Seeing as this goes live on HBO Max in half an hour...
*** THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS *** (SPOILER THREAD)
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Last: 2 yr ago by Milwaukees Best Light
Looks like they're going with a 3 AM Eastern/Midnight Pacific release for this one instead.
Was really be hoping to come in here ready to sing this movie's praises, but honestly, my main feeling right now is, I'm not sure how to feel about it.
I think it might've been TOO weird and out there for me. The meta thing ventured a little too close into parody territory for me.
Plus, a bunch of things just felt off to me. Both the existence and motivations of Smith are entirely unexplained. And I still couldn't tell you what exactly the young Morpheus was.
And they made the joke about needing a new bullet time, so I kept waiting for the "big" game-changing action moment that never came.
And absolutely no elaboration on why Trinity has One powers now.
I'm gonna need to sit with this one for a bit.
(I will say the IMAX Laser image quality is absolutely remarkable though.)
I think it might've been TOO weird and out there for me. The meta thing ventured a little too close into parody territory for me.
Plus, a bunch of things just felt off to me. Both the existence and motivations of Smith are entirely unexplained. And I still couldn't tell you what exactly the young Morpheus was.
And they made the joke about needing a new bullet time, so I kept waiting for the "big" game-changing action moment that never came.
And absolutely no elaboration on why Trinity has One powers now.
I'm gonna need to sit with this one for a bit.
(I will say the IMAX Laser image quality is absolutely remarkable though.)
I enjoyed it. Obviously the wachoski journey plays heavily into the plot. Definitely understand the meta references.
What a master class in creating a trailer without much of the important scenes.
What a master class in creating a trailer without much of the important scenes.
These 3 items basically killed the ending for me. I enjoyed 90% of the movie but feel like something (or several somethings) ended up on the cutting room floor that should not have.Brian Earl Spilner said:
Both the existence and motivations of Smith are entirely unexplained
And they made the joke about needing a new bullet time, so I kept waiting for the "big" game-changing action moment that never came.
And absolutely no elaboration on why Trinity has One powers now.
I thought the concept and ideas were very cool, but the execution was off. Something just wasn't quite right.
Just finished watching it. I think I liked it, but not sure. Glad I've seen it, but don't fee any need to see it again.
Huge Matrix fan here, they made a movie but forgot to include a consistent plot with it. Pretty much nothing was explained, and things that were explained were just hand waive style explained.
Beyond everything going on in the original trilogy, it all came down to a war between man and machine. In this one I'm still unsure if the war is still ongoing or not. The humans are still hiding, but the analyst character doesn't seem to be advocating for war on the remaining humans, he just wants control of neo and trinity because somehow their human bodies produce more power than other human bodies???
Just really disappointed in how they did this. It's like they had 5 unrelated good ideas for how to reboot the franchise and instead of picking one and going with it, they made a movie with those 5 unrelated ideas trying to interact with each other.
Beyond everything going on in the original trilogy, it all came down to a war between man and machine. In this one I'm still unsure if the war is still ongoing or not. The humans are still hiding, but the analyst character doesn't seem to be advocating for war on the remaining humans, he just wants control of neo and trinity because somehow their human bodies produce more power than other human bodies???
Just really disappointed in how they did this. It's like they had 5 unrelated good ideas for how to reboot the franchise and instead of picking one and going with it, they made a movie with those 5 unrelated ideas trying to interact with each other.
It pretty much sucked and I had very low expectations.
It absolutely fell flat on its face the second half. It felt like a badly written knock-off.
Almost a parody, like they are making fun of me for liking the first movie.
It absolutely fell flat on its face the second half. It felt like a badly written knock-off.
Almost a parody, like they are making fun of me for liking the first movie.
Pretty sure this is the reason.Brian Earl Spilner said:
And absolutely no elaboration on why Trinity has One powers now.
In all seriousness, I'm sorry for your mixed bag of emotions on it. We forgive a lot in our favorite properties when they come back around again and there's definitely a sense of emptiness when they can't quite give us what we want, or even what we're willing to accept.
I think I felt very similar to what you're feeling after The Last Jedi. But I've learned to love the best parts of it, hope the same happens to you with this one.
This movie was an absolute mess. I never thought they could get worse than revolutions yet "here we are."
I feel like this was 2.5 hours of a movie making fun of itself.
So much potential in the Matrix universe but I really think they should've stopped after the first one.
Maybe a "reboot" in 10 or so years with a different director and cast.
I feel like this was 2.5 hours of a movie making fun of itself.
So much potential in the Matrix universe but I really think they should've stopped after the first one.
Maybe a "reboot" in 10 or so years with a different director and cast.
I thought it was entertaining. I agree with the above that there were certain things that didn't make sense there at the end. However, I thought the story they were shooting for, though it wasn't as tight as it could have been, was actually pretty good.
