TCTTS said:
Honestly, parts of this reminded me of that movie throughout.
*** THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS *** (SPOILER THREAD)
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Last: 2 yr ago by Milwaukees Best Light
It's honestly too hard to tell what the dynamic was between the humans and machines. There are clearly machine defectors in Io, and apparently helping the humans free Neo made that one machine thing get exiled, so it must be illegal to help the humans. The humans are hiding so I guess they cannot just openly live in their underground city.... there is a random 30 second scene depicting a machine civil war over scarce resources.... but they never tell us what resource that is. I assume power, but they decided the audience could just fill in the blanks as we wished.
The humans honestly seem to be the villains in this movie, working to upset the semi-peace by freeing Neo and Trinity and seemingly setting Smith free again to cause trouble. The balance of power in the real world is tilted so heavily in favor of the machines that it's not like there is a possible future where the humans can defeat them. And even if they did destroy every machine, they'd be left with an Earth with no sunlight that is uninhabitable.
I always took that as one of the main themes from the original trilogy, there was no winning the war for the humans, winning was more akin to striking a compromise where both sides decide not to bother each other. The humans who are out of the matrix can live underground, and the machines can continue to harvest power through their grown humans.
In the original Matrix the story looked like this:
Main Plot Story: Machines have overtaken humans as the dominant lifeform and have subjugated humanity into a state of servitude, using body temperature like a thermal battery to power their civilization. The remaining humans are constantly hunted, live underground, and the total extinction of the free human race is a distinct possibility. The humans are looking for a way to end the war, Morpheus believes the Neo will be the person to end the war.
Sub plot: Neo's journey to become the one.
Most of us remember the subplot more, but the no crap stakes are in the main story plot, and the fate of humanity is based on that big story.
In this new Matrix the story is this:
Main Plot Story: .................
Yep, we have no stakes, we have no idea if the war continues, do the machines tolerate the humans now? We know nothing about the world the story is told in except that the "Analyst" keeps Neo and Trinity in infinite loops to harvest power from their human bodies which apparently run hotter? than other human bodies.
I have no idea why the humans would continue to try and free people's minds or even go into the Matrix. It would only seem to serve to upset the machines and risk destruction. Surely natural population growth is already a problem in a city where having one strawberry is notable. So why bring any extra mouths to this place?
For a movie that is a sequel to a franchise where extinction of the human race were the stakes, it makes no sense for them to make such a trite and meaningless story.
The humans honestly seem to be the villains in this movie, working to upset the semi-peace by freeing Neo and Trinity and seemingly setting Smith free again to cause trouble. The balance of power in the real world is tilted so heavily in favor of the machines that it's not like there is a possible future where the humans can defeat them. And even if they did destroy every machine, they'd be left with an Earth with no sunlight that is uninhabitable.
I always took that as one of the main themes from the original trilogy, there was no winning the war for the humans, winning was more akin to striking a compromise where both sides decide not to bother each other. The humans who are out of the matrix can live underground, and the machines can continue to harvest power through their grown humans.
In the original Matrix the story looked like this:
Main Plot Story: Machines have overtaken humans as the dominant lifeform and have subjugated humanity into a state of servitude, using body temperature like a thermal battery to power their civilization. The remaining humans are constantly hunted, live underground, and the total extinction of the free human race is a distinct possibility. The humans are looking for a way to end the war, Morpheus believes the Neo will be the person to end the war.
Sub plot: Neo's journey to become the one.
Most of us remember the subplot more, but the no crap stakes are in the main story plot, and the fate of humanity is based on that big story.
In this new Matrix the story is this:
Main Plot Story: .................
Yep, we have no stakes, we have no idea if the war continues, do the machines tolerate the humans now? We know nothing about the world the story is told in except that the "Analyst" keeps Neo and Trinity in infinite loops to harvest power from their human bodies which apparently run hotter? than other human bodies.
I have no idea why the humans would continue to try and free people's minds or even go into the Matrix. It would only seem to serve to upset the machines and risk destruction. Surely natural population growth is already a problem in a city where having one strawberry is notable. So why bring any extra mouths to this place?
For a movie that is a sequel to a franchise where extinction of the human race were the stakes, it makes no sense for them to make such a trite and meaningless story.
I'm not a huge fan of the Matrix to begin with so I can't say my expectations were high. With that being said, I don't think I'll ever watch it again.
