The Matrix: Reconsidered

[wombat_socho]

I think one of the marks of great art is that it keeps coming back and making you rethink your assumptions and conclusions about it. The consensus in fandom (to say nothing of the public) seems to be that The Matrix was a great movie, The Matrix Reloaded not so good, and The Matrix: Revolutions a disappointing failure. While I'm willing to accept that the Wachowski brothers may have been a little too subtle for their own good. Or maybe the word I'm looking for here is obscure - how many of us, after all, are really up on our mythology and theology? I'm fairly hardcore for a Catholic, and there was stuff in Brian Takle's essays that kinda sounded familiar but that I couldn't really claim to know well. Anyway, here's the links to Takle's two essays, which are mainly about the symbolism of the two sequels, and den Beste's essay, which pulls everything together for the benefit of people who think there's something wrong with the movies on a fundamental level.


The Matrix Reloaded.

The Matrix: Revolutions

The Engineer's Guide to The Matrix

From haibane.info via Chizumatic.

Comments

[chebutykin.livejournal.com]

Ah, it looks like stuckintraffic got to my response before I did. Content does not make good storytelling in and of itself. The storytelling of the sequels sucked ass. The dramatic notes were off, the pacing sucked, the writing was painful. I couldn't give a rat's ass about the content because it was served up on a bed of manure.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

Come on, it wasn't as bad as Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter. *ducks*

[chebutykin.livejournal.com]

There's at least a shred of fun in Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

True, the Anarchist Clown Car scene is fun, but then so is the Burly Brawl in Reloaded and the fight in the Zion dock during Revolutions. ISTR saying to jamestrainor after Revolutions that all I'd expected out of the movie was a big battle scene and a lot of chop socky, which I got. Anything else was frosting on the cake for me.

[433.livejournal.com]

That's the athiest clown car.

"Hello, Jesus -- we're the athiests. You don't know us because we've never talked to you before."

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

You can tell it's been a while since I've seen the movie.

[stuckintraffik.livejournal.com]

Sorry - didn't mean to steal your thunder. ;) I just really hated those films. It was a ton a potential wasted as far as I'm concerned.

[chebutykin.livejournal.com]

No problem! You saved me a lot of typing. *grin* I'm completely in agreement that the films were dreck and that they were a missed opportunity.

However, there is something to be said for the fact that the original Matrix story was designed as a one-shot deal. It wasn't designed to have sequels.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

That's the first time I'd heard that. My understanding was that the Wachowski brothers intended to make a trilogy from the beginning but the studio was dubious until the first one made mad bags of cash.

[chebutykin.livejournal.com]

I've heard conflicting reports. My strong suspicion is that we have a George Lucas Syndrome going on... "Oh, yeah, I always intended for this to be part of a nine-film saga."

[radio-gnome.livejournal.com]

I like all three of them. I watch them all every six to nine months. So there.