Episode 10 - Matrix: The Trilogy plus the forth one

Vivi & Ed follow Keanu, down the rabbit hole to take a look back at the Matrix saga. 

Episode 10 – Published on Feb 2022

Written by Ed Mac

Spiel 

The year 1999 is commonly regarded by those in the know as one of the truly great movie years. It was an embarrassment of riches that included groundbreaking films from ambitious upstarts like David Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson, thrilling character studies from auteurs such as Michael Mann and Alexander Payne, the long-awaited return of Stanley Kubrick and of course the even longer waited return of the world’s most beloved science fiction franchise, Star Wars. Amongst this heady list of cinematic wonders is a film that was not widely anticipated before its release. It was a weird looking, strange-sounding sci-fi movie, with a star whose stock was heading south, directed by a couple of brothers no-one had ever really heard of before. And really, what did that title even mean?

All of which made things even so surprising when this same film, “The Matrix” was released upon an unsuspecting movie-going public in early 1999. It was declared an immediate triumph, a mind-melting and levitational cinematic experience that both engaged the brain and thrilled the eyes with mind-boggling special effects alongside themes and plot lines drawn from ancient theologies and obscure philosophies. Very few modern movies have landed on the popular consciousness like “The Matrix” did when it was released. This had been a year that was supposed to be about one film and one film only, which was of course “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.” Not another odd looking sci-fi film starring Keanu Reeves. After all, his last couple of efforts in the Sci-Fi action realm, Johnny Mnemonic and Chain Reaction, did not provide the most encouraging track record. But by the end of the year, it was the previously unheralded cyberpunk extravaganza about the awakening of a human messiah that remained at the forefront of public awareness, while George Lucas’ digitised baby was left licking its sizeable wounds. People were left begging for more at the end of The Matrix, desperate to know what happened next to Neo in his quest to free the human race from its mechanised enslavement.

When news broke in mid-2000 that the Wachowski’s were at work on not one but two new Matrix movies, the reaction was rabid. It created a level of expectation that, in all fairness, was going to be impossible for any film to satisfy. But that didn’t matter. After all, if any film could beat impossible odds and expectations, it was going to be one that was about a main character required to do just that to save humankind.

But that didn’t happen. The two Matrix sequels, Reloaded and Revolutions, although still reasonably financially successful, were quickly dismissed as boring and pretentious misses. The Wachowskis had apparently jumped the shark in terms of their academic ambitions and attempts to create a wider world of The Matrix to explore. To go from such dizzying heights of expectation to the doldrums of disappointment so quickly was disorienting. What just happened? But the cinema landscape had changed, and these sorts of disappointments didn’t live long. Geeky sci-fi epics had started to become more common, comic book characters like the X-Men were starting to assert their dominance over the multiplexes and the re-emergence of Batman was just around the corner. So there was other stuff to look forward to now. And besides, we always had the original to go back to.

So when the news broke in 2019 that Lana Wachowski was returning to the world of The Matrix with only Keanu Reeves and Carrie Anne Moss from the original film attached, the reaction seemed to lie somewhere between muted and subdued. The absence of Lana’s sister Lilly (Lana had come out as transgender during the release of the sequels, while Lilly came out some years later) seemed to add to the confusion. And as it turned out, upon it’s release at the end of 2021, The Matrix Resurrections was another general disappointment, both critically and commercially. This disappointing reception, and indeed the events within the film itself, make it seem highly unlikely that there will be another Matrix film. So what to make of this series? Does the original still hold up? Are the sequels really as bad as their reputations would indicate. Here on, Till the Movie do us Part, we decided to take another look at the four films and make up our own minds. 

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