In-Depth Look At Matrix Previews

QuietKarma writes "Consider this the first of next year's ads for Matrixx Reloaded and Matrixx Revolutions releases. Here's some semi-official poop from MSNBC with some spoilers. Or you can do what I did and read about halfway through without learning how Reloaded will end. Either that or wait until Harry at Ain't It Cool News comes out with his list of spoilers."

Comments

Amazing!

[BigumD]

The movie is so hotly anticipated that they've added another 'x' to each title...

Either that or both feature a lot of pole dancing in Zion...

Re:I wonder...

[billybob2001]

Dunno about soup or cabbage... ...all I know is... ...there is no spoon.

Animatrix in Matrix Boxed Set

[Vegan Pagan]

I hope that in a few years when WB sells a boxed set of all the Matrix movies, they include The Animatrix along with it. Animatrix looks to be the most unique title in the series, and probably the most eclectic mix of cartoons ever made.

Matrixx?

[Otter]

Am I missing something or did the submitter of a story about the Matrix sequels really misspell "Matrix" twice?

The Age of Sequels

[_Sambo]

So the Matrix will be Reloaded, then overthrown in a Revolution.

Meanwhile, LOTR will continue to the overthrow of Mordor and the restoration of Gondor.

The war between Mutants and non-Mutants will begin in X-Men 2.

Anakin must become Darth Vader in Episode 3.

Harry Potter will get another installment in there somewhere.

Mad Max will ride again.

James Bond...

And Oh, yeah, did you hear that Dumb and Dumber is getting a prequel?

I myself LOVE sequels, if they don't suck. I just hope that they put all of the Matrix Movies and all of the LOTR movies in the IMAX theater after it's all said and done so that the die-hards can see the films the way they were meant to be seen.

Re:The Age of Sequels

[RebelTycoon]

LOTR does not have sequels...

its just one long movie divided into 3 parts!

Re:The Age of Sequels

[Lumpy]

LOTR movies in the IMAX theater after it's all said and done so that the die-hards can see the films the way they were meant to be seen.

they never shot any of them in IMAX format. so seeing them in IMAX is not seeing them the way they were meant to be seen.

I do wish that Lotr series was shot on IMAX format.. although it would have made the movies cost 10X as much as they do now to make and we would have to have 2 intermissions during a viewing as they change reels (you dont get 3 hours of film on an IMAX reel) and probably have to pay $30.00 per ticket to see it.

I would have paid $30.00 a set to see it in true IMAX style (although I enjoyed my $5.50 matinee price at 11:30 in the morning) but there are so few IMAX theaters that it's not worth it for them to make a long epic like LoTR in that format.

Re:The Age of Sequels

[Aggrazel]

And, if you believe Back to the Future 2, we need an AWFUL lot of Jaws sequels between now and 2015.

Re:The Age of Sequels

[Twirlip of the Mists]

I just hope that they put all of the Matrix Movies and all of the LOTR movies in the IMAX theater after it's all said and done so that the die-hards can see the films the way they were meant to be seen.

Uh... you know IMAX uses a different aspect ratio from other cinematic presentations, right? IMAX is a 15-perf 70mm format with a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, same as an old-fashioned TV. All the movies you mentioned were meant to be shown in 2.35:1. To reformat those movies for IMAX will mean having to remove about 40% of the picture. They had to do this with Apollo 13, and later with Attack of the Clones.

These movies were not meant to be seen in IMAX. They were meant to be seen in a regular theater with a screen 2.35 times as wide as it is tall.

Re:The Age of Sequels

[(startx)]

Your forgetting the Terminator 3 and Bad Boys 2, both due out this summer! I don't think there was a single preview before LoTR that WASN'T for a sequal (or prequil in dumb and dumbers case)!

Thanks a lot, Morpheus.

[Lachrymite]

From the column of Mark Millar, comic book writer:

"A baby-sitter two nights in a row is close to impossible in our family so I stuck on my old copy of The Matrix as a poor sub for a night out. It was the first time Gill had ever seen it and she actually managed to ruin it for me completely by pointing out a major plot hurdle the next two films really better explain. We're all living in The Matrix, right? We're all slaves to the robotic parasites who use our bodies as batteries while they distract us with our nice, glamorous lives in what we perceive to be the real world, right? Neo is The One who's going to free us from these evil robot masters and help us all wake up and reclaim our planet, right? So far, so good, but the world we reclaim is a post-nuclear nightmare, brother! No sun, no fun, no food, no nice clothes, no new comics every Wednesday or Thursday. Imagine everything and everyone you know suddenly switching off as you open your eyes in your little special effects pod and Lawrence bloody Fishburne is standing there with a nuclear winter blowing behind him, telling us he's saved humanity.

Thanks a lot, Morpheus, you big, fucking twat."

Re:Thanks a lot, Morpheus.

[AyeRoxor!]

"It's morally ambiguous. Their better off hooked into that machine that scavenging for scraps at some fucked up(more-so) version of Barter Town. What's better: A false heaven or a very believable hell?"

As a matter of principle and desire for truth, I have no trouble saying hell. At least then I am in charge of my own destiny. Hooked up to a machine, it could malfunction, they could forget to feed me, and oh yeah, choosing that existence would make me really extremely the posterboy for pathetic. But of course, opinions are like...

Re:Thanks a lot, Morpheus.

[anonymous loser]

Actually the thing that struck me was the whole conservation of energy thing. A human isn't a battery, it's a GENERATOR. You have to feed and water all those humans who then convert that energy into electricity, and that food doesn't come for free either. Somewhere, somehow, the machines are getting energy from an external source (e.g. the sun, geothermal heating) to supplement the energy they already have. They are then using that energy to generate food (even if that food is other humans), which they give to the humans who generate the electricity.

