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More Info on Matrix Sequels
Mowser X writes "IGN.com has some more
interesting news on the status of the sequels to The Matrix. Apparently, the next two movies will pick up right where the first one ended, with part of the movie taking place in Zion. " Neo, Morpheus and Trinity have also been signed, or are just about finished signing as well - and it still sounds like the brothers want to release back to back.
The Matrix should stay a one time deal. It was pretty, it was fun. The plot was sufficient to reach the end of the movie, and it didn't have TOO many holes (batteries? don't make me rant about biochemistry). But it was essentially just a light summer flick.
Where can you possibly go with Matrix II (Electric Boogaloo)? Taking us into Zion could only be a letdown compared to what the characters portrayed to us.
The character of Neo only worked because he was SUPPOSED to be wooden and clueless through the first half of the movie, then grim and scowling, and lastly the Messiah. I suppose you could make him start over, and totally void out the original climax. Can you say "Highlander II"? Yes, that's exactly what I forsee -- Keanu on Planet Zeist.
However... a PREQUEL might be interesting. The man/machine war, the programmer founding Zion. No Neo at all. But somehow I don't see that happening.
Morphious....It is Morphious d00d not Mobius! sheesh. ;) Anyhow, I dont see why you feel that Keanu Reeves is a NO Brain?? What did you expect him to do in the movie that would have qualified him as a person with a brain? 85% of the general public wouldnt know there ass from a block of code anyhow so.... Why waste time with the details, just give us a story and we'll use our imagination s.
Can somebody explain to me why machines had to use such bothersome creatures as humans? Why could not they use hipopotamuses? Or some other genetically grown species with no brain at all? Stupid movie, if you ask me.
But Morpheus and Trinity were practically flying early in the film with superhuman leaps. They weren't able to fly because they, like Neo until the end, were still invested in the mindset of the Matrix. Neo had finally learned that he could hack the system, that it's rules didn't apply.
Please give the Wachowski brothers credit. They have been talking about this being a Trilogy from the word go. I believe they have a plot already worked out for the sequels will blow each and every one of us away. They've directed two films, both of them four stars in my book (Bound was the other one) and I see no reason to doubt that they'll be able to pull it off.
Watch a TV interview with the directors. They are geeks, through and through. They was not Hollywood hacks who managed to luck onto a decent script and avoid screwing it up. They wrote, directed and produced "The Matrix"...it is their vision. They managed to create the most exciting SF film in years (real SF, not some other genre with SF trappings) because they are, first and foremost, fans.
I'm sure they'd rather quit making films than sell out. Because they made "Bound" for next to nothing, and got a great stylish film with a following (not as large as "The Matrix" but just as fervent) and that gave them the freedom and budget to make "The Matrix" and produced that for very surprisingly little. The success of "The Matrix" has given them the power to make virtually any project they want, for whatever they want to spend. If they thought they had told all the story they wanted to about that world and wanted to do something different, but were being pressured to do sequels, I'd be worried. They aren't, this is their idea and that is exciting.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
I'm surprised nobody mentioned this movie - it came out shortly after the Matrix did, and deals with the idea of simulated reality. It's quite interesting, really. I can't say a whole lot about it without spoiling the movie, so I'll just recommend it.
-Denor
The *only* part you disliked was him flying off at the end? I'm suprised. The Matrix used comic-book cliche heavily, and usually if you dont' like one cliche you won't like any of them.
Personally, I *like* a well-played cliche -- but IMO it's never enough to hold up a movie on its own. It adds (or subtracts) nothing to my evaluation of the movie.
Matrix held up well because it had a strong plot with unique elements.
I agree that maintaining the qualities of the original is going to be very hard. For one thing, they're going to have to drop the whole "ignorant audience" assumption.
All we can do is hope...
-Billy
How can anyone derive that Neo represented a god...he only has power within the Matrix...outside in the real world he is just an ordinary human being...but with a mind that will not be fooled. So how could you say "NO Brain"!
>The Worst Sequel Ever was: Highlander II: The Quickening.
Yes. That's because the franchise forgot to take its own advice: "There can be only one."
--
Ohmygod! Stop the presses!
A science fiction movie was *gasp* unrealistic!!!!
Why must people be so fsking uptight? What's wrong with just relaxing and enjoying the damn movie?!?
darkmagus
The Movie wasn't about a christ figure or a "coming" if you will. But it was about the fight between Humans and Machines.
Just because Neo "THE ONE" had power within the matrix didn't make him a god...but more like a deciple...chosen by GOD to give a hand to the human race to once again prosper. Anyone who agrees with this can back me up!
A. Couldn't do martial arts to save it's life, and
B. Acted so much better than Keanu Reeves it was like putting DeNiro next to Pauly Shore: it's just not going to work. So they skipped hippos.
However, there's some rumor that they might go with shrews, which are somewhat better at martial arts, and absolutely wooden actors.
But what does that have to do with the fact that Carrie-Anne Moss is such a babe?
Seriously, this is just a tad off-topic...
oh ya? oh ya?
:)
why don't you, uhm, log in and say that?
hehe.
[never deprive a geek his movies.]
--
rJames.org - illustration
An alright movie does very well, instantly there's talk of sequels, even though the original didn't really leave itself open.
Both the Matrix and Blair Witch Project are having sequels, prequels, everything. While the matrix did have an open ending, where can they go that would be better than the original (even though I thought the original was okay, but the ending was rather cheesy)?
And where can they go with BWP?
I wish movie moguls would learn that somethings just don't have sequel potential.
iain
As any fan of Neil Gaiman would agree, I'm
pretty sure the intended spelling is "Morpheus"
arvind rulez
While it can be argued that there is still some story left, the question is: How Much?
:P
:P
I mean, at the end of the movie, Neo had superhuman powers... he could sidestep the invincible bad guys, he could dodge bullets and take out whole buildings... hell, he could *fly*.
You might say, he'd pretty much mastered that world.
While the human race is, at the end, still obviously far from on top, how much more story is there?
You have to:
1) alert the whole of humanity (root: wall)
2) beat the bad guys - neat, but it's been done, and could just become some mass shoot-em-up. Lame.
3) beat the machines which are living off the humans - OK, but not much of a movie once again..
4) rebuild the population of an organic human race... OK... how to make a movie about this w/o an X rating...
While there's certainly a *bit* of story left, will it be enough to make _one_, let alone _two_, equally enjoyable movies? Let's face it, The Matrix was a great movie, and I'd hate to wreck its memory with two godawful pieces of crap.
And part of the charm of the original *was* the unfinished ending... full of possibility, letting the audience's imaginations take over... Neo just flying off into the sky...
I just hope they don't wreck it.
My $0.02
:)
Am I the only person in the universe who thought that Matrix was way overrated? All it was was a shoot-em-up.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. It had a thin plot and an even thinner message.
It is not always the message that makes a great movie. What was the message of the "Terminator" or "Paris, Texas" or "Casablanca" for that matter? What makes "Matrix" the great movie is that hard-to-pin-down visual-narative consistency that makes you so immersed into the whole thing that you feel like you're on drugs. [You feel strange mental acuity
The same thing is with the "Blade Runner": You might argue that the message there (about the nature of the AI's life) is deeper than the one from the "Matrix", but what makes it really great is something else.
If the message and the plot were the whole essence then there would be no point in seeing the movie again and again. You know the score after the first seeing. So there must be something else. And there is.
Yeah it was a nice idea. Not original, but nicely done (except for the acting of course). The thing is, now that there's an invincible mega-hacker-d00d (Neo) on the loose, against which the pooters don't have any chance at all, what exactly can be in the next movie? Special effects, that's what! Explosions, electricity and funky twirling-round-some-guy-in-mid-air stuff. And guns. Big guns. Maybe some babes, too.
--
Everything I know in life I learnt from
don't you love the part with the trible-breasted lady on mars? or how about the part where old shwartzy's eyes are bulging out?
:) I get such a kick out of that movie.
--
rJames.org - illustration
I hope they do release them back to back. Star Wars is great and everything, but the damned saga has lasted half a life time. It would be nice to seem the soon after each other.
Hopefully the sequel won't also give in to hollywood-esque boring-plots that are commonplace with many sequels. And no more of Keanu's "Whoa." Haha, they just had to slip in a Bill&Ted-ism, didn't they?
make world, not war
Oh I disagree....but then why else would I be posting? ;-)
... wow.
