Are both better than the first, and among the best sci-fi films made. Reloaded has some great philosophical and metaphysical exploration in it, and Revolutions carries it on wonderfully. And the motorcycle chase is one of the best stunts ever. Revolutions has the best futuristic battle ever filmed in the battle in Zion, and the best fight finale of any Hollywood movie, with the possible exception of Return of the Jedi. The sentinels are done in a way that is nearly as epic as the Xenomporhs from aliens and their chase scene is as good as anything in Bourne Ultimatum. And Agent Smith is one of the best movie villains, up on the list with Darth Vader, Hannibal Lector and Bill the Butcher. Plus, all those great post-apocalyptic settings and scenes. I will never understand why these films don't get more respect.
Reloaded when it comes to style is a winner, and effects. Story / dialogue in the first one was such a gem, I've seen it over a hundred times and know each line back to front. When it came out the number of times me and my nerdy friends would quote the tasty wheat bit, or there is no spoon, or every time it came to make a phone call it was always "Tell me Mr Anderson, what good is a phone call if you are unable to SPEAK!" - spitting out the Speak, and everyone would laugh no matter how many times you did it Same with Original Star War Trilogy vs the shit that followed, some classic lines - "Do not underestimate the powers of the Empawah, or suffer your father's fate you WILL". I didnt care much for Revolutions, story was fucked, although as a popcorn movie it did numb the senses
But thee dialogue only gets better throughout the movies. Okay, so Reloaded can be a little philosophical at times, and the programs' speeches can be a little convoluted; but the speeches Morpheus makes, the debates the Commander makes; the Frenchman. In the first film it's there, but by the second, each character's unique speech patterns really shine. And the guy who plays the guy Agent Smith takes over is so badass as in Revolutions. Hm, what didn't you like about the story? Seemed it was the natural conclusion to me; and there was a ton of tension built with the resistance coming ever closer throughout the film.
In the 2nd one Smith turned out to be about a free program, a kind of new life form so to speak. Same kind of thing that annoyed me about Tron Legacy, the chic in that was a program that self evolved, but then that storyline didnt go anywhere. The film was called The Matrix, about a virtual world, thought the story in the sequels was either going to be about the battle for that virtual world. Or a man vs machines vs newly self running programs arc But 3 turned into a story about saving the last human city, so they can do what reclaim a earth that was now a wasteland and all hunt for garbage, then in the end of that just turned into a shoot em up Would have preferred an offense type movie, humans bandying together with new free thinking programs to beat the machines, or some fight to turn the earth into one big matrix. Rather than just a defensive OK Coral type situation. Reloaded on the other hand was one of those movies, where because I loved the first movie, when I first saw the second thought it was total shit, but then after watching it a few more times, thought, hey this movie is pretty cool. Smith did make a great villian, and was a much more interesting character in Reloaded
All three of the the films are excellent. I own all three and end up watching at least one of them every few months. They are such classic films. They are without a doubt in the top 100 films of all time. Maybe not all three of them, but at least one of them are, and in my opinion that goes to the first one. Both the 2nd and 3rd are just as good but the first to me just has a little more. The reason is how it set the stage for the others to come. Plus we had never seen anything like it before. Truly mind opening. I remember after the first time i saw it, the person i was with missed a lot of the philosophical messages, i knew i missed some too, and i had to watch it again. The first will always be the best to me, because, well its the first. I love the size of the cast and everyone in it including the first oracle who passed away as soon as it was finished. The first though relates to us today in the present so much. Their is a constant life learning lesson neo gets throughout the film that we see everyday all around us. During the agent training program with the woman in the red dress. As they walk down the street everyone is in black, as if they are some kind of worker bee, part of the system that enslaves them. Morpheus says. "The matrix is a system, that system is our enemy. When you are inside, you look around, what do you see? Business men, teachers, lawyers, carpenters, the very minds of the people we are tying to save, but until we do, these people are still part of the system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand most of these people are not ready to be