The Matrix

The fourth Matrix is both ‘more of the same’ and some elements have been added and left out. Lana Wachowski made some sort of rewind of the earlier films with scenes that are almost exactly alike and with flashbacks. In general, the first part of “Resurrections” is a bit of a summery of the first film and a bit of the next two.

Thomas Andersson is a celebrated, yet plagued game designer who has had episodes of not being able to distinguish reality from game. So the first three Matrix films are now seen as classic games that sprang from the mind of Andersson.

The company he works for picks up the idea for a fourth part so Wachowski could make some jokes about money and franchise. Of course this is also the step up to Andersson wondering what is real and what is not. Basically the story of the previous films in a slightly updated form.

As we got used to, we have the film playing within and without the matrix and Wachowski has brought back a whole lot of the original actors. Some characters are played by new actors though and the story was adjusted accordingly. The familiar actors bring some amusing scenes.

As you can see in the poster, Trinity apparently did not die in part three and the film is mostly about Neo again trying to find her. Naturally for this he has to find old and new enemies and he encounters new and old people on his side.

“Resurrections” is not the shoot-out that number two was. There is some action here and there which does not look as groundbreaking as in the original films in their time. As I said, there are a few new elements. Also there is a new twist to the whole matrix theme, but do not expect huge surprises.

“Resurrections” is an amusing film, but I do not think it will be anywhere near the classic the original film still is.

I must have have paid no attention since I don’t remember that this film played in the cinemas. It must have been Christmas last year or so or was it before another Lord Of The Ring? Anyway, I saw the last part of the Matrix trilogy on rental DVD. What I remember from part 2 was that it was too much action and too little conversation. This problem is mostly solved in the last part. Of course there is still of a lot of action and the special effects are again more impressive, etc, etc., but the Wachowski brothers made time for nihilist philosophy and quite a bit of humour. What you often hear is that this last part clears up a lot of things, and hat the end is quite surprising. Hmmmm. Of course you can imagine that there is a final battle with the machines. Since The Matrix is an American film, the people win. Also you can imagine that there is a final battle between Neo and the Smiths and a lot of time is spent on this fight. Some more things are to be expected. A line that was detectible in part 2 is continued here, which is the line of unlogical parts in the story. In order to put things to an end and to make things more impressive, grave concessions have been made to the original philosophy behind the trilogy. Just to name a few things: what is possible inside and outside the matrix, the power of the writers of the programs and even an extra world had to be created.
No matters though, The Matrix Revolutions was -to me- more enjoyable than part 2. It is entertaining, some nice ideas are posed, some questions are answered, many are asked and all in all I definately need to see Revolutions again to make a clearer picture of it. I think I will wait for a trilogy DVD box or so, so I can see them all together.

So, if you liked part 2, you will love part 3 and if you liked part 1 for the philosophy, you can also savely watch the final part. (4)

This is without a doubt the most spectacular actionfilm that I ever saw. The question is if that is what we are waiting for for The Matrix 2. I am no fond of actionfilms and in The Matrix 1 I even skip the scene in which Neo and Trinity violently enter the building in which Morpheus is captured. Oh well, I didn’t see 1 in the cinema and special effects on a large screen are usually better.

So, for the few who haven’t seen it, should you go and see “The Matrix Reloaded”? There is seriously less philosophy in this one and far too much action and special effects. All very impressive of course, but all the fighting, etc. is strenghed out beyond belief. Nice scenes tend to get boring after five minutes (or more!). The story is a bit further developed. Neo and Trinity are lovers, you get to see Zion, the city under the ground, Morpheus seems to have a boss who also has bosses, agent Smith is no longer a normal agent. Also a few new characters, some nice, some superfluous. Towards the end the story itself (the matrix, the real world, dreams and then all through eachother) becomes ununderstandable. I probably will see it again when it is available on video. So, should you go and see it? If you ask me, if you like 1 for the background/philosophy, better wait until you get a cheaper chance than the cinema, if you like actionfilms with state-of-the-art special effects which are indeed 10x better than all Matrix-clones together, when you are not afraid of some martial arts and serious shooting scenes, maybe this is one that you want to see on the big screen.
(PS, for The Matrix 1 go to the articles section)