The Matrix Resurrections (spoilers)

[Common Writer]

Great point! Neo's "push effect" is essentially non-violent resistance.

A funny thing about the trailer, when Niobe says "You know what else makes noise? War!" it's cut to sound like she's ready to fight, when the reality is she's trying to find a way around more extended conflict. I like that Resurrections doesn't look at violence as simplistically as the first three films (though, as you said, the violence in them is beautifully done and works well).

The MATRIX RESURRECTIONS just feels a bit more grown up to me. As well it should, given that Neo and Trinity are older now.

Interesting. Never saw it that way before.

Maybe Lana wanted to disassociate this franchise with the John Wick franchise by making less violent.

[Angilasman]

The way they were making fun of Jude for boiling it down to "fans just want the next bullet time." makes me wonder if the Analyst's use of bullet time was bit of an FU to that mentality because instead of creating a new dazzling kind of action scene, bullet time taken to the next level became an "inaction scene" with everyone frozen.

Totally.

It was amazing to look at, though. Especially on the big screen (where I saw it a 2nd time).

Great point! Neo's "push effect" is essentially non-violent resistance.

A funny thing about the trailer, when Niobe says "You know what else makes noise? War!" it's cut to sound like she's ready to fight, when the reality is she's trying to find a way around more extended conflict. I like that Resurrections doesn't look at violence as simplistically as the first three films (though, as you said, the violence in them is beautifully done and works well).

The MATRIX RESURRECTIONS just feels a bit more grown up to me. As well it should, given that Neo and Trinity are older now.

It's not explicit, but I don't think the machines care much about free humans and machines living outside the system. The Analyst believes people prefer to live in his Matrix so it's all moot. More like a cold war, and Niobe really doesn't want it to turn hot because she understands what it's like to live under constant war.

[Johnathan]

The way they were making fun of Jude for boiling it down to "fans just want the next bullet time." makes me wonder if the Analyst's use of bullet time was bit of an FU to that mentality because instead of creating a new dazzling kind of action scene, bullet time taken to the next level became an "inaction scene" with everyone frozen.

Possibly they were looking to crossover appeal, but I did get into it as a fan of the original movie. At the same time, the story was a bit too loose and broad that I didn't really get the feeling the filmmakers and cast actually cared a whole lot about the movie. That's fairly true of most big blockbusters - I mean, why care too deeply about something that you don't own at all? - but it just didn't feel like there was much ambition in the movie.

[David Walton]

Interesting. Never saw it that way before.

Maybe Lana wanted to disassociate this franchise with the John Wick franchise by making less violent.

I definitely think she wanted a more complex narrative with regard to violence.

Totally.

It was amazing to look at, though. Especially on the big screen (where I saw it a 2nd time).

It really is a beautiful film packed with stunning visuals.

It's not explicit, but I don't think the machines care much about free humans and machines living outside the system. The Analyst believes people prefer to live in his Matrix so it's all moot. More like a cold war, and Niobe really doesn't want it to turn hot because she understands what it's like to live under constant war.

Very much agreed with this. And there's another kind of meta point to be made, the forces dominating the box office aren't really threatened by indie films, but they probably aren't comfortable with blockbuster action flicks "painting the sky with rainbows" as the Analyst puts it.

Possibly they were looking to crossover appeal, but I did get into it as a fan of the original movie. At the same time, the story was a bit too loose and broad that I didn't really get the feeling the filmmakers and cast actually cared a whole lot about the movie. That's fairly true of most big blockbusters - I mean, why care too deeply about something that you don't own at all? - but it just didn't feel like there was much ambition in the movie.

I don't think RESURRECTIONS was less ambitious, it's just the energy was channeled elsewhere.

The trilogy has a tighter story and mind-blowing action sequences, but it's also less intimate and the philosophy is vague. RESURRECTIONS reverses that, being primarily concerned with Neo and Trinity's vulnerability, as well as fleshing out themes from the previous installments more fully.

It's a gorgeous film, too, with impressive updates to visuals.