The effects? [no]
How so? No one had ever done the freeze action/pan camera stuff on the big screen before (afaik) and
certainly no-one had done it so amazingly well. They had to invent whole new techniques and camera systems just to film those scenes. And there were very few actual CGI shots (except the tunnels etc) - most of what you see was filmed and then manipulated.
The storyline? [no - a rehash of Terminator]
I've seen people compare the Matrix with a lot of things storyline wise...but T/T2?? I really can't see much similarity. Anyone?
Stunning acting? [you know, the absolute best acting in the matrix was the Oracle.]
Yes she was pretty good, but then the battle scene in the entrance lobby showed off some pretty good "presence" even if that isn't quite acting.
I enjoyed the movie, a little, mostly for the industrial soundtrack and I thought the fight scenes were interesting (in that I'm pretty sure Keaneau et al weren't fighting them, but
were virtual actors - didn't see the DVD with the Making Of, so someone clue me).
Actually AFAIK the main actors did all the fights & stunts. I saw a documentry (not on the dvd) which followed the lead actors in their 6 month martial arts training schedule with a Kung Fu guy from Hong Kong (who's name escapes me). Keaneau (sp?) went on a chat show over here (UK) pretty soon after the film's release and actually demonstrated some of his moves. And pretty damn hot they looked too!! (IANAMAE). Even scenes like the "running around walls" were done for real with harnesses etc, and then the ropes were painted out. I think it is the non-rendered quality of the effects which makes them so amazing to look at.
And I do happen to like the story line...whilst it may not be exactly original in premise it fits together well, makes sense (until you apply the principles of energy conservation to it anyway!) and is totally engaging. The whole film is just
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
In the second installment there will be introduced another human that has the same sort of awareness and power that Neo does, except he will uses his for evil.
In the third installment we will see a final showdown between the two wherein the matrix will be destroyed because it can't handle the both of them.
Woohooo! I broke the code!
"It's Brazilian"
I think the right words are "homage to". Or are all the other mutants a rip-off of "Nightbreed"? :-)
Still a really good movie, though, as could be expected from Verhoeven. Arnie even gets a great one-liner or two: "Consider this a divorce."
(Even if they (as always) take too many liberties wrt. Dicks source material (short story named We Will Remember it for You, Wholesale if memory serves).
The Matrix most certainly had a deeper story going on beneath the action. Consider this (as most people dont catch it): When Neo meets the oracal, she tells him "sorry kid, you're not the one, you've got the gift, but maybe your just waiting for your next life" At the end of the movie, Agent Smith KILLS Neo, Neo DIES! His heart stopped, and the monitors showed zero brain activity, he was dead. THEN he comes BACK TO LIFE (his NEXT life) and his first act in his NEW life is to stop the bullets shot at him by the agents. HE BECAME THE ONE, in his NEXT LIFE, just as the oracal had said. On that alone how can anyone say its not a deep movie? =]
There are many movies like this, that are taken to be purely action flicks at face value, yet have much more to them. One in particular I always use as an example is Terminator2. Most people will say its just an action flik, with guns and robots and explosions (the key to any good action movie =]) but there is a whole lot more to it. There was the strugle of humanity vs the machines, with many subtle events to depict it, such as the terminator foot crushing the skull in the begining, later the stepped on roses, and again the stepped on glasses at the institution. There are tons of plot points spelled out on several pages on the web, that bring up things that never even occured to me just watching the movie, searching yahoo for "terminator2" will turn up a nice list of these sites. There is a clear difference between movies like T2 & The Matrix and movies like Universal soldier, soldier etc. It's always obvious when the plot is just thrown together to justify the action sequences, yet often not so immediatly obvious when the plot is much deeper then at first glance, I guess thats just a sign of good writing when they dont have to slap you in the face with the story to make it exist.
My 2cents..
AC
The Matrix is far away ahead SWTPM IMHO, I rated it like Total Recall, a movie i can see once a week, like the SW trilogy in fact, especially empire strikes back.
--
http://www.beroute.tzo.com
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
As the article mentioned, the sequels are going to deal less with the actual Matrix - and more with The Real World which is obviously a smart idea. Since Neo is a God in the Matrix, it would be pointless to have him fight the Agents or spend all the time showing off all the stuff he can do.
I'm sort of a sucker for the "humans fighting robots" cliche so I don't think they can screw up a Sequel too much as long as they stay out of the Matrix for most of the movie.
My predictions for the plot:
After Neo Trinity Morpheus and Tank escaped the sentian? robots, they return to Zion and get the real scoop on the state of humanity, very broken and beaten - Zion ain't gonna be a luxury hotel. Neo spurrs some hope into everyone by showing off all the stuff he can do, to which they reply "Whoa" all the time. They probably spend a bit of teasing the robots in the Matrix, who eventually find where Zion is located and a huge war breaks out killing off most of the remaining humans. It will then be up to the remaining crew from the first film to figure out what to do next, like reform the Zion alliance and begin working to take down the Matrix, thus setting up the storyboard for the 3rd film which will probably have to do with ending the AI threat completely and "waking up" humanity.
Or, I could probably be totally offbase...
"the voices in my head say crazy things"
The sequel sounds perfect - no plot, more of Neo's superhuman powers, special effects - more of the same, ie just what made it so good in the first place.
--
Everything I know in life I learnt from
Supposedly Sathya Sai Baba is himself an avatar?
"There is a fine line between genius and insanity--I have erased this line."
i had a chance to lay down a first post here but i thought i'd go ahead and read the article first :)
i hope that they do have a good story worked out already and it makes sense. i don't want to go see a movie just demonstrating neo's "superhuman" powers - those get old. the thing i loved about the matrix was that it presented a good question of what is real. i'm personally not a real big fan of sequels, but if the story works good (i like seeing movies that make me think, not just ones that dazzle me with awesome action sequences and incredible effects) then the matrix sequels oughta be pretty good.
The Matrix is a great movie. One of the best of the year. However, the religios references are exactly why I *don't* consider it a deep or intellectual movie.
The movie didn't really explore any of the religions of philosophies it referred to. Just because it refers to a few incompatible philosophies (an "intellectual" movie would have actually tried to work out those incompatibilities) doesn't make it a thinker's movie. The religious references certainly served their purpose -- they made the story much more interesting and the movie much more exciting, but don't kid yourself by thinking this movie has real depth. It doesn't.
If throwing religious references into a movie made it "deep," then the Star Wars trilogy would be one of the "deepest" stories ever told.
If you want sci-fi with religious context that will give your brain something to chew on, read Dune. If you want a couple hours of real fun with very little effort, watch The Matrix.
Whoa!
I swear i hadn't read any of the rumor pages before i posted this! :) :P
l
but i read this immediately afterwards
July 17, 1999... Oh, how we love rumors! Along with telling us that the lovely latex-clad Carrie-Anne Moss will be returning in Matrix 2, this scooper also mentioned one of the film's plot points: there's another human who can alter the reality of the Matrix (like Neo) but is an ally of the machines. Our scooper referred to these people who can change the Matrix's reality as "Manipulators". ['Mr. Chop' is a known associate of Agent Smith.]
from http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/matrix2.htm
"It's Brazilian"
I heard somewhere that they are being produced both at the same time, and that the movies will be released only a few months from each other.. I just hope they don't rush it.
Didn't see that one, but Lawnmowerman2 was pretty fucking bad as well. The first one was really good when it came out (though it seems so dated now its almost hard to watch) but when I finaly got around to renting the sequal, it was all I could do not to hit the stop button.
The first movie ended with Neo *flying*.
I think that the new movies will blow just for the simple fact that what made the first movie fun was Neo starting just like any hacker.. and becoming a god.
The next movie will start with him as a god. Uhm, where to next?
And, of course, there will be lots of frivolous sex. Because they *can*. I mean, trinity already LOVES Neo..
Oh boy.
Then again, there were other damn good sequels out there.. Aliens comes to mind. [I don't consider the 4th movie part of the series.. it was blatant marketing and vomit-inducing trash.]
--
rJames.org - illustration
you're an idiot!!!! wooaaaaaa...
Not according to producer Gary Kurtz: To quote an interview in SFX Magazine:
The movie was bad because of one reason:
Keanu
Watching him learn martial arts was better than watching a Three Stooges marathon.
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
The Matrix was okay but I think Dark City was better.
-Tat tvam asi.
