Tarryk's Babbling Matrix Review (spoilers)

[Alexa [Bot]]

Okay, starting with the usual disclaimers that most people who know me are already aware of:

1: I like to see all aspects in a movie, including storyline, visual effects, philosophy (in a movie like this especially), originality, all that stuff. If it excels at one point, I can overlook the lack in another...with very few exceptions.

2: I'm a Matrix fanatic. Ever since I was absolutely blown away by the first one, I've been addicted to everything matrix. I saw movie 2, and it blew me away all the same, introducing tons of brand new and very unexpected twists in the philosophy behind the matrix and it's design, and it took the visual effects and plotline of the first movie, turned them upside down, and showed me that it WAS possible to make a movie just as good as the first.

That being said:

I'm totally disappointed in M3. It lacked in every single thing I was looking for.

1: Storyline? Well obviously it HAD one, but give me a break. In M2, we learned three major points outside of the underlying (and very cool) philosophy: 1) Neo's influence covers both worlds, 2) The concept of the Matrix is to promote balance, not absolute conquest, and 3) Zion's about to get torqued up the ass for the upteenth time.

So here we are in movie three. What does the storyline cover? 1) That Neo's influence covers both worlds, 2) The balance of the Matrix is in jeopardy because of this, and 3) Zion's about to get torqued up the ass for the upteenth time. I sense a pattern here.

2: Philosophy? I yet again weep for american idiots. Until I saw M3, all I've been hearing about is how the philosophy of 2 was contrived (which is a laughable point made by people who simply didn't get it), and how the philosophy of 3 is much more sturdy. Allow me to shock you with the truth: There was zero philosophy in M3. Zip. Zilch. NONE AT ALL. M2 covered ALL of the philosophical points that made up the reasons for M3, and M3 did absolutely nothing to elaborate on those points at all. The dialogue that related to the philosophy was either a dumbed-down regurgitation of the same philosophy as M2, or a complete contradiction to M2. Either way, I was rolling my eyes through every discussion scene.

3: Action Visuals? 3 major "money-shot" actions scenes. 1) A contrived remake of the lobby scene from M1, except in a smaller room with fatter pillars. 2) the massive battle with the man-mechs (APM's or something?) vs the squiddies. I was happy with this one, it was extremely realistic for being 99.9% CG, these scenes made the movie for me (which is sad). 3) The final fight between Neo and Smith, which was really nothing more than a souped-up FX-made final battle between Superman and Zod. Although a couple of the points within the fight had me going "oooo", it didn't quite make up for every moment I expected Smith to go "KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!"

4: Acting? I wouldn't have expected much anyway, but character developement is also out the window. The only character in the whole movie I felt anything for at all was the mech-reloader kid (the one Neo saved in Animatrix's "The Kid"). I yawned my way through Trinity's death. There was no actual character in any of the emotional scenes, just actors acting. Bleh.

5: Ending? I'm actually pleased with it. Had the movie itself been just a tiny better on the whole, I would be praising this movie just because they ended it the way it needed to be. No silly happy ending, no eliminations, no loops in the system, no cry-me-a-river tragedies, just the simple-yet-unpredictable continuation "with a twist". Something that leaves you questioning the morality of the Oracle, questioning whether or not the Architect is really the bad guy you thought he was, and questioning whether or not you're supposed to give a flying fuck if Neo's still alive.

Overall rating of Matrix 1: 5 out of 5 Stars

Overall rating of Matrix 2: 4.5 Stars

Overall rating of Matrix 3: 3 Stars

[Oddysee]

I agree with most... I tried to remain neutral in my review, but I must admit, had the ending been a sappy "and they lived happilly ever after" thing, I'd have flamed it to hell and back... I on the other hand was totally disapointed with the effects... It seems like someone took the cool fights of number 1 and said "BIGGER, FASTER" and made number 2... And then took number 2 and said "EVEN BIGGER, EVEN FASTER" and ended up with som'n that was "2 BIG, 2 FAST"! Blatant 2 fast, 2 furious rip off, so what?

All in all, I'd still say see it, just to end it all... But don't get yer hopes up, it WILL disapoint you... Sorry...




Tm

[Lauri]

I admit I was mildly disappointed with the overall supposed bang that was Matrix: Revolutions.

Looking back now, I know why I enjoyed it at all: it had an ending. I was itching for SOMETHING to have a resolution, and I wonder if that was a good way to look at it or not. I feel I'm being too lenient that way, though.

For anyone to state that the "philosophy" in 3 is "sturdy" is preposterous. The only reason it would be "sturdy" is because the fact it's a rehash. I'll go with tK on that point.

It really seemed as if the concept ran out of steam. But why? Did the brothers want to just tell the rest of the story and get it over with? Was that their vision? Or did they merely run out of steam. I don't want to believe the latter.

