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.

Comments

The Matrix is supposed to be deep AND fun

[Ted V]

The thing is that Matrix is not supposed to be deep.

The Matrix absolutely was supposed to be a deep film. Consider:

• "Neo" is an anagram for "One"
  
• "Morpheus" is a the Greek god of dreams
  
• "Trinity" answers the phrase "God!" with "What?"
  
• "Zion" is the name of God's Holy Mountain/City after the apocalypse
  
• Neo follows a white rabbit to meet Trinity (and indirectly Morpheus). Morpheus tells Neo that he must feel like Alice in Wonderland, "tumbling down the rabbit hole".

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

They're handling this right

[William Tanksley]

Just a laundry list of potential problems here, followed by my idea of the Right Way to do things. And why I suspect that they're doing something like this.

• As others have commented, Neo is already a superman. He can discover his powers, but he's not going to get better.
  
• 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.
  
• The Matrix's best feature was the Unknown. It's not there anymore. Don't pretend it is!
  

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