Thoughts On: The Matrix

[BreakABone]

I know these are somewhat old movies now but curious what everyone's thoughts on on the series.

Does everyone still love em? Does the special effects shine through?

Does anyone think they are overrated, special effects heavy non-sense that really won't withstand the test of time?

Do you prefer the original movie alone or the series as a trilogy?

[Bube]

I've seen the first movie 3 or 4 times, and I love it. Not for the action movie that it is, but for the story behind it.

2 and 3 I've only seen once in the theaters, and I don't really remember much about them. Can't even remember plot twists and stuff, just some random scenes which I probably wouldn't be able to tell which movie they were from if I saw them randomly. I remember them being boring though.. But still, I remember having liked them. I should watch them again..

[Szymon]

For a movie about the future, the graphics didn't suck. A dream come to true for any computer nerd working in a cubicle. The introduction of bullet time was a neat idea. The idea of being a hero in a dystopian future is probably why I liked this series a lot and probably why I really enjoyed final fantasy 8.

[Dyne]

I recently re-watched the Trilogy on normal DVD (and not Bluray). I was still blown away. The sound design is especially still awesome.

Also, revolutions doesn't suck at all when you watch the trilogy really close together. Watching it as standalone, it got kind of campy, but everything makes sense when you watch the second one. Plus, it has some of the coolest moments - the gigantic clusterfuck of sentinels forming a face, a DBZ fight between Smith and Neo, and the ENTIRE defense of Zion scene. Simply stunning.

They definitely delivered - but they honestly should have waited and put Reloaded and Revolutions together.

[KillerGremlin]

As I told you on AIM....

The first Matrix movie is watchable as a standalone film. If you are going to watch Reloaded you need to watch the trilogy to make sense of the mess.

I was disappointed with Reloaded when it came out, but going back and watching Reloaded and Revolutions I realized they managed to make a decent film.

There's some cool stuff in the sequels that you would miss out if you just ended your viewing with the first Matrix. As far as special effects go, the first film does look dated at parts. Reloaded had some horrible CGI (the battle with Neo vs. all the Agent Smiths in the park). And Revolutions looks pretty good.

All in all the special effects are still pretty impressive, especially given when the films came out.

[Angrist]

Part 1 is still epic. Part 2 and 3 are boring, they really should have gone for a single sequel instead of two.

They could have left out all the Merovingean stuff, shortened some incredibly slow scenes (Zion invasion I'm looking at you) and you would end up with a pretty cool 2h30 movie.

[Professor S]

The first Matrix movie is a landmark. It really captured a time, feeling and style and gave us all one of the few truly authentic "holy shit!" moments we'll get from film.

The second two movies were abhorrent wastes of time, and filled to the gills with self-indulgent plotting and bloated, heavy dialogue. Pretty? Yes. Loathesome? Absolutely.

"Ergo, this entire Matrix anomoly can concordantly and simultaneously suck and/or not suck my balls."

[Teuthida]

I just rewatched The Matrix for the first time I believe since I saw it in theaters ten years ago. I remember being utterly confused at the time and everything felt different after I left the theater. Such a concept was completely new to me. The philosophy behind it is what I really like.

I don't remember the other two too well. I watched the Neo vs. hundreds of Agent Smiths fight on YouTube not too long ago and the CGIness of it is very apparent.

Also rewatched a few of the shorts from The Animatrix: Final Flight of the Osiris (for the prettiness), World Record, and Matriculated. The first time I watched it I enjoyed The Second Renaissance for fully explaining how the Matrix came to be created. But after knowing all that and Neo becoming essentially a god in the Matrix, anything taking place in that world became sort of boring for me. I like World Record for dealing with a runner's high as a way to free one's mind as one might do through meditation (compare breaking out of the Matrix with reaching Nirvana). Matriculated is also quite cool for the weirdness of it, trying to convert a machine to side with the humans through symbolism of what it means to be human.