Seriously though, more people should check out Speed Racer. It was tremendous, and very rewatchable, and great for kids, and the story was outstanding, and it had every necessary throwback to the original cartoon.
I hope I have the honor of being the first to let you know that you are, in fact, wrong and that the first Matrix rules. Irony has poisoned our culture and I'll take the excessive zeal of the Matrix over the shit-bit-per-minute that every action movie has these days.
Philosophically hollow or pretentious? Sure? Maybe? Every movie with an iota of philosophical content will have it's naysayers, spouting that "you don't really get Spinoza, free-will, Plato, philosophy... blah blah blah" and another side that claims it explains the world.
I think the philosophy's hollow all around but I didn't mind the Matrix as much as something like Equilibrium. I can see why someone would like Blade more as an artifact of the period though.
Freddie, have you watched their earlier movie Bound? Even though I like The Matrix, I think I’ve gone back to rewatch Bound more. Just a fun, pulpy noir that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but with very assured direction and some solid performances.
I remember feeling the same way about the Architect scene. And getting mad that it was obviously intending to make it so the viewer was supposed to feel dumb if they didn't come away with some sort of profound understanding from the scene.
the trans thing is a bit annoying honestly. I know the sisters have encouraged it themselves, but it seems like a) some trans people are very eager to claim some important pop culture as their own and b) a bit of the thing where we project marginalized people's identities onto all the art they make, like any film by a woman is a "women's film". The Wachowski sisters were closeted when they made the movie, sorry. You don't make art about something like gender transition while you are closeted. It's probably not kind to say, but if you haven't even been able to admit your identity to yourself it's not going to magically project itself through your art. That sounds like fairy tale stuff to me.
Anyway it kinda seems like a cheesy masculine gamer movie no? I actually think it's more fitting to view it that way, as art made by people desperately trying to be masculine, than anything else.
A lot of Keanu's work is like that, and The Matrix just seems like the Form of his genre. He always kinda plays himself and we're always kinda smirking when he gets really serious because we know he's not that great of an actor.
Rewatched this recently with my girlfriend, and I felt much the same way.
Part of the issue here is that much of the film's original shine (the color-grading, the special effects, the CYBER) just absolutely crumbles under the weight of its own culture-defining success (the endless parody fodder, the vaguely libertarian caricature of the agents, the creepy school shooter vibes).
I'm also surprised that last point doesn't get more play in contemporary discussions about this film. The Matrix released just a month or two before the Colombine shooting, and I don't know how anyone can legitimately enjoy the scene where Neo massacres a half-dozen rent-a-cops. Not implying causality here, but surely it's enough aesthetic correlation to leave a bitter taste in anyone's mouth?
I can take or leave The Matrix. But the tone of this review is so obnoxiously hipster it makes me want to cancel my subscription. Eww shudder. Don’t write like this again.
I watched Blade and the Matrix (somehow) on VHS a year after they came out and I also was 14 so it was perfect timing to take in “everything is an illusion, also look how cool this is”. It was very cool to me, a 14-year old.
I enjoyed The Matrix as a kid, never watched the sequels, and have not rewatched The Matrix since then, so I have no strong opinion on it. But I do want to defend, in abstract, the idea of a movie having themes without clear takeaways.
I think it's okay for a movie (or any work of art) to explore a theme without necessarily having a single, specific thing to say about that theme. In fact, I think this is a mature approach to theme in a story. It therefore doesn't necessarily seem muddled to me that The Matrix might have different characters expressing conflicting perspectives on free will - the point might just be to have a discussion on it, not express a canonical statement on what free will is, or whether it's something we possess.
My problem with the first Matrix film is that its twist ending violates the First Law of Thermodynamics (e.g. conservation of energy): you can't get more energy out of a system than is initially in the system. According to the twist ending of the film, the computers are using humans as batteries to power their machinery. But physics says thumbs-down on that. The computers would have to put more energy into keeping the humans alive in their little pods than they could get back out from them, so they would run out of energy very quickly. You can't create energy from nothing. I could never get past that scientific flaw to enjoy the film, even though Keanu Reeves does look good in his black sunglasses.
I don't really agree that The Matrix is bad, but I do agree that Blade rules and is way more rewatchable. This may be a common hipsterism on social media (I don't go there anymore), a la "Did Hard is a Christmas movie," but for my money Blade is the best Marvel movie by far.
Seriously though, more people should check out Speed Racer. It was tremendous, and very rewatchable, and great for kids, and the story was outstanding, and it had every necessary throwback to the original cartoon.
