The Matrix 4

[Khev]

Is it better than Matrix 3?

No but it will make you appreciate Matrix 3 more so that was a plus, lol.

 

[Wor-Gar]

All right......I've been taking wet messy dumps on this pile of trash ever since it was first announced. I mocked the trailers, laughed at all the leaked plots, rolled my eyes at the entire mess.

Sat down after work today and watched it.




So help me god....did I.....LIKE this movie??

I did. I liked it. A lot. It was not what I was expecting. I thought Neo and Trinity were just gonna have cameos like Luke and Han and the main brunt of the movie was gonna be our new blue haired lesbian hero.

But Keanu was in damn near every frame of the movie, and I can't help it...I love Keanu.

I even loved the blue haired lesbian....I kept waiting for her to be the sassy, man hating cliche, but she was really great. I liked the new Smith. I liked NPH being NPH.

When I first saw The Matrix on opening weekend in 1999 (and had my life changed forever like so many of you) my only complaint about it was that it was a kick *** action movie with a love story tacked on.

And I think that's why I liked this so much: it's essentially just a love story with some action tacked on.

Good lord...what's happened to me? I hate everything, you all know that. But I just watched this movie and I was absolutely riveted....all I cared about was Neo and Trinity finding each other again, somehow. This was basically "Eternal Sunshine" with a hell of a lot more guns.

I really liked it. For real. Sure, hipster programmers were detestable, but they were supposed to be detestable.

Honestly I was all in, 100% right up until the end credits and the world's single most cringe-inducing cover of Rage Against the Machine played instead of the original. It's douchey as hell when a guy tries to imitate Zach de la Rocha, but a woman "singer?" Attempting Rage?? Barf. That's just sacrilege.

I can't believe this. This is a sick joke. All this time, wanting to like something, always saying how sad you are that nothing makes you happy... and THIS is what you choose!!!?

Something happened, you got drunk and clicked on the first Matrix instead. Something happened!

How can only you (and apparently Buffinator, but we'll get to that later) like this movie?

It's a strange Opposite Day once again for you! Finally you love a movie... and no one else does.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

I'm hyped now. Can't wait to see it on Saturday with Omicron!

 

[Wor-Gar]

Don't shoot me guys, but overall I liked it too! I don't know, maybe having such low expectations going in helped? Granted, it didn't need half the the flashes back to scenes from the original films and the action could have been better

Spoiler

(Can NONE of the agents shoot straight? I get that dodging bullets is a thing the heroes can do, but in narrow hallways and train car aisles even a novice is bound to hit someone.),

but nevertheless I liked the conceit of the "new" matrix design as well as

Spoiler

how the designer convinced Neo that the previous version was a video game he created with three installments & his memories were mental breakdowns.

Also, I loved Jessica Henwick's performance and NPH was outstanding as well. I also liked how Priyanka Chopra's character tied back to the original trilogy. It probably was obvious to others but I haven't watched those films in ages so I was pleasantly surprised.

And you! Tom! You need to explain better why you liked this. Otomofan explained that he always dreamed of a Matrix that offered far more romance, less action.

What is your blue pill?

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Perhaps they are the real red pills.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Perhaps they are the real red pills.

Is that the point? That the blue pill IS the red pill?

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Is that the point? That the blue pill IS the red pill?

I'll tell on Saturday, after I watch it.

Speaking of which, my local theater will have only 4 showings of the Matrix on Saturday and 15 of Spiderman, and that movie is on its second week. That Disney money has no limits.

 

[guyver1]

I think this will be my after Christmas dinner , relaxing tuning into HBOMAX for a late night movie moment . I mean what else is there to do after dinner on Christmas night

 

[greygoose]

As for Weaving, I thought it was a scheduling conflict. They wanted him & he wanted to be in it, but Lana W. didn't want to wait for his play to end its run.

Surely he would have been worth the wait.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

I think this will be my after Christmas dinner , relaxing tuning into HBOMAX for a late night movie moment . I mean what else is there to do after dinner on Christmas night

The Laker are playing the Nets. It's a good game, if you like basketball.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Surely he would have been worth the wait.

So, Weaving, the man who walked away from the MCU because he thought it was trash, thought this film was good enough to be in it. Fascinating. My interest continues to grow.

 

[Khev]

The first part of this movie reminded me of what George wanted to do with his ST where all the heroes that you though you were watching in the previous films were really just vehicles driven by the tiny Whills in their brains. Holy crap thank God Kennedy took over, lol.

