Watching the film might actually be a quicker option than reading the above post tbh
films
- Thread starter Fox Mulder
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True but the above post has a better script and is free.
Far enough
IIRC we had a convo a few months back about how the original trilogy was carried by the first film. I just felt that this latest chapter had all the bad habits of 2 and 3 and almost none of what made 1 so unique.
I promised Sucky an essay but cba so I'll bullet-time my thoughts (I'll get my coat too):
SPOILER ALERT
- So basically the entire storyline is a question of extracting Neo and Trinity because we owe them one? The humans have stopped saving ppl from the matrix, the machines are actually helping the humans and the entire plot is driven by sentimentality. Stacked up against something like survival of the human race, you can see why many found that underwhelming and as the film progressed I found myself not really giving a damn whether the hastily conceived and miraculously delivered master plan worked or not.
- The machines lost all of the dark menace they had throughout the first films. Especially the agents, who barely feature and when they do are dealt with easily even by stock characters. Oh and then of course within 5 minutes of meeting the new agents, one of them is revealed to actually be Morpheus. Wtaf.
- In fact the entire film lost all of the brooding, tense noir that made the first one stand out. We are meant to be sucked into Neo's existential crisis surrounded by lattes, man-buns and aloe-vera dips. I get it - the world has changed - but the urgency and potency of every scene in the first film was totally absent. Remember holding your breath when the squids hunted the Nevuchanezzar? Or when Morpheus crashed through the wall to confront Smith? Yep, me too.
- I liked the Architect to Analyst switch but why make the mastermind of the new and more effective Matrix so damn pathetic? And, as was a huge problem with the 2nd film, the story arcs that are genuinely intriguing (top of that list is STILL Cipher's question from 1999, which wasn't ever dealt with bc techno babble was more important for exposition: Which is better, a life of ignorant bliss or a life of miserable truth?) are glossed over so we can hurry things along to a climax no-one cares much about.
- Which reminds me: why was everything so rushed?! One of the many things that set the first film apart was its near-perfect understanding of pacing. This offering was the polar opposite. Neo's existential crisis and the genuinely interesting questions he is grappling with are just starting to get interesting when BOOF, off we go down red pill road and we now have to watch an actor pushing 60 trying to do kung-fu.
Same problem with Trinity's rescue. Its like 'well I have a husband and kids and an entire life that means stuff to me and I' BOOF I actually hate being called Tiffany, f this imma head out. Gone in 60 seconds is an accurate description.
- Then there is the completely ambiguous role of the new/old Smith and how he ends up helping Neo at the end?
- The film itself promises a new bullet time, which turns out to just be Neil Patrick Harris doing exactly the same thing as Quicksilver in X-men.
- The premise that removing Neo and Trinity from the new Matrix will cause it to destabilise and implode, yet by the end of the film aside from an errant flock of birds nothing untoward has happened.
- Some ridiculous and unexplained exposition about a machine civil war and Zion's fate with neither developed far enough to make any sense.
- The Matrix is now Land of the Walking Dead. Lol. So instead of developing the agents to be more effective, we'll just use zombies.
- There isn't a single side character you find yourself caring about, simply because as mentioned they place themselves in mortal danger completely voluntarily, unlike the first film where every second was a back against the wall fight for life.
- The fact that the Analyst seems totally fine with losing. Why are the machines so damn nice this time?!
That's just a few of my peeves
Fishbourne and Weaving turned it down, and it is glaringly obvious why.
Horse manure.
Some of that I agree with. I thought they were going to address Cipher's dilemma through Trinity. I was expecting it. And there's one bit in particular when someone asks Neo "how do you even know she'll want to leave? I was then expecting a point in the film where he would confront her with the 'choice' and wondered where that would lead. But it never happened and tbf that was all glossed over, much in the way you describe.
I saw this film closer to the first though. It was similar, in that it was about bringing Neo out from his fake reality, learn once again about the real world and then having to rescue someone (Trinity instead of Morpheus).
And I liked the idea of bots. I thought that was clever. Including fake shells which have no assigned real human in pods, but just programmes mimicking humans in the world I thought was a good update.
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I thought it dragged a bit tbh, bout 40 mins too long, was alright tho.
Yeah a fair bit of it could have been cut out, especially at the start.
Built up nicely for the next Doctor Strange film next year.
I watched Dr strange again last week for the 2nd time and it's deffo one of the better marvel movies for me.
Still need to watch that eternals too. They are set to feature heavily in this new metaverse phase one thing whatever it is
Spiderman-no way home
Very good. Up there with the best Marvel offerings
8/10
The tragedy of Macbeth
Fantastic adaptation of the Scottish play from Joel Coen. The look and feel of the movie are only beaten by the fantastic performances on show. Washington at his brilliant best.
Probably the best Shakespeare adaptation I have seen and one of the best movies of the year. Of any year.
9.5/10
Very good. Up there with the best Marvel offerings
8/10
The tragedy of Macbeth
Fantastic adaptation of the Scottish play from Joel Coen. The look and feel of the movie are only beaten by the fantastic performances on show. Washington at his brilliant best.
Probably the best Shakespeare adaptation I have seen and one of the best movies of the year. Of any year.
9.5/10
It was written by England's most famous playwrite ffs.
It stars Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand. You're more Scottish than this film ya madman.
Macbeth sounds like a jock to me. 1st name hamish
Wasn't on about who wrote it ffs
Aye OK, you got me. Denzel is actually pish, I just said it's a great film because it has a Scottish theme.Macbeth sounds like a jock to me.
Wasn't on about who wrote it ffs
You'll never see it anyway, there's no exploding robots in it,so why do you care anyhoo.