The Matrix Resurrections

[Deck Rickard]

Personally I don't think Smith was ever meant to make it beyond the first movie. I think when Neo destroys him at the end that was meant to be it for the character.

But Weaving was so good and everyone loved him in the role so they put him in the sequels. However I think part of the problem with the sequels was how much important they gave Smith.

My only worry for the new movie is their reasoning for him coming back as the machines wouldn't have been able to beat him without Neo.

I’m wondering if the Groff’s character is an amalgam of Smith and the Architect. The new trailer makes it seem that he’s just Smith in disguise but with the way Revolutions ended, that doesn’t really make sense. The Matrix used Neo as a conduit to get a hold on Smith and either quarantine or destroy him. If it’s the latter and they decide to put him back into play to keep Neo in check, they would likely be wary of giving him too much power out of fear that he would go rogue again. So perhaps Groff is Smith and the Architect (or the Source; I’ve never been clear on whether they are actually the same entity) merged to preserve this current iteration of the Matrix.

 

[Gothamsknight]

 

[Detective Conan]

I’m expecting mixed to negative reviews.

 

[TheVileOne]

Personally I don't think Neo's powers were downplayed in the sequels. We saw him do some amazing things.

But as we know from Reloaded onwards, Smith was also able to rewrite Matrix code. He was assimilating not just the normal inhabitants of the Matrix, but also agents - and even the Oracle. By the end he had all of Neo's powers of superstrength, flight, etc - and maybe even more with whatever he gleamed from the Oracle. Even the machines couldn't control him, which is why they needed Neo in the end.

Smith was always the Yin to Neo's Yang; his dark mirror side. Neo actually did pretty well to fight off multiple Smiths before he was overwhelmed.

Was he? I don't think he was. In the first movie, it seemed like he was a computer program that had simply developed his own sort of autonomous self-awareness.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I'm expecting more mixed, but not negative. Probably something around Matrix Reloadeds reception. I don't see this getting outright bad reviews because it seems very ambitious, and there will be those that admire that. either way, I'm excited!

 

[TheVileOne]

Personally I don't think Neo's powers were downplayed in the sequels. We saw him do some amazing things.

Except at the end of the first movie he was literally able to destroy an agent which you couldn't do before and they were nigh invincible. Neo looked like he knew exactly what he was doing. He was also able to disable the Matrix's tracking code from the beginning. Basically any failsafe's or mechanisms that the Matrix had to deal with pesky pirate rebels, he could outdo.

And right off the bat in the second movie they basically lampshade it with, "Hm. Upgrades."

 

[henzINNIT]

I felt a slight depowering of Neo in the sequels. The first ends with him stopping bullets with his mind and flying, implying god-level abilities, whereas in Reloaded that seems to be the extent of his power. I get it though. Neo needed limits and needed things to test them. There is still a lack of tension in most of his action scenes in my opinion, he's rarely convincingly threatened, but those sequences are always exquisitely constructed so it's hard to judge. I think the most tense fight Neo has in the sequels is that one with Bane in the real world. He's painfully vulnerable there.

Regarding Smith, I would guess his story wasn't planned at the time of the first movie, but I have zero issue with him remaining the primary antagonist for the trilogy. Weaving was just great in the role, and Smith served his purpose in the story well. If it wasn't planned, it's pretty seamless. Removing his ear-piece in the first film sets him up well, and Smith becoming a virus after comparing humanity to one is just about perfect. There's even a shot in the first from the Architect's POV, which is cool connective tissue even if it was connected later.

 

[InCali]

I'm going to watch this first or second day it comes up. Probably on Thursday. I liked the theater preview. Wonder what kind of numbers it will do?

 

[Iceman]

Yeah, the Brawl hasn't aged well but the highway sequence and the fight on the stairs have. The score works so well, I have rewatched sequences from Reloaded many many times.

Yeah, those 2 are just as good now as back then and I haven’t seen many similar scenes in films. The Matrix has pretty unique types of action.

 

[Iceman]

I’m wondering if the Groff’s character is an amalgam of Smith and the Architect. The new trailer makes it seem that he’s just Smith in disguise but with the way Revolutions ended, that doesn’t really make sense. The Matrix used Neo as a conduit to get a hold on Smith and either quarantine or destroy him. If it’s the latter and they decide to put him back into play to keep Neo in check, they would likely be wary of giving him too much power out of fear that he would go rogue again. So perhaps Groff is Smith and the Architect (or the Source; I’ve never been clear on whether they are actually the same entity) merged to preserve this current iteration of the Matrix.