Niobe attempt to protect the city: They broke out in what??,,,, 5 minutes? Lol, they didn't even attempt to build it up or make it difficult for them to get away.
NPH's character: He's distracting in this role because he's NPH. (just my opinion, others may like him)
Product placement: We get it, you love glasses and sunglasses. It's almost like they were paid to insert everyone wearing a pair of specs. None were appealing, mostly distracting.
Again, not a huge fan but this wasn't good.
Niobe attempt to protect the city: They broke out in what??,,,, 5 minutes? Lol, they didn't even attempt to build it up or make it difficult for them to get away.
NPH's character: He's distracting in this role because he's NPH. (just my opinion, others may like him)
Product placement: We get it, you love glasses and sunglasses. It's almost like they were paid to insert everyone wearing a pair of specs. None were appealing, mostly distracting.
Again, not a huge fan but this wasn't good.
Just got out of this with my son. My 12 year old loved it. Made for an interesting back to back movie day with him after Spider-Man yesterday. Random thoughts:
- It was definitely a Matrix movie: kung fu, gun battles, slow-mo with water falling down, tons of nonsense techno babble and feaux philosophy, not paying a ton of attention to plot.
- Could have use just maybe 5 more minutes of exposition on the different factions within the machines, why Trinity and Neo were so important to the new Matrix, and how Trinity and Neo were remade.
- I assumed that in the process of rebuilding Neo and Trinity their DNA and thus powers were mixed together Jurassic Park style. Again a bit more exposition could have helped that.
- I don't remember anything in the soundtrack blowing me away like the first Matrix did. That soundtrack was huge. However, great use of Go Ask Alice.
- Has a major movie ever used that many clips from previous movies before? At times it felt like a clip show from a sitcom.
- Towards the end it turned into a Matrix heist move, which I was in for and this movie should have leaned into. Then it turned into a Matrix zombie movie with the "bot swarm" which was cool for a short time, glad they didn't drag that on too far.
- Both Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss looked great.
- NPH was great. He does slightly creepy and sinister while pretending to be wholesome so well.
I did find it fun that a movie about nostalgia has Doogie Freaking Howser as the main villain. Use to love that show as a little kid.
Quad Dog said:
Just got out of this with my son. My 12 year old loved it. Made for an interesting back to back movie day with him after Spider-Man yesterday. Random thoughts:
- It was definitely a Matrix movie: kung fu, gun battles, slow-mo with water falling down, tons of nonsense techno babble and feaux philosophy, not paying a ton of attention to plot.
- Could have use just maybe 5 more minutes of exposition on the different factions within the machines, why Trinity and Neo were so important to the new Matrix, and how Trinity and Neo were remade.
- I assumed that in the process of rebuilding Neo and Trinity their DNA and thus powers were mixed together Jurassic Park style. Again a bit more exposition could have helped that.
- I don't remember anything in the soundtrack blowing me away like the first Matrix did. That soundtrack was huge. However, great use of Go Ask Alice.
- Has a major movie ever used that many clips from previous movies before? At times it felt like a clip show from a sitcom.
- Towards the end it turned into a Matrix heist move, which I was in for and this movie should have leaned into. Then it turned into a Matrix zombie movie with the "bot swarm" which was cool for a short time, glad they didn't drag that on too far.
- Both Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss looked great.
- NPH was great. He does slightly creepy and sinister while pretending to be wholesome so well.
The song is called White Rabbit, not Go Ask Alice. But it does tie into Neo being told to follow the white rabbit in the original Matrix
My bad.
Haven't read the thread yet but wanted to put out some reactions while it's fresh. Overall a bit disappointed because I was so excited for this movie. There were some things I loved and others that were terrible/cheesy and would take me out of it. One good example is the end song. It was a bad version of the ending they had to the original and just ended on a terrible note.
LIKES
DISLIKES
LIKES
- The meta pieces at the beginning where Neo couldn't figure out if he was crazy or not
- Most of the concepts of the different type of Matrix and the scenes that tried to explain them (Bugs & Neo on the ship; NPH with Neo in Trinity's shop; etc.)
DISLIKES
- Tried to cram too much into a single movie. They had the freeing of Neo's mind from #1, the "heist" aspect of #2, and travelling to the machine city from #3. It kind of reminded me of the last 2 seasons of GoT where they ran around too much (e.g., Bugs & her crew going to Io, leaving, and then going back within just a few scenes).