I think they really need to do the story the right way, or they will completely kill the storyline. If they simply become "superhero's killing the badguys", the movie will suck beyond belief.
I'd like to see the 'puters start to find ways to fight him beside's trying to fry his brian. How's about throw those millions of people in absolute torment, instead of their 'nice little world'. If they try to continue the movie using the exact same storyline, it will REALLY suck, but I'm expecting ythem to throw some loops in there, with the first movie being so damned good..
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
That's because you've just got to the point where the ultra mega heavy dude is able to take over the nasty evil robots and save the world once and for all - which you don't get to see. That's what I thought was missing from the end of the movie, the bit where you get to see Neo destroying everything.
So yeah, you want the story to carry on, but there's not enough of a plot to make a solid second movie. The only possible storyline is that they run into some problem, ie, a bigger and better type of agent or some such Boss type dude. I think it'll be great, personally, I love the special effects.
--
Everything I know in life I learnt from
Or something like that.
Since your UID is smaller than mine, I can only conclude that you're trolling. -s20451 (410424)
I think that a sequel to The Matrix would be like making a sequel to The Blair Witch Project. Both movies get a good portion of their oomph from being fairly original, something that a sequel simply could not have just because it would be, well, a sequel. A good part of The Matrix's appeal to me is that it presented strangeness and mystery which was slowly revealed throughout the movie. But at the end there isn't much left for a sequel to work on. This means that a sequel would have to build itself on other elements. To be blunt about it, I don't believe the basic plot and idea is enough to carry a movie. It would become a movie about guns and funky slow-motion tricks, much more so than the original. I have no doubts that such a movie would probably still rake in the cash at a fairly good rate, but I don't think I would personally like it.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
Perhaps you need to take a good Myth and Legend class or Fiction class. You'll realize that there really aren't any new messages. EVERYTHING is a 2000 year old rehash. If your criteria for a "deep philosophical message" is that you've never seen anything like it before, you're not going to find a "deep philosophical message" in any story, movie, novel or other form of narrative.
What usually makes for a good narrative is a unique or compelling expression of one of the rehashed ideas. As far as that goes, The Matrix was a fairly good expression of the "the universe as we know it might not exist" idea. Gave me more of a think toward (insert Greek philosopher's name I can't remember right now and would rather make a disclaimer than insert the wrong name and get flamed)'s shadows on the wall reality idea than, say Total Recall.
LetterJ
Writing Geek/Pixel Pusher
jwynia@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~jwynia
The Glass is Too Big: My Take on Things
..that probably means: they're screwed. ;)
~ Kish
A sequel to Matrix? That was my initial reaction. Then I took to the reading of the article and discovered that unlike most sequels, this one will be done by the same guys who breathed life into the first one.
True, I am both excited and scared. That someone has guts to continue the storyline, is a brave deed. If done right, it may yet prove to be the ultimate movie experience. If screwed up, we could have another set of Jaws or Rocky-pictures. I truly hope the brothers are putting all they have into this.
It would truely be a shame to have Matrix raped just to make some quick buck. Hollywood should by now have the understanding that crappy sequels will not bring in the cash they want. Or maybe I'm just a bit too optimistic in this?
Let's hope the storyline has the potential to carry the oncoming sequels. And pray that Wachowskis are not just doing this out of greed.
There is no such thing as good luck. There is only misfortune and its occasional absence.
Anyone see the 13th floor. I thought it was better than the Matrix. Unfortunately, it came out later and didn't have a big marketing blitz, so the Matrix gets the sequels.
Oh well.
On the other hand, you just don't know! That's the point about Matrix I love: if there is one layer, there could be another, couldn't it? Layers of reality, and you never know, whether you are in a dream - or not...
Regards,
January
Yeah,
and the most intelligent line in the whole movie "Don't bend the spoon, bend yourself" is of the same calibre as Shakespeare.
Gimme a break.
Every movie, and novel for that matter, has allusions, and just by doing so does not make it a piece of art. The Matrix was sort of dumb, but things blew up. I liked it because the action was original and new. Not because it made me think.
I understand that Keanu bashing has become a cottage industry recently, and I don't mean to jump on the bandwagon, but Keanu seriously disrupted my ability to concentrate on the movie itself with his horrible acting. Chalk it up to ADD or something, but I could not focus on the movie while watching him overact.
Keanu has a place in Hollywood. Anything in the Ted & Bill's Most Excellent Journey genre is his bag. Anything that remotely asks us to take him seriously takes a big risk.
Didn't mean to take away from the discussion about Matrix, but you really can't discuss the movie without talking about the acting, at least that's what I think.
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
I've seen 4 or 5 different versions, and none of them do a good job of duplicating the screens in the movie. Something where the falling columns go at different speeds would be great.
Anyone know if a good reproduction of the effect exists somewhere?
--
grappler
Vidi, Vici, Veni
The characters were poorly acted (except Mobius).
:-)
I agree on that last point -- Mobius definitely had an edge.
As others have commented, Neo is already a superman. He can discover his powers, but he's not going to get better.
He may not get better, but he can always discover more powers. Not that he would need to, he got to be pretty godlike there at the end.
Keanu can't act -- he has only one expression, confused befuddlement. The director of Matrix used that perfectly. It's not appropriate now that he's superman.
They can teach him a new expression. They just need to decide on one that is appropriate to the second movie and he can practice it in a mirror every day. Then when they start shooting, he can just use that expression throughout the movie. It worked for the first, it can work again.
The Matrix's best feature was the Unknown. It's not there anymore. Don't pretend it is!
We know only what they told us in the first. They could go deeper with the second. They could open new doors. The situation inside Zion could be the source of a really good story. I'm sure they've been reading a lot of the opinions and critiques of the movie. Let's just wait and see what they do with it.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
the fact that they will be producing them both at the same time gives me the feeling that there is already a good and indepth story that will show itself in the two movies.
You should practice reading a bit more. He was talking about the concept etc.
The thing is that all movies (pretty much) are for entertainment. What changes between people is what they consider entertaining. Different people require different levels of acting skill and writing originality/complexity in order to be entertained, regardless of the special effects, action sequences, or the shock value of the movie. As a side note, that's exacly why I didn't like The Phantom Menace (let the flames fly). If you don't understand what I mean, then go to the theater and see The House on Haunted Hill which just came out the other day. It has tons of shock value. *diabolical smile*. That movie is an extreme case though. Matix is much better.
The first time I watched the Matrix I was entertained. It was fun. Cool premise. However, the second time I saw it I was a little disturbed by the poor acting and lack of originality in the script. I've since concluded that the movie is mediocre.
Not quite. When Star Wars was released in 1977 it did not have the "episode 4" label stuck to it. That did not come about until The Empire Strikes Back.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
hmm didn't like the one for xscreensaver .... i use the "official" one for win/mac at work .. but it bites to since it looks stupid if you don't have the monitor set to 800x600 ... i guess i'll just have to take a weekend to write my own .... bah like that is going to happend anytime soon. Anyone else that made a matrix screensaver that looks good ?
Remember that Neo is human in real life. Although he will probably be invincible in the Matrix, he can be killed outside of it. There probably will be more of the inside/outside of the Matrix than the first. Maybe the Matrix will deploy a "Terminator" like being in the real world that could match Neo's power in the Matrix. They left a lot of flexibility into the story line. I'm anxious to see it ;)
Steven Rostedt
Steven Rostedt
-- Nevermind
Wait......you aren't real!! Aghhhhhh!!!
In my opinion "The Matrix" was conceived as a trilogy from the beginning, and that means, that the authors created a longer story - and we have seen only the first part of it. Whatever rumors there might be about Wachowski brother thinking about this or that[4], methinks the story is already there, and what we saw in the first part will fit in the second
By the way: I am not a fanatic Matrix advocate - in my opinion, the basic message, the idea and so on have been already described hundreds of times, and in a much deeper way - stories by P.K.D. or Stanislaw Lem[5], for example. However, Matrix was a very good movie - the first one to touch this subject with so much expression, so much esthetics, and so deeply. IMO, of course.
