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The Matrix Resurrections [SPOILERS]


SpaceChampion

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I really enjoyed it and I'm glad we got it. Really enjoyed Bugs, and liked what we got of her crew - I agree they did have some plot armour going on but I was ok with it.

I also liked that they managed to give the passage of time since the trilogy some actual weight. The world kept turning without Neo and Trinity. People lived, people died, a new city rose and it's worth protecting.

Possibly the most surprising thing is that after all this time, it not only landed a movie that I found enjoyable but it left me wanting more. I want to see more of the machine civil war, I want to see the society that sentients and humans can build together when they get a chance without the war hanging over them. I want to see them heal Earth and ultimately reclaim the surface.

This does feel like a good ending point for Neo and Trinity (although their deaths was also an effective ending point) and I'm not sure I need more of the story to focus on them, and if it doesn't then it would obviously need to step away from the matrix as prison part of the story.

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4 hours ago, karaddin said:

 

This does feel like a good ending point for Neo and Trinity (although their deaths was also an effective ending point) and I'm not sure I need more of the story to focus on them, and if it doesn't then it would obviously need to step away from the matrix as prison part of the story.

I  felt something similar before seeing the movie. I didn't like that they had to bring them back, I wanted a new One, a new hero with new stories.. But then I saw the movie and saw how good Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves were together and saw where they are going with this. It's no longer The One, it's The Two. They broke the cycle of The One and gave humanity more time and allies. NOW  the story continues and we'll see what happens.

Does humanity actually WIN and completely destroy the machines? Personally I wouldn't like that. From The Animatrix, we know that humanity were the true villains of the first war between man and machine. Some  machines are also on humanity's side now.

Do they have another peace and split the planet a bit more equally? Eh, that doesn't work because humans would still be enslaved on a mostly dead planet. They are also too close together for another war not to happen.

Do one of the combatants decide to leave Earth to colonize another planet, outside of our solar system? Personally, I hope it's this one. Find a way so that one side can leave and one can stay: unscorch the skies, discover or already have an FTL, etc.   Again, personally, I think it's humanity that should leave since they are the ones that killed the planet but it would probably be easier for the machines to move on to colonize other worlds. If they haven't already, of course.

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I don't disagree with you on how good they are together, it just feels like it would be almost cruelty to the characters to force them into further conflicts. So that's the main motivation behind "I'm happy for this to be the end of their story"

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24 minutes ago, karaddin said:

I don't disagree with you on how good they are together, it just feels like it would be almost cruelty to the characters to force them into further conflicts. So that's the main motivation behind "I'm happy for this to be the end of their story"

I get that. Stephen King wrote about that at in one of his books, about how characters should be allowed to retire to the West like Frodo did. No more toil and pain. I did note that the movie made resurrection look extremely painful. I wonder if that was a nod that bringing these characters back IS cruel?

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12 hours ago, drawkcabi said:

I don't feel like it was a waste of time to watch this movie. I'm glad I watched it.

The movie more than anything felt like a patch for the first two sequels...it doesn't erase them like some reboots have been doing, just puts a band aid on them.

The movie felt like things were played as straightforward as they could get for a story set in The Matrix universe. I mean given the canon already established then we pick up with the characters as we see them in the movie, every question I had for what was going on, how did these characters get to where they are...my best guess always seemed to turn out to be the right one or close enough to it. Once I got an idea for how meta they were going for and who the main players were going to be, everything just clicked into place, no big twists no big surprises. 

3.5/5

I think if they had figured out a better reason as to why Neo/Trinity were brought back  - say, they originally wanted to reward them for the role they played in the peace treaty ... and then they realized that they could also exploit them - it could have worked a little bit better.

Also, Neo/Trinity getting out having larger consequences and/or them discovering that something else was going while they rescused Trinity could have also helped to set up something bigger.

8 hours ago, karaddin said:

I really enjoyed it and I'm glad we got it. Really enjoyed Bugs, and liked what we got of her crew - I agree they did have some plot armour going on but I was ok with it.

I also liked that they managed to give the passage of time since the trilogy some actual weight. The world kept turning without Neo and Trinity. People lived, people died, a new city rose and it's worth protecting.

Yes, unlike, say, the Star Wars ST, folks did act like we would expect them to. The end of the trilogy did have lasting consequences.

8 hours ago, karaddin said:

Possibly the most surprising thing is that after all this time, it not only landed a movie that I found enjoyable but it left me wanting more. I want to see more of the machine civil war, I want to see the society that sentients and humans can build together when they get a chance without the war hanging over them. I want to see them heal Earth and ultimately reclaim the surface.