[Captain Smith]

So most of humanity still serves as copper tops except a few that live in a cave and eat strawberries? Great fights and relationships but isn't the overall story the enslavement of humanity continues. Even if freed, the surface is unhabitable?

I guess I don't get the plot as a victory for humanity in general, even if some people have personal successes.

[Johnathan]

I definitely think she wanted a more complex narrative with regard to violence.
I don't think RESURRECTIONS was less ambitious, it's just the energy was channeled elsewhere.

The trilogy has a tighter story and mind-blowing action sequences, but it's also less intimate and the philosophy is vague. RESURRECTIONS reverses that, being primarily concerned with Neo and Trinity's vulnerability, as well as fleshing out themes from the previous installments more fully.

It's a gorgeous film, too, with impressive updates to visuals.

Sorta - I think it was more concerned with themes than the things that make a movie - like characters and story - for a lot of the scenes the characters' motivations just seemed incredibly vague - even irrational, at times, in comparison to all the concepts expressed in the dialogue that it did not really feel like they were that interested in the narrative of the movie as a distinct dramatic story. In some ways, the central conceit of the movie was that a Matrix sequel could not be distinct.

That's kinda true though. For this movie to have been as surprising as the original, we would have had to learn that it is NOT actually a Matrix sequel. That Thomas Anderson actually turns out to be a guy who is suffering real delusions and he ropes a regular woman, Tiffany, who's going through a mid-life crisis into his delusions.

I actually vaguely remember reading about a guy who thought that the Matrix was all about him and his wife and that he was the only person that actually existed in reality. For Matrix Resurrections to have really surprised us, it would have to have done something like that.

[j9ac9k]

... For this movie to have been as surprising as the original, we would have had to learn that it is NOT actually a Matrix sequel. That Thomas Anderson actually turns out to be a guy who is suffering real delusions and he ropes a regular woman, Tiffany, who's going through a mid-life crisis into his delusions.

Almost all these kinds of movies are told in a way where we know the sci-fi premise is true, but one of the few I can think of that's told from the perspective of the "normie" and in a tone that doesn't scream, "this is a scifi movie" was "Happy Accidents" with Kingpin and Aunt May where he claims to be from the future, but there's no real scifi elements in it so they put you in Tomei's position of being a regular person having to buy into this outlandish claim and it leaves you guessing as to whether it's true or if he's delusional.

[David Walton]

Sorta - I think it was more concerned with themes than the things that make a movie - like characters and story - for a lot of the scenes the characters' motivations just seemed incredibly vague - even irrational, at times, in comparison to all the concepts expressed in the dialogue that it did not really feel like they were that interested in the narrative of the movie as a distinct dramatic story. In some ways, the central conceit of the movie was that a Matrix sequel could not be distinct.

That's kinda true though. For this movie to have been as surprising as the original, we would have had to learn that it is NOT actually a Matrix sequel. That Thomas Anderson actually turns out to be a guy who is suffering real delusions and he ropes a regular woman, Tiffany, who's going through a mid-life crisis into his delusions.

I actually vaguely remember reading about a guy who thought that the Matrix was all about him and his wife and that he was the only person that actually existed in reality. For Matrix Resurrections to have really surprised us, it would have to have done something like that.

Yeah, there's really no way to surprise audiences like the original did without, as you suggested, blowing it all to hell and saying Thomas Anderson imagined the whole thing. Which wouldn't be very satisfying to anyone and would run counter to The Matrix's core messaging.

But I love the direction they went, which works as both story and commentary for me.

On a slightly different note, that Jefferson Airplane "White Rabbit" sequence has me convinced that Lana Wachowski would be great for a Phillip K Dick adaptation. Perhaps THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, or UBIK...

[Johnathan]

Yeah, there's really no way to surprise audiences like the original did without, as you suggested, blowing it all to hell and saying Thomas Anderson imagined the whole thing. Which wouldn't be very satisfying to anyone and would run counter to The Matrix's core messaging.

But I love the direction they went, which works as both story and commentary for me.

On a slightly different note, that Jefferson Airplane "White Rabbit" sequence has me convinced that Lana Wachowski would be great for a Phillip K Dick adaptation. Perhaps THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, or UBIK...