- Cheesy callbacks like the Merovingian
- I can't name a single side character other than Bugs whereas I knew all of the crew from the Nebuchadnezzar in #1. This goes back to trying to cram too much in so that we didn't get to know the rest of the team. I'd like to have learned more about the Neo-ologists and what all humans had been doing in the 60 years that had passed.
Merovingian looked exactly like adult Robin Williams returning from the jungle in Jumanji. It was hilarious. I liked most of the film but the ending fight was without tension. It reminded me of the problem with Superman movies. Tough to have any drama when you know Neo can just use his force powers, over and over again. Also, the swarm was so silly. It was more reminiscent of zombies than the more powerful previous iteration where Smith makes himself into every avatar. Tough to shoot a group of agents. Super easy to shoot a horde of zombies. Further, there wasn't a single casualty from any of the randos that chose to help. I agree, other than Bugs (who was a very cool character) I have no idea who any of the others were. Further, Christina Ricci was in this? What? Where? When?
I called Morpheus being a recreation of the original character hence why he was a different actor as well as love conquering all. Overall, it was enjoyable and certainly better than 2 and 3.
I was disappointed in the soundtrack as well.
I called Morpheus being a recreation of the original character hence why he was a different actor as well as love conquering all. Overall, it was enjoyable and certainly better than 2 and 3.
I was disappointed in the soundtrack as well.
Quote:
Overall, it was enjoyable and certainly better than 2 and 3.
That is a HARD disagree for me on both counts.
3 is a tough watch, it's just not what we wanted from the conclusion.
2 on the other hand would probably be considered a great action movie if not for it being tied to the greatness of the first. Just on its own merits as a simple flick I can dig it.
2 on the other hand would probably be considered a great action movie if not for it being tied to the greatness of the first. Just on its own merits as a simple flick I can dig it.
Got a chance to read the thread. Sad but not surprised that we basically all had the same reactions. Forgot to add in my other post that my wife HATED it. We were both restless and ready for it to be over.
This might be the least-needed Spoiler thread of all time.
So I'm not nearly as negative on it as some here are but I totally get the criticisms.
It's big, dumb, and fun but maybe tries to be a bit too smart about it. That worked in the first film that was big, (at face value) dumb, and fun but also really damn smart but doesn't quite carry here.
I thought the first act was kind of brilliant and the meta commentary on itself was entertaining. I feel like that really could've been the film, them trying to pull Neo out of the Matrix. One, fun side note, "Chad" was played by Chad Stahelski, Keanu's original stunt double for The Matrix films who's since become a director of a small series of arthouse films called John Wick.
After that it got muddy. I never quite understood why they needed Trinity except because they did. I was also trying to figure out where I knew these actors from till looking up Lexy and realizing half the cast was from Sens8
Some of the really cool ideas never quite came together:
- some machines having come over to the human side
- the idea of Smith having his own epiphany to become Morpheus
- the Merovingian becoming this displaced homeless guy
- the throwback to Santi
Also really liked Jessica Henwick in this, she had a few fun throwaway Bugs Bunny lines that were a bit cheezy but did make me chuckle. But in the end it just got really messy, after the Trinity heist it just went pretty mindless and the switching footage was jarring and didn't look great.
I do want to give it another watch to see if things make a bit more sense. all in all it felt like some interesting ideas that never quite came together as a whole.
It's big, dumb, and fun but maybe tries to be a bit too smart about it. That worked in the first film that was big, (at face value) dumb, and fun but also really damn smart but doesn't quite carry here.
I thought the first act was kind of brilliant and the meta commentary on itself was entertaining. I feel like that really could've been the film, them trying to pull Neo out of the Matrix. One, fun side note, "Chad" was played by Chad Stahelski, Keanu's original stunt double for The Matrix films who's since become a director of a small series of arthouse films called John Wick.
After that it got muddy. I never quite understood why they needed Trinity except because they did. I was also trying to figure out where I knew these actors from till looking up Lexy and realizing half the cast was from Sens8
Some of the really cool ideas never quite came together:
- some machines having come over to the human side
- the idea of Smith having his own epiphany to become Morpheus
- the Merovingian becoming this displaced homeless guy
- the throwback to Santi
Also really liked Jessica Henwick in this, she had a few fun throwaway Bugs Bunny lines that were a bit cheezy but did make me chuckle. But in the end it just got really messy, after the Trinity heist it just went pretty mindless and the switching footage was jarring and didn't look great.
