A series of feelings from an old fan about the sequel to The Matrix released in 2021.
First Impression
I probably watched The Matrix trilogy when I was in elementary school and was amazed by the advanced special effects and smooth fight scenes at that time. The concepts of replication and pursuit, bullet time, and the cross-over of various martial arts moves were something I had never seen before in movies, even in the imported films. Additionally, the Wachowskis had a unique understanding of the use of water in their shots, which was also demonstrated in "V for Vendetta," but the most iconic scenes were still the firefighting scene and the battle in the rain in the Matrix trilogy.
In terms of visuals, it was rare to see such intense scenes in Chinese-language films at that time. The later generation of Chinese directors were still exploring their own artistic styles: Zhang Yimou's yellow earth style had already taken shape, but group performances and the new style of martial arts were not yet understood (they were still experimenting until a couple of years ago, for example, "Shadow"); Zhang Kaige's individual shots were beautiful, but the overall storytelling was disjointed and not well done (still the case today); Feng Xiaogang was still using Wang Shuo's scripts, making films that were more like extended sketches than actual movies; as for Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang, and Jia Zhangke, they were not yet dominant in movie theaters and DVD stores at that time. As for the popular Hong Kong films at the time, the styles of Wong Jing, Jackie Chan, and Stephen Chow were mature, but their works were mostly known for their short comedic scenes rather than overall themes and large-scale production. Director To Kei-fung of the Milkyway Image period did have many interesting works, such as "The Mission" and "PTU," but unfortunately, there was no new creativity after moving to the north, and it feels like the third installment of the Triad series cannot be made anymore. However, the old team at Milkyway Image did have a final masterpiece called "Life Without Principle."
Although the fight scenes in Hong Kong films and co-productions were also impressive, they were more about fighting for the sake of fighting, especially for actors like Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan, who came from a background in martial arts. In any of their films, no matter how unreasonable the plot was, they had to have a few impressive fight scenes, just like how Indian films always have song and dance numbers, forcibly making the audience feel like they got their money's worth. I have always felt that Hong Kong action films are both made and ruined by martial artists: they all started by learning from Shaw Brothers, emphasizing punches and kicks and canned sound effects, from "The One-Armed Swordsman" all the way to "Police Story"; later, no one watched martial arts films anymore, even Ti Lung couldn't become a big brother, so they all started making crime films; and then no one watched crime films anymore, coupled with changes in the market, and suddenly they died out, and even now, there are only those old faces from the days of making crime films. During the time of Mainland Chinese films, it was a good thing that they were not obsessed with copying Jet Li, but instead, they had a diversified approach to film creation, which could effectively counter the risks of market changes.
Sequel
Going back to the topic, a good work should allow the audience to see different content at different stages of life. After middle school, I had more exposure to computers and the internet, learned to use onion routing, accessed public file servers, visited various strange forums, came into contact with some script kiddies, and even knew about the concept of Bitcoin around 2012. At that time, I watched The Matrix trilogy again, and my focus was on the concepts of "the Matrix," "choice," "recycle bin," "possibility," and so on, as well as the influence it had on me, which led me to explore a lot of dystopian works, including "Ghost in the Shell," "Blade Runner," and "Evangelion."
I haven't watched them again in recent years, but I did play "Cyberpunk 2077" seriously. The rock character portrayal of Johnny Silverhand and the design of the dual nature were great, and the portrayal of Alt Cunningham was not as stiff as many contemporary works, but had a bit of a "BioShock" feel to it. The feeling of powerlessness during the immersive experience was really strong. After completing the game with all the endings, although the story had already ended, I still felt like something was missing, and it was coincidentally filled in this sequel. (As for the "John Wick" series, taking on such roles for a living is not embarrassing.)
Before Watching
Around early September 2021, I saw the trailer for this sequel and a cool official website. At that time, I was really surprised and excited, so I went to watch it and recommended it to my friends. But after a few days of careful consideration, considering the current market environment and Warner Bros.'s behavior, this film is definitely a disappointing sequel and it is impossible to make a work that meets expectations based on the original. Nowadays, who doesn't like family-friendly popcorn movies? Which audience is willing to sit for two to three hours to listen to a high-cost but negative and obscure story? Shipping CP, discussing diversity issues, doing talk shows are all better entertainment investment topics than a competition between the Matrix and the Merovingian.
