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Posts Tagged ‘Carrie-Anne Moss’

“Huh?”

All right, Wachowski brothers, here’s your motivation: You took one of the most original movies and brutally murdered it with the sequel, it’s the final installment, fix it. Yeah, that happened. Honestly, I loved the original Matrix, and if you’ve read my review on Reloaded you know how I felt about that one. This movie, however, fell somewhere in the middle. Still, its shortcomings were more than obvious and I felt like the brothers still missed the mark. But it definitely was an improvement from Reloaded–at least a little (right up until the ending).

Plot

Continuing from Reloaded, Neo and the rebels of Zion attempt to fight back against a huge army of sentinels and other machines. Final hope lies in Neo fulfilling the prophecy and stopping the robots. But here’s the kick: the way Neo stops the robots is to waltz into the mechanical city, walk up to their leader and get plugged into the matrix to kill Agent Smith. Once smith is dead, the robots will stop the fighting, free all the “batteries and have peace. The reason for this deal? Agent Smith has taken over the Matrix. Here’s what I think: delete the matrix and start over. Agent Smith will be deleted as well right? Or even still, after Smith takes over the matrix, he duplicates himself with every person right? I believe the Architect stated in Reloaded how easily the people plugged into the matrix figured out the matrix was fake. Wouldn’t seeing like 12 thousand of the same person make every battery in the matrix wake up? Maybe that’s just me, but it seems like a huge hole in the plot.

Visual

Fantastic yet again. The Wachowski bros really hit the mark on each movie here, but since Revolutions didn’t quite have enough in the way of action, the special effects weren’t nearly as extensive as the previous two. Also, I noticed that the final Neo/Smith fight scene really seemed a bit on the fake side. It was almost like the bros were trying too hard to make it look unusual. Smith and Neo getting slammed about and thrown inconceivable distances by punches that didn’t really look that hard, and the single hardest hit in the whole movie didn’t even look all that devastating. Of course, the hand to face effect was pretty neat (though a little over-done).

Audio

What happened to the kick-ass soundtrack of Reloaded? It seemed like instead of awesome rock and techno, it was all composed. All of it. But, the surround sound was frickin’ awesome. I really missed the rock though. I mean, anyone who knows me knows I won’t scoff at good classical music, but I felt like Revolutions should have been more about hard rock than composed classical. Oh well.

Acting

Guess what? The only increase in acting performance was from the only actors I had never heard of. Everyone else, including the people who carried over from Reloaded, gave a flat and very unbelievable delivery. This just doesn’t seem right to me. Why in the hell would the people making millions for this movie give the worst performance, when the people making table scraps were the most believable? Damn. I’m in the wrong business. Anyway, although it was slightly better than reloaded, I still found the performances less than moving.

Summary

The plot was less than believable with some pretty massive holes. The ending made me leave the movie theater thinking, “what the fuck?” The good music was gone, and the acting was only a little better than Reloaded’s. It was really hard having this movie conclude the most impressive and original sci-fi/action movie in many years. I was very disappointed, but I have to admit that I really did enjoy most of this flick. It was really the very ending that pissed me off. Surely the bros must realize that you don’t want your audience to FINISH the movie angry. Maybe if you piss ‘em off early they can still leave happy, but right at the end? Come on, that’s just fricken’ stupid. You know what I wanted to see from this ending? I wanted Neo to wake up and the whole adventure having been a dream. That would have been more believable, plus the shock effect would leave the movie in the top forever. Anyway, the final word is this: it sucked, but it was still better than Reloaded.  3 out of 5.

Kinda wish I could go back in time and slap the Wachowskis before they started making this one

Wachowski brothers, what the hell happened? You went from one of the coolest and most original movies in many years to creating this drivel. What the hell? Anyway, let’s get this going right. I loved the original Matrix. And there were parts in this movie that weren’t terrible, I really felt like the Wachowski brothers kind of lost their way with this flick. I heard this movie described as a bridge from the beginning to the end, but I think the bridge is pretty crumbly and poorly built. Just so you know, I am aware that a lot of the plot from this movie is included in the video game “Enter the Matrix” and that you must play the game to get the movie better, but I saw the game played and I don’t really think it helped.

Plot

I can sum up the plot for Reloaded in just one word: confusing. “you’ve already made the choice–you’re just here to try and figure out why” Huh? What’s that even supposed to mean? Anyway, the general layout is this: Neo and the leaders of Zion discover an impending attack, and Neo takes it into his hands to try and stop the attack, and to figure out why he is who he is. Of course, there’s a lot more to it but it really feels too disjointed from the other two matrix movies to make a decent review here. There was so much talk about the “choice” in this movie, that if not for the excellent special effects, I might have made the “choice” to leave the theater. But that’s what it really boils down to, special effects over plot, that’s what made this movie work. I don’t want to just walk all over the movie though, as I think some of the things that were said really needed to be done in order to build towards a proper ending. Plus the movie is based very strongly off of various religions, and perhaps the joining of several religious ideals is what made the movie seem disjointed.

Visual

Absolutely. Stunning. This section is what actually made this movie work. Special effects and cinematography kept me in the movie. So many scenes are visually compelling and even beyond. While watching in the theater, I actually found myself ducking to the left and right and ducking and weaving and what-not. Most movies don’t have this effect on me and I really enjoyed the more active approach to the movie theater. I really can’t expound enough on how fantastic the CGI was in MOST parts of this flick. However, there are a few scenes that the CGI was obviously wrong. For instance, during a fight scene in a sea of Smith’s, Neo’s cloak robe thingy is flying about and it just looks obviously fake. Actually, now that I think of it all scenes in that cloak coat dealie just look fake as hell. But most everything else was truly stunning. I do have to ask though, what gives with the ten minute long sex scene/orgy/dance scene? Even though this scene has helped me get laid a few times, I really think it’s about 9 minutes too long.