I did like the ruse of having no tell tale green and blue filters to indicate which world was real and which was fake. Sure it was at the expense of the usual visual artistry but it really helped to not know exactly what was going on for the first half of the film.

Thankfully they seemed to bring back the green for Trinity's big escape.

I did like Swarm Mode and the first time it was activated felt like a fun nod to Train to Busan. The final sequence with Trinity and Neo against the swarm actually felt like a horror movie which was pretty cool.

But did

Spoiler

literally no one in Bugs' crew die? If so that's a bit of eye-rolling "subverting of expectations" there. "Oh look we'll have one of them call out that the crews that Neo travels with always die only to surprise you with zero casualties, ha ha!"

 

[The Buffinator]

And you! Tom! You need to explain better why you liked this. Otomofan explained that he always dreamed of a Matrix that offered far more romance, less action.

What is your blue pill?

I had no dreams of extending The Matrix franchise in any way whatsoever, but if it was going to happen I was glad they came up with (IMO) a creative way to do it. It has its faults to be sure, but it brings back two of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy characters, introduces a couple of excellent new ones (Bugs, The Analyst) and (for the most part) entertained me for 2-1/2 hours. It pales in comparison to the original, but then so did Reloaded and Revolutions. As I said before, I went in with LOW expectations, so "good" was good enough!

I'm still a little fuzzy on how the Neo & Trinity resurrections worked. Maybe the machines had some help from Miracle Max?

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

The first part of this movie reminded me of what George wanted to do with his ST where all the heroes that you though you were watching in the previous films were really just vehicles driven by the tiny Whills in their brains. Holy crap thank God Kennedy took over, lol.

I did like the ruse of having no tell tale green and blue filters to indicate which world was real and which was fake. Sure it was at the expense of the usual visual artistry but it really helped to not know exactly what was going on for the first half of the film.

Thankfully they seemed to bring back the green for Trinity's big escape.

I did like Swarm Mode and the first time it was activated felt like a fun nod to Train to Busan. The final sequence with Trinity and Neo against the swarm actually felt like a horror movie which was pretty cool.

But did

Spoiler

literally no one in Bugs' crew die? If so that's a bit of eye-rolling "subverting of expectations" there. "Oh look we'll have one of them call out that the crews that Neo travels with always die only to surprise you with zero casualties, ha ha!"

No need for spoilers, Khev. Everyone (like 4 people here) has already seen this film and hated it and the rest (me ) already knows what happens.

 

[Khev]

I'm still a little fuzzy on how the Neo & Trinity resurrections worked.

Somehow Neo returned, lol.

 

[ajp4mgs]

I thought this movie showed potential to be worthwhile but ended up being almost entirely pointless. I was actually loving the first 30 minutes or so because it seemed to be going in a bold direction and reframing what the Matrix is. I thought we were actually getting something intelligent and thought-provoking to justify its existence. Instead, the film pivots and goes back to being nothing more than a slightly tweaked rehash of the first three. It's the same thing, but just dressed differently.

It's also one of the most self-indulgent films I've ever seen. So much of Neo's dialogue is Wachowski providing self-reflection, with Neo as an avatar of sorts, and allowing it to be totally blatant as if the facade of the film being "self-aware" will justify it being a vanity project. So, the lack of subtlety in using the plot to make an allegory about the director's journey of "self discovery" ends up being the only mind-blowing thing about the entire endeavor. Which leads me to the ending and why I love how hilariously oblivious and hypocritical it is...

Spoiler

It ends with Neo and Trinity in full control over defining the "reality" of the Matrix. They're going to rewrite the code to construct a world where people will be "liberated" and happy. But there's nothing liberating about it. They jokingly refer to a sky full rainbows as if that would somehow make the fact that all of the people would still be living in a false construct more palatable in principle. It isn't.

At the end of the day, having Neo and Trinity (in their new state of harmonized duality) create a reality free of conflict and strife is fundamentally the same thing that the Matrix had always been: a false reality where the preferences of the programmer decide how people will live their lives. The fact that Neo and Trinity think of themselves as "good" or "virtuous" doesn't change the underlying problem of playing God (be it a man or machine one) with people's lives. Spare me, please.

A movie that spends part of the time being self-aware of both the redundancy of sequels and of the blatant manipulation of using nostalgia, then goes on to spend the rest of the time being almost entirely redundant and manipulative. And I don't think Wachowski is being as self-aware ironic in doing so as some might want to attribute. This was ultimately all just an exercise in self indulgence, with that being the first and foremost ambition.

