The Matrix Resurrections

[Replies From View]

No way of streaming it on release is there? Still not keen on cinema (and that's before you get babysitters etc involved)

Why do you always insist on taking absolutely loads of babysitters to the cinema with you?

[Ferris]

I'm not the one that insists. You get them in the door and the fuckers never leave - and they want bringing to everything!

Dinner with wife requires a table for 12. It's a nightmare honestly, but this is the way it is.

[dead-ced-dead]

Annoyingly, you can't get HBO in Canada because [insert reason here].

I was hoping to just buy the fucker from some tax-dodging media conglomerate and watch it on me telly after the nipper's gone to bed. Is that not gonna be likely?

You could torrent it and buy it later?

[13 schoolyards]

There's a big embargo on reviews of this for the next few days, but I think it's safe to say I enjoyed it. A friend of mine who was there said afterwards "that was about as good as we could have expected", and considering how much it relies on / builds on the entire trilogy I think that's a fair call.

It was a real shame they couldn't get Hugo Weaving back tho.

[Ferris]

You could torrent it and buy it later?

I'd feel a bit dodgy about that to be honest. I'm even less keen on cinemas now that omicron is out there, I suppose I'll just wait until it's on a streaming service and do my best to dodge reviews until then.

[mjwilson]

There's a big embargo on reviews of this for the next few days, but I think it's safe to say I enjoyed it. A friend of mine who was there said afterwards "that was about as good as we could have expected", and considering how much it relies on / builds on the entire trilogy I think that's a fair call.

I rewatched the first one the other day, is it worth slogging through the others as well?

[mothman]

I considered it but even seventeen years after I watched Revolutions (on what turned out to be a cam copy, complete with somebody standing up at the end) I still can't bring myself to watch it again.

And now I think about I'm not 100% I saw Reloaded more than once (that was at the cinema though) either...

[Magnum Valentino]

I'm the same, The Matrix is one of my favourite ever films but I haven't seen Revolutions since I saw it in the cinema and can barely remember a thing about it.

[idunnosomename]

watched the corridor crew with the mythbusters fella who worked on the Matrix sequels, how they did amazing practical effects on a huge scale for Zion stuff: genuinely cant fucking remember any of these sequences. a crane falling over? some spaceship crashing? no sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en7deA6dE7Y

[the Fallen]

It'll unsettle the redpill nutters which isn't a negative, but seems a genuinely mixed bag.

https://www.thewrap.com/the-matrix-resurrections-reviews-reactions/

Although if your cineaste mentality begins and ends with the definition of "bold and most vivid personal Hollywood sequels" being "'The Last Jedi,'"  you may be a furlong beyond my own dubious tastes.

[Replies From View]

watched the corridor crew with the mythbusters fella who worked on the Matrix sequels, how they did amazing practical effects on a huge scale for Zion stuff: genuinely cant fucking remember any of these sequences. a crane falling over? some spaceship crashing? no sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en7deA6dE7Y

I always assumed it was just CGI, sadly.  Just endless murky grey metallic surfaces, with a flat, lifeless grading presumably so the CGI wouldn't look out of place.

Shame because many talented people obviously put a lot of love and effort into it.

[Custard]

This will be a solid 3 bagger

Not as bad as the sequels, yet forgotten about within a year

If I'm right, I win £5

[idunnosomename]

I always assumed it was just CGI, sadly.  Just endless murky grey metallic surfaces, with a flat, lifeless grading presumably so the CGI wouldn't look out of place.

Shame because many talented people obviously put a lot of love and effort into it.

you definitely would do it 100% cg now but this was nearly twenty years ago (2001/2 production), they really couldnt. Still found the Matrix sequels visually boring though. Not a fan of the second two SW prequels either (though I do like TPM in its looks)

[13 schoolyards]

I rewatched the first one the other day, is it worth slogging through the others as well?

