How To Kill A Legacy - Matrix Resurrections
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- čas přidán 9. 06. 2024
- Matrix Resurrections was a waste of a sequel. Start listening to Audible, grabbing Stein On Writing for free by going to www.audible.com/closerlook or text closerlook to 500 500!
Matrix Resurrections was a disappointment to many matrix fans. In this video essay, I break down why.
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0:00 - Intro
2:31 - A Boring Beginning
6:54 - A Redemptive Theme
7:59 - A Shattered 4th Wall
10:59 - How To Fail At Nostalgia
12:40 - A Crisis Of Purpose
16:47 - Lessons Learned
18:02 - A Better Story
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Hello!
Hi
I don't know what you're talking about. The Matrix has no sequels.
@@charlesevanshughes3638 Just came out
yo yo yo hi hi hi 😀😀😀👴🏿👴🏿👴🏿
The new Matrix movie was intentionally sabotaged by everyone involved. The IP owner told Wachowski to make it or it would be made without them, so Wachowski did malicious compliance with a campy soft reboot. Seems like the cast was 100% on board to burn it down.
That makes waaaaaaaaay to much sense
This! It's not even subtle about it, they literally call out WB in the movie. Wachowski's want the franchise to die and rest in peace.
YES
THANK YOU!
It's insane how so few people seem to realise this.
This movie was made to burn the franchise to the ground and stop the studios from bothering them again with sequel ideas.
And it was glorious
@@sultanaljuhani1571 I'm no fan of the politicization of gender either, but that statement is a bit much
It make sense but, the movie would have failed without the Wachowski as well. No?
The one element to Matrix Resurrections that really grabbed my attention, but didn't go anywhere was the point where it's explained to Neo that him breaking free from the system isn't the first time this has happened, every time he gets close and he's killed or captured, they jolt the whole system back until it returns to normal as any memories he has of the former experiences are waved away as delusions of an insane mind.
I really wish they used that, it felt like such a powerful idea for toying with audiances perception of what's going on, or to create sympathy with neo as we come to understand that he isn't crazy at all, and all these thoughts that flash through his mind are just from a system he's constantly struggling to break away from, even if he doesn't understand it himself.
I didn't watch it but the way you describe this sounds like maybe it was the idea the whole time but then executives decided "no that's too new and scary do the thing you did last time that got us the money" and so the creatives decided to take a huge dump on the IP and everyone who loves it on purpose to kill it dead before it became another yearly released monstrosity like the Fast&furious series.
How do you do that in one movie, though?
I am no expert, but that sounds familiar. I havent watched resurrection yet, was this already a concept in some other aspect of the lore/materials?
@@midshipman8654 Yeah this happened in The Matrix Reloaded when Neo had a conversation with the Architect.
That’s just it. Maybe letting neo believe he is breaking free is the new aspect that has let them control neo for so long. The analysts doesn’t even seem shaken and unusual calmness for things being out of his control or radically different. The system has thought about mistakes and loopholes.
Bugs said “he didn’t fall” so he was successful there?
What if that iteration got to the same place with even the smith program being manipulated by its perceived purpose
To the people in Hollywood who keep doing this: acknowledging in your remake/reboot/sequel that it is a useless cashgrab is not clever. It's even more irritating, because you've got no excuses at that point.
The problem is money talks, that's how Hollywood thrive. If it makes a profit it's a success.
I agree, but I will forgive 22 Jump Street for doing this, because the second film was even funnier than the first. You can get away with it in comedy, not in 'serious'/action films
It doesn't make the movie any better but I respect the honesty to just tell us yes this is some cash grab and to dismiss it as any legitimate sequel.
After all those years of fucked up sequels/reboots of old beloved franchises I really want to know if filmmakers of Hollywood see those videos here (not only Closer Look, also Mauler, Critical Drinker and so on) and what they think about them.
What profit? This movie didn't even break even
I feel like the most important story point of the fourth Matrix is machines just dewciding to go live with humans, willingly and without being coerced to it. It's such a ballsy move, for a technophobic Hollywood. Imagine a story about Matrix becoming free to enter and leave for anybody, the machines switching from coercing humans to live in virtual world to _enticing_ them with it, and raising whole new question of if its really that wrong to want to live in a digital world if it still can have tangible effects on reality and isnt just an illusory dream?
I'm just going off into my own tangent, but choosing to enter and leave the matrix at will could be an interesting metaphor for our own society.
Capitalism, government, whatnot. The modern "religions" that we live and die by. What if we were "unplugged"?
What if we were free? Would life be better? Worse? Just different?
I think it could have made for an interesting theme to explore.
