the matrix revolutions

[jfb]

Well, I didn't hate it, which I guess makes it my favorite of the trilogy. If The Matrix Reloaded was an action movie that couldn't bear the weight of the pretensions it inherited from its sci-fi predecessor, The Matrix Revolutions mostly discards the pretensions to focus on fighting and special effects, leaving the metaphysical underpinnings to fend for themselves. What results isn't a cinematic triumph, but it's at least got some fun.

Could somebody do me a favor and count how many times that one guy says someone is "out of his god damn mind"? Thanks.

Comments

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

Second person I've heard today who hated the first movie.\

Huh.

[tuliphead.livejournal.com]

i don't understand the part where you go pay to see the third one if you hated the other two? :)

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Really?

[randomchef.livejournal.com]

you hate the first one?! *boggle*

[jfb.livejournal.com]

It had some cool special effects, but the dialogue was trite and pretentious, delivered portentously. The whole undermining-of-reality thing has been handled with wit and economy by better movies.

I might not have *hated* it if there weren't so many other people who inexplicably loved it. But I sure wouldn't have liked it.

On the other hand it was better than the middle one.

[randomchef.livejournal.com]

but it was plato and beaudrillard and...and...and...*GAH*

some of the acting was questionable, i grant that. but the WRITING. the IDEAS. the ACTUALLY MAKING PEOPLE THINK!

which other movies are you thinking of, out of curiosity?

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Well, when I first saw The Matrix, I'd already enjoyed Dark City, also too talky and weakened by a fight-scene climax with decidedly sub-Matrix effects, but visually stunning in a different way. The Thirteenth Floor, which is quieter but, I think, just as philosophical under the skin, came out a couple of months later. eXistenZ, the first David Cronenberg movie I liked, came out at about the same time. And I think there've been relevant European movies I'm now forgetting.

All of these have their faults, and I'm not claiming my opinions are facts. But for me, the constant explaining and the messianic mumbo-jumbo were fatal flaws in The Matrix.

[randomchef.livejournal.com]

the only one of those i've seen is "the 13th floor", and i didn't like it nearly as much as the matrix.

i think my love of the matrix comes from two things.

1-the philosophy is carried and portrayed on many different levels--not just the dialogue. consider an obvious formal effect, such as color selection, all the way down to more easily missed details such as who wears sunglasses, rising/falling imagery, the use of screens, etc. i know there are a bunch i'm missing here. i'll just say that i pulled an entire philosophy thesis out of the first matrix, and each time i watch it, i still find more things i could've used to support my work.

2-in defense of the weighty-pretentious? overbearing?-dialogue...it got people to actually talk about the ideas in a much more concrete manner than i think 13th floor ever did. there are at least 7 universities that run entire courses based on the film, using it as a way to introduce many philosophical works and themes. did you notice what book neo pulls the minidisc out of? did you notice what chapter he opens it to? it's so subtle, and i love it. :)

now you can feel free to tell me i'm full o'crap. :) hehe.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have no objection to it as a philosophy textbook (although, basis for an entire course?). It's only as a movie that I hated it.

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

People talked about The 13th Floor?

I liked all those movies, in different ways, but to say Matrix isn't good because they also had questioned reality is a tad like saying Star Wars isn't good because other movies had done space battles before.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Right, I was saying The Matrix was bad because it was atrociously written.