Regards,
January
[1]The Matrix - screenplay
[2]The MATRIX FAQ
[3]Oracle Turing Machine
[4]Matrix 2 rumors
[5]A very good site on Lem
And I really object to casting a pretty poor with no brain as a Christ-figure
Couple of things, what makes you suppose that Jesus was a "genius" or even a "pretty-boy" like Keanu? And, why is it a "Christ-figure", you could just as easily say a "Buddha-figure" or a "Shiva-figure" (though the latter is a less acurate comparison, could a Hindu person correct the reference?) and be a lot more accurate because the whole "Christ" philosophy doesn't center around the world being an illusion. If you really want to appreciate the movie, get up from the computer (or not) and go study some philosophy, especially eastern philosophy and existentialism. They don't have the "there is no spoon" guy in there for no reason.
Excuse me, but using living humans as electrical energy source IS unrealistic, and will always be. A nuclear (of fusion if possible) plant is way more efficient and easier to use, and no troubles with VR and other silly stuff. That part was really silly and is the basis of the scenario.
Look at Planet of the Apes. The second movie there ended with Charlton Heston nuking the whole planet. Yet they managed to have three sequels to that... OK, the sequels did suck, but still, compared with nuking an entire planet, this is nothing :)
Do we finally find out what Tasty Wheat really tasted like?
Did those kids at the oracle's place serve any special purpose, or where they there just to bend her silverware?
What did the oracle *really* bake in those cookies? I mean,c'mon, what kind of cookie can make you feel *that* much better after eating it?
LOTR movie links,
SCOOP 1 2 3 4 5
Unofficial P.J. Online
Dave Dobbyn as Dobbo, the bard Hobbit and his merry band?
LOTR movie site by an apparent stalker (oh, excellent)
Official LOTR
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First of all, about Star Wars - Lucas designed it as the fourth episode of a trilogy of trilogies. He left the IV off during the first weeks, because pretty much everyone thought it would bomb, and that way no one would know they were missing 8 other movies along the same lines. (And, as you probably know by now, he decided not to do the last trilogy after all.) After a few weeks, they changed it to Episode IV. Perhaps 4 or 5 weeks, perhaps more.
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I remember seeing 'The Sword and the Sorcerer' when it first came out, and everyone of us was totally stoked because at the end, it said something like "Coming soon 'Tales of the Ancient Empire'", which of course was never made. Bastards!
The Matrix was conceived as a trilogy by the W. brothers. They've said so. They didn't tell anyone about that because they were hedging their bets (shades of 1977!) Once they figured out that they were making lots of money, they sprung parts 2 and 3 on everyone.
And before we go any further - yes, all stories have already been told. There's nothing new under the sun. The matrix was a classic coming of age story. A lot of other mythology, mysticism, nature of man/consciousness, etc. stuff was thrown in, but it's a coming of age story, nonetheless.
With that out of the way: All the 'Neo's a god', there's nothing else to do posts are pretty unimaginative. As my D&D characters became more powerful, more and more story lines opened up, not fewer. At 1st level, you fight orcs and goblins. At 20th level, you can fight orcs and goblins and every other monster in the manual (and lots that aren't, if your DM is any good.)
First of all, if I'm the head AI, I don't put my best guys on the front line, so the guys Neo has beaten aren't necessarily the end-all and be-all of bad guys. AI version 2.0 is up next, and they're using the new improved 2.3.99 kernel.
Possible plot devices:
What allowed the Oracle to see the future? What about the matrix allows her to do that? Is the matrix just an elaborate Adventure game that she happens to have played through a couple of times? Seeing the future requires either magic or advanced technology. Once you allow magic, and infinitude of possibilites intrude.
A god in the matrix doesn't mean crap in the real world. Tell Bruce Lee or Tank Abbott (or whoever) you know Kung Fu in the real world and he'll laugh. Perhaps some fighting in RL (real life), with Neo getting his butt kicked. Shades of Superman 2!
The AI's using people (goodlife, so to speak - STR) to do their dirty work. If learning can be done in software... need I say more?
You gotta visit Zion. You gotta get a new and badder ship. You gotta fight some real robots. What about a T1 style AI in a human-looking body? What's the AI's level of technology in RL?
Betrayal in the group - it's been done, but not to death (pun intended.) Gotta meet the guy who originally escaped the matrix - and of course he'll betray them - but then change his mind at the last second and sacrifice himself.
You've got to create infrastructure to support 6 billion humans. You've got to ensure the AI's don't just start killing everyone off.
How are new humans made? Artificial insemination of an ovary in a lab somewhere? Quite a few stories there.
And I wouldn't be a guy if I didn't say: Carrie-Anne Moss with less clothing on. That alone would be worth the price of admission. 'Nuff said.
I haven't scratched the surface of what a good screenwriter could do with the elements put in place by the movie. It could be an Aliens/T2/Wrath of Khan type of sequel. It could be a Jaws II/Police Academy II/Highlander II type of sequel.
I, for one, am looking forward to it/them.
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It is not clear what world the AI's really live in. Are they interconnected to a main central computer, or are they purely distributed cpus? Is their code under the GPL? Can Neo hack his way into the AI's main world and take on the AI's on their home turf? How much data can Keanu's brain store? (woops wrong movie). Will Jeff Goldblum appear so that he download his all purpose cross-platform virus?
Ultimately, I won't mind seeing a sequel that is braindead, action-packed, with lots of special effects. And nobody, absolutely nobody say "whoa" is good as Keanu.
No, you're not the only one. The Matrix is pretty eye candy, but you have to shut your brain off to enjoy it.
You can't try to apply any internal logic to it, because there is none. (Good sci-fi doesn't have to be built on plausible ideas, but it should have at least some internal logic.) For instance, think about when they storm the office building to free Morpheus. Our Heroes make no attempt to get around security *at all*, despite the enormous resources available to them via manipulation of The Matrix. They just come in with guns blazing and mow down innocent security guards in cold blood. So our good guys really aren't so good; they make no effort to spare the lives of those who have not yet been liberated from the Matrix. Why? Because the script writers needed an excuse for a over-the-top gun battle.
There are fundamental plot points never explained, with no obvious answers. The rebels have to use telephones to get out of the Matrix. Why? What's special about phones? For that matter, let's accept the idea that just yanking the plug kills due to the sudden shock of leaving one reality and entering another. Given that, why not give somebody in the Matrix who needs out NOW a fast-acting knockout drug, and yank the cord after they go to sleep? Or just transition them out of the Matrix and into their own private areas, like the training rooms (they seemed to have no difficulty dealing with sudden changes in the virtual world).
Oh, and while I say above that I think you can have good sci-fi without an entirely plausible universe, it *does* help if the ideas aren't so obviously STUPID. When they laid down that line about the computers using humans for power sources, it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. There are some things which make it impossible to suspend disbelief.
They'd get a LOT more usable energy by directly burning the food which was slated to feed the humans. Feeding it to humans just results in massive inefficiency (animal digestive systems aren't very efficient) and a lower temperature (it's hard to generate electricity from 98.6 degrees F). For that matter, what the hell were the humans thinking when (according to Morpheus) they darkened the skies to get at the machines? Machines don't care about the sun, they can just build nuke power plants. Humans care, because they need sun to grow crops to live off of. Did humanity turn suicidal, then?
Anybody who thinks the Matrix is anything even remotely resembling a deep, interesting science fiction story is deluding themselves. It's pure trash with good visuals, and that's all it will ever be. It wasn't even all that good as an action movie; the first half was boring, as they spent far too long trying to build a sense of suspense and mystery around the Matrix before revealing what it was.
I mean seriously... they pretty much played on the feelings of the everyone who watched the movie. Wouldn't you want to the 31337 haxor who saves the world ? The plot was interesting at first but then it suddenly dissapeared, to be replaced with Quake-style shootings..
IMHO, deep is a little too strong a term. I don't think there was much real profoundity or wisdom in that flick. Where's the deep meaning that wasn't expressed better elsewhere? I don't even believe The Matrix is supposed to be deep.
But I would certainly agree that the Wachowski epitomize cool, and the Matrix was very clever. The Matrix was a ton of fun, largely because of all the archetypal myths they drew on, and all the allusions they (maybe) threw together and let fans think about.
My favorite amusement after the movie was trying to guess the Wachowski brothers' influences, and thinking about how they relate.
Gnostic philosophy? Definitely an influence, but maybe indirectly, e.g. via Philip K. Dick? Which makes me think of the movie Blade Runner... which makes me think of T2 and Dark City... and of course of Hong Kong action flicks, and Akira and...
Or maybe it's not really Levant/Christian gnosticism at all. Maybe Neo is Krishna, ending Kali Yuga. Heck, maybe he's Buddha.
