December 8, 2004
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With the release of the Ultimate Matrix collection on DVD, I thought I’d say my piece about this trilogy.
For everybody concerned, the first Matrix movie is considered well
loved and respected by many. It featured a sci-fi anime
cyber-punk comic-book stylized storyline about the meaning of life and
existence that speaks volumes to a person’s perception and
psyche. It also featured awesome CG a la “Bullet Time,” that will
go on to be one of the most imitated piece of special effects for years
to come. It used Hong Kong Martial Arts cinema to great use with
the excellent fight sequences. Finally, what I think was the most
important reason why the first Matrix movie is so well remembered and
loved; it had quotes and scenes that are quite memorable.Now contrast that to the sequels (reloaded & revolutions), while
featuring similar aspects to the first movie, turned out to be totally
different. Not only that, but a lot of fans hated them. The
storyline for one thing got really convoluted with high philosophical
overtones that almost verged to pretentiousness. The CG while
technically better than the first movie, weren’t as astounding as the
first introduction of “bullet-time” to many. The “wire-fu” also
carried on with the sequels, but the fights lost the “oomph” factor of
first seeing non-asians remarkably doing Hong Kong martial arts is
gone. The quotes aren’t as quotable as the first, and the scenes seems
a little more “forced” than before. But did that really mean that
the sequels
were altogether bad?Dig deeper and you will see that it really isn’t the case….
When I first saw the Matrix, I honestly wasn’t that WOWED as a lot of
people seemed to be. Although I was a fan that admired and respected
what the Wachowski Brothers had done, I had my problems with it.
I did in fact get a “been there done that” feel to the storyline which
diminised my enthusiasm for the material. It’s not entirely the
film’s faults, since it is more or less a universal storyline that is
spawned from comic books, sciece fiction, cyber punk, martial arts, gun
actioners, and anime. So “been there, done that” but in a cool
live-action showcase. Can’t fault it too much. But with
that in mind, I didn’t buy into the hype of the sequels, and lowered my
expectations.After watching the sequels, my apathy to the Matrix universe completed
turned into amazement. Clearly, this story is a lot bigger than I
imagined it would be and I LOVED it. The sequels introduced many things
about the Matrix story that greatly emphasized on the original idea,
and I really appreciated them for that. This truly was not a
simple sci-fi action franchise, but one that challenges you to be
engulfed in it. The reason for that is the directing. This
time around, the Wachowski brothers decided to add a huge dose of
Japanese cinema in their directing style. What that means is that
many things will be presented to you on screen, but nothing will be
literally explained. Facts about the storyline are flooded out of the
screen, and you may not even know it. It’ll get you to think
about why something is the way it is, and keep you thinking.But that’s just it. The sequels were directed in such an odd way, with
it’s philosophical banters and it’s unorthodox pacing in the action
sequences, that it alienated the original fans. It can be argued
that the Brothers wrote TOO MUCH into the sequels that they forgot how
to make a “proper” movie. “They were just making things up as
they went along,” some would say. I don’t blame the negativity,
because the sequels really aren’t the kind of movie that will please
everyone. But then, those kinds of movies are usually the ones I
end up really liking. Another problem is that after four years
in-between the original and the sequels, a lot of fans ended up hyping
up their “own vision” of what the sequels should have been, and most
likely ended up disappointed that it wasn’t what they had in
mind (kinda like the Star Wars prequels). For that, I can blame them for their negativity.
