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Ok, I'll admit off the bat I like the Matrix trilogy. All 3 of them. I've always heard other people berating 2 and 3 as if they were terrible, terrible movies, but I never understood why. Instead of trolling the internet trying to figure out why they sucked, can't you all just fill me in?
Thanks Comments  who has this post bookmarked gwiz665
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(BTW moving this to SF and Cinema channels)
The universe that Matrix 1 created in people's heads was awesome; there were subtle hints at huge things taking place, but we had to imagine most of it for ourselves, since we spent most of the movie inside the matrix, and didn't get to see very many of the fancy machines.
When they made 2 and 3, they changed the universes in people's heads by shining a light on all the stuff people had imagined, because they were very explicit movies, naming a lot of rules and properties of the universe.
The picture that is painted by the sum of the 3 movies' description of their universe is therefore a much smaller, brighter, less mysterious, more cliche picture, than if the first movie had been allowed to stand alone.
Imho, it's because when you make a piece of fiction you create a virtual universe in the reader's mind, which you can then revisit in later works. But each later work will change the universe's rules slightly, and shine a new light on events in the former works.
The universe that Matrix 1 created in people's heads was awesome; there were subtle hints at huge things taking place, but we had to imagine most of it for ourselves, since we spent most of the movie inside the matrix, and didn't get to see very many of the fancy machines.
When they made 2 and 3, they changed the universes in people's heads by shining a light on all the stuff people had imagined, because they were very explicit movies, naming a lot of rules and properties of the universe.
The picture that is painted by the sum of the 3 movies' description of their universe is therefore a much smaller, brighter, less mysterious, more cliche picture, than if the first movie had been allowed to stand alone.
I guess that's valid. However, I liked the 'real world' aspect of it - I liked the intricacies laid out in 2 and 3. I liked the depth it provided - by adding Zion and the other characters, it matured IMHO. I'll admit, the 7 incarnations of Zion threw me for a loop, but in the end I thought it was an interesting (and original) element of the storyline.
Dag - I liked the hippy rave scene - I'd party like a madman if I was facing certain death at the hands of a machine army. That song was awesome too.
To each his own I guess. I always just wondered if there was some enormous plot hole I missed or something.
I think the worst aspect of this phenomena happened to me with Battlestar Galactica. The final episode ruined the whole BSG universe for me and made it lame, so much that I'm not interested in whatever else is being made in that universe. Which is a shame really, because it was really good up until that last piece of shit.
Mentions of ghosts and vampires (or was it werewolves) by the oracle, having no real part to play in the movies.
Persephone's just one kiss scene in part 2, it seemed like such a pivotal and dramatic scene yet it didn't amount to anything really.
There's just all these elements.. especially in the second movie that don't play out. That goes for the conclusion of the series itself.
Then came the ultimate answer to all of this.. the MMO that was made in corelation with the developers of the film. The Merovingian becomes a faction in the game. I believe the whole ghosts and werewolves thing becomes relevant in the game (I haven't played it). The resetting of the world.. well.. you need that in place if you want to have a game taking place in the world. I seriously think it's their plans for the MMO that weakened the over all plot of Matrix 2 and 3, though part 2 is a VERY fun action movie.
Another big element... there's barely any gun fights in the sequels. I know The One has no use for guns, nor are they effective against him, but come on... they could have had one mega gun fight somewhere in the story.
The other point someone made about the part 2 and 3 answering so many questions about the world is relevant too. They also seriously fucked up the setting when Neo used his powers outside of the matrix. That's when the tightly constructed universe of the first became a notch closer to a generic super-hero movie.
...nothing in the Matrix movies is as bad as what Indiana Jones 4 did for THAT series however. /derail >.<
The Matrix Reloaded had exactly three good scenes in it. Neo vs. The Smiths, The Chateau Fight and the Highway Chase. The rest is an attempt to surpass the first movie's philosophical ideas that fails miserably. The entire Merovingian segment was just sad.
The Matrix Revolutions had the same problem as many superhero movies seem to have. When you have a character with too much power, it soon becomes problematic to create plots that aren't solved with "Neo flies in and saves the day". So instead of thinking up an actual challenge to those powers (or, to delay that challenge until the end of the film, with the Smith fight), they simply disable the hero.
Cyclops gets disabled in every single X-Men movie. He's more a cripple than a superhero.
I don't want to get into the whole prophet, architect, control and the rest of the philosophical concepts they try to introduce in Reloaded and Revolutions, because, while in the first Matrix they were so subtle with their actual message, in 2 and 3, they simply cram them down your throat like it's a classroom.
The magic in the first movie is completely obliterated by the sequels. That's the best way I can describe how I feel about it. It's also why I don't regard them as relevant when discussing The Matrix with friends.
I still think the way that Reloaded should have happened was Neo somehow "reboots" (Reloads) the Matrix causing everyone to wake up for a moment inside the real world. Then, after they fall back into the Matrix, they begin to talk with one another about the "dream" everyone had, with Neo acting as a Messiah-like figurehead. Revolutions would have shown the world-wide fight within the Matrix against the agents/Matrix/whatever, with humanity eventually winning and waking up for good. This sillyness of computer programs, Trainmen in the Limbo world and iterations of Neo splitting off and re-absorbing back into the system was just that....silly.
i'll admit, the second installment annoyed me to the extent that i've still not watched the third.
the first movie was just too good for its own, er , good. i honestly can't think of a way they could've followed it with a film that wasn't inferior to the point of mass disappointment.
i'll admit, the second installment annoyed me to the extent that i've still not watched the third.
Don't watch the third. It's high budget drivel. You'll have more fun watching a Van Damme movie. Seriously, if I want a laugh and watch a brainless movie it's got to be Van Damme.
The problem with the 3rd movie was that they turned Neo into Jesus.
But I saw all 3 in theaters and bought all 3 on dvd, so WB and the Wachowski brothers are crying all the way to the bank, and they don't really care what we think.
Animatrix was actually quite good. The stories were (mostly) on par with the first matrix movie, it's just missing the ground-breaking special effects because it's animated.
I played through the first single player game as well, it was ok. Never touched the MMORPG'r though, or it's "path of neo" re-hash.