I wanted to like this movie so much; I really hate it that I found myself slipping into MST3K mode at a couple points because it was almost painful to watch. It was hard not to think of Ghostbusters whenever The Keymaker was being discussed. Some of the CGI was painfully obvious — especially during the Multi-Smith Brawl, where I almost winced at every obvious transition from live action to CGI. On the bright side, there was a character called The Merovingian, which tickled the conspiracy buff in me.
It even fell pray to that cliched to the point of self-parody staple of brainless action movies, the way-too-easily-exploding car. I can accept an action movie world in which a 5mph fender bender can send a car into pyroxisms of self immolation; my suspension of disbelief goes that far. But when you have a CTS standing up to hail of literally hundreds of bullets without any significant damage (to the car or the people inside), yet allow an Escalade to explode as soon as it receives a dozen holes... well, I'm sorry. I'm not going to buy it.
What a hopeless pile of dreck. It couldn't even end on a decent cliffhanger ending. I knew I was going into one, but I was still outraged when it happened; simply cutting it off five minutes earlier would have made a much better break point. Oh well... I'd hope that the Brothers W would take a lesson from this for Revolutions, but considering that it's already in the can — and there's only so much you can do in post-prod — I don't hold out any good hope. I'll go see Revolutions when it comes out later this year, but The Matrix will probably end up being like Highlander: There should have been only one.
[This review is also posted on my blog]
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Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
"simply cutting it off five minutes earlier would have made a much better break point."
When, exactly? Concidering the major bombshell dropped within the last 10 seconds of the film, and the mind-bending scene a minute before that, when exactly should the film have ended?
2 - Robert Jones
"When, exactly? Concidering the major bombshell dropped within the last 10 seconds of the film, and the mind-bending scene a minute before that, when exactly should the film have ended?"
SPOILERS FOLLOW
I would have ended it just after Neo went comatose after dealing with the Squiddies. That was a high-point of drama, and would have rung much more true to me than where the break point actuall was -- which seemed to be trying to hard to say, "Look! It's this guy! You know him!... tune in next week to see what he's up to!"
3 - Phillip Winn
I remember less than a minute after that point, during which we learn that the ambush has failed (raising tension) and that Bane/Smith was responsible (raising many questions). To end it without that cliffhanger seems like it would be less appealing to me, not more. And it would shave less than a minute (rough estimate from memory) off the film, so why?
4 - Jim Treacher
"Major bombshell?" Oh no, Agent Smith is in some guy's brain! Hope he doesn't start cutting his own hand again!
5 - Pedrobrown
Ok... I admit it... the movie sucks. I went to see it the third time and, man, it´s the example of how to turn a great story into a great parody of it´s self.
Even though the dialogues are worthless, nobody buys the CGI Keanus, Zion is an unoriginal melting pot of Star Wars and Terminator, the editting is crap, the music is crap, and some carachters are just bane and irrelevant (the twins, the councilor, the agents) I guess I´ll wait up for Revolutions just to see the only thing that seems to save this whole damn matrix "ball of crap"... the storyline. That is getting better. Hopefully, it´ll make up for all the other screw-ups...
6 - jadester48
the worst thing is, i can see the overall story (excluding the animatrix series) becoming an extended ripoff of the story to Dark City.
It's not an immediately obvious comparison (not to me neway) bcos they do seem quite different - it's only when you think of the stories in a general sense that you get it: (WARNING: imminent spoilers, don't read if you don't like spoilers ok)
Dark City was about a group of beings having control over a whole city which they built, which was populated with humans. The beings had almost complete control over the city, by being able to pause the whole thing. However throughout its history there had been one or two humans born that were unnaffected by the pause thing and were able to have almost the same amount of control as the beings. One day, one of these people discovers what's going on in the city. He fights the beings and, right at the end, discovers that the whole city is it....they are on a ship travelling through space. Rather than expose everyone to this horrifying fact, he decides to reshape the city to his liking then go back to living a normal life with a woman he loves.
The matrix plot is about a group of beings (machines) having complete control over a world populated by real people. Every so often a person is born that can manipulate the world just like the machines. So far they have failed in their fight against the controllers BUT now there is Neo. However at the end of The Matrix Reloaded there is the hint that they are actually still inside the matrix when they think they are in the real world - Neo says something is different, he can sense the sentinals...
It will be a damn shame if it does turn out to follow the Dark City plot. OK it's not a big ripoff but adding loads of technological stuff to a copied story framework does not an original film (or film series) make.
Also is the depressing fact that Dark City gorssed so much less than The Matrix or Reloaded, even though it is a superior film.
7 - Phillip Winn
I enjoyed Dark City, and thought it was underrated, partly because it was released so near to the superior Matrix, though that wasn't the only factor, obviously.
However, the comparisons are extremely superficial.
8 - John Doe
Ya lady your a nut case as millions of other people are thinking.I havent takled to a person yet who hasnt liked the movie (matrix reloaded). I think your parents were the ones who shot the blank.