The Matrix is 25 years old now

[JediMichael]

Came out on 3/31/99.
I know I was in full Star Wars mode at that time, waiting for Phantom Menace, as I'm sure a lot of you guys were as well, so this little movie caught us all a bit off guard for the ground breaking stuff it had. I'd only seen the trailer, but really had no idea at all what it was actually about.
Unfortunately, its been copied, memed and everything in between to absolute death now. Even the Wachowskis themselves couldn't outdo their own success with that first film with any of their later stuff so well.
I got to see it the night before, since I was working at the theater.
It came out on a Wednesday, but Tuesday night is when the theater would also post the new work schedule, and you had to do in personally to check it. So I was there just to see what days I'd be working next, and a bunch of other off duty employees were head to watch it and asked if I wanted to.
Still in school, and being a school night, but driving at least, I had to call my Mom and at least let her know I'd be staying to watch the film.....I think I even had to barrow a quarter to use the payphone....which is so ironic with the theme of payphones in the Matrix.

So my roommates son, now 20, has never seen any of them. Trying to get him to at least watch the first one....which would be perfect tonight, but not sure if I'll be able to. His been extremely busy with school.

So anyways....just wanted to recap the whole experience and the good memories back then. The ending an era for sure.

 

[Solo4114]

This came out back when I was in college, and my friends and I would go to the movies all the time.

The Matrix was one of the best cinematic experiences I've ever had because all I knew going in was it was "a movie about hackers." I'd seen no trailers, heard no spoilers, went in totally blind, and it started, you know, fine and then HOLY CRAP WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!?! And it was a ride from there on out.

The trilogy is a mixed bag, but that first film is a banger.

 

[Laspector]

I remember my first thought coming out of the theater...."Those Sentinels! Now they can finally do a live action Doctor Octopus!"

 

[JediMichael]

From what I've read, the Wachowskis wanted that weird twist type ending for the 3rd film from the start. But really, had they focused on just part 2 first, and THEN later on filmed part 3, I wonder if it could have over all turned out better as a trilogy. Hard to say really...but effects wise, you could tell they were really having to rush some stuff.

I liked the battle in Reloaded with the 100 agent Smiths, but you could very much tell it was poor cgi by the end.
I've heard people say that Smith doing that was over loading the Martrix unexpectedly, so it had to go into a type of safe mode and downgrade its own resolutions to run properly.
That makes sense and would have worked, except that the movie never gives any type of thought towards that.
Not sure how they could have done it correctly though.

I also remember when reading stuff for Reloaded, and being all excited for the sequels, that the rumor was the twins were going to be viruses and change stuff.
There was a picture from the set, around 2002, with a fire hydrant in a phone booth.
So it was expected that one of the crew would be running to get to the ringing phone to get out of the Matrix, only for one of the twins to change it to the fire hydrant, preventing the person from leaving.
That would have been a cool idea...but nope.
They went with them all being vampires, werewolves and such. Much more.lame I thought.

 

[Solo4114]

The sequels are an odd blend of interesting philosophical and psychological debates, set against action set pieces that drag on so long they become boring in spite of (or because of) the spectacle. Reloaded in particular is really hard for me to sit thru because I find the car chase and endless kung fu sequences to be just immensely dull. The third film I only watched once and only kinda sorta remember with the machines attacking Zion.

I kinda dug the 4th one but now I remember next to nothing about it.

 

[batguy]

I thought M1 was overhyped. It was a fun and lovable ride but I didn't see anything groundbreaking. Sorta like that first 'Avengers' movie.

M1 was the anti-Phantom-Menace that summer. I think that helped its popularity. The story was anchored firmly on earth in the present. It was aimed for an older audience than Jar-Jar & Jake Lloyd. It had a darker cyper-punk mojo look. The VFX were not as advanced as TPM but it was flashier. The dialogue wasn't Star-Wars-prequel-bad. Etc.


M2 was a mixed bag. The VFX sequences dragged on too long. But the script showed some heavy (well, unfinished) thinking. It pushed outside of genre expectations.

Like everybody else I was disappointed by M3.

With M3 they basically set out to make Cameron's Terminator future war movie. The result demonstrated why Cameron was only ever showing it in brief glimpses. It's an unpleasant dreary place to spend 2 hours and no amount of CGI spectacle will keep viewers engaged. It needs some very well-done human drama to make it work.


Looking back now, M1 is crying out for a re-launch where they abandon all the previous sequels. Just pick up after M1 and run another countinuity from there.

 

[Laspector]

That engineer's (or whatever he was called) speech in M2 about how the Matrix was created was the most uncomprehensible mass of gobbledy gook I think ever put to script.

 

[masterjedi322]

I remember seeing The Matrix when it premiered and was blown away by it. The intelligent story, the SFX...just amazing.

Sadly, as with most franchises, I feel like it's been a steady decline since then.

But it sounds like Neo's adventures might not be over yet...

Prepare to Enter the 'Matrix' Yet Again: A New Movie Is in the Works

Lana Wachowski will serve as executive producer.

collider.com

Sean

 

[JediMichael]

I still haven't seen the 4th one.
Someday I'll take.the time.

The Architect in M2. Basically all his over use of words are saying, this is the 7th (I think it was 7 anyways) version of the Matrix. So you are suppose to go through that door and do the fight with the machines, and it bassically resets the whole cycle, meaning soon their will be an 8th version. Although, this time, Neo picks the other door, since it connects to saving Trinity. So thats the biggest reveal of the scene, and then why Neo has to go talk with the big bad head of the machines by the 3rd film, instead of resetting everything again. And of course Smith going and messing with everything.

The plot did have a very good setup overall, just their executive failed too much by the end.

 

[Wakeem]

I still haven't seen the 4th one.
Someday I'll take.the time.