The people in Matrix 4 were all free to enter and leave whenever they chose to. Niobe made the point of initial waves of people waking up lead to a machine vs machine war over power resources. And the Analyst explains to Neo that he came in with a solution: he created a Matrix that made people so compliant by manipulating their feelings through “hope of attaining more and fear of losing what you’ve got”.
His point of making the story of Neo and the trilogy exist in this Matrix is to make the story sound so outlandish that people wouldn’t ever choose to wake up. And somehow the key to balancing his equation was having Neo and Trin exist once again but kept at arms reach (hope/fear).
It's like Morpheus says: "is it better to live in a reality even if you know it isn't real?"
To tie that thought into something from the video, what if the machines offered people the chance to go back into the matrix in order to maintain the power needed to run Zion. I think it would raise an interesting ethical dilemma about consciously using people as batteries. And of course there’s the allegory to slavery, but you could make it so any person has this crisis no matter class, age, or race.
THIS! Plus, then you can have interesting themes of choice. People can choose to stay or go, but many stay in the comfort of the matrix rather than the harsh reality of Zion. Perhaps it gets to the point where there's so much of human society built into the matrix that it starts to not be a choice anymore, it becomes a necessity that people plug in every day, and at that point they start to question whether they can really choose anymore.
"Nostalgia is icing on the cake." Exactly. You can't make a cake only with icing, Hollywood.
Then its just coolwhip, and although I like eating coolwhip on its own, I know that im gonna feel like shit later. Thats Resurrections.
That's why they add sprinkles of diversity and inclusion.
I enjoy the idea of raising the question of whether or not a sentient machines life is worth as much as a human was what basically kicked off all the the events that led up to the setting of The Matrix, including the rise and fall of the machine city "01".
This was already done in Bladerunner and countless other films. It also would not make any sense in a Matrix film.
Wow. You really put into words every problem I felt while watching this movie. Bravo, sir
Thanks, Sean. Glad you liked it!
@the closer look it's nice to know that you acctually read your comments and interact with your fans btw I think the vid is good too.
@@ivebeenforgotten463 :)
I watched all of the matrix movies around Christmas in 2021, and I didn't think the second and third ones were as bad as people were saying they were. They expanded upon the world, characters and conflict that were being presented, so they had a reason to exist.
And that's my biggest problem with the fourth one, it does a lot of the same things we've already seen, and anything new that it tries to do like the concept of the machines at war, it kinda forgets why it was put there in the first place. And as a result, it felt like one of those movies that has no reason for existing, aside from the obvious.
Way better than this movie
Exactly, I think the hate towards 2 and 3 is undeserved. Matrix 2 had one of the most thrilling action sequences of all with that highway pursuit.
The only thing I hated was the unnecessarily long sex/celebration scene in the 2 or 3.
2 and 3 definitely aren't as good as the first but they're good movies.
Matrix 4 was like the star wars sequels. It was so fixated on not doing what the previous movies had done that it didn't do anything.
@@thenot-so-smartfox4145 idk, i can maybe understand hate towards Resurrections, but yeah, Reloaded is pretty alright.
I feel like this isn’t that worth going into because its not a mistake we can learn from, they intentionally tried to kill the franchise to get WB off their back. I just wish they did it in a more fun way, have tommy wiseau secretly write the script or something.
But why even have the desire to make the film if you are going to ruin the legacy anyways? I’m sure another filmmaker wouldn’t make a great sequel but this was the most awful version.
@@Happyheartmatt because the message matters. if they let another director it might have been a decent Matrix film and it would not end the franchise. Lana shit on the head of the people that wanted to make Matrix kind like the Terminator franchise
O hi Neo!
Do we have any evidence apart from the movie that this was Lana's intent?
@@thefinalstair I think that what Lana wrote on the Nvidia mini film-game about the marketing people is the clue. But in the end it's if you trust the filmmaker. The Matrix was their second movie. I am pretty sure she knows how to stage a fight and an exposition scene.
The tragic thing about this sequel is that it almost raised an interesting question, but instead of zooming in on it, the whole dilemma was swept under the rug. This time Trinity had a family in the Matrix. This should have increased the stakes significantly for her. Finding out that world around you is just a simulation is less shocking if you haven't built any deep emotional connections with anyone inside it. Realizing that her own kids, with whom she probably shared a lot of fond memories, are not real, should have been devastating revelation for Trinity. The series already presented us with examples of people who are choosing to live in the Matrix, because "it's more fun", so this angle could have been a logical next step to explore. But, no, we just got more pointless and shallow action scenes...
I suggest, that the writers in 2022 Hollywood have no idea of how to write a script with emotional investment, let alone pay-off. They are for the most part, still very young in mind and children in conceptualizing. Shiny keys is all they produce.
