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The Matrix - What's the Big Deal?


Die Another Day

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Alright, I'll admit it. I've been sitting at home, watching countless television adverts, 'Making Of' programmes and documentaries, not to mention news reports and updates, about this film called "The Matrix Reloaded". Then I come to the Swamp, and find everyone talking about the adventures of Neo, Morpheus and the gang (I won't even talk about everyone's avatars and signature pictures). So, I'll cut to the chase - why?

 

Okay, I enjoyed the first film, but only slightly. The different perspectives on action were cool, and especially bullet-time, that deserves a mention. The fights were fun, inventive and interesting, and to it's credit, "The Matrix" did well in that department. But that's where the praise ends. The acting quality was poor, the storyline just a little over-the-top (yes, the entire world is a computer programme...) and everything just smacked a little too much of cheesy buzz-words like the afforementioned 'bullet-time'. It was meerly a special effect junkie's paradise.

 

I guess this is all just personal taste, right? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I'm not trying to belittle anyone who is a fan of "The Matrix". However, now we have two new films coming our way before Christmas 2003, a new game which links in with the film (how do people who don't own game consoles feel, eh? Like their missing out.) and several short "AniMatrix" cartoons which serve little purpose, I am left asking, "What the hell is the appeal of these films?"

 

All I see is an overworked franchise which is building on the success of the first film and ultimately, after all this hype and promotion, will fall flat on it's face. Everything about "The Matrix" was average to me, so why does everyone expect some cinematic history to be made with the following films, "Reloaded" and "Revolutions"? Why, people? What's the big deal?

 

Oh, and please don't start with turning my words around and saying that "Die Another Day" was terrible. I've already had that from everyone I've talked to at work and home, who, incidently, love "The Matrix". And it wasn't enjoyable.

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Blimey Die, you like to start em don'tcha? :p

 

Firstly, I want to say that you're perfectly entitled to your opinion, and I respect it. I know people who've sat through Star Wars completely unmoved too (really). Not everyone is going to love every film. Example, I'm not really too into the James Bond films, which I know you are. I can see people what like in them, they just don't float my boat, y'know?

 

So why do I love the Matrix? Well, it's just cool I suppose. Yes it's exaggerated, yet the acting's ropey sometimes , but hey; I love Episode II as well! :p I'm sure other people will be able to justify the Matrix's fandom better than myself: I'm a SW geek first and foremost.

 

Oh, and not notpicking, but Enter The Matrix is available for the PC too, not just consoles. Having said that, it depends on your specs obviously. I can run JO but I'm having trouble running nearly everything that's come out after that. :(

 

On a last note, I've got to say I wasn't overly impressed by the Matrix the first time I saw it, because everyone hyped it so much. It wasn't until about a year later that I was more 'receptive' to it, and I've loved it since. Sure it's not perfect, but what is?

 

EDIT: Also, it's 2005 until the next SW film! Lord of the Rings isn't enough for us geeks, we need something more nerdy to be into! :p

 

B.

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One of your reasons why you don't think the Matrix is that good is because it's too.....unbelievable? That the real world is just a computer simulation designed to pull the wool over our eyes is too.......far-fetched?

 

It's Science Fiction, it's SUPPOSED to be unreal. Star Wars, Star Trek, The X-Files, etc. etc. Science fiction is not supposed to be completely believable, it's supposed to take you in a direction that you've never been before, and look cool while doing it.

 

In that sense, the Matrix owns Science Fiction.

 

 

 

And you told me not too, but i'm gonna do it anyways. I LOVE James Bond, but some of the plots are, to me, FAR more far-fetched, and the acting is at times downright laughable.

 

The World is not enough.....Christmas Jones played by....I believe her name is....a jeez i dunno, but she's quite possibly the worst actress alive. Just a few of her lines that made me want to die. (note, these may not be 100% accurate, but they convey the basic message. The lines themselves aren't horrible, just the way they were delivered) Although probably 99% of the bond girls have been TERRIBLE actresses. Halle Berrie was the only Bond Girl I can remember who had any talent beyond her physical assets.

 

"Somebody's tampered with the bomb!"

"if we don't find that nuke, somebody's going to have my ass"

"I talked to him, and he's no rocket scientist"

 

 

 

All I see is an overworked franchise which is building on the success of the first film

 

And....HOW many James Bond movies are there?

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And....HOW many James Bond movies are there?

 

Uhh yeah really...dont you think they have ran Ol' James into the ground?:confused:

 

And how realistic is that? The dude gets billions of bullets shot at him and jumps off buildings, jumps out helicopters, etc. and still has time to boff a girl at the end of the day.:) Its not like other spies life.

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Originally posted by Thrackan Solo

Ha I would like to see James Bond fight Neo. He wouldnt last 30 seconds.:) Neo would lay the smack-down on him :smash:

HA even the Oracle could probably beat him

 

 

The ORacle would kill him. Plus I bet Bond would try to use a spoon when in reality "There is no Spoon!":p

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You know you're just asking for comparisions and contrasts with the Bond movies, I like both series and I watch them, everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

But one thing: I agree with most of the replies, how many james bond movies are there? How many spin-offs, games, heck there were plans to do a TV series

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Originally posted by BLaCKouT_1138

So why do I love the Matrix? Well, it's just cool I suppose. Yes it's exaggerated, yet the acting's ropey sometimes , but hey; I love Episode II as well! :p I'm sure other people will be able to justify the Matrix's fandom better than myself: I'm a SW geek first and foremost.

Sure it's not perfect, but what is?

 

Right on Blackout!! I agree with everything you said. And, EpII is "ropey" but it is wonderful!!