The Architect in M2. Basically all his over use of words are saying, this is the 7th (I think it was 7 anyways) version of the Matrix. So you are suppose to go through that door and do the fight with the machines, and it bassically resets the whole cycle, meaning soon their will be an 8th version. Although, this time, Neo picks the other door, since it connects to saving Trinity. So thats the biggest reveal of the scene, and then why Neo has to go talk with the big bad head of the machines by the 3rd film, instead of resetting everything again. And of course Smith going and messing with everything.

The plot did have a very good setup overall, just their executive failed too much by the end.

I would say pass on the Matrix 4. Honestly, I wish someone I knew or trusted about Cyberpunk movies told me to pass on it. It was a shockingly bad movie to me with barely any notable or memorable scenes.

And I did like Matrix 2. It probably tried to do too much. But I thought the twist of multiple versions was cool. As was the big highway chase.

Usually when you have to show a futuristic war society and how normal people live. That almost always doesn't come off well. And those Zion scenes aren't good in Matrix 2, 3, or 4. Matrix 3 is probably a bit too anime but that was an influence on The Matrix. Many of the stories in The Animatrix are very good.

Fairly recently I saw Megazone 23. It's an old three part 80s anime. That's worth checking out. Especially a space scene in the opening parts of Megazone 23 Part 2, which is basically The Matrix. You'll know it when you see it.

 

[JediMichael]

I would say pass on the Matrix 4. Honestly, I wish someone I knew or trusted about Cyberpunk movies told me to pass on it. It was a shockingly bad movie to me with barely any notable or memorable scenes.

And I did like Matrix 2. It probably tried to do too much. But I thought the twist of multiple versions was cool. As was the big highway chase.

Usually when you have to show a futuristic war society and how normal people live. That almost always doesn't come off well. And those Zion scenes aren't good in Matrix 2, 3, or 4. Matrix 3 is probably a bit too anime but that was an influence on The Matrix. Many of the stories in The Animatrix are very good.

Fairly recently I saw Megazone 23. It's an old three part 80s anime. That's worth checking out. Especially a space scene in the opening parts of Megazone 23 Part 2, which is basically The Matrix. You'll know it when you see it.

I did like a lot of the stuff from the Animatrix, which worked better than parts of the live action stuff.
Its sad that the 4th film didn't do so well or turn out that great....and now I hear the talk of a 5th film, but only produced by one of the Wachowskis, but a different director....well, that will either help, or make it even worst.

 

[Wakeem]

I did like a lot of the stuff from the Animatrix, which worked better than parts of the live action stuff.
Its sad that the 4th film didn't do so well or turn out that great....and now I hear the talk of a 5th film, but only produced by one of the Wachowskis, but a different director....well, that will either help, or make it even worst.

Well, I haven't seen Bad Times at the El Royale yet by the director that's supposed to be making Matrix 5. But I have seen Cabin in the Woods and I didn't like it that much. Very over hyped. I mentioned They Cloned Tyrone around here and think that's way better than Cabin in the Woods. They Cloned Tyrone isn't 100% horror but it has something similar going with Cabin in the Woods. I think They Cloned Tyrone will be one of those cult or classic films in the coming years.

If you haven't seen Megazone 23 definitely check it out. Don't spoil the story as remember it's from the 80s and it will surprise you. All three parts are here on Archive.

Megazone 23 I-III : Noboru Ishiguro : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

メガゾーン23(Megazōn Tsū Surī)GenreAction,[1][2] cyberpunk[3][1]Created byNoboru IshiguroAnime filmMegazone 23 - Part IDirected byNoboru...

archive.org

 

[yaris]

And Neo is still stuck in the pod of goo....

It took me longer than most to figure out he never ever actually leaves it and when he does that's still part of the program.

 

[Darth Lars]

Back in '99, movies typically opened several months later here in Sweden than in the US. The rampant widespread piracy of Star Wars Episode 1 that year — mostly so that people could see it when it was still hyped — made studios/distributors change their distribution schedules after that.

I got an invite to what was domestically an advance screening of The Matrix, hosted by the graphics workstation brand Intergraph. They held a presentation of their products before the movie started. Of course people using graphics workstations at the time were also the right target audience for the movie.

To me, the story was completed in the third act, and I consider a "fourth" movie to not exist.

 

[knightdriver2001]

Wow, 25 years and I still haven't been able to sit through one.

Tried watching the original about 4 times. Just couldn't get through it.
I hear they are doing yet another one too. I'll stick to my record on views.

 

[Kylash]

I was so into Phantom Menace hype that i didnt even know about this when it was in theaters. Didnt see it until it hit DVD.

 

[CessnaDriver]

It was a helluva event film. Everyone I knew loved it. Time flies.

But I always wondered what if you did this?

 

[JediG60racer]

As a pastor who thrives on having conversations about philosophy, dogma, etc, I adored the first movie with the dialogues it opened in the general population about Plato's Cave allegory, predestination, foreknowledge, election, and of course Philip K Dick's simulation theory based on Plato's Cave, etc.

With M2, it opened more conversations on those topics along with the approaches from different religions, and I relished that as well. I also enjoyed the Animatrix series that tied in. Very fun looks into that world.

M3 put an interesting spin on messiah/chosen one stories and allegories, and again I enjoyed the conversations I got to have with people after the movie and it's less than subtle imagery.

M4 tried to meld all that along with incorporating all the discussions of dreamstate theory introduced to the population by Inception. It didn't do a tremendous job, granted, and it was of course understandably heavy laden with the Wachowskis' idealogical agendas that they personally espouse (their movie, their right to do whatever they want with that) but I could have done without it. But at the same time, I enjoyed the take on it more as a "what if".