The Matrix: Ressurections
Wrapped my rewatch with The Matrix: Ressurections last night, and I barely made it through it. I kept finding myself distracted and reaching for my phone to play a round of Suduku or something to keep me entertained.
It wasn't bad, per-se, but I think it brings the problems with all the sequels to the foreground. They all focused way too much on the love story between Neo and Trinity, and also went all-in on the action. While I liked the concept, which went back to bending reality and asking what was real and what wasn't, but instead of being subtle about it, it kept hitting us over the head with it. It wasn't taking us on a journey, it was preaching at us. And that was even worse than focusing on the wrong things. ;)
There is another sequel in the works. I hope they drop the love story. I hope they use action well, like in the first one, and don't rely on it too much like they did with all the sequels. I hope they find a good concept and take us on a journey instead of bludgeoning us with it. Time will tell.
The Matrix: Revolutions
We finally made it to Revolutions, that unsatistfying end to the original Matrix trilogy. I no longer feel like Reloaded ruined it, and it's not a bad movie. It just wasn't great. I'm glad I finally rewatched it.
Overall, the entire trilogy holds up fairly well. The original was mind-blowing when it came out and is still a great film. The other two are simultaniously better and worse than I remembered them. The second one was too long and the ending just wasn't very satisfying, which is probably why they eventually made the new one, The Matrix: Cash Grab, errr... Resurrections. I'll be wrapping up with that next, even though it took me several attempts to make it through it the first time.
The Animatrix
The rewatch continues with The Animatrix. It's harder to judge this one, as it's the only animated one in the series, and is also a bunch of different shorts taking place at vaious different times in the chonology. This is why I am doing these in release order instead of chronologically.
Some of the shorts are prequels, some take place between the movies, and some have no specific timeframe and could take place at any time before, during, or after the original trilogy. They are considered canon, though, so I included them in the rewatch.
I amd not a huge anime fan, but I remember enjoying these when they came out, and I still enjoyed them on this rewatch. The styles they're done in varies, and I quite enjoyed the different ways they were animated. The range from more traditional anime to near-realistic, almost uncanny valley, type of animation. And the stories really flesh out the universe a bit, which gives the entire series much more depth.
Tags: movies, the-matrix, matrix, animatrix
The Matrix: Reloaded
I decided to not skip anything in my rewatch of The Matrix, and am watching them in release order, so that meants I did wind up watching Reloaded last night.
I think this is the first time I've rewatched it since it came out. As previously mentioned, I had originally thought that the series was stronger without it, and that it someone ruined Revolutions. While still not my favorite movie, I didn't find it nearly as bad as I did way back when I originally watched it. There are a few scenes which probably should have never made it past the cutting room, but overall it was better than I remembered.
Because I am going in release order, The Animatrix is next.
The Matrix
Continuing on my binge of older movies, I just finished the first of The Matrix trilogy, and I am suprised at how well it holds up.
I remember when this one first came out. My wife an I watched a *lot* of movies back then. We had gone to a packed cinema on a Friday or Saturday evening and took her brother and parents with us. The showing was nearly sold out, and we wound up with crappy seats (way too close and way too off from the center of the screen) for a movie none of us had actually heard of. And then the lights went down and the movie started, and all the complaining about being too crowded and crappy seats suddenly stopped.
As I mentioned, the original held up extremely well. I did not like the second film in the series, and always felt like Revolutions would have been much better if Reloaded had never happened, so I don't know whether to skip Reloaded and go straight to The Animatrix or not.
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