One of the people I saw it with hadn't seen the third film and barely remembered the second, and there were a couple of moments where she was like "who are they?"

Basically, if you know who

Spoiler alert

The Merovingian is, and you know about the refugee computer programs from the start of the third film, you're pretty right. Everyone else who comes back and all the other references seemed either pretty well explained, or just references you didn't need to get to follow the story

[close]

Even at the screening I was at I was surprised to hear such a wide range of responses to it, but I think a *lot* of people out there either barely remember the original films or expect a modern day action blockbuster to be exactly like a Marvel film. It seemed to me to be working firmly (and mostly satisfyingly) within the parameters established by the other films - if you don't like lengthy explanations or weird exposition you're in the wrong cinema.

[mothman]

The Guardian's review wasn't great... and neither was their opinion of the film, boom boom. Seemed to spend two-thirds of it going on about the trilogy before getting on to the actual movie it was there to talk about.

[Small Man Big Horse]

This is now available, I didn't realise Warners were still doing the same day at cinemas and on HBO Max thing so it came as a bit of a surprise to see it out there.

[dead-ced-dead]

I'm excited to see a genuinely polarising film. With most blockbusters now being engineered to please everyone but stay as close to the middle of the line as possible, I'm unreasonably excited to see a film that'll take a few weird missteps and could potentially get me to spit out a 1/5 review, or even a 5/5, rather than the usual 2.5-3/5.

But, I'm a fan of Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending for those reasons.

[dissolute ocelot]

Even the bad reviews make it sound interesting: trying to do something different and be reflexive and questioning the point of a sequel is always going to get mixed reviews compared to doing a greatest hits package like The Force Awakens. I'm not sure what I actually want from a Matrix movie (apart from Not Matrix Revolutions) but I guess I'll have to find out now.

[13 schoolyards]

I enjoyed it, but I've read a few negative reviews that I've also agreed with. I think the problem (or at least, my problem with it) is that it doesn't quite have the budget to do the scale of a "real" Matrix film, so a couple of areas where you expect a Matrix film to be strong (the fights and action especially) aren't really up there like they should be.

Countering that, the human story is easily as strong as any of the other installments, the meta side of things is funny and insightful, and it builds on the original's themes in a satisfying way. I don't know that I want any more Matrix films (or "content"), but this left me thinking it wouldn't be so bad if they did decide to try and keep it going yet again.

[Mr Trumpet]

I rather enjoyed Lana Wachowski's Sense8 TV series. Utterly daft show with a lot of heart and some fun fight scenes. And the lovely Erendira Ibarra who I understand has a role in this film as well. Delightful, looking forward to it.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Big-ish spoilers below, so I'd only click on it if you've seen the film.

Spoiler alert

This kicks off with a huge amount of meta elements, with Thomas Anderson having created The Matrix trilogy of games in this version of reality, and along with lots of clips from the previous movies there's a lot of discussion about what the originals were about and what a new game should offer. But once Keanu's Neo again it becomes a lot less interesting, it's by no means the disaster that the other sequels were but none of the new characters are that interesting, and it suffers from a lack of a decent villain, Neil Patrick Harris and the new Smith do their best but both are average  and unlike Hugo Weaving they aren't fun to hate. The big fight scenes are okay, and um, then it just kind of ends and the whole thing felt a bit pointless,

[close]

I don't regret watching it and it kept my interest as it went along, but I doubt I'll remember much about it in a couple of month's time. 6.0/10

[Replies From View]

6/10 is better than films 2 and 3, presumably?

(Sorry if you covered this within the spoiler tags but I haven't read any spoilers.)

[Small Man Big Horse]

6/10 is better than films 2 and 3, presumably?

(Sorry if you covered this within the spoiler tags but I haven't read any spoilers.)

Yeah, it's better than either of the sequels but not as good as the first.

