The Matrix

[yangman]

It's inevitable that this thread will start at one point or another, so I thought I'd take the initiative and set another likely-a-mega-thread in motion.

Just came back from the premier, and all I'm going to say is I was blown away.
Also much gratitude goes to the university student societies that managed to arrange that an entire IMAX theatre be ours for the night for $10 a person.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few midterms to prepare for...

[WarBlade]

all I'm going to say is I was blown away

What by? :huh: As a stand alone movie it was crap. As the second half of a movie it came across a little better, but even still the veiled references of the previous two installments to what was going to happen became a tip-off/10minute and by the end of the first hour the bulk of the ending had been revealed. :(

Still not as much of a let down as T3 though. :P

[yangman]

What by?  :huh:

... the "dock battle".

Having not been to a movie theatre in months (my last film was A Man Apart, and that was simply craptacular) I went expecting nothing.

Really, the plot is nothing spectarular or surprising, but it's not hard to be pleased by the visuals when you go in with nothing too spectacular in mind.

[FenrisWulf]

Agreed. I found nothing overly satisfying about the plot or the philosophy (aside from a resolution to the previous two movies), but I didn't go into the movie expecting much, and thus came away pleasantly surprised by the fun visual effects. Well, okay, I thought the story was cool, too, but I have a simple mind, so I could understand if you don't agree. Also, I liked the fact that Revolutions was more humorous than the last one, whether the Wachoski brothers intended it or not. :D

[Swarmalicious]

What by?  As a stand alone movie it was crap.

Um. No.
arfkm? I'm with Yzilla (the dock battle). Were you alseep and/or high during that 25 minute tidbit? :)
In fact, I'm going to go a little farther and blatantly insist that I just witnessed the greatest battle scene on film.

As for the plot, well, I am left with a tremendous feeling of satisfaction and closure, and it is what it be.

Beautifully done. Brav, and then oh. As in 'oh yeah'.

[WarBlade]

I'm with Yzilla (the dock battle). Were you alseep and/or high during that 25 minute tidbit? :)

No I wasn't. That was one of the better features of the film IMO. Even if if was just a piece of visual art showing bunch of metal squids pulling apart some structures. At least it stopped my game of "Spot the Biblical reference" for a while.

[aurikan]

Agreed. I wasn't blown away by the dock battle, mainly because it was all eye candy and added almost nothing to the actual progression to the movie plot.

I was also thrown off by the extremely poor pacing in the movie. It felt like watching a video game, the way they went from boss fight to boss fight. Note to W.Bros (and movie script writers in general) only throw away the traditional story pacing when you completely understand it.

It was still a fun time, though, but that is a factor highly dependant on parameters other than movie quality.

[Cryptic]

I'm seeing this tonight. My sky-high expectations have been lowered enough by others that I think I'm going to rather enjoy myself.
:lol:

But throughout Reloaded, I could not escape the parallels I was making between The Matrix franchise and that of The Lord of the Rings. Both are sincere, intelligent fantasies worthy of high praise. But the seams are much more evident in Matrix; you can tell that it's a labor of love with too much of a stranglehold on the material, under the Wachowski brothers. If they let others contribute a bit more, and cover up the holes, they could have ended up with a masterpiece. (Witness interviews with cast in which they tried to improvise or elaborate on performances, and were politely, but uniformly, shot down.) LotR, besides working from established material, shows a much higher degree of team integration, resulting in superior movies.

I would rate the original Matrix as one of the best scifi movies of the past 10 years. Reloaded, an excellent action flick with awkward expository bookends. Revolutions? No idea, but whatever it may be, I'll enjoy it for what it is.

[Occhidiangela]

*Shrugs*

Had they never made 2 or 3, The Matrix would stand as one of the good movies of all time. The sequels dumbed down the story, but I still enjoyed a few things about 3, not least of which is the humor. Neo's "Oh #$%&" in the train station was well timed.

Hmm, let's see. Not too spoily.

We have a film aimed at people who play Quake or Halo, not sure. In that regard, a hit. Frag them machines, baby! Use that bazooka!

