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Matrix: Reloaded

 
  

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Wrecks City-Zen
20:24 / 08.10.02
Here is a portion of the unofficial script... Seems cool, with a few good surprises.
 
 
Trijhaos
21:30 / 08.10.02
Looks pretty good. I'm not so sure about this "evil Neo" thing though. It seems like it's going to be a great deal more violent than than the fist and Agent Smith just doesn't seem agentish. I just can't picture an agent calling someone a pussy.
 
 
Wrecks City-Zen
22:25 / 08.10.02
Think it's a fraud?

It's off of Keanunet...
 
 
MJ-12
23:05 / 08.10.02
It seems to bear no relationship to the trailer, or the cast list from imdb.
 
 
The Strobe
23:51 / 08.10.02
Bear in mind that the trailer is for both Matrix Reloaded AND Matrix Revolutions; the multiple Smith thing IS in the trailer.

I think the white-dreadlocked agents are being saved for number three.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
11:21 / 09.10.02
I'm both interested and disappointed about the return of 'Smith' as I think he was all played out by the end of the first movie (unless of course this is a completely different Agent Smith) Quite what is supposed to be threatening about an enemy that Neo has beaten once is unclear.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
11:22 / 09.10.02
And is '... Reloaded' really the official title for Matrix II? It's a crap title (though better than, say, 'The Phantom Menace') and also clashes with the double disc DVD sets for the first film...
 
 
doglikesparky
12:38 / 09.10.02
Well it looks like Agent Smith is Smith version 2.0 now and part 2 is definitely called Matrix : Reloaded. (at the moment...certainly that's what is being used in the trailer and by the cast and crew when discussing it). Part 3 is going to be called Matrix : Revolutions.

According to Joel Silver, the first film was about birth, the second is about life and third will be about death. Make of that what you will...
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
15:16 / 09.10.02
I wonder if we're gonna hear more from Grant Morisson about this.
 
 
Wrecks City-Zen
20:08 / 09.10.02
And where is the trailer...?
 
 
rakehell
01:38 / 11.10.02
You can find it here
 
 
Tamayyurt
02:56 / 15.10.02
Johnny O- I wonder if we're gonna hear more from Grant Morisson about this.

I don't see how they're not going to utterly kill these two movies. I really hope they borrow, plagiarize, and steal a lot from grant morrison! Because then at least we know it's going to be great! I mean, too bad for morrison who isn't going to get a cent for his ideas. I don't fucking care. I'm not his agent. I want to see his ideas in theaters, god damnit!
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
09:03 / 15.10.02
{Claps hands} Oh yes, let's have this argument again please!!
 
 
The Natural Way
10:54 / 15.10.02
Morrison has it on good authority that his comic was on the set. If he's on the money, I think that pretty much puts the argument to rest.

I'm a bit worried that the next movies'll fail to live up to the BLAM!!! POW!!! ideasfest that was The Matrix - so, I'm w/ impulsivelad, plagiarise away. If not from Morrison, from someone else.

Unless, od course, the Wachowskis are full of the fun stuff themselves....which is always possible....
 
 
Jack Fear
12:36 / 15.10.02
"Ideasfest"?

THE MATRIX had exactly one idea, and it was a pretty fucking stupid one at that. Try again.
 
 
The Falcon
13:39 / 15.10.02
Yes, the same one that propelled 'The Invisibles' - it's how much fun you can have applying it that matters. 'The Matrix' is pretty fun.
 
 
The Natural Way
13:52 / 15.10.02
It had one idea that it jammed on in lots of different ways. The reality as illusion thing darted from Marxist to Buddhist to Gnostic to T2 to whateveryoulike as quickly as you could say "I'd like a red pill, please."

And, Jack, don't be quite so scathing: I chatted to loads of people after watching the film who'd never come into contact with "A world behind yr world!" stuff, and the Matrix really got some of them thinking.

And that can't be a bad thing.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
11:31 / 16.10.02
I heard Patrick Stewart is planning to sue them for the idea of having a bald guy in charge...
 
 
The Natural Way
12:37 / 16.10.02
You fucking LOVE it!

Tell me you don't!
 
 
Jack Fear
12:38 / 16.10.02
I don't.
 
 
Jack Fear
12:38 / 16.10.02
(Hey, you asked.)
 
 
The Natural Way
12:59 / 16.10.02
I was talking to Lada.

I love the fact that you probably HATE the Matrix, Jack. It's just so Jack.
 
 
Jack Fear
13:30 / 16.10.02
Nothing by halves, that is my motto. Or, as Pope put it, "A little learning is a dangerous thing"--emphasis on little.

As Drugs Bunny sort-of-alludes in the other Matrix thread, the thing puts forth its one idea and then fails to follow through on it: the essential problem is the same as that of Vanilla Sky—that the "real" reality is far less believable than the simulation, to the point of overriding the suspension of disbelief—coupled with a complete lack of intellectual rigor, an unwillingness to follow through on the implications of its own premise: Nothing is real it tells us, question your reality: then it backs away: Well, no, this is real—accept it without question.