This because the story was written by men (sorry Lana, but facts are facts). No woman would just up and walk from having raised kids for so long, simulation or not. I mean, isolated examples where women abandon their kids irl happen, but not from the circumstances usually you see in the storyline. The entire story for movie 4 is just muddy, it almost feels sad because Keanu is just plodding along seemingly disconnected from his iconic character.
This reminds me of an arc in Agents of Shield where there is a Matrix-esque fake world were all the main characters except one are stuck in, and in the end when they are escaping, the character Mac is confronted by his virtual daughter who is crying for him to stay and you can see the character struggling immensely, it was brilliantly.
Maye she realised she didn't care in the first place. Some moms do.
@@nuxvomica21Some women do walk away from their children, but are not honest enough to admit it.
1) I will never blame KR for what happened
2) The Matrix is one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever, it changed the world.
3) Hollywood cares more about fulfilling contracts than making good movies.
Just look at the new resident evil movie like what is that
Or the new SW episodes
Or the new Indiana Jones episode
Or the new New NEW NEEEW!!!
NEW, everything is a modern, new version of something from the past, sequels, reamkes, reboots, but nothing original
Amen. Completely agree.
@@christianfarren1179 yeah.. it's not a veeery big problem but they're mostly bad and disastrous
From the sequels of the 2010s, I would only recommend Planet of the apes 1-3, Fury Road, 10 Cloverfield Lane, BR2049 and Joker, which isn't exactly a sequel, it's more likely a prequel I guess, an origin story, or smth like that but this Hollywood isn't that Hollywood that is was like 40-50 years ago.. They're just remaking our childhood favorites to have nostalgia and that's it! And I hate when a movie is just about nostalgia and while that, it's pretty bad...
I would agree, if he hadn't returned for the role
This movie was fanmade quality, for the sake of nostalgia, made at a time when Mediocrity is celebrated or accepted in Hollywood
This should've went straight to DVD
It should have gone straight to the trash bin rather than being green lit.
And even some fans could make a way better movie than that.
@@Evanderj it is look like Hollywood have a walk in the park these days. Make movies to remakes/Reboots.
@@lindamagagula7476 yeah, few studios will risk funding something original that hasn’t been proven, sadly. The fault lies with the contemporary audience. People keep buying tickets for blockbuster garbage and don’t for truly great films.
I’m sure Warner Brothers was trying to turn the Matrix into their own Star Wars franchise with tons of empty spin-offs, and Lana Wachowski scuttled the ship.
Shoulda been direct to bin
Trash bin that is
Its almost like matrix resurrections treats itself like the disney remakes. the same movies for a new generation of audience. What i fail to see, like with the disney remakes, is why that is necessary.
I wonder if they'll do this for so long that some people just lose interest in going to the cinema entirely.
Thats an interesting point. I think It falls in the same line as streaming services being more profitable (for the developers) and popular than going to the movies now a days.
however i think there might always be a demand from the fans of a series of movies (like for example the MCU) to catch that premiere, or just get that community feeling of going to the cinema and experiencing that next chapter together with other people.
Cheap, lazy, easy cash grabs. All these films are great for criticizing the industry and the art of cinema itself.
From these ashes, new ideas arise. CZcamsrs like The Closer Look and endless others share their ideas and create a community where we can express our own ideas.
Even "bad art" can still make us feel, make us connect with each other, and challenge our view of the world.
Sorry. Got a bit ranty and woo woo.
@@TheCloserLook Well that might happen but not for the reasons you think (streaming will just take over).
People have been rewatching the same films for a century. I doubt the 8th generation of movie goers are suddenly going to lose interest in watching the same stories again.
The video game designer angle was a lost storytelling opportunity.
When you look at the contrasting interests of AAA gaming executives wanting essentially to monopolize the entire medium into a digital amusement park for general audiences vs old school gamers and developers who insist on others to "git gud" it would mirror the architect/agents vs the resistance perfectly.
Those who seek to preserve improvisation and challenge would become hackers in an increasingly walled garden future
The videogame side of it made me REALLY doubt that Lana W has actually played a videogame since about 1995.
@NinjaSkyborg OP’s analogy is actually pretty terribly inaccurate. He’s not talking about quality, he’s talking about difficulty and so his point failed.
There is absolutely a struggle in the arts between mediocrity and passion, but “easier” games are not even often mediocre. That’s just intellectually dishonest to claim that and OP should be ashamed
Now, yes, there is also a conflict of interest in the gaming industry about toning down difficulty for wider audiences, like OP said, but that’s such an incredibly goofy point to pin a “revolution” on that I can’t even begin to take you seriously. Just goofy.