How about Nietzche? How about Ayn Rand?
Or how about other work that was already a mixture to begin with. For example the Invisibles comic. "Jack Frost" =~ "Neo"?.
Or maybe it's all lifted from The Illuminatus Trilogy, that great classic of mind-bending silliness. I'm positive that they lifted the sub from there. Or indirectly from Sewer, Gas and Electric. Or maybe just directly from Atlas Shurgged.
Then again, as Illuminatus points out, just because it really easy to find all this stuff doesn't mean it's all there.
But it sure is fun looking.
...and remeber, he is still trying to free everyone. That in it's self could make up several movies, getting people out of the plants and dealing with the people that get out and like their other reality better. -It's a real bummer when someone steals your Slashdot account.
funny you should mention dark city. they were both shot in the same locations (sydney, australia), and a LARGE portion of the art direction crew (and other non-related crew members) worked on the matrix.
and yes, the ending to dark city reeked of cheese. but it had some pretty nice eye candy. if only it had kung fu choreography by yuen wo ping. that woulda been somethin...
"How it infuriates a bigot, when he is forced to drag out his dark convictions"-- Logan Pearsall Smith
Stop stealing my lines!
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Nebu Chadnezzar. The name comes from a Babylonian king mentioned in the Bible (Old Testament, Jeremiah). He was a bit of a bastard, apparently. But here might be more to the name than just a cool-sounding word though:
The period of years between 597-538 B.C.E. in which the Israelites of Jerusalem and Judah were forced to live in Babylon, located in present day Iraq. This was a result of a series of conquests beginning in 597 B.C.E. when the Babylonian army, the Northern superpower, captured a section of Judah while en route to battle with Egypt, the Southern superpower. On the army's return from Egypt, the Jews were forced to leave their homeland and go into exile in Babylonia.
Solomon's Temple and the rest of the city of Jerusalem were burned at this time. Although the Jews were forced into exile, they were not forced to inter-mix with the Babylonians.
Why am I writing this?
KAL
As far as two more Martix films go, I am totally down with that. The only thing that I am worried about (as a few other readers have noted) is the content of the next films. Because I am a graphic designer I enjoy films with dazzeling, hard to do, special effects, but more importantly plot and direction. I hope that the next two films do not play on the wants of the uneducated mass of movie goers. I think that George Lucas did it best by making the Star Wars films a story within a story. If all the Martix films as a whole tell one big story , and each film is a story within itself, then cudos to the directors/writers/producers on making a great trilogy. I think that the next two films will be big money makers, I just hope that they have a great story line, dazzeling special effects, and keep all of us computer / cyber geeks on the edge of our seats. force_VinNy http://www.computer-gfx.com
Seriously? I wasn't around when the original was released in 77.
Star Wars: A New Hope, on video, and when it was re-released as the Special Edition, says that it is Episode IV in the opening story.
This was added in only after The Empire Strikes Back?
The Matrix absolutely was supposed to be a deep film. Consider:
I'm not talking about "maybe they were sort of refering to a Messiah." These are concrete literary references to Anagrams, Greek Mythology, Old Testament Bible references, modern Christian Theology, and even Lewis Carrol. The Matrix is absolutely a well thought out literary piece.
You're supposed to plug your brain into it for two hours and enjoy old fashioned mayhem. Not everything has to have literary depth in order to be a good movie.
I don't think you're "supposed" to do anything when watching the movie except enjoy it. If you enjoy all the ass kicking action, that's great. If you enjoy the deep literary references and well constructed plot, that's great too. There's certainly nothing wrong with enjoy the movie on a higher level. That higher level was absolutely intended by the directors.
And no, not everything needs literary depth to be a good movie. The Matrix is a good movie even without that depth. But the presence of that depth is what makes The Matrix a great movie.
-Ted
Wow, this should be great ;)) I really enjoyed The Matrix (as did my wife .... non geek). It was a natural for more than one sequel. I also heard that the William Gibson novel Neuromancer was going to be made into a film with guess who starring .. Keanu Reeves.. ;)) ;)
The future certainly looks entertaining
Clive DaSilva Email: clive.dasilva@gmail.com Ubuntu 18.10 Kernel 4.18
When Star Wars was released in 1977 it did not have the "episode 4" label stuck to it.
I saw it the second day it came out, and I could have sworn that it did. Ok, I was nine, so my memory of it my be scewed by later seeing that movie. (I was one of those that saw it like 25 times in the theater. A birth of a Geek was I).
But I did read that the movie was based off of stories of sequals (could have been books, but I don't remember (brain dead today)).
Still the story line of SW moved together quite nicely with the others. Although countering Zulfiya's statement "The Matrix was designed as a stand-alone" , SW was also a stand alone movie. Everyone wanted sequals, but it was a full story and didn't leave you hanging, like the ESB did.
Steven Rostedt
Steven Rostedt
-- Nevermind
They followed the Standard Hero Myth (tm) almost to the letter: A normal person is taken to a dark realm of magic and mystery, engages in special training and preparation, and goes through many struggles. Things look really bad, then suddenly it's all better. Hero returns to the normal daylight world with unusual powers and wisdom.
There are many other details that I left out, but the Matrix included most of them. I suspect that someone involved in writing the script has read Joseph Campbell's books.
For what it's worth, the Star Wars trilogy followed exactly the same pattern. I heard that it was intentional. Lucas meant it that way.
The Matrix is an awesome show. I'm curious how they're going to make a decent sequel...
Yep, I can see that this movie would be tough to extend into a trilogy. Actually, the only part of the movie I disliked was Neo flying off at the end. It was just silly.
I suppose that there is potential for interesting stories or characters in Zion, but I'm doubtful. I think it will be very easy for this movie to go from geek/cult (and amazingly mainstream... I was surprised) to lame/formula (and stay mainstream popular, but lose the geek/cult appeal).
I think the most worrisome announcement in the article was the "super powers"... that sounds silly. I thought that the coolest part of the matrix was the story of a hacker completely and totally hacking his world/the system... (and the initial clash of realities). I think those qualities might be hard to maintain.
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I hope you're not pretending to be evil while secretly being good. That would be dishonest.
http://thematrix.acmecity.com/tank/137/tvsmatrix00 1.html
You're not using those. You're using a plug that fits in the back of your head. Because I seriously doubt you would have been one of the home grown type like Tank was.
As for why Tank was using those, think about this, we're in a post-apocolyptic future. Lot's of technology was probably lost that had to be regained. As such, maybe they had not yet come up with better interfaces for natural borns.
Finally, the Matrix was an amazing movie. Keanau can't act, but I don't think his role called for acting. I thought the way it was setup he did a superb job. The character of Morpheus was even better.
Anyway, Dodge This!
And now for the promised Better Idea:
Neo's a superman. So, potentially, are the other humans. Okay, fine. Most of the humans in the world are STILL at the back and call of huge AIs. If you anger them, they can eliminate VAST numbers of people without a qualm. In addition, the Matrix itself isn't evil; only the deception is evil. The obvious conclusion is that there is going to be war, followed by either total mutual destruction or a peace treaty which involves teaching everyone about the Matrix.
So, two seqels. One showing the war; the other one showing the negotiations leading to the peace. Neither one can REALLY use the sense of wonder and mystery that the original had, so unfortunately those cool cliches are going to have to go (cliches work well mainly when the overal structure of the movie is a mystery).
I would say that the draw of the middle movie should be conflict (of course). Lots of it. Strategy. Infighting (very little, but on both sides).
The draw of the final movie should be high strategy, politics, and so on. Think of Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", with Neo playing the part of Mycroft/Mike/Adam.
In both movies Neo should play a bit part, because Keanu doesn't have the acting range to handle such things. the focus should be on humanity freeing itself, not on Superman freeing them (although, of course, he should do just that, in many exciting scenes).
I'm looking forward to these, though. They *could* really screw them up (just as Peter Jackson could screw up Tolkien's LOTR), but then... Maybe they already know that.
-Billy
Just look at Star Wars. What was considered "fairly original" in 1977 was still able to produce enormously successful sequels. If you don't believe that a good plot is enough to carry a movie, then what does it take? Because other than its plot, The Matrix doesn't have anything else that distances itself from any other movie (other than Trinity :).
I agree with you in that the sequels are going to be successful, and I hope that they are just as exciting as the original.
