I finally broke down and rented “The Matrix.” I’ll admit I went into it with low expectations, but I never expected it to be as dull as it turned out to be.
There were some bright moments. The opening sequence was a pretty good action sequence, and so was the closing one (starting at the subway station). But the first hour and a half was filled with pure info dump, dull exposition upon explanation, often repeated, and staged at a snail’s pace. Most of the scenes dragged on forever, and were filled with grade-school philosophizing presented as grand revelation. The ideas were old (“Tron” had the idea of a machine reality that could be changed if you wanted) and the villains were about the dullest I’ve ever seen on film. Their speech to Lawrence Fishburne when they had captured him could be used as a sleep aid.
Then there were the absurdities. They rescue Fishburne by shooting more bullets than in any two WWII battles in his direction. He’s untouched, and Reeves doesn’t even seem to be concerned that he’s pumping moutains of lead in the general direction of the guy he’s trying to save. And after Fishburne gets out, and the phone is ringing, you want to pick up the other two by the ear and shout “Pick up the goddamn phone, you morons!”
The special effects are impressive, and obviously influential, but I can imagine why anyone wanted to sit through an hour and a half of tedium to get to them.
I dissent. The Matrix was a superb film, a menagerie of delights. Yes, the special effects were above-average, but that’s just the surface. Beneath it, you find a captivating story of the complete 180 degree turn Neo’s life takes within the context of the film. Sure, the “I love you…Now get up!” romance elements seemed forced, but this does not a great film ruin.
By the way, that’s a 7.62mm Vulcan cannon Neo’s using to spray mountains of lead. While the rate of fire is very high (3,000+ rounds per second), when mounted on a stable mount (as depicted in the film), it is surprisingly accurate and easy to control. Also, since Morpheus’ position was fixed (he was manacled to the chair), all Neo would have to do is fire toward the left and right of the room, but not dead center. Simple enough, eh?
I’ll stand by you Chuck. I was also not impressed by the Matrix. IMO it was not well-acted, it was not particularly exciting, it was not as deep as some give it credit for, and is (again IMO) one of the most over-rated pictures in recent times.
Great special effects, good actions scenes (when they them), average to below-average everything else.
You didn’t happen to go to the bathroom during the part where they explained that, in the Matrix, one could exert a greater control over his/her movements than in the real world?
Of course the movie sucks if you slice it up and take it piecemeal. Any movie would suck if you do that. However, if you took it as a whole - and actually remembered what was said during those moments of “pure info dump” - it all clicks into place.
Gee, Maybe that has something to do with the fact that Keanu Reeves was the leading man?
I think Lawrence Fishburne was a huge waste of talent in that film, almost as big a waste as casting Pacino in The Devil’s Advocate
What’s interesting is the apparent blatent theft of a couple of scenes that The Matrix committed:
Spoilers for The Matrix AND The Wonderland Gambit
Both feature the characters trapped in a VR world (and unaware of it), heavy use of Alice in Wonderland imagery. I don’t remember The Matrix all that well (I thought it was ok, but nothing stunning), but the scene where the protagonist gets the computer message early on (wasn’t it from The White Rabbit?) seemed like a one-for-one swipe from Chalker’s Wonderland Gambit books, where the hero gets a message saying “Everything you know is wrong”, also signed by The White Rabbit. (I know that there have been "heroes lost in a VR world since (at least) Gayoule(sp)'s Counterfit World) but the Matrix/Wonderland Gambit bits seem too close for comfort)
The second half of The Matrix (the part with the machines vs the Humans) is completely different from the Chalker books, though. Chalker did write a series with similar echos, but so did dozens of other writer, and (to his credit) Chalker’s never used the idiotic idea of humans as Batteries. The second half of the Chalker series has the characters ending up in different VR worlds, so there’s no similarity there.
But only the One had the control to dodge a bullet. That was the point. Besides, Fishburne was close to unconscious at the point. And why the hell did Neo depend on that? (“Oops. Sorry, Morpheus. Didn’t know you couldn’t duck.”)