We have a film for folks who like to play Tekken and Street Fighter. So far so good. That last Smith fight went on and on and on and on . . . true to form.

We have a film to be enjoyed by people who like those games like driving the Star Wars Pod Racers, in 3D. So far, so good.

Now, let's see what else we have, as in a story. Dune Messiah? Yeah, seen that before, an mildly interesting way to get there. Clockwork world? Yes, see Jack of Shadows, which should have been a movie.

1. A blatant theft of the Ron Howard effect that turns into a bad joke on the "Deus Ex Machina," but I personaly liked Sherlindria in "Willow" over the "Man From Oz" thingy.

2. Frodo goes to Mordor, but this sime "Sam," ends up differently than in LOTR. OK, fine, keep the edge in the film if you can.

3. The Wheel of Time turns again, and the folks in Zion, upon the resolution of the basic conflict, still have to figure out . . . the purpose of their existence. Well, don't we all? Not really, only if you choose that a purpose matters. You can, instead, merely live life well, and not worry about the purpose. The council is, as usual, a bunch of sharpshooters. That is the only realistic part of the film, the knavery on that score.

4. That lady ship captain, besides being a beauty, can sure fly. :) Me like that bit. The battle at the docks? A few quarters in the game machine.

5. Yes, seeing the real blue sky after all those years underground and under the dark clouds would not blind you? I wonder.

6. EMP: Not used often enough, or with any tactical acumen, and therefore I judge the people defending Zion are bloody stupid, and wonder how they survived XX years with that sort of dumbassity as their basis for an effective defense against the machines. EMP traps for the sentinels, right? Ever heard of an AMBUSH? Oops, forgot, the video game crowd needs its "shoot everything and get the high score" fix.

7. Loved Trinity's line to the Merovingian in the bar. That was good, it added a little something to the story in terms of character development.

Glad I saw a matinee showing, for 5 bucks it was OK.

The ending: Was that supposed to be cryptic?

While not as disappointed as WarBlade, I ain't impressed, but then, sequels are tough to make well. As an action film shoot 'em up, it is good enough.

Believe it or not, Lawrence Fishburn really can act, he just is not given too much to work with in this film.

[WarLocke]

Revolutions is out already? Sheesh.

I don't know if I'll bother to see it (at least before it gets to my video store); the first was great, but the way they tried to tack on two more and make it a "trilogy" (an obvious cash-cow scheme) really ticked me, and Reloaded wasn't even all that good (there were certain awesome scenes, but the movie as a whole had a "been there, seen that" feel - not as badly as MIB2, but still very noticable).

The Matrix is a great movie, and stands fine on its own. Reloaded dragged it down a bit. I can't comment on Revolutions, but my expectations aren't exactly high.

We have a film for folks who like to play Tekken and Street Fighter.

Whoa, Occhi, is that a stab? There are plenty of other flicks that go with over-the-top fighting scenes. Heck, you could cite Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on that. Or one of my all-time favorites, Bulletproof Monk ( :D ).

... Or was that a reference to the Street Fighter thread that refuses to die?

...

"Whoa."

...

Sorry, I couldn't resist. :blink:

[WarBlade]

The ending:  Was that supposed to be cryptic?

Cryptic? :blink:

By that point in the story the neon signs as to what we were looking at were so abundant that you couldn't swing a cat for fear of breaking a tube . . .


SPOILER WARNING V V V (In italics)

Neo gets himself shut in Purgatory (because it turns out it was too soon for him to ascend to Heaven), Trinity makes a deal with the Devil to get him out, he visits the Oracle who talks some psychobabble about making a choice and then offers him the last temptation (remember he stuck the previous temptation in his pocket, this time he says "No thanks," rejects the temptation, says he's ready, the Oracle agrees . . .

And by then the ending was well and truely given away - only the details remained.

