Re: Movies that dont get the respect they deserve....
and how do you feel about the Matrix Blzer?
The Matrix Revolutions
Honestly, I don't see many drawbacks in this movie. It was a continuation of The Matrix Reloaded, so to say that it didn't have many scenes within the matrix is just saying the second half of this big movie didn't have many scenes in the matrix. And it would not have made sense to do that, either: Smith overtook the matrix world, and his reign on totalitarianism was too much for any one man or machine, including Neo.
This is where the movie really gets its bid: its demand for people to understand the true concepts of both love and death. One of my favorite scenes in the entire trilogy is when Neo is speaking with Rama-Kandra in limbo, about how purposeful love dominates both instinctive logic and authoritative control.
This trilogy focuses so heavily on it being the end, much like Saw III (which unfortunately didn't remain that way), that every moment of silence where we are focused on Neo and his eyes of blind determination (or when he literally is blinded and bears an heavy iconic Christian symbol) is so powerful in that we have entered his mind and knows what he needs to do, but don't know how to put it in words. His final fight with Smith is literally epic, and my point carries from a couple of paragraphs ago that only Neo's strength imprinted on his own "code" from the source combined with his ability to carry human emotion (as the Architect vividly describes in The Matrix Reloaded) is all that he's able to understand to at least be a martyr against Smith.
Story aside, the movie still has of the best effects and sound design we have ever seen in a movie to date, and it is six years old. A great 45 minutes of the movie is absolutely nothing but edge-of-you-seat action and certainly does not disappoint. Frankly, the movie is stellar in so many ways that the only two characters that disappointed me were the Oracle (R.I.P. Gloria Foster) and Sati.
But most of all, many people obviously don't understand the point of The Matrix (as a trilogy). When the Wachowski Brothers first presented their story to whomever (Joel Silver I presume?), they said that the story is simply too long to make into an entire movie, so it would essentially have to be divided as it seems to be a few stories anyway. So as feature-length films, they decided to use two of the many stories and make them into a trilogy: Neo becoming "The One," and the war against the machines. Even from the first movie, the war is the only thing Morpheus is concerned about. He references it every scene he gets a chance to talk to Neo, and that is essentially what these movies are about. So to say that "The Matrix works best as a standalone title" is incorrect in my personal opinion. It worked very well I agree, but there was more story implied in the movie and they were to tell it from the get-go. This wasn't something they decided to make up after the success of the first movie, and that's what I think most people idealize when they see the two sequels shot and released back-to-back four years later.
Finally, Keanu Reeves was an excellent choice for this movie. I don't think I know anybody that didn't like his performance, he looks great in his Roman Cassock in the sequels (no homo), and people definitely overplay his delivery of the "Whoa" line in the first movie. Personally, I like Reeves outside of Bill & Ted and Parenthood, so maybe I'm seeing him as a better fit premeditatedly. But in the end, as I said before when they have shots of minute dialogue exchanges and just looking into his eyes, his determination in choosing to never give up is easily seen and expressed very well. As far along as Will Smith has come, I don't think he would have done as well as Keanu Reeves in this role in the end.
Again, so much effort had been put into this trilogy and I think The Matrix Revolutions deserves much more praise and respect than it actually gets. The first one will always be revolutionary in my mind, especially with every scene from the lobby gun fight until the end (maybe the best half hour of film ever)... but Revolutions is a great cap-off to the franchise in ways that the movie was still so original with comparison to its predecessors yet still very much the same formula. I don't know where it gets its overall hate, but it holds a near and dear place in my heart as a great ending to a great trilogy.
Honestly, I don't see many drawbacks in this movie. It was a continuation of The Matrix Reloaded, so to say that it didn't have many scenes within the matrix is just saying the second half of this big movie didn't have many scenes in the matrix. And it would not have made sense to do that, either: Smith overtook the matrix world, and his reign on totalitarianism was too much for any one man or machine, including Neo.
This is where the movie really gets its bid: its demand for people to understand the true concepts of both love and death. One of my favorite scenes in the entire trilogy is when Neo is speaking with Rama-Kandra in limbo, about how purposeful love dominates both instinctive logic and authoritative control.
This trilogy focuses so heavily on it being the end, much like Saw III (which unfortunately didn't remain that way), that every moment of silence where we are focused on Neo and his eyes of blind determination (or when he literally is blinded and bears an heavy iconic Christian symbol) is so powerful in that we have entered his mind and knows what he needs to do, but don't know how to put it in words. His final fight with Smith is literally epic, and my point carries from a couple of paragraphs ago that only Neo's strength imprinted on his own "code" from the source combined with his ability to carry human emotion (as the Architect vividly describes in The Matrix Reloaded) is all that he's able to understand to at least be a martyr against Smith.
Story aside, the movie still has of the best effects and sound design we have ever seen in a movie to date, and it is six years old. A great 45 minutes of the movie is absolutely nothing but edge-of-you-seat action and certainly does not disappoint. Frankly, the movie is stellar in so many ways that the only two characters that disappointed me were the Oracle (R.I.P. Gloria Foster) and Sati.
But most of all, many people obviously don't understand the point of The Matrix (as a trilogy). When the Wachowski Brothers first presented their story to whomever (Joel Silver I presume?), they said that the story is simply too long to make into an entire movie, so it would essentially have to be divided as it seems to be a few stories anyway. So as feature-length films, they decided to use two of the many stories and make them into a trilogy: Neo becoming "The One," and the war against the machines. Even from the first movie, the war is the only thing Morpheus is concerned about. He references it every scene he gets a chance to talk to Neo, and that is essentially what these movies are about. So to say that "The Matrix works best as a standalone title" is incorrect in my personal opinion. It worked very well I agree, but there was more story implied in the movie and they were to tell it from the get-go. This wasn't something they decided to make up after the success of the first movie, and that's what I think most people idealize when they see the two sequels shot and released back-to-back four years later.
Finally, Keanu Reeves was an excellent choice for this movie. I don't think I know anybody that didn't like his performance, he looks great in his Roman Cassock in the sequels (no homo), and people definitely overplay his delivery of the "Whoa" line in the first movie. Personally, I like Reeves outside of Bill & Ted and Parenthood, so maybe I'm seeing him as a better fit premeditatedly. But in the end, as I said before when they have shots of minute dialogue exchanges and just looking into his eyes, his determination in choosing to never give up is easily seen and expressed very well. As far along as Will Smith has come, I don't think he would have done as well as Keanu Reeves in this role in the end.
Again, so much effort had been put into this trilogy and I think The Matrix Revolutions deserves much more praise and respect than it actually gets. The first one will always be revolutionary in my mind, especially with every scene from the lobby gun fight until the end (maybe the best half hour of film ever)... but Revolutions is a great cap-off to the franchise in ways that the movie was still so original with comparison to its predecessors yet still very much the same formula. I don't know where it gets its overall hate, but it holds a near and dear place in my heart as a great ending to a great trilogy.
and how do you feel about the Matrix Blzer?
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