THE MATRIX

[BrianLynch]

Watched 2 and 3 on TV yesterday.  They are not good, especially 3.  However, it reminded me of how big that first movie was, and how quickly the excitement for the entire franchise died.  Man, they really killed it.  Into the ground.  There are like 10 STAR WARS comics every month, novels every couple of months, and they sell well.  If there was a MATRIX comic, would anyone buy it?  Of if the first movie was released in 3D, would anyone see it?  It's kinda sad considering how perfect the first movie is, and how much potential that world seemed to have for storytelling.

[DerickA]

I think 2 is a beautiful mess. Some good action and ideas but 3 is just borestown. 2 was a gigantic hit despite it being bad, and it's one of those things I think "How successful would it have been if it were good" and the imprint it would have on culture. It probably would have all those things you said. But yeah. It's weird how people don't care anymore.

[nate.3.0]

I genuinely like 2, flaws and all. It's just a really pretty looking film. But 3 is such a horrible mess.

Man, I think I need to snag the blu ray and rewatch the whole series, toons and all.

[JCEFalconi]

I'm guesing it'll get its remake when nano-surround implants come about.

[DerickA]

I genuinely like 2, flaws and all. It's just a really pretty looking film. But 3 is such a horrible mess.

Man, I think I need to snag the blu ray and rewatch the whole series, toons and all.

I did that. It's quite a satisfying experince. The blu-ray collection and it's features are amazing. I wish the Wachowskis did commentary but for 2 they have interesting ones like one with a critic who hated the sequels paired with a guy that loved them and one with a philosopher. They tv spot and trailer campaign for 2 was a textbook example of perfect movie advertising. I watched the first, then the animatrix AND THEN I REPLAYED ENTER THE MATRIX and then I watched 2 and 3. It was pretty fun to do. My only gripe with the blu rays is that they recolored the first movie to look more like the last 2. So it's tinted green in the matrix instead the purpleish original color it had. It's sort of ridiculous they did a bad job.

[Steve Lilley]

I still think that if you re-edited 2 and 3 into one movie and took out like 3/4ths of each, it would probably be good.

Wasn't their initial idea for a trilogy one prequel and one sequel to the original? I believe I read that somewhere. And WB wanted two sequels. So we got two sequels, and the basic idea for the prequel became exposition over the two sequels and the rest was THE ANIMATRIX.

[Steve B]

Yeah, I've have ZERO desire to watch the first one ever again because of 2 and 3.  I should be excite to share it with my kid as I'm doing with other movie I love.  But no, it's probably still good, but fuck em.

[Dalton]

Yeah after 2 I had no desire at all to see 3.  When it came out I didn't even consider going to see it.  Or maybe I did see it.  I seem to remember seeing either 2 or 3 with Lynch.  What was the one with the twins?

[Taitdog]

I love the first MATRIX.  I still remember seeing it opening weekend with a theater full of people who were all into it.  Just a really cool moviegoing experience.  I like 2 and think 3 is okay (I actually saw 3 on IMAX).  My problem with the 3rd one is that the Wachowskis seemed so hell-bent on having THE MATRIX truly be the live-action version of anime that they gave it the same type of confoundingly downbeat non-ending that a lot of anime that I've seen has had (and has frustrated many an American viewer that I've talked to).  The attack on Zion was one of the coolest extended action sequences I've seen on screen (and really cool on IMAX) but everything surrounding was drab and fell flat.

I'd be first in line if they rebooted it, but this time, they need to wrap it up.  None of this "You're the fifth or sixth person who was THE ONE and there will be others" garbage.

[sean]

The attack on Zion was one of the coolest extended action sequences I've seen on screen (and really cool on IMAX) but everything surrounding was drab and fell flat.

Yeah, I only saw the third one on video, but that was the sequence I wished I had seen on the big screen.  It's weird that the big setpiece / only good part doesn't involve any of the main characters.  Kind of seems like bad planning.

[Neri]

Part of what made the first one so great for me was the slow reveal of what the Matrix world really IS.  Like, the moment where Neo wakes up in the tank I remember being pretty freaky and cool the first time around because it was the big revelation that the world he was just in is fake (not sure if this was common knowledge before the movie came out, I just went in totally blind).  And the end was really satisfying and kind of awesome.  

Once we get to the sequels we kind of know what the whole thing is but they take it in weird, dumb directions and they have stuff like dance orgies and that one guy that talked about wiping his ass with silk.  What made the first one smart and interesting just wasn't there with the sequels.  

[DerickA]

I like that Harry Knowleses main beef with 2 was that there were no vampires or werewolves in it. There is in ENTER THE MATRIX though.

[Dalton]

Wasn't there a video game that kind of dovetailed with a scene from one of them?  It's all coming back.

[CrashlanderLOL]

THE MATRIX sucks. There, I said it. An hour of exposition and then a lot of nonsense for your patience.

I really want to see it now.

[Dobbin]

I have tried to replay ENTER THE MATRIX on my X-Box. It is an actual chore.