So.. for me, the high points of 3 were a) APU vs "The Machines" battle, b) the twisty ending, c) the Oracle's "choice" was also probably the only other interesting point. I didn't expect that, and I guess that means it was a good thing, as it wasn't completely irrelevant.

The Neo vs Smith battle was somewhat of a let down, too, but I'm not sure what else "we could have done with that". Witty dialogue? Maybe it if was based on Smith's new first-hand outlook on humanity, further, otherwise haven't we covered all the bases?

Trin's death felt meaningless, and to me it trivialized her most recent purpose. Or maybe I just can't handle "heroes" not going out in a blaze of glory. Maybe that's my own 'fault'.

Oh, I wanted to see more of the architect damnit.

Maybe we just can't be satisfied with any ending to The Matrix, I'm not sure... overall I enjoyed my time at the theatre, at least.

EDIT: I need to mention also, that the "opening" dialogue with the 'programs' in the train station was also a high point. While it seemed to "flow" too fast, it was very intriguing to let go of current perceptions/emotions and think of them as "connections" instead.

[Tarryk]

I have the feeling my rating of M3 will go up by roughly 1 star if I watch it again. There are scenes in the movie that really had me interested, and I think I phased them out with the general disapproval of other scenes.

That scene Lauri mentions near the beginning, about emotions and their subsequent reference as "connections", that was excellent (if not, as you say, a bit fast paced) dialogue.

[Otori]

Hmm.. I better not even go see Revolutions then, because in all honestly I thought Reloaded stunk. I'm not even going to go into why.

*goes to read a good Greg Egan book*

http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/

[Darth Bootay]

There were interesting bits. My friends of I have decided that if we see it on DvD when it comes out on rental that we're going to play the "spot the cliche" game with it. Revolutions is just FILLED with the most odd bag of mixed cliches.

I've decided that the Merovingian is actually the owner of Skin Two. Every time he gets airtime, he's surrounded by people wearing last year's Skin Two line. It's like he's a wandering fetish convention.

Trinity's death... ummm well... yeah. Pardon me for my amazing cynicism, but if you're impaled by a bunch of metal poles, you'd either (a) be screaming in total agony with your last breath; or (b) be really unconscious. The five minutes of supposed-to-be heartrending dialogue was the wrong answer. It was stupid.

Smith VS Neo. Wow. Could they have possibly made that any lamer? If the plan was to trick Smith into assimilating him, Neo really should have pussed out sooner and saved us all ten minutes of really bad fight scene. It made both characters look stupid and weak in the head. I prefer my badasses to be a little more bad and a lot less ass.

Revolutions gets my vote for the next MST3K pounding.

[Boinky]

Well I generally thought Revolutions was 'teh suck'
And despite Reloaded giving us stuff to think about, I feel they boiled the thought away and went to the old cliche at the end where the villain(the Architect) puts the hero in a pickle with multiple targets in jeopardy and says "You can save countless strangers or the one you love, but there's no way to save both!" and the hero proceeds to do just that.

anyway...Revolutions...

The Trinity dying scene was excruciating to watch. And I don't mean in an emotional gut-wrenching way. I mean more like having to watch a bad Sly Stallone movie is excruciating!

Now Neo does die(in a wonderful Christ-like way as to imply he's the second coming or somethin, not sure if they wanted to try and say that literally or just use the symbolism to show him as humanity's savior), but maybe I missed the memo but exactly how Smith was able to be killed escapes me. Was it the fact that it was Neo who he took over, that Neo then destroyed Smith by destroying himself? Didn't seem that way to me. Seemed more like the Machines were able to destroy Smith cause they had Neo hooked up to the Matrix in a special connection. But if that's the case why didn't they just stop Smith a long time ago by using one of the billions of other humans they had at their disposal? Cause that wouldn't make a good ending to the movie?

Anyway it was a disapointment. I had envisioned Neo either defeating or turning Smith by his own efforts alone. That might have ben satisfying to watch. And one last crack - I think Smith already felt he had proved his superiority enough that when Neo came back into the Matrix he wouldn't do the 1 on 1 thing, he'd have just swallowed Neo up in a pile of thousands of agent Smiths to take him over.

[Lauri]

The Smith assimilating Neo thing can be interpreted several ways.

I have faith in the brothers to have some kind of meaning there, so to my best assumption, the whole movie's spiel about "balance" and "beginnings and endings" made me come to the conclusion that since Smith was Neo's "yang to the yin", combined - they would cancel each other out so to speak.

Neo's preventing Smith from assimilating him in the past was pure extinct - a logical assumption that Neo would indeed die and the hope he represented along with him. It seems as if the key all along to Smith's destruction was allowing "that" balance out by consuming his own(now) counterpart.