Of course they dawdle around for a bit, Christ says goodbye to the disciples, He must do what must be done yadayadayada then ascends while the disciples descend and so on and so on until Trinity takes a classic vertical pose seen in any Christian church and turns it horizontal. Neo concludes his agreement with God then sacrifices himself for mankind - the end

And judging by the moron seated behind me to the right (who had felt the need to punctuate every appearance of Zee with the words "MAH PUSSAH!!!" plus other unwanted utterances elsewhere), there are actally people in this world who seemed surprised when they reached the end.

Well I suppose films like this need a few monkeys to turn a profit, but even still, the previous two actually had a little substance. The third is a sad sad piece of crap next to them.

[Guest]

One question!

WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH DIABLO!!!!!!!

[FenrisWulf]

@Honkers:
Er, nothing. That's the entire point of this forum, to not talk about Diablo.

[Medicine Man]

Nothing. But then you are in the OT forum, so what did you expect?

[Chaerophon]

Cripes...

Well, considering that you didn't even read the description of the forum that you were reading, I might as well direct you to the etiquette link in the upper right-hand corner. Lurk first, make an ass of yourself later; that's what I did.

[WarBlade]

WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH DIABLO!!!!!!!

Diablo = Devil
Smith = Antithesis of Neo = the Antichrist = Devil
Merovingian = Fallen angel = Devil

Well you did ask. :unsure:

[Occhidiangela]

Diablo more frequently means "demon" in Spanish than Devil, although it can be used for either.

Not all Fallen angels are Devils, The Fallen Angel, Lucifer, is The Devil. The various and sundry others are either devils, demons, or simply just bad and evil spirits.

My rhetorical question as to "was that supposed to be cryptic" was sarcastic, and it had to do with the conversation between the Oracle and the Architect.

Yes, you are right, not much subtlety there.

I still think Naiobi is just too pretty, so your neighbor who was foaming at the mouth over Zee gets my vote for "most impressed by tight, wet, tank top t-shrits" this week.

[Occhidiangela]

Now that you have an answer, I will use your own language, one that you understand, to give you the best free advice you can get regarding this forum and you:

STFU and GTFO.

You are obviously too dim to contribute anything to this forum beyond background noise.

Bnet has a forum just for you, why don't you head over there?

For better advice, the charge is hourly.

[Orbert]

...see Jack of Shadows, which should have been a movie.

Amazing! I've never met anyone (still haven't but this is close) who's even heard of this book, and it's my favorite Zelazny! It would make an excellent movie. Short enough, plenty of character, good story, and with the whole lightside/darkside thing and supernatural element, lots of opportunity for great fx.

I guess they're making an Amber miniseries. Man, I hope it doesn't suck like Damnation Alley, but I gotta keep expectations low.

Anyways, I just had to jump in at that.

Orbert

[NiteFox]

6.  EMP: Not used often enough, or with any tactical acumen, and therefore I judge the people defending Zion are bloody stupid, and wonder how they survived XX years with that sort of dumbassity as their basis for an effective defense against the machines.  EMP traps for the sentinels, right?  Ever heard of an AMBUSH?  Oops, forgot, the video game crowd needs its "shoot everything and get the high score" fix.

Been reading PVPOnline? :)

Sorry for the cut and paste work here. This was written as an agreement with another post (Maeg, as in Maeglin of the original post) on another forum. Just, uh, imagine someone gave a brief explanation why EMP was not employed widely and I agreed with them. That fine with you all?

And I agree with Maeg that EMP devices are either tricky and expensive to recharge or are generally in short supply. If they were so common as to be able to build a perimiter defence, like Scott Kurtz suggests, then they would have blown those few Sentinels away in the first film when we first saw them. After all, if you can easily build several thousand of them to defend the home city what's the loss of one? Just head back to Zion, recharge, and head on back up.

Besides, Zion exists because of the machines. They rebuild it after every time they've destroyed it after the Anomaly has returned to the Source. They know where it is. Hell, they've provided Zion the means with which to survive. They've probably developed the EMP system for the Zionites to use against them, or at least the Zionites believe it will work against them. If the Zionites did build a coherent defence force in time for another invasion, including EMP bombs and the like, I for one wouldn't be surprised if the Sentinels became remarkably immune from the effects.