@@harryosborne8215 Depends on perspective if viewing the game as a toy or as a system tbh.
Ive noticed big publishers also have an issue with retention figuring out monetary means to retain users after producing surface level experiences or incentivizing predictable online behavior.
It wasnt always the case.
If you mean cheap difficulty where just raising damage values and adding more hazards then sure, I guess but any system with layers of discovery and various means to use the same tool or solve a problem beyond the surface has a cerebral value.
Its not arguing for difficulty in and of itself thats just a byproduct of the human experience but where one is useful or kept dumber in a system hints at their long term value. Where its a game, workplace or scenario with tools requiring advanced knowledge
And if we have machines ala Henry's scenario intent on maintaining a certain type of order would they not be concerned about how free intelligent and critical thinking its flawed human participants are and the potential liabilties?
Metal Gear Solid 2 sorta had this very same argument.
@@Ghost_Text What does this mean
They really should’ve had Agent Smith sing Hamilton.
He gave a good performance, but he just doesn't have that kind of presence needed to make a good villain
@@TheCloserLook when he said Mr Anderson in the office scene I cringed very hard
@@TheCloserLook actors are like tools, you wouldn't use a screwdriver to cut a 2 by 4 and you wouldn't use Rowan Atkinson on a horror film, they specialise on different things
When he tried to look "evil" I just expect him to start singing: 🎵 Da da da da da! Da da da da dye yada! Da da da dye yada!🎵
@@airplanes_aren.t_real
I think Atkinson could do horror if he wanted to, he was good at playing it straight in Maigret. I'm still a little salty that got cancelled.
At first I was offended because Morpheus and Smith were replaced by vastly inferior stand-ins, but then I decided I'm glad that they didn't debase themselves by being involved with this travesty
I almost refused to see this without Hugo weaving. He definitely would have made the movie better but you’re right that he deserves more
Thankfully for Weaving and Fishburne, they were too busy on other projects to appear. Plus Fishburne’s Morpheus is dead by the series’ video game lore
I'm sure they read the script and said "hard pass."
If you think about it though, it's actually so poetically perfect that Keanu Reeves must live the life of the One again and again. It doesn't matter if the Matrix gets reset. We can't change the game, the Matrix goes on and on. No matter how hard one tries, it's still INSIDE(great game too btw) of the machine. And this yearning for escape of cycle has been in religious stories around the world cultures. Yes, this does make me aware of pang of sadness, but alas, life goes on.
Nice thumbnail, I like the red-green scheme :D
Thanks :)
Resurrection should have revealed it was a simulation in a simulation, and the machines have fixed the Earth. It’s a pristine paradise. But the machines can’t bring themselves to free humans to destroy the planet all over again.
That... is fascinating. And it would wipe the story clean to give room for new social issues. It could have been a very elegant solution.
Humans would be an unnecessary liability in this scenario, humans are only allowed to live because of the energy they produce. This is made explicit in the animatrix
@@ogreegg Using humans as an energy source is stupid. The machines could have built huge orbital solar arrays. In Matrix 1 it says they have fusion, so getting a few watts of body heat off of a human is silly. They're preserving the human race for much the same reason humans are trying to save white rhinos, tigers, whales, etc... So there's all these different camps of machines locked in debate about whether they should just keep cloning humans and keeping them in their zoo, or release them into the wild, or just let them die off. And you've got deviants like the Merovingian who play with humans like toys. And after Neo (or rather a clone built from scans of the original) blows up yet another simulation the machines are all like "Yeah no. You're a monster. You stay locked up."
That is...incredibly stupid and something people have been churning out on the internet for 2 decades thinking it's some mind blowing idea and not a rehash of ending a story with "and I woke up and realized it was all a dream".
It's lazy writing at it's worst.
That’s a stupid idea, but also an amazing idea
They remade a movie that doesn’t at all require a remake in any way. Sounds like they just needed a cash out
Thats the problem with remaking movies. Doing it to games to update the graphics I get, but what's the point of remaking any movie? Why not just rewatch the original?
@@TheCloserLook money
My family watched the movie together and found all the fight scenes unappealing. The most interesting part was seeing machines working with humans. There should have been more emphasis on this conflict., which was well fleshed out in your video!
I was so surprised by how terrible the fight scenes were. That's the bare minimum I expected from a Wachowski movie - cool action and cheesy cinematography. But oh boy, even the costuming was underwhelming at least. I'm still in shock.