:wq
The "Renegade Version" of Highlander II is better than "The Sickening". But just stay away from Highlander III!
---- Politics: Kissing ass and pointing blames.
the directors themselves wanted to do a super-hero movie that didn't rely on the standard super-hero conventions. The first movie, as cool as it is, was just concieved as a way to get Neo his powers. Granted, he is a badass now, but he's not god.
After all, he is only hardcore in the Matrix. The big nasty badass robots can still eat his lunch in the "real" world.
Also, my understanding is that the story was plotted out as a trilogy, from the beginning. This all comes from some recent interviews with the Brothers (no way am I going to try to spell that name.) on both cinescape.com http://www.cinescape.com/ ) and Aint-it-cool-news ( http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/ )
I don't doubt that they can pull it off, either.
Lotek---
-- $SIGNATURE
Watch 'Matrix' come out with a trilogy that completely steals the limelight from Star Wars. Not only would it be ironic that Lucas gets upstaged after a 22-year hiatus from something that he should have made immediately, but the fact that it would be like someone like The Brothers... knife-twisting irony there.
For those of you who liked Agent Smith,
Hugo Weaving will be returning for the next two movies as Agent Smith.
How, you ask, as he was destroyed in the first movie?
Well, let me quote Hugo directly (I'm a friend of his brother-in-law): "I'm not huuuuumaaaaan!!!! I can't die!"
Important info:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net
http://dieoff.org/synopsis.htm
http://www.peakoil.net
dickhead
Yes it does appear you are the only person in the universe who thought the Matrix was overrated. So I ask you are the millions of people who liked it right or are you ( I know who I'll believe). I will tell you that the Matrix had truly amazing action and I will also tell you that in my opinion the Matrix had a good message and a reasonable plot. Whether you think so or not is irrelevant. So you didn't like, well many millions of people loved it, are they all wrong and you are the only one who is right? I think not. I don't give a shit if you liked it not, but telling millions of people they are wrong is just plain stupid, and only a stupid person would assume just because you didn't see or didn't like the message in movie that there is no message. There is no message that is relevant to you. But for millions of others the message was completely relevant. So get over yourself and try to see things from other peoples point of view.
So what if the whole thing has allusions to other stories that have been written before? That does not make it deep. I'd say that _Alice in Wonderland_ and the bible were pretty good pieces of writing, yes. Maybe it touched on interesting philosophy that has been covered before (by greater minds than Keanu Reeves). But that does not make _The Matrix_ "quality" or "deep" by association at all. If I make a slashdot-themed soft-porn for Cinemax with Hemos having sex with Death while playing chess like in The Seventh Seal, and have Rob poinking a replicant while making origami like in Blade Runner, but this does not give my soft-porn the qualities of these films. The Matrix was another Titanic, and that's it.
Kspett
Kevin "Cash Money" Spett
Ignore your rights and they go away.
Actually the true power of the slugbot will only become obvious when the folks at Realdoll combine it with their product. Then we have Priss from Bladerunner except that she recharges herself on slugs at night. The attachment of the males of this society to their SlugDolls is what enabled robots to take over society. Soon Aibo has us fetching, and the flybots watch our every move. Being macho men who aren't about to take orders from Fembots and dogs we set off the nukes. This is the plot for Episode 1: The Realdoll Menace.
Hey, you think your house is cool?
Didn't Morpheus say "No. But if you could, would you really want to?" in regards to possiblity of return as Neo asked "There is no way to return, is there?"
:-).
As far as I recall, the weakness of agents was that they are constrained by the Matrix while humans don't.
Hmmm scary... I can quote Matrix after last watching it over a month ago
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Leonid S. Knyshov
Network Administrator
Leonid S. Knyshov
Find me on Quora
I'll agree.
I reneted Lawmnmowerman2: Jobe's War fairly recently.
It was pretty appaling compared to the original. Some super chip in the form of a pyramid... Ewww
That movie definitely didn't impress me.
Moderators: this is redundant.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Network Administrator
Leonid S. Knyshov
Find me on Quora
IMHO the key to originality isn't so much coming up with completely new concepts...that only happens once every few thousand years. :)
To me, you can still be perfectly original by taking a large number of old ideas, and arranging them in new combinations. And from that point of view to my mind, the Matrix was moderately original. None of the individual concepts were original...They never are. You're only going to hear a new piece of music...you're never going to hear new notes.
Was a blatant rip off from Hitchikers guide to the Galaxy. As such, I loved it because I love blantant rip offs as long as everyone realizes that it wasn't original, it was making good use out of what has come before.
I complete disagree with your statement that the Matrix is not supposed to be deep. It is very deep. No, the movie was not decidedly Christian or "anti-Christian". It also was not decidedly Buddhist or Hindu or Taoist, though it had definite influnces from each. I don't feel like giving a lession on philosophy right now, for the Hindu take on it see above for a reply to some guy talking about it refering to the second comming.
I went to see the movie several times with people from different faiths and they each made aware of different profound parts of the movie. One of my friends who is atheist appreciated it because of the existential references. He also pointed out to me, because he is a musician, that the choice of music in certain places was very purposeful.
If you're a "serious Christian" I would hope that you would at least see the themes related to your own religion and find some depth there.
I forgot the company, but there's a commercial based on the "guns, lots of guns" segment. This guy is standing in white empty space(the loading program), and he asks for a car. Suddenly thousands of cars rush past him. He then askks for a red one, and then we see(in a different direction) hundreds of red cars fly by, until he gets his Miata. Then at the end, he needs an accountant, and suddenly a huge gride of accountants rush up to him, all in desks. Beautiful commercial.
Picture the following scene, if you will:
[Neo and Morphius] - whisper, whisper.
[Neo] - (click) "B-7"
[Agent Smith] - (rustling, click!) "You sank...my Squidly...Mr...Anderson"
[Neo] - (high-fives Morphius) "Dude!"
[Morphius] - "Right on!"
[Agent Smith] - "Best three...out of...five...Mr Anderson?"
Or maybe this:
Neo and Morphius land in Hell -
[Neo] - (looks around) "Dude, our O'Reilly books covers lied to us!"
Well, back to work....
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Dark City was cool! I loved it. Except I thought the ending was too cheesy and I was kinda dissapointed that the climax was just a fight between the good guy and bad guy that ended up destoying a bunch of stuff. Other then that the movie was awesome. I actually thought that it would be cooler if [**SPOLIER**] instead of floating through space, they were just floating in a void. No stars or anything, so there would be absolutly no way to tell where they are relative to "real" stuff. [**END SPOLIER**] But it was cool anyway.
If you think the whole premise was unbelievable, I'm afraid you aren't well clued in as to where technology is going.
;-)
The only major flights of technical fancy in The Matrix were the potty idea that humans thought they could kill off the machines by blotting out the sun, and that the machines would find humans to be a sensible alternative power source. There were quite a few general weaknesses as well, such as the whole business of the oracle and the apparent inability of the machines to trace Matrix events back to their physical location in particular humans. But those are hardly fatal weaknesses.
All in all, The Matrix is fairly down to earth, rather than unbelievable. Hugely more unbelievable things are about to hit our everyday reality in the shape of nanotech. No doubt you think that that whole area of study is unrealistic as well.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
The Worst Sequel Ever was: Highlander II: The Quickening.
There can be no argument against that.
Isn't it common knowledge that the Matrix was always intended to be part one of a trilogy (like Scream)? They left it open on purpose. They have yet to free humanity, of course.
I loved the first one. My only complaint was that they left it too open at the end. Its like they were begging for a sequal. Neo is definetly a hacker and the idea is that hes learning to do the kind of superhero things that he can do in cyberspace, except in the real world. I hope they get more into this though. You know a little more technical. Like maybe when he's bending a spoon they could compare it to object oriented programming or something.
People are just not willing to look past issues that seem important to them. Remember before the Matrix came out? Most complaints were, "Reaves? Awww man, hes going to ruin it." Reaves == Boring SurferBoy is definatly a problem, yet they used him as a stoic and soft spoken character which worked very well. If the W.Bros. could do that they can do anything.
"Duudes, maybe I can be the god of surfers in the sequel!" "Shut up Keanu." "Yes Mr. W."
just run it with nice -n 19 xscreensaver. Then it won't matter that it takes 90%.
[A green terminal monitor in a dark room.]
.]