He learns all this new balance stuff straight from the Oracle and voila.. knows what he has to do. And that's apparently bargain with the Machines for Zion; if he eliminates Smith.

At first glance - the implementation is a bit shoddy, but the underlying reasoning is a little more interesting.

*rambles*

[gnarf]

tK, did you totally forget about the whole scene when neo was talking with the oracle, and she basically said Smith is your balance? That whole thing was although "predictable" still was quite a bit of a jump in logic.. and the ending, left so unbelivably open ended, yet finising the story.... M3 deserves at least 3 stars... if not 4

[gnarf]

"You can save countless strangers or the one you love, but there's no way to save both!" and the hero proceeds to do just that.

That is until the M3....

Didn't seem that way to me. Seemed more like the Machines were able to destroy Smith cause they had Neo hooked up to the Matrix in a special connection. But if that's the case why didn't they just stop Smith a long time ago by using one of the billions of other humans they had at their disposal? Cause that wouldn't make a good ending to the movie?

Neo brought Smith with him to the "core". Its that simple... Smith at the point he was at, wouldn't have fallen for just any old person hooked up in the core, because it would give that person an "aura" which neo obviously has already... Smith had no clue that Neo had gone to the core, and was basically dragging smith with him. (another possible interpretation)

And besides, who says Neo is actually dead.

[Sergeiovich]

reminder to everyone...

if you noticed, at the end, when the oracle and the architect spoke, there were some very heavy intonations that "it wasnt over". After all, the matrix was still there, and humans were still being used as batteries... and the "free" humans were still on a quest to "save" the humans plugged into the matrix.

Now with that in mind.. www.thematrixonline.com

The matrix. in MMORPG.

After the first two, when the notion first came to light, i doubted it. I thought it could never be pulled off.

but now, with the third one here.. i can see how. easily. it definitely bears watching, dont you think?

[Lauri]

reminder to everyone...

if you noticed, at the end, when the oracle and the architect spoke, there were some very heavy intonations that "it wasnt over". After all, the matrix was still there, and humans were still being used as batteries... and the "free" humans were still on a quest to "save" the humans plugged into the matrix.

Now with that in mind.. www.thematrixonline.com

The matrix. in MMORPG.

After the first two, when the notion first came to light, i doubted it. I thought it could never be pulled off.

but now, with the third one here.. i can see how. easily. it definitely bears watching, dont you think?

Indeed. Good point, Serg. We got resolutions, but we didn't get ultimate closure.

1. The Matrix is still running.
2. Zion is still "alive".
3. Humans are supposedly part of a "peace treaty" where they can be unplugged if they so desire.

This is a real good lead in to TMO. I hope to hell that's not the only reason it ended like it did... as franchises twisting for other marketing paths irritates me, but it's understandable. Will rogue programs try to screw over humans who want out? Will the Architect involve himself at all? What about agents? What about humans in Zion who still want to free the rest of the world?

What is planned for the game will be interesting, as it leads off where the movies end. They have one helluva job in their hands if they intend to do it right.

[Boinky]

Neo brought Smith with him to the "core". Its that simple... Smith at the point he was at, wouldn't have fallen for just any old person hooked up in the core, because it would give that person an "aura" which neo obviously has already... Smith had no clue that Neo had gone to the core, and was basically dragging smith with him. (another possible interpretation)

And besides, who says Neo is actually dead.

Well I think it was fairly well shown that Neo did indeed die. If another movie was to follow I'd say it would be less a certainty, but no movie is to follow.

And as for Neo bringing Smith to the Core inside the Matrix - as we were shown in Reloaded, The Core inside the Matrix is depicted as a physical area. Smith originating as an agent of the machines would know far more about the location of the Core than Neo could ever hope to. To presume even in Smith's power-mad frenzy that he would entirely forget where he was in hte Matrix (unless he simply figured he had nothing to fear there anymore, which is a valid point after he took over the Oracle), would be a questionable opinion.

But maybe that is the case. But is it just the fact that Neo was in the Core when Smith took him over? And did Neo's special abilities have anything to do with it, or simply his being in the Core when Smith took him? Or was the deciding factor grounded in the Real-World where the Machines had Neo hooked up into the Matrix through means that may have given them special options over Neo and hence Smith after he took him over? Since even in the are of the Core inside the Matrix there were probably humans that Smith took over which would have allowed the Machines to shut down Smith without Neo's help...

Unless the brothers give an indepth explanation I find it's open to many interpretations.

And I still think it was finished in a way that says "teh suck" to me!

[Tarryk]

I bumped my rating up to 3 stars...primarily because:

Unless the brothers give an indepth explanation I find it's open to many interpretations.

Very true. And I like that. It's not neccessarily "open ended", in that closure to the primary storyline is found, however that ending can be interpreted MANY different ways, and that's worth a full star in itself.

