So, you going to that Matrix thingy tonight?

Nocturnaloner · Post by **Nocturnaloner** » Wed May 14, 2003 8:16 pm

Even here in godforsakenreno, they have "preview" screenings tonight. I will be there, at around 10pm PST. I'm going in pretty neutral on this one. I like the first one, but I don't think that its "deep philosophical underpinnings" make it better than any other action flick. I hope it's good. We'll see.

Nocturnaloner · Post by **Nocturnaloner** » Thu May 15, 2003 1:04 am

Its only fault is being a middle movie. It's a great ride, and continues the story nicely. There are some scenes in here that, if you didn't feel you got your money's worth, I don't think you have a pulse. In the end, how people will think about it will ultimately depend on how they feel about the trilogy as a whole. That's the thing about middle movies. Bottom line, if you liked the first one, go.

Latte Thunder · Post by **Latte Thunder** » Thu May 15, 2003 6:19 am

I bought my tickets a couple of days ago. I'm very much looking forward to this.

Latte Thunder · Post by **Latte Thunder** » Fri May 16, 2003 6:27 am

Saw it last night and it didn't disappoint. It's always great to see a highly anticipated movie with a shitload of hype behind it and have it exceed the expectations.

I saw it with a bunch of friends last night and wound up discussing the deeper elementsm with a friend for a couple of hours. I realize that people are already tired of hearing about how it's an exercise in philosophy, but really, this movie is very Nietzschean and I'm glad for that. The Matrix could easily fall in line with massive pop culture action movies like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, but by adding a philosophical nature, I think it becomes something more and it helps me appreciate it on a much higher level.

Of course, it's still one bad-ass fucking aggro action flick. The action scenes this time around are very much more of the same punk-kick-block stuff from the last movie, but the speed and intensity is multiplied by a hundred. Special effects aid many of the cooler scenes, such as Neo taking on dozens of Agent Smiths at once and Morpheus taking it to the Agents on top of an 18 wheeler.

It's tough to look at it all and give a compact review, so I'll just cut it right here and say that it lived up to all my expectations. The only cons I can think of were some cheesy moments in the beginning of the movie at the "rave" scene, Morpheus' speech to Zion in kind of goofy.

Monica Belucci was great... and hot as fuck. Anthony Wong is also credited, but I don't remember seeing him.

shawn · Post by **shawn** » Sat May 17, 2003 8:14 am

Well heres a different take:

THIS MOVIE FUCKING SUCKED.

Over 2 hours of BORING shit. The action scenes were long, over done, anti-climatic, repetitive, and fucking BORING. The Kung-fu was fucking LAME and boring as well.

The philosophical crap. Was just that CRAP. Just a fucking LOAD of heavy handed pointless drivel. Garbage. Complete Garbage. I have no problem with some brains behind my action films, but this was just a load of shit.

And the multi-Agent Smith mess got soooo fucking tired. After about an hour of 10 dozen Agent Smith's running around I was wishing I had some stronger drugs.

I had to piss halfway through this fucker but I didn't move from my seat because I kept thinking it was going to get better. I could have taken a big fat manshit during this movie and not miss a fucking thing...

Fuck this movie, bring on the 3rd installment of Lord Of The Rings!

Darth Tanner · Post by **Darth Tanner** » Sun May 18, 2003 7:30 am

I haven't made it out to this one yet, but I'll definitely try to see it sometime this week. From what I hear, opinions are pretty mixed on it. But I'll have to see it myself just to put in my own two cents.

Griff [Mola] · Post by **Griff [Mola]** » Sun May 18, 2003 7:46 am

I'm no MATRIX fan. Couldn't give a toss about the characters and, to me, the story and psuedo-philosophy is pretty contrived but...

There's something to admire about these flicks. They are doing things somewhat differently - essentially transferring the anime style to live action (if you can call 90% CGI live action) and re-interperating age old myth for the terminally hip. These movies are gonna be hilariously and notoriously dated in 10 years time.

I thought RELOADED was about on par with the first one. Better action scenes, poorer story maybe. Certainly had some interesting shit happening during said action - its just a shame they had to destroy the momentum every so often with that dang 'bullet-time' (which is essentially just a fancy slo-mo). Although I can appreciate the grace of that particular effect, its use was mostly gratuitous. I like my roller coasters fast.

The fight scenes were an improvement on those from the first movie but, while impressively conceptualized, they were also somewhat lacking. I partially blame the sound effects for this - it sounded like people were being assaulted with scrotums instead of fists. Also, the over-reliance of CGI and other trickery to make the characters appear like martial arts masters just robs the fighting of that illusion of full contact. Consequently the numerous scuffles were about as brutal as a game of patty cake. Could've used a little bit of BLADE 2 head-stompin' action.

Those criticisms kinda sum up my take on the series thus far. There's a lot on offer but its also horribly marred.

But then who gives a fuck what I think?

And, yes Latte, thank god for Monica Belucci. She brought some much need feminity and sexuality to the series, no thanks to Neo's K.D. Lang (sans strap-on) look-a-like girlfriend. Gee, what a fucking androgenous couple her and Keanu make.

Darth Tanner · Post by **Darth Tanner** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 7:23 am

Finally caught up to it the other day and somewhat agree with what everyone has already said. The action scenes and effects were better than it the first film, but the story could have used a little improvement. The multiple Agent Smiths fighting Neo was a cool scene, but I have to agree with Shawn that the gimmick kind of got tired after awhile. While I enjoyed the first film to some degree, I haven't spent the last couple of years anticipating the sequels as I have other films. I still will see REVOLUTIONS when it comes out in November. In short, not the worst film to come out this year, but not the best either. I'm more interested in seeing HULK, TERMINATOR 3 and LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. Hopefully those will deliver in the right places.

Kimberly · Post by **Kimberly** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 12:33 pm

I actually liked this movie better the second time around. I would of liked to of seen more kung fu. While I liked what they had I didn't find the fight scenes to be as kick ass as the ones in the first movie. I found some of the CGI in this to really be lame... making it look like one of them little movie type intros you see in a video game rather then live actors. I also wanted more of those ghost twins.

Remo D · Post by **Remo D** » Fri Jun 13, 2003 4:35 pm

Finally caught up with this one... didn't hate it QUITE as much as Shawn did, but I'm closer to his camp than that of the admirers.

Absolutely right about the action being repetitious and eventually boring... thought the multi-Smiths were an over played joke...

...and the philosophy? Why should I say what I thought of the philosophy? It's already been said--that decision has already been made. It's why I'm here. It's why you are all here.

Yeah, I thought it had a couple of zippy bits to it--but let me tell you, I caught a MATINEE and was still pulling my own hair in an effort to stay awake (mostly during the first half).

And I'll catch the third one... that decision has already been made... it's why I am here... it's why you are all here...

...but I just MIGHT wait for the fucking video!

Forums of Filth

CD reviews, music reviews, music discussion, horror discussion, movie discussion

So, you going to that Matrix thingy tonight?

So, you going to that Matrix thingy tonight?

It's good.