The problems were obvious, but the one that I hone in on the most is that there is NO STAKES or URGENCY, from beginning to end I never got the feeling that people would be hurt or die (which never happened anyway, proving my point) that’s not the Matrix I grew up with, all 3 had urgency and stakes with what and why the storylines were happening
Trinity was the biggest disappointment, why the new crew didn’t think to grab her with Neo is beyond me, especially when she was the original resistance, you’d think she’d be equally as important to get out like Neo, but nope, they treat her like some normal person he’s desperately in love with and that seriously undermines her character, the crew even make it more difficult to unplug her in a the craziest way and Neo went through nothing….what is that?
Your rewrite was absolutely amazing and lived up to what the trilogy had accomplished. This is the Matrix Resurrections I would have loved to watch. This essay is superb!
Thanks, Daniel!
here here
@@TheCloserLook It's like no one saw Matrix 2 & 3 or understood the philosophy presented.
The story premise you presented of humans and machines living together is lore, as described in the Animatrix. There's far more to the story and the writing that made the original triliogy a masterpiece, and this 4th movie all the more an ignominy.
A few examples of story layers missed if the only plot considered is the first movie: Morpheus aka Dreams... is practically a NPC. Explicitly stated in Matrix Reloaded, the lore of the machines had already tried perfecting the system by 1. Making everything perfect, but humans wouldn't accept this outcome. 2. Ruling by fear, but even more died/awoke. The Matrix iteration we watched the machines were testing- well, I'll leave it to you to discover. Hint: cause -> effect.
In my opinion Neil Patrick Harris character sums it quite nicely "Turns out, in my Matrix the worse we treat you, the more we manipulate you, the more energy you produce."[...]"Quietly yearning for what you don't have, while dreading losing what you do."
I was totally ready to see Neo as a sentient program after those scenes in the coffee shop. I think it would’ve really been an interesting twist on agency because the new matrix would technically be doing what Neo originally set out to do - - to create a space for choice and agency so that people could live out digital fantasy lives in video games rather than live out their actual boring lives.
As someone from Poland, I approve of the Google translate joke at the beginning XD.
I actually loved the first half it setup so many great opportunities. They reset the matrix, truth disguised as mental illness, he's a video game designer, sentient programs etc ... but fell asleep in the second half as there was almost zero payoff for anything they setup and just went back.
I always assumed the matrix was a tragedy because of the ending of the trilogy. I could absolutely see them going back in.
It's like they did the Disney star wars formula.
That "blah blah blah" was a really good impression. I thought it was actually from the movie for a moment.
Wait. What?
The worst part is, the concept (keyword, "concept") for this movie was pretty interesting...for a reboot.
Using this concept for a sequel was a terrible idea.
The Matrix Resurrections is what you get when an arrogant studio tells the visionary directors that they are going to make a new Matrix movie with or without them. You get a Joe Dante style fuck you to the nostalgia-industrial complex.
Yeah my thoughts too. That whole first chunk was a giant middle finger by Lana, and the rest is telling the story her way and intentionally not giving mass audiences what they want.
@@Persephonelope But it shows how deluded she was. If she had been smart, just not get in on the movie and let it sink on its own. OR make an incredible film and put WB over a barrel to give her more money and more control. But she took the worse course of action and now looks like a sour puss and the weaker of the sisters.
@@dolomaticus1180 So you think she should let someone else make millions ruining HER creation?
Ok, what's the thing you've made that you are most proud of? Give it to me so I can smash it, if you were smart you'd do it (at least according to your logic).
I'm glad someone else appreciated the Joe Dante approach.
The cast didn't like this movie, they were excited at first, yes. But once they read the script, they had no clue what they were reading, even the guy who plays Morphies (apologies, phone can't get his name right) went to ask the director what they were doing, and half the time he couldn't catch her cause she was rarely there, and when he finally got to her, she just gave him cryptic answers.
I often watch this video when I’m trying to sleep. You might think that means it bores me, but it doesn’t. In order to pass out, my brain needs to focus on one thing. So I choose this because it helps me passively reinforce what I’ve learned from it through repetition, so I can apply and refine said applications the next day. I’ve done this with many of your videos, and it’s helped me improve my craft quite a bit.
And man, your alternate pitches are AMAZING! Way more entertaining that the film you’re analyzing. You’re a great help, man. Keep making videos like these, they’re great and so are you.
The sense I got from the movie is Wachowski wanted to destroy the franchise on purpose, which is why we get so much 4th wall decimation and why the movie is so bad. It’s like an “F you” to studios who are regurgitating beloved franchises.
But in fact the aim of the film is that: to be a metaphor for the contemporary artistic situation. The final dialogue with Neil Patrick Harris is clear in this sense: he represents the producers (like the Marvel ones) who, using "what people want" (ie nostalgia and Fanservice), keeps everyone under control by being hindered by Neo and Trinity who clearly represent the directors who take their revenge by ruining his plans and inserting their personal taste.