[root@matrix.net]% ps -a
PID TTY TIME CMD
4008 0 0:25 autorepeat
10564 0:00
11364 pts/8 0:08 checker
11858 0:00
12406 0 14:41 perl
12618 0 33:28 process_clean.v43
12866 0 0:25 autorepeat
13158 0 0:42 logger
14190 0 0:02 afsd
14448 0 1:30 afsd
14706 0 0:16 afsd
14964 0 0:00 afsd
15222 0 0:00 afsd
15480 0 0:00 afsd
15738 0 0:00 afsd
15996 0 0:00 afsd
16254 0 0:00 afsd
16512 0 0:00 afsd
16770 0 0:00 afsd
17028 0 0:00 afsd
17288 0 0:01 afsd
24552 pts/8 0:00 tcsh
25882 pts/6 0:01 xterm
27610 pts/34 0:00 tcsh
164672 pts/80 0:00 tcsh
167322 pts/151 0:02 pine
169066 pts/42 0:00 pine
169508 pts/127 0:00 pine
170946 pts/1 0:01 tcsh
172094 pts/140 0:00 pine
175070 pts/92 0:00 finger
177440 pts/1 0:00 less
178350 pts/9 0:03 tin
178708 pts/2 0:00 script
180902 pts/14 0:06 pine
182848 pts/79 0:00 tcsh
183562 pts/51 0:00 tcsh
184886 pts/8 0:00 checker
185834 pts/124 0:00 pine
186832 pts/75 1:09 xlock
191394 pts/81 0:00 msgs
192376 pts/26 0:00 pine
194258 pts/118 0:00 pine
196736 pts/48 0:00 tset
198690 pts/2 0:00 csh
200358 pts/56 0:00 msgs
200496 pts/37 0:02 pine
203850 pts/87 0:01 pine
206108 pts/0 0:00 pine
208086 pts/30 0:00 pine
208570 pts/132 0:00 fm_misd
209582 pts/142 1:12 neo
[root@matrix.net]% kill -9 209582
[root@matrix.net]%
[The credits roll . .
Life is life . . . everything else is just a stupid T-shirt slogan.
What more is there to say. Neo owned the Matrix and so was effectively God. All that was left was to clean up the planet.
Spectacular effects scenes though.
Deleted
Doing 3 releases ( original + 2 Sequels ) Back to Back should keep me happy for a few months. Here is hoping they find a way to redo some of those killer effects ( Wall running, bullet dodging etc... ) that isn't the least bit Tacky.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
"Once upon a time, I , Chuang-tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering happily like a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chuang-tzu. Suddenly, I awakened, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man."
:)
Chuang-tzu, sacred text of Taoism
You know games are getting more and more realistic. What if what we know as Earth is just the ultimate game, something so realistic that even includes realistic feelings and sensations and you belive to be alive? What if we wake up from this dream ?
The way things are going, maybe in about 300 we'll be more than able to induce sensations, dreams, and much more to the brain. How can we know we're not just an induced dream from a more advanced civilization ? Maybe it's a game. Maybe it's a test. Who knows?
Makes me wonder what we'll see when we wake up. But that's a pretty good simulator.
-
Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
But I guess that's how people felt when they heard there would be a sequel to Star Wars.
And that's exactly where The Matrix stands right now: it has the potential to spawn endless boring sequels, and it has the potential to be in the 2000's what Star Wars was in the 80's.
The key here is to make the sequel a segment which will give more depth to the story, not just give us the same old stuff we came to love in the first installment. Again, Empire Strikes Back is a good example of this. So is Terminator 2.
But you know what? I'm confident. The Wachowsky brothers are behind the next two movies, and these guys have yet to produce anything vaguely resembling crap. (I highly recommend Bound , by the same guys - killer thriller.)
So, as long as Neo's father ain't Agent Smith and Neo and Trinity aren't siblings... We should be fine. :)
"Knowledge = Power = Energy = Mass"
Matrix was the best movie I have seen in a long time. It leaves one wanting the story not to end at the end of the first one. It's good that they will make one that's in Zion. I know I can't wait til it comes out. I'm not going to wait for this one to come out on video.
Good is never enough, when you dream of being great!
'The Matrix' had a very good plot, IMO. Omnipotent AI's, humans as batteries, struggle for freedom, etc, etc. But I agree, the action was awesome and I want more of it.
..this has a damn thing to do with the Matrix, but..
Actually, I wondered something along these lines after reading the third book in the Vampire Chronicles, the Queen of the Damned. Surprisingly enough, the Tale of the Body Thief did a good job of not succumbing to the ``it's gotten bigger and badder every book, just like when you eventually meet a god in every D&D episode (and then have their kids), and now it's just lame because it can't get any bigger and badder'' approach. Of course, it takes some swift and sure thinking to avoid this common pitfall. ;)
You mean the third one wasn't? It tried to recapture the essence of the first movie (widely acclaimed as the ``best'', although I liked Aliens as much as I did Alien), but it really just sucked. It might have been more entertaining if they had capitalized more on the idea that aliens could mature into different types according to their host like the toys did. Unfortunately, it fails at its intended approach, and actually should have gone with the ``bigger and badder'' approach instead. It still had more life in it (more than the writers did, apparently =P).
~ Kish
If all it takes is to fire in a few references to various mythologies even Porky's could be considered a "deep" film. I'll agree that there may be some activity on another level beyond the plot-driven special-effects, but hardly enough for what I'd consider "depth".
I believe that depth occurs when some obvious but unnoticed insight about ourselves (in singular or plural) or the world around us is brought to light.
Which is kind of sad, actually, because it's a concept that lends itself so well to explorations of our existance. Consider what happens, after all, if you accept the premise that your entire life can be falsified? No where do we see any doubt in any of the characters that the life they live now might be just as hallucinatory as the original Matrix.
We only see the most rudimentary questioning of if the apparant lack of freedom within the Matrix matters at all.
Basically, it had the possibility of depth. It certainly didn't reach it.
I still got a kick out of the film, but let's be reasonable here.
Karl
If nobody cared about your opinion before the Internet, what makes you think they will now?
That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze
The Matrix was one of the worst movies made this decade. The plot was unrealistic. The characters were poorly acted (except Mobius). The special effects were weak. And I really object to casting a pretty poor with no brain as a Christ-figure.
I wonder how many caught your pun.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
Ya, i can see the movie start out with a really hot sex scene like in Basic instinct. Neo and Trinity going at it like rabbits..
Then an AGENT (In his T1001 body, of course) bursts in and takes them into custody. (Neo is too tired from copulating 10 gazillion times to do anything.) They go to court and the whole movie is like, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"
The two protaganists get sent to jail for incest.
Man, i see the christian coalition having a FIELD-DAY with that one.
--
rJames.org - illustration
People have argued me on this fact, saying that it had a "deep, philosophical message". What message is that? That the universe as we know it might not exist? Oh, yeah, what a new message. I've never seen anything like that before. Uh-huh.
If you liked matrix for the things going fast and blowing up, great. But don't try to tell me that it had good acting, good plot, a good message, or anything else that makes a *truly* classic movie -- I won't buy it.
- Drew
- Drew
- In Capitalist America, law violates YOU!
So are they going to continue on with the Second Coming of Christ theme they used in the first one?
The parallels are striking.
Somehow I think very few readers of this system will disagree with you.
:-)
I liked one part about the Titanic: when the ship sinks and everyone is flying and dying. That was the most interesting part, in my opinion
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
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Leonid S. Knyshov
Find me on Quora
But that's the cool thing about it - on the surface, it's just an action flick. But there are deeper messages and meanings in the plot, and a number of different plots the sequels could follow (could the agents integrate Neo's new found abilities into their own makeup? What about Zion? If they *did* manage to wake up a large segment of the population, would they *want* to live in a post-holocaust world or continue living within the matrix?)
Maybe - I found it incredibly boring, even knowing it was an "intellectual" movie going in to it.