I do want to give it another watch to see if things make a bit more sense. all in all it felt like some interesting ideas that never quite came together as a whole.
It's been just over 24 hours, and for the life of me I absolutely cannot remember what happened to "Smith"/Jonathan Groff's character. I remember him showing up at Simulatte in the third act, screwing over the Analyst in some way (I think?), and then... nothing. This movie is already fading from my memory...
It felt like satire. Pretty odd effort.
TCTTS said:
It's been just over 24 hours, and for the life of me I absolutely cannot remember what happened to "Smith"/Jonathan Groff's character. I remember him showing up at Simulatte in the third act, screwing over the Analyst in some way (I think?), and then... nothing. This movie is already fading from my memory...
He mentioned that he could be anyone and then morphed into the guy who was behind the bar at the latte place. I guess that was his way of hiding in plain sight while the humans had to run for their lives.
Ah, yes. He became "anyone." Weird that they didn't give him a proper ending, though. They basically just moved past that whole thing once Neo and Trinity were on the rooftop, and didn't touch on it again.
I totally get people enjoying/tolerating this movie, having fun with it, not overanalyzing it, etc. But I've noticed on Twitter and elsewhere that we've officially reached the "It was SUPPOSED to be bad!" point of the discourse. Where so many of the movie's "high-minded" defenders/film snobs are trying to say that the way it looks (like ass), the bad action, the convoluted plot, etc, is all on purpose, because that's what Lana Wachowski intended as some kind of meta commentary on franchise film-making, the studio system, nostalgia, etc. While I agree that there is indeed an intentionality in making this entry look/feel different from the original trilogy, and that some of those choices *are* in fact a form of commentary, otherwise smart people are taking their defense of this thing to ridiculous lengths. It's almost farcical at this point, as if making a bad movie is some kind of genius/master stroke that the rest of us morons just aren't grasping. It almost feels like the opposite of Idiocracy or something.
TCTTS said:
I totally get people enjoying/tolerating this movie, having fun with it, not overanalyzing it, etc. But I've noticed on Twitter and elsewhere that we've officially reached the "It was SUPPOSED to be bad!" point of the discourse. Where so many of the movie's "high-minded" defenders/film snobs are trying to say that the way it looks (like ass), the bad action, the convoluted plot, etc, is all on purpose, because that's what Lana Wachowski intended as some kind of meta commentary on franchise film-making, the studio system, nostalgia, etc. While I agree that there is indeed an intentionality in making this entry look/feel different from the original trilogy, and that some of those choices *are* in fact a form of commentary, otherwise smart people are taking their defense of this thing to ridiculous lengths. It's almost farcical at this point, as if making a bad movie is some kind of genius/master stroke that the rest of us morons just aren't grasping. It almost feels like the opposite of Idiocracy or something.
It kind of makes sense if they are saying this new society we have (which is completely different than the one that existed in the late 90s) is idiotic, dumb, fake, then that totally all makes sense. If you notice, the meta writer's circle scenes from the beginning showed up precisely in the third act.
It was as if the Wachowski's recorded the very conversations they were pitched by Warner Brothers when crafting the new film. The more guns/two words "bullet time" all showed up. Even the conversation referencing Warner Brothers and focusing on telling the same story over and over…it felt like the first part was the Wachowskis and the last part producers. Hell the film premiered at the same time as Spider-Man: No Way Home, a film who's plot is set around the same story being told over and over.
Makes sense as an indictment of not only the process of making current film, but also our current society in general. Plus the film looked the way it did because it was a new "version" of the matrix or put another way, society. Down to the clothing, the style, the bright happy colors. As if our society is so safe.
Contrast that to the Matrix with with its green tint, dark drab cityscape, raining weather, overcast skies and sewers…even Thomas Anderson's apartment looked bright and cheery compared to its original. It was all meant to be our current culture's reflection on what the past memories were, not what they were but how we perceive them through time's lens.
Man I miss the 90s. It might also explain why the music in this sucked ass while the soundtrack then was so so damn good.
Like I said, much of the commentary you're mentioning is obviously intentional. That's not what I'm getting at, though. I'm specifically talking about people defending how *bad* the movie is, as if its incompetence on multiple levels was an intentional decision, and a genius one at that.
TCTTS said:
Like I said, much of the commentary you're mentioning is obviously intentional. That's not what I'm getting at, though. I'm specifically talking about people defending how *bad* the movie is, as if its incompetence on multiple levels was an intentional decision, and a genius one at that.