The fact that the film itself tries to be a deja vu of the old film is due to criticizing this type of operation: Neo himself is totally a victim of events and is a very passive protagonist, precisely because he represents good directors who cannot do anything. and they find themselves with castrated creativity to favor other aspects of a film (marketing, fanservice, ...).
This theme is not present only in the meeting scene: there it is simply more didactic, since it must introduce the viewer to the fact that the film is a metaphor. But throughout the film there is constant criticism of the modern film industry, and the fact that the classic "sequel twenty years later" (a type of blockbuster used all too often nowadays) was used to make this criticism. It is brilliant.
I disagree with the idea that unpredictability is so important for good writing. There are so many great movies and classics that are entirely predictable. I think the trick is drawing the viewer into the world, enough for them not to guess how the plot will advance. Your movie can be a twist-tornado or a classical hero's journey, if the characters are compelling, the world cool and interesting and if the emotions feel earned, people will connect with the work. I think many writers and critics ruin their stories precisely because they feel a need to be unpredictable above all else.
I'm trying to write my first book, and plenty of your videos have taught me valuable lessons of how to go about it, I look forward to every new release. Thanks for all the help you give to me and to others :)
Ah, thanks, I'm glad to hear you've find the videos useful. Good luck with the book!
The fact that Warner Bros allowed for all of the 4th wall breaking and meta commentary on the nature of sequels was a total power move.
They know that they can do whatever they want and we can't stop them.
Lol that's not what happened at all. Lana had made them 3 Matrix films that all made big money. At that point WB just gave her a check and creative freedom to do what she wanted. They didn't care about the content because she had a been a proven good bet three times (4 if you include V for Vendetta). Now the franchise is back where it belongs. In the ground.
Man! I would totally pay to watch your version of the movie!!!. What's going on in Hollywood it's like all the creativity has just gotten sucked out of it.
Ah, thanks man. Glad you liked it.
The filmmakers are very aware of their choices in my opinion. While they could’ve made something great they are poking the idea of nostalgia and essentially making fun of studios in the movie. They did all of this on purpose.
Just because they are aware doesn't mean it should have been done or it was executed well.
Just because they are an authority doesn't mean I have to agree. Hmm, feels like The Matrix explores that theme... Funny.
It's fine if you like it or aren't bothered by it. But... would it be fair to tell others that their own feelings are somehow not valid?
Or am I misinterpreting what you have said?
@@uglystupidloser I would guess they did it because it was the only way to kill the franchise.
@@uglystupidloser The creators did it to purposefully kill the IP so the studios won't be able to milk it without them.
Where I stand this movie is pure genius. It was like watching Black Dynamite, but on a massive budget, and which is actively hurting a massive studio in the process to deny them access to the IP in the future because you're running it to the ground with THEIR money.
Trying to figure out if it's a good or a bad movie is missing the point I think.
It doesn't even intend to be a good movie, so of course it's bad. It's made obvious by the not so sublte meta-commentary on cynical studios wanting to keep milking franchises even after the creators are done, even when it means doing it without said creators.
Matrix ends with 3. And as a fan of the franchise, I'm fine with that.
@@arenkai So. Are you saying you appreciate the movie for what is trying to do?
Are you saying that this movie attempted to be satirical in it's criticism of the studio as well as actively sabotage it?
It's an interesting theory. I'm sure plenty of people can draw meaning from this movie that way. A lot of people also thought that this was Lana's retelling of the Matrix to describe her coming out and identity as trans.
Art is what we make it as well as make of it.
If you want to defend this movie, that's fine. I can respect that. What's done is done.
It's not like any of our opinions will somehow alter the course of events. I'm just here for the discussion. Thanks for sharing your viewpoint.
@@uglystupidloser Didn't the original already have trans subtext? Are you saying M4 had more trans subtext specifically about coming out? I guess we can all be right somewhat in our opinions, a movie can have multiple meanings i guess.
It was not a sequel, but a two-hour advertisement for the upcoming game.
OMG. How can we get this rewrite! It is so good! Do you think the studio would allow it if we changed all the names? Remember Animatrix? We could do an animated version of this! ;-)
Thanks man, I'm glad you like it!
I think it was done like that on purpose. Wachowski did not want to do a sequel, so she did a movie that did not change or add anything at all, because remember - it's not Matrix, its Catrix.
I've been mixed on your rewrites, but man do I wish this was the movie we got. So much more depth an intrigue.
lol, this dude doesn't understand the overarching theme of the matrix nor the the lore.