What's the point? Why not make a more efficient mechanical generator to convert directly to electricity instead? By spreading the whole process out over several steps they are just wasting more energy than they really need to.

Re:Thanks a lot, Morpheus.

[handorf]

But of course, all of this is the exact reason why The Matrix is so popular,

I have to disagree with this. The only question I had coming out of the first movie was "Why in the HELL wouldn't they use compost? Humans are about the most inefficient bloody electical generators you could POSSIBLY imagine." Heck, even just grow a human WITHOUT a brain (then elect him... DOH!)... our brains use up something like 60% of our total body nutrients (when at rest).

I think that the popularity of the movie had 2 primary reasons:
1) Leather Catsuit
2) Guns.

Re:Thanks a lot, Morpheus.

[Gudlyf]

The food source was liquified humans, IIRC.

i can see it now

[2MuchC0ffeeMan]

dispite the recent 'jackass' stunts done on tv, a teenager will try to jump into another person, or jump off a cliff, or get into a telephone booth while getting a dump truck to smash into them... and then joe lieberman will want these movies controlled :)

But can Keanu Reeve's be more than dumbfounded?

[MyNameIsFred]

I always thought that the Matrix was perfect for Keanu Reeve's. For 90 percent of the movie, he had to stand around and act dumbfounded. Something he does quite well. In my opinion, the last ten minutes of the movie, where he "understands" his place in the Matrix, was where he did his worst acting.

Since in the sequels he'll be required to act more than dumbfounded, I'm not confident that he will be able to pull it off. Maybe that's why they're releasing bang-bang, one right after the other.

BTW, I have the same thoughts about casting in the Terminator, Arnold didn't have to act either. A perfect role.

Spoiler

[PD]

So, the article says that they capture the keymaker who has all the keys to the doors in the matrix.

I hope that this movie is a little more than Neo and Trinity slapping the keymaker around in a room on the Nebuchadnezzar, yelling "sign my certificate! SIGN MY CERTIFICATE! SIGN IT NOW!"

Re:I wonder...

[Abcd1234]

Actually, I've had this discussion with some friends of mine. The fact is, the first Matrix movie was, for all intents and purposes, incredibly hokey (I know it, you know it... but we loved it anyway :). The acting was... well... horrible, and the plot, while interesting, was not *that* innovative (although, I rather enjoyed it). BUT, the movie had two things: incredble action, and style. There was something interesting and unique about the feel of The Matrix. But now, with Hollywood copying many of the styalistic elements (eg. the fight scene choreography), The Matrix sequels may not provide the same bang that the original did.

So, we have a problem: the sequels will be just as hokey as the original. This is undeniable (after all, Keanu is still in them ;). So, if they simply match the original Matrix in style and form, they will be relatively unoriginal and people will accuse them of simplying "copying" the first movie. Hence, the question $65,000 becomes: how will the Wachowski brothers one-up themselves for the sequels. I have no idea, but I'm sure looking forward to finding out. :)

Re:Matrixx?

[Dannon]

"Whoa. Deja vu."
"What?"
"I saw a mispelling go by, then I saw another one, just like it."
"How much like it? Was it the same mispelling?"
"I dunno, might've been."

Do you want to (have to) live forever?

[SecurityGuy]

I like the idea that a big story can be told in a reasonable time. The matrix from 1999 to 2003 is...longish. LOTR in 3 years is...longish. In each case I see the film and think "I can't wait to see the next one." I have to, and to be blunt, that bites. If the sequel came out a month later, I'd be *highly* likely to see it. If it comes out years later, I might well be interested in other things by then.

Then there's Star Wars, which is pushing 30 years to finish a story which can be summed up as "Faction takes over galaxy, nefarious faction leader subverts powerful good guy, child of subverted good guy reconverts dad, who kills nefarious faction leader, presumably freeing galaxy."

Seriously, I've had friends (well, one, but one's enough) born around or after Episode IV who didn't live long enough to see Episode II. I don't want a movie to cover a major span of my life. It's entertainment. Give it to me over a shorter span, or don't expect me to get too invested in it. These guys get major credit from me for shooting the movies simultaneously and not making me wait 5 years for the conclusion.

Humans as Hard Drives, Not Batteries

[Databass]

The whole Humans as Power Source part of the Matrix really bothered me. The machines would entrap humans only if they needed a resource that only humans could provide. That resource is not energy. I don't care how many BTUs of energy the human body produces, the machines could get more energy by combining "a form of fusion" in rats, cockroaches, or maybe algae. Any of those life forms would be far simpler to care for and less rebellious too.

So I've concluded that Morpheus is somewhat incorrect (GASP) and that the machines are using humans as hard drives, not batteries. Think about it. This explains the Matrix a lot better. We know that the Agents can "possess" any human by "teleporting" into them. This is essentially copying their entire data into that human's brain at amazing bandwidth. We can assume that with its great interconnectivity and ability to store huge quantities of data such as video and audio, the human mind is one of the only appropriate storage mediums for the machines. This would explain why the machines create a world that attempts to stimulate the human brain as opposed to inducing a comatose state or inflicting the newborne humans with mental retardation: Only a healthy mind makes an acceptable organic host for the machines.

This line of thinking even hints at a possible resolution for the entire series: The humans could help the Machines invent a replacement storage medium besides human brains. Any information medium with data density equal the human brain should be sufficient. Then the machines could agree to float off into space and inhabit only worlds inhospitable to humans. (There are plenty.) This would leave the humans free to live out their lives on M class planets, although I suspect they would only pollute them to death anyway. (Agent Smith was pretty accurate in his assesment of industrial humans as viral.)

I've wanted to get this off my chest for a long time, now that I've posted on slashdot I can consider myself heard. ; -)