Yes, and I think with that much time passing the new city could have actually been on the surface, even if the sky was still dark. Hell, the humans and the machines could have even had their own little Matrix of sorts to power their own machines - one that isn't a prison but acts more like a gigantic video game/fun simulation and which folks enter in shifts to help power some of their machine buddies and also have fun with their peers.

8 hours ago, karaddin said:

This does feel like a good ending point for Neo and Trinity (although their deaths was also an effective ending point) and I'm not sure I need more of the story to focus on them, and if it doesn't then it would obviously need to step away from the matrix as prison part of the story.

They certainly have some kind of happy ending now ... but they could also play a big role in a continuation of the story.

3 hours ago, Trebla said:

Does humanity actually WIN and completely destroy the machines? Personally I wouldn't like that. From The Animatrix, we know that humanity were the true villains of the first war between man and machine. Some  machines are also on humanity's side now.

I don't even think that would be an option. Pandora's Box is open and they cannot really destroy AI as such ever. And the movies never even sent that message - all they could hope for was peace and/or no longer being treated (only) as batteries.

While 'The Second Renaissance' is very convincing as backstory we have to keep in mind that in-universe that's just knowledge stored in Zion, i.e. a place which was built and destroyed five times by the machines and their 'the One' pawn. The machines would have a very good reason to lay the bulk of the blame for the war at the feet of humanity.

Humanity in that world is completely disconnected from its past ... like many slaves are.

3 hours ago, Trebla said:

Do they have another peace and split the planet a bit more equally? Eh, that doesn't work because humans would still be enslaved on a mostly dead planet. They are also too close together for another war not to happen.

I think the way to bring things to a new level would be to really explore similarities between humans and machines and to figure out what kind of common ground there is. If they were to repair the sky again they could return to solar power so that the need for the human-powered power plants would decrease.

That doesn't mean utopia yet ... but a merging between humans and machines could take things in that direction. In a sense the people who lived in the Matrix are already very much cyborgs and the fact that only the freed people have the ports, so I'd assume this kind of thing is the way to continue.

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Finally got through it. Fell asleep three different times watching and still can’t believe how absolutely boring this movie was. I liked the other sequels, warts and all, but this one had very few redeeming qualities. The first half was WAY too long, it was like watching another Batman origin story. Then there was a half hour of actual good stuff that I wanted to know more about. Followed by an hour of a love story that already has three movies dedicated to it. My hopes were far too high for this. 3/10 if I’m feeling kind and will likely never watch it again. 

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5 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Latest Screen Rant pitch meeting basically sums up this dumpster fire of a movie

 

Yea, this made me laugh, quite a bit. I imagine Cinemasins and Honest Trailers, will have a blast with mocking this film as well. To say that there isn't enough stuff to pick apart, would be an understatement.

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30 minutes ago, sifth said:

Yea, this made me laugh, quite a bit. I imagine Cinemasins and Honest Trailers, will have a blast with mocking this film as well. To say that there isn't enough stuff to pick apart, would be an understatement.

It does seem to have a steady stream of people able to rip it to shreds for laughs. It’s also on a number of worst movies of the year lists already from what I’ve seen. Jeremy Jahns who is usually not too nasty about movies really hated it and put it on his most disappointing with such yearly highlights as the Mortal Kombat reboot and.. Snake eyes?!

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3 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Can't wait for the cinemawins on this tbqh. In like a year. 

 

I remember that guy having to work double time on his video for Rise of Skywalker; which to this date, might be the worst paced film I've seen in my life.

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Seven hells, this was terrible.

The first part of the movie I could defend. The meta aspect was heavy-handed (to say the least), but still fun. It's always a great pleasure to see Neo/Keanu's existential struggle within the Matrix (this was, I think, my favorite aspect of the very first movie, and they kept true to that). And there were hints of a different kind of conflict, with machines siding with humans.

And then it just gets worse and worse. I don't even know where to start. The characters and characterization, the fights (Neo uses the force more than Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda combined :rolleyes:), the "plot" ... The last half-hour or so was pure cringe. I've seldom been this bored and annoyed at the same time watching the climax of a movie (though to be fair, the Smith vs Neo dragonball fight did come close).

