Quote:
Originally Posted by asphaltcowboy
I think it’s probably fairer to say that those people expecting them to be as good as The Matrix are the stupid ones… I didn’t go into the cinema expecting them to be amazing and as such, was pleasantly surprised when they were quite entertaining and exciting.
sigh
My expectations of the films had nothing to do with my opinion. Why was the first Matrix film so successful? Because it had a deep and meaningful philosophical foundation which, in the right hands, can be interpreted and related to our society and even lead us to question our own existence. Just as some icing on the cake, they included some mind-blowing special effects, which tied in with the overall ‘feel’ of the film and complemented the storyline.
The main emphasis is on Neo’s psychological journey to realization of the truth. He goes from being ignorant, to being a totally enlightened super-human with the power to over-throw the opposing force. This is the main philosophical concept of the film; The need for all humans in this world to search for the truth and ‘wake’ from this ‘dream world’ as an enlightened soul once we shed this mortal coil. Not, as most believe, that ‘we could be living in a world controlled by machines and we dont know it’. That’s just so shallow. So as you may notice, throughout the ages, the most successful storys are ones that touch the heart in a way that nothing else can, OR the ones that are based on a deep and meaningful philosophical grounding.
Now, the first film, inevitably, had to have some basic elements to make up the whole picture. Unimportant, unessential things like the name of Morpheus’ ship, or the fact that Agent Smith talks funny, or the way neo dresses. They are simply story-building elements which must be marginalised to a certain extent in order to fully appreciate the story. The main emphasis being on the philosophy.
The film ends with a beautifully symbolic shot of Neo, fully enlightened and powerful, making his ascent up into the sky. It is finished. He is the one. The prophecy is fulfilled, and has already started to rise up against the machines. The rest is left to our imaginations, as some thing are best left that way.
That is the end of the ‘deep and meaningful’ philosophy.
Enter: Reloaded.
What could they make a movie about here? Nothing. There is nothing. Nothing but a futile attempt to re-ignite a successful title and make it into a franchise. So, what did they do? Untied the nicely tied up story from the first film, focussing on those marginalised elements I mentioned earlier, and making up some lame meaningless story while trying ever-so-hard to hold on to the remaining threads of the good philosophical background. ‘The Merovingian’, ‘The Architect’, ‘The Keymaker’. All completely meaningless attempts to keep that mysterious, intruiging style to the film.
And, I mean, wasn’t Neo the high-and-mighty savior of the peoples of the real-world? Now, Morpheus is just this loony that believes in a prophecy which turns out to be a false, while the rest of the real-world people are left to formulate plans to fight the machines. Thats just boring. Really pointless. One starts to wonder why Neo is even there anymore. He just seems so useless.
Add to that some disjoined characters and the most ridiculous dialogue of the century, and you have a multi-million-dollar-grossing film which all the critics slam.
Ok ok ok ok, lets toss aside the first film.
Lets forget the philosophy.
Lets just somehow assume that Reloaded (or Revolutions) was a standalone film and it had a half-decent story. Just for argument’s sake. You look at the basic filmmaking techiniques and the acting. Terrible. On top of that, it features an irritatingly electronic soundtrack with blunt, worn-down, reprisals to the original themes. Don Davis’ extremely distinctive style and atmosphere he brings to the music is just beaten further into the ground than Smith does in Revolutions.
pant, pant
Phew, I think I’ll have to cut it short here.
I’m really getting tired.
If you want more, just ask.
The rather offensive line that used to be here was removed :ne:
, and I didnt want it to go to waste. Basically they were talking about how much they loved those latest 2 installments of the Matrix trilogy.