BTW, I did remember what was said in the info dump segments. Boy, did I remember it. (Too bad the filmmakers did not.). But it was just plain boring to sit for a hour and a half while people lecture at each other. A good writer could have covered all the ground in ten minutes.
Also, a good movie does not suck if you slice it up. A good movie is good throughout. The Matrix is not a good movie, simply because too much of it is dull, puerile, simplistic, and tedious. Is there anyone so immature as to actually think the “philosophic” points made in the film have any depth whatsoever? Maybe in gradeschool, but come on.
Wide-screen on DVD. I have no objection to the effects; they were the best part of the movie. But the long dull build-up to them was what I object to, and I’m surprised few people had mentioned that before.
Watch the film. Neo is shooting at the boring villain. The boring villian is standing in the middle of the room, practically in front of Morpheus.
Neo’s life takes a 180 degree turn. Wow. Only like a thousand other films, right?
The lectures are just plain dull, and go on forever. Lawrence Fishburne is to good an actor to have to play a second-rate Yoda.
Though I agree that the film was overrated, I also found it entertaining. If you’re expecting mind blowing stuff, then it’s not the movie for you. If you’re expecting entertainment, then it’s not a bad little flick.
However, one little point. Someone mentioned that people had greater control over their bodies in the Matrix, to which Chuck replied:
Yes, but any one of them had enough control to be very careful where they aimed and shot. With the training he’d received, you could assume that Neo could have shot a strawberry right off Fishburne’s head while sneezing and eating a hot dog.
I liked it okay, but I don’t think it deserves quite the praise it got. I keep hearing people talk about how deep it was, which is just a load of cack. Throwing in random religious references does not make something deep. There’s all this so-called symbolism in it, but the writers, in their zeal for it, forgot to make any of it actually symbolize anything. If anything, it’s sort of a Buddhist metaphor, but not a very deep or interesting one.
As an action movie, it’s a rollicking good time, even if my brain felt somewhat violated afterwards.
I didn’t think The Matrix was boring at the beginning. I was pretty eager to find out what was going on, and the part where Morpheus finally explains what has been happening to Neo is certainly interesting (even if it is scientifically preposterous).
It was the whole second half that I found boring. All that wonderful buildup to . . . nothing much except Morpheus getting rescued. The mystic mumbo-jumbo was tenth rate. And I hated the parts with the Oracle and the characters coming back to life by magic.
Agreed. However, that also underscores the major problem of the film: It wants very badly to be mind-blowing and deep. The writers used huge, matrix-generated sledge hammers to try to beat their “philosophical” points and Alice in Wonderland referenced into the viewers heads.
“Neo, you must feel like Alice after she goes through the looking glass.” Ugh. We GET IT. ALICE IN WONDERLAND. WE GET IT! The Matrix is like Wonderland. WE GET IT!
Neo is a Christ Figure. We get it. You don’t have to spoon feed it to us.
IMO, the movie is much better with the sound turned off.
Oh, and by the way, it also had the most boring DVD commentary I’ve ever seen.
I haven’t read “The Wonderland Gambit” (stopped reading Chalker about 10 years ago) but I wouldn’t be surprised at the “borrowings.” The story I thought it borrowed from (badly) is Harlan Ellison’s “I have no Mouth but I Must Scream.”
Yes, the plot was highly unoriginal and implausible (human beings as batteries? Why don’t they just breed electric eels?) The effects were only a bit original, most of the effects being borrowed from HongKong action films or Gap commercials. However the combination of the plot and the effects was still very exciting, and I thought it was the best action movie in quite a while.
C’mon, the movie at least made some effort to be mentally stimulating, which is more than 99% of all action movies do. Combine that with the fact that for an American movie, it’s effects were innovative, I think it really was fairly special. How anyone can think of it as a failure is beyond me.