene of Neo in an elevator full of people looking at screens; it's a bit on the nose but it does seem to imply its exploring these questions.

[RIP Film]

The latest version of the matrix is more self-aware than ever, but all for the purpose of keeping you plugged in. That’s both a description of the plot and the movie. For all of its talk about taking the red pill, it really likes that blue pill. This film is so incredibly at odds with itself that I’m not sure what to make of it. With a little more self-reflection and care toward its construction it could have been a properly subversive epilogue, but instead its content to be another reunion film, basking in the light of Keanu and Carrie-Anne Moss. Unfortunately even as an action film, it’s a serious step down from the meticulously staged and filmed sequences of the originals, with some bizarre camera work and editing that doesn’t seem worthy of a film this expensive.

There are some interesting ideas in here, but it never takes itself seriously enough to ground you in its world, making the action of waking up from that world perfunctory and without impact. A fair share of goofiness also inhibits any suspension of disbelief,

SpoilerShow

like an aged Jada Pinkett Smith doing an impression of an 80 year old, or the Disney-esque AI comrades, effectively making the “real world” feel just as artificial as the matrix.

[Murdoch]

This series has always been more interesting to me in concept than execution. The ideas behind it pull me in but the Wachowskis' obsession with set pieces and gunplay feel more like filler than necessary features of the story, especially in this newest film.

I thought the first act of Resurrections was excellent. For all its exhausting meta commentary and callbacks, I liked how it explored the cultural impact of the series and the inherent unreality of its titular world. The Matrix and reality didn't feel as much like a binary division here, at least early on in the film.

I can understand using the trappings of a chosen one arc in the first film as the internet and computing hadn't reached the cultural pervasiveness of today. But given the insidious use of technology that's emerged I was hoping the series too would evolve past simplistic digital villains and explore the Matrix as more than a place but an entity that, even in benevolent hands, would morph into something sinister (I.e. the Matrix just being a stand-in for the internet). I was too hopeful as Lana Wachowski is an action director above all else. The technological themes feel like window dressing over slow-mo fistfights and a dull love story between two actors without much chemistry together.

As harsh as all this reads, I actually enjoyed this newest addition, and would watch another one. I think my response is symptomatic of my approach to all these films - wishing for a deeper exploration of technology than the Wachowskis want to do. Lana Wachowski proves, as she did with Sense8, that she still has a good eye for how to stage a fight, although the ones here felt more busy and thus less impactful than the first two films (I never saw the third).

Perhaps I shouldn't be focusing so much on the surface of robots and computers at all, because behind those decorations, this is a series about identity. It's about a hidden self emerging despite the conformity of the world seeking to suppress it. For all its video game physics and programming focus, every person in the Matrix is someone with two versions of themselves, with the real version existing in a world that's difficult to confront and accept. Given the Wachowskis' background, and the themes advanced by Sense8, I think it's important not to view these films in a vacuum. And from that approach, I appreciate them more.

If anything, I'm excited because I feel like the Matrix universe could really benefit from another Animatrix-like interpretation, which the success of this new film may set up, given the proliferation of expanded universes this past decade. I wouldn't mind seeing the skeleton of the films given to writers who will take an approach to the material that involves less drawn-out fights with invincible enemies.

[therewillbeblus]

The latest version of the matrix is more self-aware than ever, but all for the purpose of keeping you plugged in. That’s both a description of the plot and the movie. For all of its talk about taking the red pill, it really likes that blue pill.

That's a good way to put it. I'm not a fan of the series in general, but holy hell, this has to be the worst one(?!) Everything taking place after the first act (plus the opening slog of an 'exciting intro') are so repelling and sloppy, yet these action scenes were also somehow a welcome breather from the stupid plot, character dynamics, and dry 'explanations'- the lesser of two boring binary elements constructing this misfire. The first act was actually somewhat interesting, with potential to dissect the outlook of the blue pill being reminiscent of our inherently myopic existences trapped in subjective gravitational pull of mental health issues and social structures, which keep us in check from noticing peripheral opportunities for connection to something greater.

Even more than that, I was hoping that the film might perversely offer ambiguity that this could be viewed as preferable, without actually landing on this with conviction- which would undermine the series' ethos on consciousness- but recognizing the psychological parts of us primed against dysphoria with some compassion would be an interesting route (the NPH "desire and fear" monologue could have been a welcome layer to this, but comes as a throwaway bit of info too little too late, not to mention snidely pejorative). However, the abandonment of these possibilities in service of old-hat ideas, including replications of scenes happening outside of the matrix (why do we need another version of the dojo Morpheus training, especially if you're just going to carbon-copy and then water it down?), opted for not only an obnoxious and tiring path, but a cowardly one of superficial security, sidestepping risks it sets up and then recoils from obliviously.

There is also just so much talking.. and by new characters aiming to get us emotionally-involved with their sob stories, that my already withering patience sunk through the earth to sub-zero investment. At least the sequels I hated had some cool memorable setpieces. This film offered a mirage of intelligence and then yelled 'sike' and made us sit through a playbook of How Not To Make Movies for two more hours. I hated this movie.

[Brian C]

I didn't hate it, and honestly it felt shorter to me than it actually is, but the plotting and characterizations here are really just tremendously lazy. Characters are introduced and then sidelined if not dropped altogether, storylines are abandoned half-finished, and the dialogue is endlessly self-referential in a way that to me feels like a distraction from how little the filmmakers are able to advance the ball.

The sequels had their problems but at least they were failures of ambition; this one barely tries enough to fail. It's sadly perfunctory yet watchable in the way that last Bourne movie was, and seemingly about as necessary. In fact, I'm reminded of Matt Damon's joke after the third Bourne movie came out - that he was finished making them, because if they made another one, they'd have to call it "The Bourne Redundancy". Alas. But The Matrix Redundancies wouldn't have been a bad name for this one, and in fact would have fit right in with the movie's in-jokey, vaguely contemptuous tone.

[Walter Kurtz]

For about ten or fifteen minutes I thought this had a chance to be a really interesting movie. A movie about a shy video game creator/nerd losing his sense of reality as he finally engages with an unhappily married woman who he has had a crush on for quite a few years. And they finally make connection as he struggles to maintain his grip on reality and their slowly blooming relationship.

My hopes were quickly dashed.