#28

The best thing in the sequels is Hugo Weaving’s laugh.

2 Likes
#29

How come? I genuinely think it has got more interesting with age (particularly with the knowledge now that it was made by two trans women pre-transition)

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#30

Also isn’t it all a bit glass houses making a big flashy blockbuster criticising a society that has lost itself in fantasy

#33

Yes, but enough about 500 days of summer

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#35

The Twins are kind of one of the indefensible elements of Reloaded tbh.

The Keymaker though, superb. The thing that’s so fucking great about that film is the way that the characters are literally the human embodiments of software and function exactly as you’d expect that software to function. It’s so great.

4 Likes
#36

I didn’t, no.

I’ve only seen Bound in terms of their other work tbh

#38

I don’t think that’s the reading of it really.

The sequels are very meta criticisms of the conventional “Hero’s Journey” story arc that the original film is.

I think the original film is (and with an enormous benefit of hindsight) their exploration of the trans experience though and what it is to live in a world which tells you that you’re one thing when you know deep down you’re something else.

4 Likes
#40

wish there were 20th anniversary screenings near me

would like my teenager to see it, it feels like they would understand internet culture a bit better as well as enjoy the thrill ride

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#41

Because the more you think about the film, the more it becomes clear that it’s very shallow, and portentous.

#42

Yeah, their performances are fucking bad though IMO and also, I kind of like the idea of what they represent a bit more than I like the execution I think? It’s one of the points where the internal logic sort of falls down a bit. They’re exiled software from old versions of the Matrix that have been ported to the new one or whatever but I don’t think the film does a particularly good job of setting up why that would be the case. The concept of "the equivalent of supernatural beings in the non-film “real world” are actually old exiled software in the Matrix " is kind of cool but doesn’t hold up to a lot of scrutiny really (the deja-vu thing in the original is a better execution of a similar thing I think)

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#43

I was so excited for the Matrix when it came out and was disappointed by it. It’s just a grab bag of it’s influences with some admittedly amazing action scenes and an awful power of love trope at the end.

3/5

The sequels are rubbish but the Animatrix is pretty good.

#45

cool, I’ll def go to that anniversary screening then, I reckon!

I can see the sequels being at the very least interesting and worth a second look too

1 Like
#46

I think the opposite tbh. There’s an awful lot more going on with it than it appears.

I think it maybe suffers a bit from having a narrative that’s “trickier” to get a handle on than most blockbusters but then people just think “fine, I’ve got this” rather than digging deeper perhaps

#47

That’s the point!

#48

Fuck I’m just now seeing all this trans experience articles and stuff about the film, didn’t even know that about the director

+1 up the scale tbf

1 Like
#49

I like this.

1 Like
#50

Will there be another separate thread for speed racer?

3 Likes
#51

*directors!

#52

FWIW, the character of Switch was originally written to be female in the real world and male when she plugged into the Matrix but the studio were (fairly reasonably) not up for that…

#53

Is it good, Shrewbs?