Hmm, I really like that idea. (I liked The Architect a lot btw)

 

[Gothamsknight]

Yeah, those 2 are just as good now as back then and I haven’t seen many similar scenes in films. The Matrix has pretty unique types of action.

Also, can we appreciate the beautiful punch noises from this trilogy? I'm so happy it's back haha.

 

[Sithborg]

I felt a slight depowering of Neo in the sequels. The first ends with him stopping bullets with his mind and flying, implying god-level abilities, whereas in Reloaded that seems to be the extent of his power. I get it though. Neo needed limits and needed things to test them. There is still a lack of tension in most of his action scenes in my opinion, he's rarely convincingly threatened, but those sequences are always exquisitely constructed so it's hard to judge. I think the most tense fight Neo has in the sequels is that one with Bane in the real world. He's painfully vulnerable there.

Don't forget the breathing hallway. So much weird **** to be implied with that.

 

[TheVileOne]

I felt a slight depowering of Neo in the sequels. The first ends with him stopping bullets with his mind and flying, implying god-level abilities, whereas in Reloaded that seems to be the extent of his power. I get it though. Neo needed limits and needed things to test them. There is still a lack of tension in most of his action scenes in my opinion, he's rarely convincingly threatened, but those sequences are always exquisitely constructed so it's hard to judge. I think the most tense fight Neo has in the sequels is that one with Bane in the real world. He's painfully vulnerable there.

Hence why the sequels don't work for me.

Regarding Smith, I would guess his story wasn't planned at the time of the first movie, but I have zero issue with him remaining the primary antagonist for the trilogy. Weaving was just great in the role, and Smith served his purpose in the story well. If it wasn't planned, it's pretty seamless. Removing his ear-piece in the first film sets him up well, and Smith becoming a virus after comparing humanity to one is just about perfect. There's even a shot in the first from the Architect's POV, which is cool connective tissue even if it was connected later.

Sure he was great in the role, but that doesn't mean he needed to come back. Still never felt the reasoning given worked all that well.

Colin Firth was great in Kingsman but did he need to come back for the sequel? Did it really work and add to that movie?

 

[elgaz]

I felt a slight depowering of Neo in the sequels. The first ends with him stopping bullets with his mind and flying, implying god-level abilities, whereas in Reloaded that seems to be the extent of his power. I get it though. Neo needed limits and needed things to test them. There is still a lack of tension in most of his action scenes in my opinion, he's rarely convincingly threatened, but those sequences are always exquisitely constructed so it's hard to judge. I think the most tense fight Neo has in the sequels is that one with Bane in the real world. He's painfully vulnerable there.

Regarding Smith, I would guess his story wasn't planned at the time of the first movie, but I have zero issue with him remaining the primary antagonist for the trilogy. Weaving was just great in the role, and Smith served his purpose in the story well. If it wasn't planned, it's pretty seamless. Removing his ear-piece in the first film sets him up well, and Smith becoming a virus after comparing humanity to one is just about perfect. There's even a shot in the first from the Architect's POV, which is cool connective tissue even if it was connected later.

Personally I felt there were plenty of examples of Neo showcasing his abilities. Sure, we didn't get a blatant Superman-type shot of him lifting something incredibly heavy - but we did get him flying at incredible speed to save Trinity when she was falling, phasing his hand through her body to remove the bullet and massage her heart back into action, repelling Smith's attempt at cloning him, prophetic dreams, sensing the presence of agents before they arrived, etc. We saw superspeed, superstrength, precognitive abilities, telekinesis and more.

I agree though that the fight with Bane was very well handled and contrasted his more vulnerable human side than his Matrix persona.

Smith's arc throughout the movies was great and really mirrored that of Neo's, further compounding their yin/yang relationship. He was freed of his confines and controls within the Matrix (just as Neo was), attained the ability to transcend the limitations of the Matrix and manipulate it (just as Neo did), but whereas Neo tried to free individual minds, Smith cloned thousands and millions of himself over those mind. Their directly contrasting approaches was very cleverly done and ultimately led to that showdown.

 

[henzINNIT]

Sure he was great in the role, but that doesn't mean he needed to come back. Still never felt the reasoning given worked all that well.

Colin Firth was great in Kingsman but did he need to come back for the sequel? Did it really work and add to that movie?