That's for sure - I'd be more interested in something like that than another Matrix from the Wachowskis. I think their work has been more like Phillip K Dick's actual writing than most of the movies actually based on his novels, including Blade Runner.

Or something by Kurt Vonnegut, too. I've always found a lot of comparisons between PK Dick and Vonnegut.

[David Walton]

That's for sure - I'd be more interested in something like that than another Matrix from the Wachowskis. I think their work has been more like Phillip K Dick's actual writing than most of the movies actually based on his novels, including Blade Runner.

Accurate. Interestingly, the most faithful adaptation of a PKD novel to date (or so I've heard) starred Keanu Reeves.

Or something by Kurt Vonnegut, too. I've always found a lot of comparisons between PK Dick and Vonnegut.

I haven't read anything by Vonnegut other than GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER

[Johnathan]

Accurate. Interestingly, the most faithful adaptation of a PKD novel to date (or so I've heard) starred Keanu Reeves.



I haven't read anything by Vonnegut other than GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER

Slaughterhouse 5 is obviously his most well known, but his short stories and Dick's short stories have a similar tone though Vonnegut is far less into science fiction despite the many SF elements in his stories. Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions are good examples of that. However, what they both explore is what it means to be human and what it means to be humane and they do it with a very similar perspective on the world and sense of humor about it.

Almost all these kinds of movies are told in a way where we know the sci-fi premise is true, but one of the few I can think of that's told from the perspective of the "normie" and in a tone that doesn't scream, "this is a scifi movie" was "Happy Accidents" with Kingpin and Aunt May where he claims to be from the future, but there's no real scifi elements in it so they put you in Tomei's position of being a regular person having to buy into this outlandish claim and it leaves you guessing as to whether it's true or if he's delusional.

As far as Matrix Resurrections, It would have been a nice twist if it turned out that the Analyst, Smith and Tiffany/Trinity and the entire world he was in was actually a separate simulation Neo had created to escape, and Bugs joined with the Morpheus he had also created to pull him out of it – and we have no idea what the “real world” had become.

Neo is not just “the One” but he is actually “the Only One.” That’s more a metaphor for today’s human-technological relationship.

[Scott Taylor]

That's for sure - I'd be more interested in something like that than another Matrix from the Wachowskis. I think their work has been more like Phillip K Dick's actual writing than most of the movies actually based on his novels, including Blade Runner.

Or something by Kurt Vonnegut, too. I've always found a lot of comparisons between PK Dick and Vonnegut.

What if the computers had read Vonnegut and other scifi authors and then modeled the Matrix after those works. Be fun to pick out elements from various classic novels.

Personally I hope they continue with Matrix movies and do a kind of reverse Terminator with the concept, where humans take back the earth and make machines their slaves again.

[Xero Kaiser]

Notice: Neo and Trinity never pick up a gun in this. Very deliberate.

I don't think Neo's picked up a gun since the first movie. Not sure why that's suddenly significant.

It's not like they're promoting nonviolent resistance. Unless throwing missiles into people or kicking someone's jaw clean off their face is supposed to be less violent than shooting them...

Do sequels that bomb get further sequels?

Apparently not.

It's for the best. There's clearly no more gas left in the tank.

[Captain Smith]

Just having a new version of Windows for robots isn't going to be interesting. As I said, if people are batteries and you just run around in a simulation - Yawn!

[Username taken]

I don't think Neo's picked up a gun since the first movie. Not sure why that's suddenly significant.

It's not like they're promoting nonviolent resistance. Unless throwing missiles into people or kicking someone's jaw clean off their face is supposed to be less violent than shooting them...



Apparently not.

It's for the best. There's clearly no more gas left in the tank.

Yeah, I've been reading some comments about Neo not using a "gun".

Once Neo was "awakened" he stopped using weapons. Completely. The guy was basically Superman in The Matrix.

As for Trinity, there wasn't much gunplay with her after the first movie.

The non-gun thing wasn't any sort of commentary as much as it was a direct continuation of Neo using his powers.