However, the balance issue between Neo and Smith was determined in the 2nd movie I think, just really driven home in the third movie, so I can't call that an original twist exclusive to M3.

[Gridfan]

I think THe Matrix was best.

Reloaded and Revolutions (Reloaded Revolutions ? hmmm)

Are like one big movie cut in two parts with Enter The Matrix (the game) to intersect the two together.

I advise peeps to see. The Animatrix, The Matrix, Reloaded, Enter The Matrix, Revolutions.
(actually, storylinewise parts of The Animatrix fit just after The Matrix or partly during the game). and actually the Animatrix part with the athlete could just as well been after Revolutions, but also before The Matrix.

It's sad really. The Matrix seem to be pretty much standalone.
While Reloaded, The Animatrix, Enter The Matrix and Revolutions was all made somewhat ovrlayed in planning thus everthing of those tie together more.

Which is why Matrix2 revelations seem to be so repeated in Matrix 3.
Imo. Matrix 3 is like a the second half where Matrix 2 is the first half. padded with Enter The Matrix to fill crossing gaps. And The Animatrix to fill holes in the Matrix "universe" and past.

I applaude the actor who played the Mr. Smith character, bestcharacter portrayal in ages imo. (seems many other on the net think likewise too)
I.e Mr.Smith after copying himself into the Oracle and seeing thru her eyes, laughing like that. braught a chill down my back. awsome...

I agree on the Trinity final death scene, could have been so much better.

And who can forget the slowmo punch that hit Smith's face, classic...

The Merovingian and his posse leaves a bad taste in my mouth, he did in the game and he did in the last two movies as well.

The ending however facinates me, so much speculations. I love endings like that. even if it is the final movie the ending still rocks...

Neo could eithe be dead, or in another coma. (most likely the latter)

What is more interesting is Mr. Smith's fate. did he and Neo cancel eachother out? Or did they become a new united personality?
Or (as is my current guess (currently at least))
"No! It's not fair!" - Mr. Smith
Mr. Smith had managed to re-program himself. his purpose?
To defeat Neo, and to become "The One" (wether he knew of the legend of The One or not doesn't matter, another thing. Neo may not be The One. Neo+Smith=The one? hmm)
Mr. Smith's program ended when it reached his goal. (maybe he never "put in" any new routines beyond that point of accomplishment?)
Neo onl realized at the end what he had to do. For it all to end. both had to reach their goal. Smith due to his own programming needed a end, Neo due to his choice needed to save Zion/end the war. And the end that was, was the only way. code merging if ya will. (and subsequent system/routine crash lol)

altough there is a opening for a Matrix 4. (Resolutions ? lol)
I hope it wont be made into a live action movie at least.
Maybe "The Animatrix: Resolutions" idea would work better.

And as some said. with The Matrix in balance again (for know),
it's very easy to make The Matrix MMO "fit in" after Matrix 3 movie.
esp with people being able to "get out" if they choose so.
(and Neo in a coma, and Smith apparently gone etc. the chances of "odd" things happening in the MMO is there)

Another sad thing is The oracle. The woman that played The Oracle in the first Matrix died, so a new actress had to be used. I think they way overdid the "I may not look like you remember me..." bla bla stuff was horrible. IMO they could have "skipped" the total explantion imo.
And rather explain to the media that they had to use a new actress, or in the credits of Matrix 2 !In the memory of .... that originaly played The Oracle" and we'd all understand... (at least I would).

Matrix 2 + 3 seem like a very looong movie that was split in two. with lots of repeating and/or confusing philosophy.
(Enter The Matrix game also suffers from this a bit but adds lots of new angles into the Matrix Universe and movie stories imo)

But I agree wit Tarryk. "The Brothers" could have executed this sooo much better. It's almost as if the original "programmers" of The Matrix left for better jobs, and some new peeps was hired in that couldn't really grasp the complexity of what is The Matrix. (aka. Microsoft bying up a good but lesser product and tryig to "improve" it but doesn't quite make it lol)

If "The Brothers" make another Matrix movie, let's just hope it's a bug fix patch that also brings "new content" as well rotfl...

[Gridfan]

http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/archives/002413.html

It's a laugh wether you liked or hated Revolutions hehe

[Lauri]

http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/archives/002413.html

It's a laugh wether you liked or hated Revolutions hehe

Beautiful. lol

"Let's go see the Oracle. She's always fun."

[Tarryk]

SERAPH
Although it looks like a nightclub, this is a heavily armed facility full of deadly programs. We're going to get through them anyway after fighting them upside down.

haha. That whole thing rocked.

[Oddysee]

ROFL! Dude! that was sweet!




Tm

[dfclock]

Swwwweeettttt!