Audio

I. Love. This. Album. Not the composed music but the rock and techno by real artists. It’s my favorite road trip CD and I never get tired of most of these songs. Plus, the music is subtle but effective in the movie, so after watching a few times you notice the music, but the first time through it just blends quite well. As for the sound effects: very well done. It is obvious that the Wachowski brothers chose very wisely on the dude who organized the sound effects. Plus, anyone who has 5.1 will get a kick out of great surround quality.

Acting

Flat. The Frenchman is quite possibly my favorite character just because he actually has depth. Everyone else seemed forced with most of the acting. Even the Oracle really seemed like she was forcing her role, it was not as believable and really didn’t help capture the delight and fantasy that the original Matrix was able to create.

Summary

Disappointment. I don’t see how you can mess up the first floor of a house when you have such a solid foundation, but the Wachowski brothers managed it. They poured sand on top of concrete and expected it to turn into walls just because it was on concrete. But, like I mentioned before, a lot of these things needed to be said and done, they just needed to organize it a little better and relay the meaning a lot better. Fortunately, the special effects are great and the audio is just as good. And although this movie left me wishing instead of waiting like it should have, I did enjoy it overall, but would not recommend it unless you want to get confused and leave a little ticked off at the “cliffhanger” that made no sense.

3 incomplete sentences* out of 5

*Editor’s note: I give up.

Who actually needs a review to convince them to see “The Matrix?”

I freakin’ love this damn movie. It’s creative, original, and well created. The Wachowski brothers hit the mark in every possible way here, from the fantastic and beautifully crafted special effects to the incredibly original plot and story line. This Sci-fi/Action flick in my opinions redefines the lines of both genres. There’s really not enough I can say about the amazing originality of this movie, I just love the idea of waking up in another reality. There’s something about that idea that seems excessively appealing to me, and this movie encourages that idea so perfectly that I need new pants (Cause I just showed my O face to the computer screen. Get it?) But anyway, here’s some serious props to the Wachowski brothers for a fantastic flick.

Plot

Average everyday guy Thomas Anderson (hacker alias Neo) spends every waking (and sometimes sleeping) moment (well, every time sleeping technically if you’ve seen the movie, cause he’s a battery and always sleeping in the…well, you get it) Searching for answers to life’s little mysteries. That, and some guy named Morpheus. Morpheus ends up finding Neo and offers him a red pill to see “how deep the rabbit hole goes.” Neo soon finds himself hurled into a different world running from the “Feds” and realizing the answer to the question: “what is the Matrix?” The answer? A virtual reality world created to keep billions of people asleep and unaware of the bitter world that is “the desert of the real.” But why are these people imprisoned? To turn them into batteries for the machines to live off of. Neo is then told that he is the one that will free all people from the Matrix.

Visual

Absolutely awesome. As many times as I have watched this movie, I could not find a single visual flaw in it. Everything is perfect to what it should be. The Matrix is beautifully crafted after our current cities (New York, I think) and really is believable. As for the real world, it’s a filthy, desolate place where the only happy retreat is plugging into the matrix itself. It’s so perfectly grimy and terrible, that it really makes you feel almost dirtier just for watching the movie. Some key visuals, as you all have seen, are the bullet dodging scenes. The slower they are the better. I just love when Neo is first realizing his abilities while fighting Morpheus and the slow-motion looking blurry hand movements as Neo takes the upper hand in the fight. Then when on the roof top and Neo dodges around the bullets “screaming” by in super slow-mo, it’s just freakin’ awesome.

Audio

Badass rock, even better techno. The Wachowski brothers really don’t leave you imagining what could have been here. They make sure that the music fits perfectly and flawlessly in the whole movie. There wasn’t a single moment where I thought, “wait, that song doesn’t fit here.” I thought all of it was perfect. Plus major appearances from Rage Against The Machine and some techno by bands I’ve never heard of but that were freakin’ great. In addition to the awesome music were some very kick-ass sound effects. Every touch of sound was very impressive. All of the shattering glass, the gunshots, the punching sounds, it’s all blended perfectly into a wonderfully believable flick.

Acting

Well, kind of what you’d expect really. Nothing that really blows my skirt up, but it didn’t really suck either. It really seemed like the Wachowski bros really wanted the performances to be just a touch on the flat side. If that is the case, then everything was perfect. But, otherwise the acting was just a touch on the flat side. Either way. Very impressive performance from Keanu Reaves, and I laugh every damn time I hear the line “I know kung fu” (thanks in part to Celebrity Jeopardy Skits from SNL (For the last time, no you don’t)). Did I just use a double parenthesis? Right, moving on. On the plus side, this movie was actually made when Carrie Anne Moss was still hot (look closely at her face next time you watch Reloaded and Revolutions, its like looking at a leather seat from the 50’s…gross).

Summary

Good God damn I love this movie. I’ve seen this movie so many times I practically have the whole thing memorized, but I still never really get tired of it. I just flat love the part where Neo goes to try and save Morpheus. The whole movie following that point just makes me need new pants. (Get it? I alluded to the O face thing I said earlier. Get it? Huh?) Right, moving on. If you actually haven’t seen this movie, you should just eat a bullet now. Either that or see the damn movie. The latter would be more PC but if you’re actually reading this review for encouragement to go out and spend a whopping dollar to rent this flick for the first time, then you probably should be shot. Or you have been in a coma for 30 years and just woke up four days ago. In that case, go rent it, you’ll like it, trust me. 5 “I know kung fu’s” out of 5