But in the end, a qualified fan should have the courage to face the disappointment of a series, so I decided to set aside a large chunk of time to watch this sequel. Because of the lessons learned from Hideaki Anno, even a simple disappointing ending wouldn't be considered a bad outcome.
There was also a little episode, where Unreal Engine 5 released a special crossover short film, which happened to coincide with Epic's Christmas event, so I downloaded the new version of Unreal Engine and played around with the new features shown in the promotion. I can only say that I seem to have forgotten how to write game scripts, and I couldn't even modify a simple demo.
Movie Review
The beginning follows a common Hollywood formula, similar to James Bond and Mission: Impossible, using a typical conflict short film to start and evoke emotions and showcase the characters. Just as I was thinking this, a young Morpheus suddenly appeared, and then the camera switched to Mr. Anderson's side, and the story began with two parallel narratives.
From this point on, it was almost like a fan-made extra content: Anderson became a top game developer who created the famous Matrix trilogy (in the previous films, this character was a designer with a lot of style), being pressured by his boss, drinking coffee, seeing a therapist, taking blue pills, running on a treadmill, taking showers, having lengthy meetings, and including flashbacks of iconic scenes from the trilogy; after the company announced the reboot of the Matrix, everyone started to complain about their old employer, the marketing department, and the insistence on making sequels, and each person began to talk about their understanding of the Matrix reboot; Anderson meets Trinity, who is now married and has a familiar feeling, and her name has become the cheesy "Tiffany," as if their past experiences were just fantasies from their teenage years, and they only started facing reality in middle age.
In this part of the story, the process of creation and deconstruction of the trilogy's success is explored from a different perspective, analyzing how creators struggle to create works that surpass their past and how they reconcile with themselves in the process of making sequels, which naturally involves a lot of self-doubt and pain. However, one advantage of Hollywood industrial films is that the audience doesn't have to actually go through the entire painful process with the creators. The jerk who likes to make the characters and even the audience experience pain together has already made peace and gone to make special effects films.
In this segment, each character represents a part of the creator's personality. "Since you all think I can't make a sequel to this movie, why don't I just show you how this thing came about?" This is probably what the director was thinking.
After reuniting with Trinity, the two of them start acting in a way that says, "Actually, we are Neo and Trinity, and the audience knows it, but now we have to pretend to be Anderson and Tiffany." After complaining about the difficulties of raising children, Trinity directly asks Anderson if he is using himself as the protagonist in the Matrix, and Anderson answers like this:
At this point, I feel like it's not Anderson or even Neo speaking, but Keanu himself, expressing his attitude towards characters like Neo, John Wick, and Johnny Silverhand, and later adding, "Maybe a little too much." This can also be seen from his unchanged appearance and acting style over the years. After that, Trinity slightly brings the audience back to the story itself and begins to talk about the "coincidences" between her and Trinity, including flashbacks and Anderson's realization that they are both someone else in the reflection (the former is shown in an earlier shot).
After this self-analysis segment, the actual story of the film begins. In this version, because Anderson has an additional layer of "these are all designed based on myself" in his mental construct, it is even more difficult to pull him out of the Matrix, just like how those who have already reached Zion in the previous films would no longer doubt that they are still in the Matrix. But overall, the plot is more or less the same, with "The chosen one" becoming "The chosen two," removing most of the conflicts and almost all philosophical discussions from the original trilogy. Neo and Trinity quickly go through the process of awakening, confrontation, and redemption. I won't go into too much detail.
Summary
In this new version, the boundaries between virtual and reality, existence and disappearance, humans and machines have become more blurred, with some machines choosing reality and some humans choosing the virtual. I think this should be the new thing the creators wanted to express. However, because the original work was too excellent and there may be a time filter, I don't think these elements are enough to support a new "Matrix." The ending of The Matrix Revolutions, where the Oracle and the little girl watch the sunrise together, should be the best ending for this series.
Personally, I think this film can be divided into two parts:
- The first part is a high-cost immersive behind-the-scenes look at the creation process + extras + interviews with the creative team, giving old fans a chance to revisit.
- The second part is a theatrical-level fanfiction retelling with the original cast, allowing everyone to quickly understand the surface plot of the previous trilogy in a 90-minute theater film, skipping all the content that is not suitable for entertainment.
From this perspective, the creative team has found a new path to make a sequel to a classic work that can satisfy the new market without angering the old audience, and the post-credits scene even made a joke with "Catrix" (maybe not).