I hope I have the honor of being the first to let you know that you are, in fact, wrong and that the first Matrix rules. Irony has poisoned our culture and I'll take the excessive zeal of the Matrix over the shit-bit-per-minute that every action movie has these days.
Philosophically hollow or pretentious? Sure? Maybe? Every movie with an iota of philosophical content will have it's naysayers, spouting that "you don't really get Spinoza, free-will, Plato, philosophy... blah blah blah" and another side that claims it explains the world.
Freddie, this is the day you truly spoke truth to power
I think the philosophy's hollow all around but I didn't mind the Matrix as much as something like Equilibrium. I can see why someone would like Blade more as an artifact of the period though.
Freddie, have you watched their earlier movie Bound? Even though I like The Matrix, I think I’ve gone back to rewatch Bound more. Just a fun, pulpy noir that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but with very assured direction and some solid performances.
I remember feeling the same way about the Architect scene. And getting mad that it was obviously intending to make it so the viewer was supposed to feel dumb if they didn't come away with some sort of profound understanding from the scene.
the trans thing is a bit annoying honestly. I know the sisters have encouraged it themselves, but it seems like a) some trans people are very eager to claim some important pop culture as their own and b) a bit of the thing where we project marginalized people's identities onto all the art they make, like any film by a woman is a "women's film". The Wachowski sisters were closeted when they made the movie, sorry. You don't make art about something like gender transition while you are closeted. It's probably not kind to say, but if you haven't even been able to admit your identity to yourself it's not going to magically project itself through your art. That sounds like fairy tale stuff to me.
Anyway it kinda seems like a cheesy masculine gamer movie no? I actually think it's more fitting to view it that way, as art made by people desperately trying to be masculine, than anything else.
A lot of Keanu's work is like that, and The Matrix just seems like the Form of his genre. He always kinda plays himself and we're always kinda smirking when he gets really serious because we know he's not that great of an actor.
Rewatched this recently with my girlfriend, and I felt much the same way.
Part of the issue here is that much of the film's original shine (the color-grading, the special effects, the CYBER) just absolutely crumbles under the weight of its own culture-defining success (the endless parody fodder, the vaguely libertarian caricature of the agents, the creepy school shooter vibes).
I'm also surprised that last point doesn't get more play in contemporary discussions about this film. The Matrix released just a month or two before the Colombine shooting, and I don't know how anyone can legitimately enjoy the scene where Neo massacres a half-dozen rent-a-cops. Not implying causality here, but surely it's enough aesthetic correlation to leave a bitter taste in anyone's mouth?
It might help sales of Neuromancer.
I can take or leave The Matrix. But the tone of this review is so obnoxiously hipster it makes me want to cancel my subscription. Eww shudder. Don’t write like this again.
I watched Blade and the Matrix (somehow) on VHS a year after they came out and I also was 14 so it was perfect timing to take in “everything is an illusion, also look how cool this is”. It was very cool to me, a 14-year old.
I enjoyed The Matrix as a kid, never watched the sequels, and have not rewatched The Matrix since then, so I have no strong opinion on it. But I do want to defend, in abstract, the idea of a movie having themes without clear takeaways.
I think it's okay for a movie (or any work of art) to explore a theme without necessarily having a single, specific thing to say about that theme. In fact, I think this is a mature approach to theme in a story. It therefore doesn't necessarily seem muddled to me that The Matrix might have different characters expressing conflicting perspectives on free will - the point might just be to have a discussion on it, not express a canonical statement on what free will is, or whether it's something we possess.
My problem with the first Matrix film is that its twist ending violates the First Law of Thermodynamics (e.g. conservation of energy): you can't get more energy out of a system than is initially in the system. According to the twist ending of the film, the computers are using humans as batteries to power their machinery. But physics says thumbs-down on that. The computers would have to put more energy into keeping the humans alive in their little pods than they could get back out from them, so they would run out of energy very quickly. You can't create energy from nothing. I could never get past that scientific flaw to enjoy the film, even though Keanu Reeves does look good in his black sunglasses.
A completely throwaway take: The Matrix trilogy was my generation's Jesus Christ Superstar
I don't really agree that The Matrix is bad, but I do agree that Blade rules and is way more rewatchable. This may be a common hipsterism on social media (I don't go there anymore), a la "Did Hard is a Christmas movie," but for my money Blade is the best Marvel movie by far.