The Matrix Resurrections

[13 schoolyards]

Yeah, the green digits stuff is almost identical to how the first film begins.

Resurrections is basically a remake anyway, only once Neo wakes up instead of cool mind-bending stuff and jumping off rooftops and leering at the Woman in Red we get a lot of references to the sequels. At least there was a callback to "tasty wheat"

[JamesTC]

The opening five minutes of The Matrix Resurrections are revisiting the opening of The Matrix within Neo's modal, so it makes sense to set the scene with a callback too.

[Replies From View]

Yeah, the green digits stuff is almost identical to how the first film begins.

Also the green digits themselves weren't talking

[thugler]

Very boring and stupid film. Even the action scenes were poor. The effects in the first film still look way better than anything in this or the other sequels.
The ultra snark meta stuff was just annoying. The io/zion stuff was incredibly bad. Plot made no sense.

[Bad Ambassador]

Pay attention better.

[olliebean]

The meta stuff at the start was the only part I enjoyed, tbh. Got pretty bored with it after that. And I still don't understand what the point of the Merovingian is (although he did remind me at one point of the French guy who insults Graham Chapman from the top of a castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which provided a fun moment amongst all the tedium). Or why Christina Ricci was in it at all.

[Zetetic]

I thought it was a fairly fun weaving together of Lana doing personal bits and pieces in a moderately good bit of fanfic.

[Zetetic]

Echoing a couple of others - some fairly terrible dialogue and it didn't feel like they got great performances out of some of the cast (to the point where I thought this was a deliberate gesture to the game-y-feel of the New Matrix for a while...) and I'm not entirely convinced the mechanics/logic/motivations entirely mesh in the end. But I don't think these things, particularly the latter, massively mattered either for what Lana was trying to get out of it or me to enjoy spending the time with it.

[Replies From View]

Still no explanation for Niobe being a dwarf in this sequel?  She was human-sized in parts 2 and 3 but here all the shots of characters conversing with her involved them making apparent eye-contact with a grave.

[olliebean]

Still no explanation for Niobe being a dwarf in this sequel?  She was human-sized in parts 2 and 3 but here all the shots of characters conversing with her involved them making apparent eye-contact with a grave.

She was doing old-person acting, which meant she had to be hunched over and small because that's what all old people are like, according to large swathes of the acting profession.

[Mister Six]

I quite want to watch this, but I never saw Revolutions and Mrs Six has never seen any of the Matrices. Can we get away with just watching the first one and then jumping to this?

[thugler]

I quite want to watch this, but I never saw Revolutions and Mrs Six has never seen any of the Matrices. Can we get away with just watching the first one and then jumping to this?

Don't bother, it's even worse than the previous sequels.

If you really want to, I'd say not really as it refers to a lot of stuff from the sequels. But it's such a throwaway unserious film maybe that wouldn't matter

[idunnosomename]

just watch the matrix because it's a really good film then watch this bit of passable guff if you feel like it

[Sonny_Jim]

Yeah definitely agree with the above, just  watch the original.  I can't imagine getting much enjoyment out of the recent one if you haven't.

The only reason I got any enjoyment out of the recent one was when I thought Lana Wachowski was flicking the twos at the audience

[13 schoolyards]

I quite want to watch this, but I never saw Revolutions and Mrs Six has never seen any of the Matrices. Can we get away with just watching the first one and then jumping to this?

As someone who enjoyed Resurrections I'd say... pretty much, yeah. There are a few elements from the sequels that get built on, but nothing that really requires concrete knowledge beyond what the film itself serves up.

Thinking about it, it may work even better if you haven't seen the films in between - "after the first one, things all went a bit to shit" is pretty obvious from the story.

[Mister Six]

Cheers! I'll give it a whirl, then.

[Head Gardener]

[Bad Ambassador]

Watch the first one, then a synopsis of two and three that CLEARLY explain the plot and themes - it's tougher than you might think, then watch the new one.

Resurrections is great, easily one of the best films of the year and one of the most ambitious, intelligent and idiosyncratic blockbuster-level films in years. I absolutely loved it.

[Replies From View]

This seems to be implying that the fourth film is actually the best one.

[Sonny_Jim]

I like how the 4th panel in that picture is childish and stupid but is still more interesting than the 2 panels preceding it.

EDIT: Horse cock.

[Shaky]

I rewatched Reloaded and Revolutions for the first time in 15 years and the former is way better than the new one.

[The Guppy]

Reloaded is worth watching for the giant scrap in the mansion and on the freeway. And I like the stupid fight with the hundred Smiths.

[Replies From View]

If you like Reloaded then why not try breeding silverfish inside a shoebox and watching them

[Thursday]

Reloaded is worth watching for the giant scrap in the mansion and on the freeway. And I like the stupid fight with the hundred Smiths.

Yeah I've rewatched the trilogy after seeing this. First one holds up well, but it's certainly not as smart as it seemed to 14 year old me thought unsurprisingly. Reloaded I really liked, because the action is so wonderfully ludicrous, building on all the weird rules established in the first film. Yeah the hundreds of Agent Smiths fight is obviously very dated CGI now... but it's still great fun to watch the actual choreography of the scene, And obviously the freeway is top-tier. All the Zion stuff people complain about is a small percentage of the film.

So the fact that I enjoyed Reloaded so much, made me optimistic for Revolutions, but no that wasn't very interesting. I guess if you're into people in big mechs shooting guns, then cool but it doesn't do anything for me. Especially because I don't really have any interesting in the characters doing it. The Smith fight in this is all big dramatic wide shots, but the actual action isn't very interesting.

So I would put Resurrections above Revolutions, but not the original or Reloaded.

[phantom_power]

The Half in the Bag review of this is pretty good. They equate it to Gremlins 2 in that it is also a commentary not just on the original film but the reputation, fans and legacy. Not as fun as G2 obviously, but I think made in a similar "fuck it" spirit

[AsparagusTrevor]

I also watched the trilogy recently, on the 4K blurays which are amazing transfers.

Of course the first film is brilliant if a bit ropy in some places. There's a sense of humour and humanity which is missing from the sequels which sets it apart. Plus the fight scenes flow well, whereas the sequels turn everything much more staccato and robotic.

Reloaded is a blast if taken as a series of entertaining set-pieces. The chateau fight leading into the astounding car chase is the obvious high point. The Smith fight in Reloaded looks a lot better now they've finally matched the colour grading between CGI and live action shots in the new transfer. It's still a bit plasterscene-looking but doesn't stand out quite as much.

I found myself liking Revolutions more this time. I hated it at the cinema, thought it was such an anticlimax, and I think I only ever watched it once more on DVD. Once it gets going it's alright. The Zion invasion stuff was pretty well done and it was refreshing to see so much more practical effects and miniature work than I remembered. The Smith fight in this one is a bit rubbish. The ending is a load of bollocks.

[Captain Z]

Thought this was a load of honking old shite until about 45 minutes in when the actual storyline began to take shape. No major insights from me but what really shook me out of things was how empty Io seemed. (I didn't quite take in the explanation of what happened to Zion either). Unless I'm mistaken the only people we encountered in Io were Niobe, the botanist and a handful of nameless ship captains.

5/10

[Thursday]

I got the sense Io was implied to have a bit more going on just they didn't want to waste too much time and budget there.

[PlanktonSideburns]

just watch the matrix because it's a really good film then watch this bit of passable guff if you feel like it

[Dex Sawash]

this cunt dead yet?