Oh, well I could see the last act maybe reaching that level but if that really were what they were after they would have been far, far more intentional about it. They could have just been fun and funny with it all. Make it a complete farcical spoof. He'll make it slap stick. They didn't do any of that, it was as serious as it got…and that Thelma and Louise ending…sheesh…and then Neo suddenly got scared and for Trinity to have more mental toughness to fly…perhaps they were poking fun at recent films placing matriarchal strength over men even if it makes no sense in the story?
It honestly felt like the movie was hijacked at the end.
Impossible escapes, over the top and silly action, happy endings, etc. it was just silly. I don't think it was the ending the Wachowskis were wanting. The writer's credits kind of speak to that. Notice how there were four writers credited for this film while all the rest were just the Wachowskis.
I would be willing to bet just about anything that Lana Wachowski not only made the exact film she wanted to make, but likely had final cut approval worked into her contract. She's far too revered at Warner Bros for them to force anything on her. She's responsible for one of the most popular and influential movies ever made, and almost assuredly wouldn't have come back to the franchise without certain stipulations giving her complete creative control. That, and the other credited writers are writers she chose to work with, from the jump (who have worked with her on past projects), in place of her sister, who opted out of collaborating with her this go-around.
TCTTS said:
I would be willing to bet just about anything that Lana Wachowski not only made the exact film she wanted to make, but likely had final cut approval worked into her contract. She's far too revered at Warner Bros for them to force anything on her. She's responsible for one of the most popular and influential movies ever made, and almost assuredly wouldn't have come back to the franchise without various stipulations giving her complete creative control. That, and the other credited writers are writers she chose to work with, from the jump (who have worked with her on past projects), since her sister opted out of collaborating with her this go-around.
Ah ok. Well then I guess the ending just sucked if that was all intentional. I wonder why the other wachowski chose not to be a part of this film?
After he delivered Anna back to Arrendelle to reunite with Hans, he realized that even though he had earlier scoffed at someone falling in love with a stranger in the course of one day, he had done that exact same thing and raced back astride Sven the Reindeer to tell Anna his true feelings.TCTTS said:
It's been just over 24 hours, and for the life of me I absolutely cannot remember what happened to "Smith"/Jonathan Groff's character. I remember him showing up at Simulatte in the third act, screwing over the Analyst in some way (I think?), and then... nothing. This movie is already fading from my memory...
I would post the Captain America "I Understood That Reference" gif, though I've never seen Frozen, but somehow know he's in it and that these are characters from it.
Ricci kicks off the game design meeting.
Stopped watching about 25 minutes in, dumb as hell. Such a disappointment.
First hour is borderline unwatchable
I saw The Matrix for the first time like 3 weeks ago when they had it on Imax at AMC, and I really liked it so I went ahead and watched Resurrections (I skipped both Reloaded and the other movie). It had some fun jokes but that's about it lol
I liked the meta-commentary brainstorming parts but the rest of this movie is a mess. Not even sure you could spoil this movie if you tried because I'm not even really sure what happened.
I definitely don't think it was supposed to be a "bad" movie. I also don't think it cares if people view it as a bad movie, if that makes sense?TCTTS said:
Like I said, much of the commentary you're mentioning is obviously intentional. That's not what I'm getting at, though. I'm specifically talking about people defending how *bad* the movie is, as if its incompetence on multiple levels was an intentional decision, and a genius one at that.
MBAR said:I definitely don't think it was supposed to be a "bad" movie. I also don't think it cares if people view it as a bad movie, if that makes sense?TCTTS said:
Like I said, much of the commentary you're mentioning is obviously intentional. That's not what I'm getting at, though. I'm specifically talking about people defending how *bad* the movie is, as if its incompetence on multiple levels was an intentional decision, and a genius one at that.
That makes sense. I think partly because the Wachowskis were straight up telling us that Warner Brothers was going to make this movie with or without their input. Meh, oh well, it was fun but I wonder when that next monumental movie will be made.
TCTTS said:
Ah, yes. He became "anyone." Weird that they didn't give him a proper ending, though. They basically just moved past that whole thing once Neo and Trinity were on the rooftop, and didn't touch on it again.
The entire resolution to the trilogy hinged on destroying Smith, and yet now he's back without explanation, with no discernible motivation, and then never even resolved.
Exactly. Well said.
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