I like how they "updated" the core concept of the Matrix. Ah, that sense of wrongness as the existential dread sets in is truly beautiful. Introducing a shrink is clever. It's still just the beginning of the first movie again, but it's still enjoyable.
Then they introduce quite a few interesting things with Io (though much of it was messy). So some machines can cooperate and cohabitate? The two sides aren't as clear-cut as before? Give us more of that. Explore the new stuff you're playing with. Give us something like a plot.
Instead, things start to go south with the first big fight. So Smith doesn't want Neo to be caught by The Analyst. Right. Presumably Smith would be enslaved again if that happened (?). But then, Smith also says he can deal with The Analyst on hiw own, so it's not clear that a fight is absolutely necessary here (?), except as a way to replay the scenes from the first movie. At this point, nostalgia no longer works. I've seen your first movie, thank you, could you give me something else now?
Then, The Merovingian shows up with his pals and they all prove to be jokes. The fight scenes are all rather unimpressive. I wonder what's the point of all this at this point. Eh... *raised finger* ... Could I have a story please?
Then Neo goes to see Trinity and gets trapped by "bullet time." So we're still at the meta stage? *Checks watch* Yep, we've already watched half of this, and it's still not starting. The Analyst explains his psychological torture. Ok, I can get on board with that. But if he's the big baddie with superpowers, how come he couldn't pull Neo back through that mirror before? I guess Neo just had to escape, didn't he?
And then the last half-hour is entirely about rescuing Trinity from... her life as a housewife/mother? With Chad (how subtle)?
There's some techno-mumbo-jumbo about how the rescue operation can happen, which makes little sense to me, because anyway, it pretty much entirely rests on Trinity's body not being watched or guarded in any serious way, even though there is an army of sentinels available with little better to do. But our new characters need a reason to be there, so let's have a convoluted explanation about what they have to do, even though there's no tension because we know what'll happen since we're still watching a parody of the first movie (something will go wrong, there will be a fight, the "One" will find his mojo again... ).
Then fifteen minutes of a fight/flight scene which basically belongs to the zombie genre. Smith comes back to shoot The Analyst, which... actually means nothing. The Analyst's commands are still in place, and Smith just... leaves. So... What was the point of that character? Apparently just so Neo could have a chance of getting out of what was an obvious trap. Not sure if there is any symbolism to be found here. Hugo Weaving was lucky not to be involved.
Then Trin gets super-powers out of the blue, because... reasons? I get that this is supposed to be a metaphor for feminist empowerment, but did I miss the in-universe explanation? Should I be relieved that they didn't pull out silly mumbo-jumbo again, or I am supposed to roll my eyes at the fact that this isn't trying to be an actual movie?
And then, that final discussion with The Analyst? Bloody hell, this has to be one of the cringiest confrontations I've ever seen on a screen. Lame-ass sexist jokes? What is this, 1988? Is this supposed to be funny or pathetic? Because it sure felt pathetic to me.

Ok, so the "message" was a giant finger to the incel/alt-right crowd. It also ends up being a giant finger to anyone who wanted a movie with an actual plot. Who thought that such... writing ("lazy" is an understatement) deserved an entire movie?
Beyond that, what is the "message" ? Have a "free mind" ? The writers don't explain what it means, but obviously if you don't have one, you're just a zombie/bot that will self-destruct and/or deserves to be shot. Oook.

This wasn't a movie. This was an internet rant with a 70 million budget. Like "ok, so we're pissed that some of you coopted our movie(s), so we made another one just to tell you to fuck off." Technology doesn't have to be bad or scary, women will be whatever they want (and kick ass), the red pill is about doing what we want with the simulation, and our golden couple don't give two shits about whoever is not on their side.
Eh... hang on, what about a philosophical or -at least vaguely- moral message? Nah, we don't do that here, we're too busy telling the far-right to fuck off. Doesn't matter if this shits over the message of the first film. We're not going to show why we're the good guys, why cooperation or "sensitivity" is good, what we want to propose or build. That would be writing, and we just can't do that. Instead, let's just Michael Bay the fuck out of it.

The Matrix is one of my top five favorite movies. I used to watch it every couple of years. About fifteen years ago I met a well-educated guy who told me the Wachowskis had really stolen their plot from a little-known writer. I never really believed him, but now I do. And holy fuck, that's actually the title of the top review on IMDB. I'm obviously not the only one who got the feeling that no author would shit on their own work like that.
 

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want to see the society that sentients and humans can build together when they get a chance without the war hanging over them.

totally. the answer to the war is cosmopolitan integration of emancipated AI with their former owners. illiberal capitalists have feared proletarian revolution ever since capek, so robot freedom has always haunted these stories as a genocidal spectre. good therefore to show a cooperative society.