unplugged, and many of them are so unurged so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it." I love when he says "enemy" the camera is looking right at a cop who is writing a ticket. I think a lot of people miss so many points in the film that we see in our society everyday. All the cast says something at one time or another that we can relate to. For these reasons the first to me will always be the best. The 2nd and 3rd take off in a league of their own. Plus i really liked smith and the other two agents the best compared to the others in the following films. Their where fight scenes where it was the real person and not a computer graphic. Its really easy to tell when computer graphics did a scene. Im just a fan of cold harded acting, its so rare its todays film world. Everything is computer edited. Plus the lobby scene and the helicopter that flew into the building and the glass waved then crashed behind, all just too cool. At the end when he hung up the phone and then flew away, holy shit best ending ever! It set itself up for more so well! I don't have anything negative to say about the 2nd except a lot of fight scenes it was too damn easy to tell who was a real person and not a computer image. The neo fight in the play yard with the 100+ Mr Smiths is an example. Same with the freeway chase as badass as that was, lots of scenes were way to computer looking. Still though awesome movie, you had to pay just as much attention to the dialogue as the first which i was very thankful for. I was worried it wasn't going to hold the ground. The 3rd was incredible when the fight for zion happened. Those robot body suits they wore were so badass. I don't have much negative to say other than the final neo vs smith fight. The whole flying in the air doing flips spinning in circles at 8000 feet in the air was a little silly to me. Plus it looked like a video game with the graphics, not actors acting. Overall people who don't like these films miss the hidden messages entirely. I just don't understand how you could not enjoy these films. It opens your mind. They will always be some of my favorites that will never collect dust on my shelf.
I gotta respectfully disagree here. Reloaded was just okay. It did a petty good job of continuing the story and some of the philosophical themes of the first one (which I thought was excellent). But the fight scenes.... good fucking God! That first fight with Smith went on for like five hours. Okay, we get it. Bullet-time special effects are really groovy and everything, but you've got to supplement the story with fight scenes and special effects, not the other way around (didn't George Lucas already give us a master class in what happens when this goes wrong?). Revolutions was just plain bad. Awful dialogue, more interminible fight scenes, and Jada Pinkett-Smith setting the profession of acting back about 50 years. Plus, Neo and Trinity disappeared for about 3/4 of the movie. With both sequels I got the feeling the Wachkowskis (spelling?) became a little too enamored with the special effects and forgot to develop and write the story properly. I loved the first Matrix film and really wanted to like the two sequels, but I just couldn't.
I agree that all 3 were amazing movies but do feel that 1 was the best and 3 the worst. I don't really see it as a movie about saving the virtual world or the real world or even a city but simply saving humanity. The movies and story line evolved just like the characters. I do feel that the first had the strongest message and IMO everyone got the message wrong. I firmly believe that the Wachowski brothers wanted to literally send everyone a message. That we are living in a matrix of sorts, we are not in cotrol of our lives, there is an evil genius. We are wanted for power and since power=money we are wanted for money. The corporations have taken over. People are living their lives oblivious to what's going on around them and behind the scenes those in control are pulling the strings. We need to free ourselves from the sleep of over consumption and wake up and regain our autonomy. Decide for ourselves what we want to buy, what we feel is important in our lives. Stop listening to TV and stop being told to buy this or that.
i'm with u there. my guess is that most people would rather say that "the movies suck" than admit that they just didn't understand what was going on in them. which is silly cuz the plot isn't that complicated
Well, he was a counter-balance to Neo; as deemed by the Architect. I thought they made it perfectly clear in the first that it was about freeing people from the Matrix. You do bring up a good point though. They could've done more to emphasize what was so bad about the Matrix.. I think it's the philosophy and reasoning behind things that gets most people. Along with misunderstanding what Neo is and therefore not understanding why his powers manifest in the real world as well. I know my girlfriend was a little confused at parts -- but she still appreciated it *shrug*