I really liked the whole Trinity heist piece. When they finally broke her free and then pirated her mind back in, that was a pretty cool moment.
No huge desire to see it again, though that's how I feel about 2 and 3.
I really liked the whole Trinity heist piece. When they finally broke her free and then pirated her mind back in, that was a pretty cool moment.
No huge desire to see it again, though that's how I feel about 2 and 3.
The Trinity heist stuff was, indeed, cool, and about the only thing that felt like a "real" movie to me.
I didn't hate it, but it just never really seemed like much was at stake. It felt every bit of the 2.5 hours.
Just felt rushed off a cliff after Neo got out and the Trinity storyline took off. This was a mini version of matrix 1-3 all slammed into one, from getting out to mission to machine city. Even snuck a "knuckle up" in there.
I honestly would have been perfectly happy with a Force Awakens style plot paralleling of Matrix 1 and just stopping at the realization of who is the "One" this go around. What a mess.
The callbacks were fun and I actually like Groff as Smith, and NPH was a nice villain in the vein of the Architect.
Who tf are the suits?! The thing that was the baby face at the end of Matrix 3? Eh I don't even care.
I honestly would have been perfectly happy with a Force Awakens style plot paralleling of Matrix 1 and just stopping at the realization of who is the "One" this go around. What a mess.
The callbacks were fun and I actually like Groff as Smith, and NPH was a nice villain in the vein of the Architect.
Who tf are the suits?! The thing that was the baby face at the end of Matrix 3? Eh I don't even care.
I hardly ever get impatient in movie theaters, but I was practically squirming in this one, beyond ready for it end.
And yeah, the stakes were complete gobbledygook. Something about if Neo risked saving Trinity he was risking all of Io as well? Except they literally made no effort to explain that in any way. And then Agent Smith, who was back as Jonathan Groff for no good reason, was suddenly in charge again? And couldn't let Neo save Trinity... because that's what the plot needed? Or something?
And I still have no clue what the dynamic even was between the "bad" machines and the rebel humans.
Just... ugh.
To all of it.
And yeah, the stakes were complete gobbledygook. Something about if Neo risked saving Trinity he was risking all of Io as well? Except they literally made no effort to explain that in any way. And then Agent Smith, who was back as Jonathan Groff for no good reason, was suddenly in charge again? And couldn't let Neo save Trinity... because that's what the plot needed? Or something?
And I still have no clue what the dynamic even was between the "bad" machines and the rebel humans.
Just... ugh.
To all of it.
Among the myriad problems this thing has, one minor issue that kept bugging me was that they kept referring to what was clearly footage from the original trilogy movies as "video games." Like, a bunch of characters would be standing around, watching actual movie footage from the original trilogy, saying to Neo something like, "This is the video game you created." Were those supposed to be video game cut scenes or something? Or is the video game so life-like it actually looks like a real movie? I know one of the characters essentially says Neo set out to create a game that was indistinguishable from reality or whatever, but it was still so weird. Why not instead just create some traditional, PS5-level game-play footage as obvious recreations of scenes from the movie, and go that route? It just felt so lazy otherwise, which was emblematic of the entire rest of the movie.
I think I liked it all the way up until the...what were they called... Exiles? After that it seemed like a bunch of half scenes and conflicted plot points.
The original films were so thought provoking, but the only question this one made me ask was "what the hell?"
The original films were so thought provoking, but the only question this one made me ask was "what the hell?"
TCTTS said:
The Trinity heist stuff was, indeed, cool, and about the only thing that felt like a "real" movie to me.
100% agree
The scene with the Exiles and the Merovingian was so bad and so cringeworthy. "Smith" showed up and I just had no clue what was going on, and then "Merv" kept ranting, and yeah, that was the moment I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt this thing was a stinker. Then whatever Merv said about "franchise IP" or whatever at the end of that sequence, that was supposed to be funny, landed with an absolute thud in our theater.
I just wish this movie took itself more seriously, which is such a weird feeling to have.
TCTTS said:
The scene with the Exiles and the Merovingian was so bad and so cringeworthy. "Smith" showed up and I just had no clue what was going on, and then "Merv" kept ranting, and yeah, that was the moment I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt this thing was a stinker. Then whatever Merv said about "franchise IP" or whatever at the end of that sequence, that was supposed to be funny, landed with an absolute thud in our theater.
That combined with all of the images and scenes from the original trilogy were just one giant grab at some nostalgia in hopes people would overlook how shallow a lot of this movie was.
But that's what was so weird because the entire theme of the movie was about nostalgia. It's like they kept critiquing nostalgia but then would use it in super lame ways, which felt like they were supposed to be "cool," and I'm sure there's some kind of smart/meta commentary there, but it just didn't work at all.
Brian Earl Spilner said:
I just wish this movie took itself more seriously, which is such a weird feeling to have.
Agreed. A lot of the same commentary could have been made - and probably more effectively - in a movie that took itself just a bit more seriously. But as is, none of it landed because it all just felt so weightless and mocking and irreverent.