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Originally posted by jokemaster

You know you're just asking for comparisions and contrasts with the Bond movies, I like both series and I watch them, everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

But one thing: I agree with most of the replies, how many james bond movies are there? How many spin-offs, games, heck there were plans to do a TV series

they made a series called james bond jr. i used to watch it when i was little mainly because i was a stupid naive little twerp.
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The reason people liked the original Matrix film was because when they came out they felt...well...cool. I don't know if you feel cool, or feel that what you saw was cool. Whatever it was it was cool. When you step out of the cinema(theater) into the cool breeze of the night you think 'cool, that film was cool' and then you sit in the cool ferrari with the cool leather seats, and say to dad 'That was cool, lets go home' and dad says, 'cool' and then i said 'cool' and then we drove home, which was cool. And I had a nice cool glass of milk.

 

*sigh*

 

it was cool

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Well, I just typed out a VERY long response and LucasForums told me I wasn't logged on anymore, so I've just lost everything I wrote before logging back on and coming back here. So I'm VERY angry.

 

ET Warrior, "The Matrix" may well be science fiction, but it's still set in this time period. It's telling us that we are all living inside a computer. At least George Lucas had the intelligence to create his own galaxy (far, far away...) to play in, and didn't make up a poor, flimsy excuse to ninja-kick someone's face in mid-air.

 

James Bond isn't a tired, overworked franchise. Bond has been around in the cinema since 1962, and produced twenty quality blockbuster films which have each been amazing in their own right. The books have been around even longer, and each one was a bestseller (even the American President JF Kennedy read "From Russia, With Love" and told the press that it was his favourite book). The Bond films have got stronger and stronger with age, and each one is realistic, not over-the-top futuristic. Lasers - done in real life. Hovercrafts - done in real life. Making a vehicle invisible by using micro-camera's on one side which project the image they see on to a light-emmiting ploymer skin on the other - DONE IN REAL LIFE (the British Army have made a tank invisible against certain backdrops by using the technology Q described to the letter in "Die Another Day"). "The Matrix" is nothing but a special effects trip.

 

About feeling cool: I felt cheated and bored when I came out of "The Matrix Reloaded" yesterday. it was terrible, and I wasted good money when I could have easily done something much better with £6.50p. However, I know what you are getting at Lost Welshman - I felt cool when I came out of "Die Another Day", and so did all my mates. There was a similar effect after "The World Is Not Enough" and "Tomorrow Never Dies", both of which I saw at the cinema.

 

As for spin-offs, "James Bond Jnr" was a very successful cartoon series, designed for kids and watched by kids. Computer games? Well, look at "Star Wars" - how many computer games have been made about that galaxy far, far away? It's because people love the films, and want to play in that universe as their favourite film character. I bet if I was a massive "Star Wars" fan and didn't like James Bond, yet still posted what I have, there wouldn't be such a big argument now. "007 - NightFire" is amazing, as are all the James Bond games (all six of them... compared to "Star Wars" games, which have reached in excess of fifty). And what about "Enter the Matrix", eh?

 

I wanted to know what people saw in "The Matrix" because I didn't see it. I didn't want a childish thread which contained such things like "Neo would beat James Bond in a fight!" or things which compared the Bond films to "The Matrix". Bond isn't science fiction, so you can't compare him to something that IS science fiction. It's all a matter of personal taste, which is something I stressed in my opening post.

 

PS: ET Warrior, Doctor Christmas Jones never says that last quote, and what's stupid about saying "Someone's tampered with the bomb!" when someone really had (Renard removed half of the plutonium)?

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I'm sorry you feel that way about the Matrix Reloaded, Die. But, like I said, not every film is for everyone.

 

I'm also sorry it turned into a 'slagging off James Bond' thread. It seemed obvious to me that your opening post was more of a question, not a criticism. Ironic really that this isn't a Matrix board; if you 'd said that on the MFN forums, the thread would probably have disappeared without trace.

 

Still, keep chillin Die, 'cool' is a matter of opinion, remember? :D

 

B.

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Originally posted by BLaCKouT_1138

Still, keep chillin Die, 'cool' is a matter of opinion, remember? :D

 

B.

yeah, however, james bond is sometimes unrealistic (catching a plane in a free fall anyone?) I like both series, i don't mind it if they're unrealistic, they entertain me and..

*Gets dragged off by men in white lab coats for displaying sanity*

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Originally posted by jokemaster

yeah, however, james bond is sometimes unrealistic

 

Indeed it is. I thought that was the point though. If it was 'realistic' then they wouldn't have half the gadgets they do and Bond would have been killed years ago.

 

Gets dragged off by men in white lab coats for displaying sanity

Indeed. ;) We'll have less of that if you don't mind.

 

B.

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The Matrix, is more of a question about "What If...."

 

What if that was real, that our lives are predetermined, we have no control over them, that what we PERCEIVE to be real is nothing but an illusion. It's more of a mindf@#k than you really think. You may think the world is real, but just because all of your senses can feel it, doesn't mean that the same electrical responses can't be generated by a computer. Easy to plant in history through a computer program.....

For the want of a better term, the Matrix Universe is more of an alternate reality, than an unbelievable one. Don't go into the Matrix movie not believing it's possible, then you are on the wrong mindset. It offers a "This Could Be True" kind of movie, whilst still being fairly out there, but not totally out of the question. If you leave your mind open enough to think that it's possible, then you will see the Matrix movies beyond the Bullet Time, and the action.

 

Compared to James Bond, it's plausible. Let's get it clear, there is only one Bond, and that was Sean Connery, and he hasn't been in one for many a year.

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