His ideas were terrible, he basically thinks you can create intrigue by posing questions the audience will already know the answer to.
Is the answer...The Matrix? Oh it is? Wow!!!
I would have liked if it delved into simulation theory. If everything we ever knew was simulated infinitely like a fractal, but similar to matrix 2 Neo is a universal constant.
I liked it and I just figured out why. It’s a comment on unnecessary sequels. WB said they were making it with or without the Wachowski so it’s a bit FU to WB.
Damn, your version sounds so incredibly much better.
If you find the parallel universe where your movie happened, bring back a copy.
Amalgamating characters can work. The Expanse did this very well with Drummer. Taking several characters from the books and making her character have a long-standing arc
I miss the old gaming videos, but keep it up! You're doing great! c:
I knew the moment that it had that remix song of White Rabbit that this movie was doomed. Something about trailers that use remixes of songs makes the odds of it sucking that much higher. It's why I'm scared for the Halo TV show. It's not canon, but just by the way it played I couldn't help but cringe at the sound of "In the Air Tonight" during the latter half of the trailer. I'm praying it's good.
i like this man's pitch for the plot, especially when he said suggested the movie should investigate the A.I aspect
Great video! I was hoping we were gonna get a Sonic Call out when you were talking about homages, I hold out hope that one day it'll be mentioned.
Maybe one day!
Instead of movies being unpredictably intuitive, they're now intuitively predictable
7:50 literally kicks the last Jedi in the balls.
Wow hearing your re-write was more engaging, intriguing and interesting than the actual movie.
Your alternate plot sounds really interesting, I would watch it
Your video is great, but I think it's missing the most obvious point made by the movie:
This is not a movie, it's a f-you letter to the studio and an immolation of the franchise by fire and laughter while flipping off Warner
Sad and ironic that the follow up to a movie that was so impossibly original it changed the history of film is hopelessly derivative.
Actually it's completely predictable because you can't catch lightning in a bottle twice. The only way to break the cycle is the Mad Max method, but that requires you to throw continuity out the window with every film and treat each as a campfire story told by a survivor of the wasteland. Something that studios aren't willing to do out of fear the audiences will reject it. And with good reason, anthology film series are almost non existent, Halloween tried it, and it failed.
All they had to do was NOT regurgitate the first movie. That’s it. The question of whether Neo was crazy for feeling the way he did, the was-he-wasn’t-he of whether the original movies ever happened…
And they just blew it at such a fundamental level.
In the end of your pitch I would add the following: Neo helps to terraform the Earth, and the Machines (all of part of them) chooses to expand into space (with maybe, a group of humans). The machines don't need oxigen and they will find a lot of resources in the asteroid belt.
your story is so on point and similar to my own interpretation of what happened after the last matrix, I feel compelled to make your own video essay.
The one story I stopped writing but still want to make. It was about a planet that has a matrix like world used for leisure but when the real world went to to war they use the matrix as a shelter as it suited their enemies to keep them inactive in reality. Until reinforcements arrive to save them from their matrix like prison.
you see I was once watching this in a cinema and the fire alarm went for the whole cinema to evacuate keep in mind this was about 15 min before the end. I basically watched the entire movie except for the end and wasn't even bothered to google the ending. I think I've said enough.
Oh yesss, it’s always a joy to see that you uploaded a new video!
I hope you enjoy it!
Cool idea for the alternative version! Just one moment is missing from it: there would have to be some remembering moment of Trinity, something that makes sure that Neo didn't forget and that the makers of the movie didn't forget. If I were watching a movie like that I would definitely be waiting for a closure of this kind. It would have to be subtle but satisfying )
I dont think its appropriate to shit on this movie, since Lana probably intentionally killed the franchise. All your points are 100% valid I just dont think the movie intentionally did things wrong (like the scene where they mention Warner Brothers)
No, it is. If this was intentionallly bad, thats bad. When people pay to see a movie, they expect it to be good.
I agree that we should have gotten a better movie and that movies shouldnt suck on purpose, but in this scenario we did so I dont believe its appropriate to point out everything that is wrong when nobody tried to fix it. Yes it can be a great example of what to not do but the critisism should address the problem in general and not focus so much on this particullar movie
@@BiggerR10 Lana's options were to either allow someone else to make millions off her creation knowing the end product would be awful because the original concept was really only good enough for one film to begin with, or get paid for her creation and have fun going down with the ship. She chose the latter, and I respect her for it. The meta stuff was the only thing interesting thing that this franchise has done since 1999.
Hey Henry I was wondering whether you are planning on making a No Way Home video about crossovers? If you are I would reccomend reading the Jack Blank Adventures trilogy and the Order of the Majestic trilogy, (both by Matt Myclutch) both are wonderful seires(es?), but they don't work well as a crossover. That's just my recommendation anyway. Love your videos, thanks so much for keeping it up!