I'm gonna need to sleep on THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS but I probably will not wake up understanding why the action is so bad.
— devin (@devincf) December 23, 2021
I guess that was all the one who didn't come back.
— devin (@devincf) December 23, 2021
Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow night. I turned it off about 1/2 way through. The meta ness was too much. Agree that it felt like a parody. Really didn't have the same feel as the originals. Just further sullying the first one at this point.
Well, I didn't hate it... can't say I fully understand it either. Then again, I didn't fully get the original after my first viewing.
The whole Trinity gaining absolute power with no explanation just reeks of modern "it doesn't always have to be a white male hero" writing. But, the big difference here (as opposed to the latest Terminator movie) is at least Trinity is already a bad ass character so rooting for her is easy / acceptable.
Can't really argue with the criticism I've read so far, but overall it at least was a fun watch. Too many quick cut / hard to watch action sequences is my biggest complaint.
The whole Trinity gaining absolute power with no explanation just reeks of modern "it doesn't always have to be a white male hero" writing. But, the big difference here (as opposed to the latest Terminator movie) is at least Trinity is already a bad ass character so rooting for her is easy / acceptable.
Can't really argue with the criticism I've read so far, but overall it at least was a fun watch. Too many quick cut / hard to watch action sequences is my biggest complaint.
I think, the main plot here with the dynamic between Io and the machine cities, is that Neo is going to restart the war by depriving them of the energy that Trinity makes.
So even though Neo sacrificed himself to the machines for peace at the end of Matrix Revolutions, he's now so selfish that he will risk reigniting war to get Trinity back. Neo is basically the villain in this movie. They try to paint Niobe as some sort of obstructionist, but she's the only non dumbass. Everyone else keeps risking everything for nostalgia, which ultimately is the theme I took away from this movie, DON'T risk it for nostalgia because the results are a stinking pile of crap.
There are a million ways to use the matrix universe for a good movie, and WB can't figure this out at all somehow.
Also I agree that the action scenes sucked, they recreated some scenes from the first movie, but anything original just looked cheesy. And Neo looked like a Jedi doing force pushes for some reason?? He can stop bullets without having to move anything more than his mind, so why all the gesticulation in this one?
Such a freaking mess.
So even though Neo sacrificed himself to the machines for peace at the end of Matrix Revolutions, he's now so selfish that he will risk reigniting war to get Trinity back. Neo is basically the villain in this movie. They try to paint Niobe as some sort of obstructionist, but she's the only non dumbass. Everyone else keeps risking everything for nostalgia, which ultimately is the theme I took away from this movie, DON'T risk it for nostalgia because the results are a stinking pile of crap.
There are a million ways to use the matrix universe for a good movie, and WB can't figure this out at all somehow.
Also I agree that the action scenes sucked, they recreated some scenes from the first movie, but anything original just looked cheesy. And Neo looked like a Jedi doing force pushes for some reason?? He can stop bullets without having to move anything more than his mind, so why all the gesticulation in this one?
Such a freaking mess.
Watched it last night but was pretty tired. Felt completely underwhelmed. I'd give it a 4 or 5 out of 10. Maybe somewhat better than Revolutions. Maybe.
Need to rewatch when I'm not so tired maybe. Big Meh.
Need to rewatch when I'm not so tired maybe. Big Meh.
CNN is an enemy of the state and should be treated as such.
AggieEP said:
I think, the main plot here with the dynamic between Io and the machine cities, is that Neo is going to restart the war by depriving them of the energy that Trinity makes.
So even though Neo sacrificed himself to the machines for peace at the end of Matrix Revolutions, he's now so selfish that he will risk reigniting war to get Trinity back. Neo is basically the villain in this movie. They try to paint Niobe as some sort of obstructionist, but she's the only non dumbass. Everyone else keeps risking everything for nostalgia, which ultimately is the theme I took away from this movie, DON'T risk it for nostalgia because the results are a stinking pile of crap.
There are a million ways to use the matrix universe for a good movie, and WB can't figure this out at all somehow.
Also I agree that the action scenes sucked, they recreated some scenes from the first movie, but anything original just looked cheesy. And Neo looked like a Jedi doing force pushes for some reason?? He can stop bullets without having to move anything more than his mind, so why all the gesticulation in this one?
Such a freaking mess.
Re: Io, if there's peace, then why were Niobe/the "rebels" still hiding from the machines? That's what the whole camouflage thing was about, with the holographic walls. That entire thing was just so muddled.
As for Neo going after Trinity, they sure did present their reunion as triumphant in the end, if that was meant to tie into the anti-nostalgia messaging. Again, like Io and the machine/human war dynamics, the thematic elements were all over the place, and seemed to constantly be contradicting each other.
Is it at least better than the independence day sequel?
Honestly, parts of this reminded me of that movie throughout.
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