 

that said, i felt as though i'd walk out if they fridged the helpful birdbot, keanu's rescuebot, or morferrous.

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RLM media released a video, that made me rethink this film a little. If I look at it as I would a normal movie, one that has plot, tones, character arcs and so on, it's a complete mess, that makes no sense. However if you view the film as one massive middle finger by Lana Wachoski to the WB, for forcing out a pointless 20 years later Matrix sequel, it makes a whole lot more sense. Heck the opening 30 minutes of this film alone make so much more sense, if you view it with that in mind, along with the horrible Rage Against the Machines cover song played at the end. Like Eternals, this might go down as a movie I respect more than I enjoy.

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14 minutes ago, sifth said:

RLM media released a video, that made me rethink this film a little. If I look at it as I would a normal movie, one that has plot, tones, character arcs and so on, it's a complete mess, that makes no sense. However if you view the film as one massive middle finger by Lana Wachoski to the WB, for forcing out a pointless 20 years later Matrix sequel, it makes a whole lot more sense. Heck the opening 30 minutes of this film alone make so much more sense, if you view it with that in mind, along with the horrible Rage Against the Machines cover song played at the end. Like Eternals, this might go down as a movie I respect more than I enjoy.

Yeah I saw some of that, but I still don’t think it makes me respect the movie any more. RLM also said the same thing about Freddie got Fingered, and that is still a godawful movie even if it’s a middle finger and a ‘haha you gave me money to make a movie you idiots’ thing.

The whole meta thing might be attempting to excuse many of the poor decisions within this movie but it doesn’t mean those aren’t poor decisions. It’s still a bad movie, which is such a pale shadow of the original it’s embarrassing. You can get away with making clever meta commentary if you also make a good movie at the same time, but she didn’t. 
 

 

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3 hours ago, sifth said:

However if you view the film as one massive middle finger by Lana Wachoski to the WB, for forcing out a pointless 20 years later Matrix sequel, it makes a whole lot more sense. Heck the opening 30 minutes of this film alone make so much more sense, if you view it with that in mind, along with the horrible Rage Against the Machines cover song played at the end.

I don't think the meta aspect alone is what makes the movie bad. It's really the absence of a cohesive narrative structure, and the fact that the final message of the movie has little to do with the movie itself.
The best way to send a message of female empowerment is to give your female lead(s) screentime. You give them a story, you flesh them out, you show what empowerment means. Something a bit more elaborate than giving them magic powers at the very end and then kicking the shit out of a villain making sexist jokes. I don't see what focusing on Neo, his fights, and a zombie chase achieved. If you're a screenwriter worth the name, surely you can actually do the job of subverting the "damsel in distress" trope instead of merely changing its ending. Since Neo couldn't find his mojo, why not have Carrie-Anne Moss kick ass for the second half of the movie? Show her dealing with Chad, and/or explore Io, and/or rescue Neo. You can seed clues, build up a reveal. You can show what the wrongness within the matrix feels like on her side, create situations and emotional moments that resonate with the audience, and make the message meaningful.
Retelling the story from the point of view of Trinity was the obvious way to send the message. The first part of the film would have been the finger (we've already told this story, we're tired of it), and the second part would have been about Trin becoming the hero. Instead, we got rehashed and/or flavorless fights, and an endless scene of fighting/fleeing a horde of mindless "bots," a childish metaphor that does a piss-poor job of arguing in favor of "sensitivity."
 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just watched it last night before it is off HBO Max.  I want to preface that  I generally am able to enjoy most shows and don't get into the internet trashing of things.

I think I just couldn't get into the movie once the "I am Morpheus" moment happened.  Also, I think if the trailer did not use the "White Rabbit" song and we just got it in the movie, it would have been more effective.  I think I enjoyed that part the best.  But the fight sequences, the Merongvian, all the flashbacks - as if we would not get the movie or people were connected to the first trilogy- just took me out of it.  I really don't think I enjoyed this movie at all (but am glad I watched it to see where it was going).

I did not mind Jonathan Groff as Smith though except for the over the top "Mr. Anderson" when he picked up the gun.  

But the whole ending of the movie where we get Keanu holding up two hands and clenching his body for about 30 minutes straight ---- couldn't they have come up with something else?

On another note, maybe the action just wasn't good in these movies for a while.  I was watching either the 2nd or 3rd movie and when they first go to meet the Merongvian and for some strange reason the bad guys in the coat check room just jump onto the ceiling, my daughter was like "What's the point of them being on the ceiling.   It's not like it makes them harder to shoot"

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