As mentioned above, Smith is given a similar arc to Neo which is very interesting. He was already the face of authoritarian evil in the first and great at it, why not develop on it? Smith having his own rebellion from the system and ascent to power, only to double down on oppression and dominance, is great stuff. It works on many levels. And it seemlessly starts from the first film. Him becoming a virus isn't just ironic, it's the fullest expression of his evil intent. He's literally remaking people in his own image. It ties in perfectly with Neo's discoveries in Reloaded too. Smith is a rogue program like many we are introduced to, and a the result of the system attempting to balance itself, which gets way out of hand when Neo refuses to restart the cycle.

If it felt like having Smith back came at the expense of something better I'd agree, but it doesn't stop other interesting characters from being introduced. Smith becomes his own entity, so the machines have their threats too, as well as the newly added rogue programs. I'm very happy that Smith returned.

The Kingsman example is a slightly different situation. It's basically Men in Black all over again. Your co-lead and mentor character was written out, but your film was anchored by that double-act. I think both should have pushed forward with a different dynamic instead of ditching their female lead, but it's a bit different to a popular villain returning.

 

[Karelia]

Anyone else going to try and avoid reviews for this movie? I'm gonna do my best to see it opening weekend.

I'm also pretty disappointed they didn't release a merch line for this movie. Besides the funkos... I haven't seen anything.

 

[CadeSkywalker28]

Friendly reminder that "The Last Jedi" is a masterpiece according to critics and Carpenter's The Thing was the worst movie ever.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I'll be reading reviews, but I hope people aren't put off when it's most likely gonna be a mixed reaction, which isn't a bad thing if you ask me. I'm predicting a score between about 65% and 75% on RT. I think the Wachowskis have an overall divisive filmography, and whether you like their films or not, you can't deny that they are interesting.

One thing to keep in mind, VA on twitter, one user here, and a person on another forum all said they liked the movie, with one of them saying it was easily the best Matrix sequel. So we'll see!

 

[Karelia]

Friendly reminder that "The Last Jedi" is a masterpiece according to critics and Carpenter's The Thing was the worst movie ever.

Yeah, I don't think my "hype" levels had ever been that high before for a movie. TLJ trailer did not lie though, it definitely didn't go the way I thought it would. Watching Hamil talk about it during those interviews pre-release should have been a give away the movie wasn't going to be for me. Btw love your username. I love Cade Skywalker. I've read all the Legacy comics... good stuff.

I don't really use RT anymore, tbh. I have a select few "movie reviewers" I watch on YouTube, and that's about it these days.

 

[Marvolo]

One of the weirder aspects of Neo that they didn't explore at all is after his resurrection he sees the code of the Matrix. From his view everything in the matrix looks like code. What it must be like to see in such an alien way fascinates me. Then after he is blinded he sees the real world's energy. Id love to have seen that come in handy in a bigger way later on.

Also I wish they would establish how much of the farm grown humans anatomy is cybernetic. Like do they have a human brain with machine additions or is it an entirely cyborg computer in their skulls? And how much can a farmed human overclock and alter their cybernetic anatomy?

Neo being able to see pure energy in the real world when his eyes were burned out makes me think that he is more machine than organic and his human senses were just given priority function. Once his eyes were destroyed his machine senses were given priority. Which has me wondering how much of his human anatomy can he lose and function compared to a pure bred human?

 

[elgaz]

One of the weirder aspects of Neo that they didn't explore at all is after his resurrection he sees the code of the Matrix. From his view everything in the matrix looks like code. What it must be like to see in such an alien way fascinates me.. Then after he is blinded he sees the real world's energy. Id love to have seen that come in handy.

Also I wish they would establish how much of the farm grown humans anatomy is cybernetic. Like do they have a human brain with machine additions or is it an entirely cyborg computer in their skulls? And how much can a farmed human overclock and alter their cybernetic anatomy?

Pretty sure it’s a human brain with additions, wasn’t there some scene where they mentioned scanning Neo’s brain patterns (maybe when he was in the coma)

 

[Karelia]

Pretty sure it’s a human brain with additions, wasn’t there some scene where they mentioned scanning Neo’s brain patterns (maybe when he was in the coma)

I remember in the first film when Morpheus was getting interrogated by Agent Smith, they were showing his brain patterns normal, and then he clicks a button on his computer that shows what they would look like in a few minutes if nobody saved him from the interrogation. I don't recall then talking about Neo's, but I also have a bad memory lol.

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Henwick is the real One.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

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