[JamesTC]

I thought it was wonderful. My only proper criticism is that it was completely lacking in subtlety, but this feels intentional. Maybe this is needed with a Matrix sequel in the 20s. It also at times feels like a big middle finger to the alt-right cunts who appropriated the first film.

Spoiler alert

The second half wasn't as good as the first half and the ending was a little abrupt, but clearly intended to lead into a sequel.

I definitely think the potential sequel will not be anywhere near as good as this due to the fact that the strengths mostly lie in the first half.

[close]

Don't bother to wait for the after credits scene. There is one, but it is not worth waiting around for.

[Magnum Valentino]

Seconded, do not watch the after-credits scene.

Also, don't get curious about the version of the song that plays during the credits and look it up online unless you want to see a live rendition from earlier this summer when the singer pissed all over a lad onstage.

[SteveDave]

I megalol'd when

Spoiler alert

Keanu saw his Matrix self in the mirror and he looked like the zombie who gets the top of his head cut off by the helicopter rotor blades in "Dawn Of The Dead"

[close]

[JamesTC]

Spoiler alert

Neo took his hat off to reveal he is bald and said "I bet you're loving this on the Cook'd and Bomb'd forum".

[close]

I genuinely thought that when he did it. You have just reminded me now.

[SteveDave]

Why is the Agent Smith actor playing him like Dennis from "Always Sunny"?

[elliszeroed]

I liked it, I think. A few, scattered thoughts:

SPOILERS YO!

• None of the new characters had much in the way of personality.
• Action scenes lacked the creativity of previous films. Felt like they ran out of budget at the end.
• Too long, i was bored after two hours. But then most action movies always bore me in the third act.
• Is it ever explained why Neo was recreated and put back in the Matrix- was this a spin-off/ side Matrix created by the Analyst for some reason? That could have been a cool idea, the characters jumping through different iterations of the Matrix.
• I liked the idea, that as well as the Oracle and the Architect, there was a third, the Analyst but was it was ever made clear if he/ it had a relationship to the other two, was a rebel program or what.
• The ending didn't have that much action, just Neo holding up his hands to throw waves, or stop bullets.
• Jessica Henwick is beautiful. Loved that her codename was Bugs Bunny.
• Again, why was Neo remade?  Did the truce fail, or did the machines lie? Why? They talked about a machine war, because of failing power, because so many people chose to leave, but never really connected it to the plot of the film- "if we have Neo and Trinity, then people won't want to leave?" or "Neo and Trinity create so much brain battery power, we can run the Matrix on them"?
• As far as remakes/ reboots go probably one of the most creative. Shame they couldnt get Larry Fishburne or Hugo Weaving in.

They should have had another scene of Thomas and Tiffany in the first third to solidfy their connection/ relationship. Would have liked to see more of Trinity kicking ass.

[13 schoolyards]

• Is it ever explained why Neo was recreated and put back in the Matrix- was this a spin-off/ side Matrix created by the Analyst for some reason? That could have been a cool idea, the characters jumping through different iterations of the Matrix.

It seemed to me that the deal was basically this: the Analyst was originally just some chancer who thought "Neo's corpse might be worth a bit" and grabbed it (and Trinity because why not) to rebuild them to try and figure out how Neo could do all the weird stuff he was doing in the Matrix.

Meanwhile, people leaving the Matrix because of the peace led to machine power shortages, so the pro-peace government was overthrown and replaced by a new, pro-humans as batteries party, at which point the Analyst stepped up and said "hey, I've got a plan for a new Matrix where things will be even more depressing than before, and if I use the power of Sad Keanu as the basis we'll all be able to leave our TVs on and our fridge doors open 24/7/forever because when these two are together they can do all the super-powered stuff I can't control but if I keep them just far enough apart I can tap into their powers while still leaving them sad and lonely"

(it seems that while the old Matrix was run on logic and getting the little things right, the new one is much more based on feelings and the general vibe of things, which is why it doesn't have the green tinge and the fight scenes are sloppier)