 

[Khev]

I thought this movie showed potential to be worthwhile but ended up being almost entirely pointless. I was actually loving the first 30 minutes or so because it seemed to be going in a bold direction and reframing what the Matrix is. I thought we were actually getting something intelligent and thought-provoking to justify its existence. Instead, the film pivots and goes back to being nothing more than a slightly tweaked rehash of the first three. It's the same thing, but just dressed differently.

It's also one of the most self-indulgent films I've ever seen. So much of Neo's dialogue is Wachowski providing self-reflection, with Neo as an avatar of sorts, and allowing it to be totally blatant as if the facade of the film being "self-aware" will justify it being a vanity project. So, the lack of subtlety in using the plot to make an allegory about the director's journey of "self discovery" ends up being the only mind-blowing thing about the entire endeavor. Which leads me to the ending and why I love how hilariously oblivious and hypocritical it is...

Spoiler

It ends with Neo and Trinity in full control over defining the "reality" of the Matrix. They're going to rewrite the code to construct a world where people will be "liberated" and happy. But there's nothing liberating about it. They jokingly refer to a sky full rainbows as if that would somehow make the fact that all of the people would still be living in a false construct more palatable in principle. It isn't.

At the end of the day, having Neo and Trinity (in their new state of harmonized duality) create a reality free of conflict and strife is fundamentally the same thing that the Matrix had always been: a false reality where the preferences of the programmer decide how people will live their lives. The fact that Neo and Trinity think of themselves as "good" or "virtuous" doesn't change the underlying problem of playing God (be it a man or machine one) with people's lives. Spare me, please.

A movie that spends part of the time being self-aware of both the redundancy of sequels and of the blatant manipulation of using nostalgia, then goes on to spend the rest of the time being almost entirely redundant and manipulative. And I don't think Wachowski is being as self-aware ironic in doing so as some might want to attribute. This was ultimately all just an exercise in self indulgence, with that being the first and foremost ambition.

 

[jye4ever]

I thought this movie showed potential to be worthwhile but ended up being almost entirely pointless. I was actually loving the first 30 minutes or so because it seemed to be going in a bold direction and reframing what the Matrix is. I thought we were actually getting something intelligent and thought-provoking to justify its existence. Instead, the film pivots and goes back to being nothing more than a slightly tweaked rehash of the first three. It's the same thing, but just dressed differently.

It's also one of the most self-indulgent films I've ever seen. So much of Neo's dialogue is Wachowski providing self-reflection, with Neo as an avatar of sorts, and allowing it to be totally blatant as if the facade of the film being "self-aware" will justify it being a vanity project. So, the lack of subtlety in using the plot to make an allegory about the director's journey of "self discovery" ends up being the only mind-blowing thing about the entire endeavor. Which leads me to the ending and why I love how hilariously oblivious and hypocritical it is...

Spoiler

It ends with Neo and Trinity in full control over defining the "reality" of the Matrix. They're going to rewrite the code to construct a world where people will be "liberated" and happy. But there's nothing liberating about it. They jokingly refer to a sky full rainbows as if that would somehow make the fact that all of the people would still be living in a false construct more palatable in principle. It isn't.

At the end of the day, having Neo and Trinity (in their new state of harmonized duality) create a reality free of conflict and strife is fundamentally the same thing that the Matrix had always been: a false reality where the preferences of the programmer decide how people will live their lives. The fact that Neo and Trinity think of themselves as "good" or "virtuous" doesn't change the underlying problem of playing God (be it a man or machine one) with people's lives. Spare me, please.

A movie that spends part of the time being self-aware of both the redundancy of sequels and of the blatant manipulation of using nostalgia, then goes on to spend the rest of the time being almost entirely redundant and manipulative. And I don't think Wachowski is being as self-aware ironic in doing so as some might want to attribute. This was ultimately all just an exercise in self indulgence, with that being the first and foremost ambition.

Close the thread Clown you are on your own don’t wait for Wor-Gar he might not show up lol

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Close the thread Clown you are on your own don’t wait for Wor-Gar he might not show up lol

Maybe if I wish for it, he'll just walk into my kitchen to save the thread.

 

[Ropen]

Oh, that sounds kind of cool... kind of... but then it sounds like any given Zombie movie.

Zombies = Swarm mode

What happens to the machine's batteries when they kill masses of their juicers?

Well, it goes in depth that the “sentient” machine in charge of the chosen two has finally learned how to use them, so in turn the AI from the machines have learned to deal with the “ones” in that sense they also learned how to use bullet time against them and literally how to use the matrix avatars against them.

It was an interesting concept and visceral but once you see them explode into the matrix code it made it less brutal I guess hahaha