Dishonest, lazy, deeply stoopid.
 
 
Mr Quick
14:04 / 16.10.02
I have to own up to having really enjoyed The Matrix, but got to agree with Jack that it's pretty simple stuff, but wasn't that always the intention.

I'm sure that I've seen the Wachowski brothers interviewed as saying that really all the reality/non-reality stuff was just a hook to allow them to get away with making superhero films in a convincing manner.

y'know, you really will believe a man can fly...
 
 
The Natural Way
14:35 / 16.10.02
I guess it's all a question of how much the problem of REALITY (tm) will be explored in the sequels. Vol 1 of the Invisibles presented us with a war behind the scenes - us (tm) vs the insectmachine gods feeding on our souls - and then, later, something else happened....
 
 
Jack Fear
14:55 / 16.10.02
Frankly, I haven't that much faith in the Wachowskis: I just get the feeling they haven't really thought it through.
 
 
doglikesparky
15:22 / 16.10.02
Well they have maintained all along that all 3 parts were written as 1 movie and then they realised that it was far too much for 1 film so they just broke it down into 3 easy to swallow segments.

Now whether that means we shouldn't be too harsh on it until we've seen the whole thing or that numbers 2 and 3 will just be more of the same (a good thing or not? - you decide) remains to be seen.
 
 
I, Libertine
17:21 / 18.10.02
Latest news is that the sequels will be released next May and then in October...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news-18230/
 
 
arcboi
18:12 / 18.10.02
I'm not sure I'd swallow the line about all 3 parts were written as 1 movie - IMHO, like George Lucas, the Wachowski brothers are capitalising on a good thing.

Whether they *do* follow through with 2 more films that are as good as the first one, I guess time will tell.

I enjoyed The Matrix. I think it employed a whole range of interesting ideas executed with style. But that's just me....
 
 
The resistable rise of Reidcourchie
14:30 / 20.10.02
Jack, presumably you can point to other films that have covered this kind of topic better?
 
 
Hieronymus
14:55 / 20.10.02
Actually, arcboi, the only similarities between Lucas and the Wacko brothers is that neither one of them, after making their first film of the trilogy, really believed they'd get to make the other two.

But the Wachowskis did have the story written for all three films written before they ever filmed The Matrix. They had to rewrite the script to make it more of a compact, self-contained film. But the plot for the next two was always there.
 
 
arcboi
18:26 / 20.10.02
I don't know Didactic, I always had the impression that this was as written as a one-off film - especially by the ending.

It'll be interesting to see how 'Flying Neo' is resolved in the next 2 films. That ending did raise the barrier somewhat.
 
 
videodrome
18:56 / 20.10.02
presumably you can point to other films that have covered this kind of topic better?

Always my favorite argumentative/comparitive tactic. A better wording would be:

"Until the existence of a film/book/whatever that covers this topic better than The Item In Question ("The Item") can be conclusively proven, The Item will be considered the most authoritative treatise on the subject, and is therefore Good. QED."

This is predictably obvious coming from me, but I'll bite and propose Cronenberg's loose "hallucination/reality trilogy" (Videodrome, Naked Lunch and eXistenZ) as a far better treatment of Morrison-esque reality principles, even if they didn't have his books on set, leaving The Matrix as little more than an entertaining action flick with faux-philosophical trappings. Discuss.
 
 
Jack Fear
00:41 / 21.10.02
Balls.

A thing can be shit on its own merits (or lack thereof), notwithstanding comparisons to other things.

A good critic doesn't impose artificial benchmarks (i.e., "How does this film stack up against Citizen Kane?") but rather judges a given film by how well it does what it sets out to do.

The Matrix starts with a mildly intriguing premise which it implies will be the main thread of the film: but it soon become apparent that the film will ignore the logical implications of the virtual reality bit as soon as they become inconvenient to the chopsockey. And so the VR aspect is revealed as a gimmick, peg onto which to hang a state-of-the-art munitions-porn movie.

So my beef is not with how The Matrix fails to deliver on the promise of other, better films, but how it fails to deliver on its own promise. Dig?
 
 
Lurid Archive
09:54 / 21.10.02
I think it is down to expectations. When I first saw the film I assumed from pretty early on that the premise was little more than a gimmick upon which to hang the plot and more importantly, the stylistic elements.

In many ways, The Matrix is entirely unambitious and the "unreality" element is such an old Sci-fi device that I expected it to deliver very little. I think that a comparison with Cronenberg is interesting because his films actually attempt to explore some of those concepts while The Matrix barely flirts with them. But once you accept that, there is little denying that The Matrix is a lot of fun. Shallow and very, very pretty.
 
  

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