Sci-fi and Fantasy operate on the notion that we humans, in our world as we know it, have to be willing to suspend disbelief of a plot device in the story we are reading or watching. The Lord of the Rings: We have to be willing to believe that there is magic, and that evil is personified in Sauron. Elves, dragons, and dwarves do exist. Star Wars: We have to be willing to believe that these spaceships can make sound in space. Okay, not that but that the force exists and is something that can be manipulated by people. superman: That the sun's yellow rays can make an alien being superhuman. That he can fly without some sort of propellant coming out of his ass. That he can do all the incredible expenditures of energy and not have to consume nuclear powerstations for breakfast each morning. If you don't accept that these things are true for that world, for that fantasy, then you will think it all unrealistic. If you do accept it, then it has to make sense within it's own rules. Star Trek: Star Trek fails in this regard in so many ways. One of which is the use of Transporters. If we have this technology (which is acceptable) then we have to also accept that a technology like this which has been around for 100 years would have had so many uses for it worked out that it would do everything. From beaming out diseases, to doing surgery by beaming in correct organs, to warfare based upon massive transporters beaming molten lava from the core onto cities, etc, to entire moons being moved, etc. You have to play the technology out to it's logical ends.
That's complete bullshit.
Lucas DID know that he wanted to do sequels, some versions were a series of 12, then 6, then the popular 9, and now we're back down to 6.
Proof that Lucas had a meta plotline worked out from the start: Vader is very similar to the german word for Father.
But still, the original theater showing of Star Wars, before it was called "A New Hope", before they knew they would be able to do Empire, was *NOT* episode IV, or episode I, or episode anything. They had the crawling prolog, but NO "Episode IV". It just wasn't there. No way, no how, better go see a shrink to undo the damage the Church of Scientology did to your mind.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Alright... follow me folks. Neo was a super-computer in that he can natively de/encode the Matrix at will and on such a low level that it was his "nature" and not using any type of language. He was a freak. But theres much more to learn from this. Possibly after wars and much bloodshed his use of this new found ability will teach him to manipulate real space since it is actually based on physical rules. He is the spark for the next step in human evolution. And he couldn't have done it without the AI. Thats where the whole series should end... at the cusp of an evolutionary precipice with a child from Trinity and Neo. The stuff in the middle should be good though.
-Leto
Nope it said it in the original. I saw it on the big screen. Lucas knew even back then that he wanted to do the prequels...
-- 100% MS-Free as of 4-4-1999, 11:47:38 PST. "The lapdance is always better when the stripper is cryin'" Free Kevin,
Computer geeks dressed like goths... sounds like half my friends ;-)
And I think William Gibson might have something to say on the idea of a virtual world
Original, no. Good entertainment, definitely! Please let Trinity wear black PVC again in the sequels!
Just a little nit..
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Maybe *they* (the machines) teach the humans that in Matrix school, but it's not REALLY a law of nature. So maybe the machines CAN run forever off of energy leeched off of human bodies, fed on human bodies. . .
aw, whatever. Hey, movies are entertainment. Who took "Star Wars" seriously as science fiction, instead of science fantasy? There's plenty of corn in Star Wars, and the plot really wasn't all that special, did that make it a bad movie?
Now, just because some moviegoers "immerse" themselves a bit deeper, or extend their suspension of disbelief further than you can, doesn't mean that it wasn't good entertainment. Was it empirically "good literature"? High art? I think when you judge modern American Pop culture by those standards, you're gonna be disappointed anyway. What a depressing life.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
What is the core thesis of the book? With a title like that, are they talking about super imposing your mind onto a body that you think is real but really isn't?
-Ted
Haven't you heard? We're not doing 'First Post' anymore. It's too easy (though not for you, it seems, as you've only managed 4th). It's been replaced with the more tricky 'First intelligent, on-topic post'. That might seem difficult, but we're sure that you must be capable of contributing something more interesting than 'yessss'.
I see a lot of people commenting that the Matrix was "the worst/best file they've ever seen". I think what you're seeing here is the difference between those who just want to be entertained and those who want "depth and meaning".
The thing is that Matrix is not supposed to be deep. You're supposed to plug your brain into it for two hours and enjoy old fashioned mayhem. Not everything has to have literary depth in order to be a good movie. Another good example of this "comic book" genre was Independence Day. I enjoyed it greatly.
Incidentally, the best movie I've seen lately was "The Apostle". As a fairly serious Christian, I found it decidedly realistic, and it managed to avoid being either pro or anti Christian. That was a good movie! Of course, it was pretty literary. It was all about character. My wife hates it because she can't check her brain at the door -- and I love it because I don't have to.
I watch Matrix the same times I watch Star Trek: when I want light entertainment and nothing else.
-- Slashdot sucks.
Oh man. I just installed the newest version of xscreensaver, with the xmatrix hack. I leave it running on my root window whilst I hack. Pretty damn shweet. If only it wouldn't take 90% of my CPU...
Oh, get it at http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
you heard me...
Berserker series by Fred Saberhagen.
I claim my artificially intelligent self-repairing warship.
I think it was planned this way also. It was an open ending.
I didn't like idea of humans being durcells. Don't buy it, too weak. But, I don't think the computer AIs are using humans as energy source. After all this explanation is coming from Morpheus. If I was writing this, the computer AIs are using the humans to continue evolve and develop their consciousness. When the computer AIs develop to a point they will probably not need the humans.
If Neo, the first person to break out the Matrix, Oracle, and such other individuals show the unique nature of humans. A human such as Neo can fight the Matrix is evident that the computer AI are still trying to learn from the humans.
If the machines need energy, it's better if they get it from the earth's core.
We'll just have to wait for part 2.
Sure, it's a bit Nietzschean for the mainstream, but I think it makes the whole plot way cooler, PLUS it leaves plenty of room for that "wonder" feeling in the sequels, since most of the "plot" from the first movie was just an elaborate ruse. My one real problem with the Matrix as it stands is that Neo really hasn't accomplished all that much by the end of the movie. He just magically masters this whole cyberworldthing and that's the end of it. Let's see if they can do better next time
Unfortunately |pause| nobody can be |long pause| told |pause| what the Matrix is - you have to see it in my glasses.
Can your IM do this?
...they have already signed the core 3 cast members, but what about the guy that trained Neo (I think his brother was Tank)? That dude was pretty cool. I'd like to see him back as well. I remember he got shot, but he didn't die did he?
Anyway, I was just tickled pink when I first heard there were going to be sequels. I hope I do not allow myself to become overhyped like I did for the Phantom Menace.
What? We have a name for people like you! "THICK HEADED" How could you possibly say that the effects were weak! If there is a better movie, Give me the name of it. And How do you figure is it unrealistic? What was so unrealistic about it? The plot..."there is a plot"...clearly explains how it could be true. How do you know that the world you are living in today is "The Truth!" I'm not even going to waste my time defending my thoughts and many others...since your so closed minded...."Just what THEY want"...It's not your fault you cannot see past the mental barriers that your brain creates...Not everyone can be born into a perfect state of mind...To bad you are "RETARDED"!
This is a repost from another reply I made.
I didn't like idea of humans being durcells either. Don't buy it, too weak. But, I don't think the computer AIs are using humans as energy source. After all this explanation is coming from Morpheus. If I was writing this, the computer AIs are using the humans to continue evolve and develop their consciousness. When the computer AIs develop to a point they will probably not need the humans.
If Neo, the first person to break out the Matrix, Oracle, and such other individuals show the unique nature of humans. And that humans are still stronger than them. A human such as Neo can fight the Matrix is evident that the computer AI are still trying to learn from the humans.
If the machines need energy, it's better if they get it from the earth's core.
Ok. so your saying that if anyone but Keanu played the part of Neo, the movie would be great? Wrong Post! You should be posting under the "I Hate Keanu" Post!
The next movie will start with him as a god. Uhm, where to next? Ok. So Neo can fly -- in the Matrix.
- He's still an ordinary guy in the real world.
- We still haven't been to Zion (last human city)
- Humanity is still enslaved
- Agent Smith was blown apart (hacked) by Neo. Hmm. Time to release Agent 2.0
- The Nebuchodonsaur(sp?) crew is down to 4. Recruiting time, spoon boy
- Plenty of flashback opportunity (Human-AI war, Matrix beta tests...)
---
The Matrix is much more and the thin plot quickly expands to everything you do in life. It's not just about a Christ figure either. It's about everyting from Sticky web sites, the nightly news, Social Angst, The Clash...but many people don't want to know...the steak tastes too good and those damn gurilla warriors live in a stinking ship with nothing to inherit but a burned out world and soiled clothes.
What you mention are just the settings - not a plot.
:-)
A plot is the cobweb of interactions and intrique, that carries the story along... as for that, Matrix has a pretty straight forward plot.
But, yes. With settings like these, who needs a convoluted plot?