Thanks for the suggestion, Joseph. I am planning a video on no way home, but this is on a different angle entirely.
Why tf did CZcams no notify me of this video? Pain in the ass. Wish you had more videos man, love the content.
"Get on with it," was definitely my consistent sentiment through the first portion of the film.
Im not even a writer and I watch this channel, that is just proof this channel is good all around
Well, it's good to have you around!
You know what I would have loved to see more of Animatrix.
I won't go so far as to say Animatrix is better than the films. I just want to see more of it.
I think the problem was that no body wanted to make another film except for WB who would have done it with any cast and any director. But to get some of the old cast back without paying insane money WB offered first option to direct to either or both of the Wachowskis. The real problem was WB did not want to invest in anything new, they went digging through their back catalogue for anything 20+ years old that they already own all the rights and can regurgitate. The idea being that parents would bring their kids. Green lighting the making the film was 100% financially driven.
Judging by the way you were talking about addressing your Dune video, I take it you watched the EFAP covering it.
Well hey, I'm glad to see you're so willing to take criticism of your work to reflect and improve as a writer. Look forward to hearing what you have to say about it.
If Lana wanted to make a “Trans allegory”, she should have done a different movie centered around that theme instead of ruining The Matrix.
If she wanted to criticize the sequel/reboot culture of Hollywood, again, do it with a different film, telling the story of some generic franchise as a starting point.
If she felt the sequel shouldn´t have been made, but the studios were going to do it with or without her, then don´t join the project.
This movie was an embarrassment from beginning to end.
Great video. I think Matrix Resurrections is a lot similar to the Force Awakens from the way they copied plot beats of the original counterparts. Although, it's a lot clearer in Resurrections since the film just flat out tells you.
Way too much meta stuff to be Force Awakens (although some of it is there). Ghostbusters Afterlife is a shameless ripoff of the Force Awakens method though.
@@JamesKlemm87 Definitely
I find this deeply insightful into my opinion of the movie. So much so that I repeatedly realized you had perfectly encapsulated opinions I didn’t know I held. Good on ya!
Oh I'd totally watch 'The Matrix: Redone"! 👍🏼
But not _this_ movie though 😅
Ok, so here is my rewrite of this story. I loved what you did and I just want to share my idea. This idea is a build-up on the last three movies, this would be technical a complication of the story and also the prophecy. Here goes nothing, oh and also if this was the movie boy it would be controversially but no one will forget what happened.
(I like your starting so I would be using that too) Morpheus tells Neo that they have been trying to revive him and they created this matrix with the help of AI's to refresh his memories but they woke him early as they don't have time, they need Noe again. Noe gets a bit shocked as he finds out everyone worships him like he is a God and Morpheus support him. (Now the change I wanted to add to your story to make Noe much more than he has ever been) So, they send him on a mission with a team, getting some resources from the machines and something else. And as he was going with a guy he walks through the people who try and touch him or kneel, worshipping him and he doesn't show a single sign of shock or worry, instead, he acts like he doesn't even see them acting like a god. (This would be confusing for everyone. Maybe Noe has ego now but no) the character on his side notice this too and asks him "You sure adjusted quickly." And Noe answers with a serious look on his face, "Humans... They always want someone to worship so they can send them to death. Pathetic." It would be a shock to everyone.. Noe saying this but the guy ignores it and walks away. (In short, if this dialogue isn't good then add a dialogue, something that Smith would say)
(Now, if this has to be a trilogy or something I have a twist for the end too or at the midpoint if no one wants another trilogy) at the end of the movie, he meets up again with Morpheus. Now that they have delayed the war for now so they can plan other things. (Also we would show that a group of human is still planning to attack the machines and hate AI as you said. This would before the sequel conflict.) Morpheus and Noe talk about how Noe's power are a bit weak and how Noe still feels weird and messed up in the head. Morpheus tells him how they need to continue ahead and he wouldn't stop he can't let men and women die that he would attack them and kill everyone so humans can live on. And Noe, you are the only hope. Before he could say hope, Noe's hand goes right through Morpheus's chest. (Yup! You heard me right. Either this or he just hurts him and then they have a fight) Morpheus eyes widen as he says Smith's face.
This would boom the community up with theories. This wtf moment would be stuck in their minds for a while waiting to know what is going on and guessing what happened and why it happened.
(Now the full story) So, you know how Noe entered inside Smith's body to destroy him and how the old lady said/hinted to he isn't "The One" and how all the ones who came before failed. But when Noe enters in Smith's body. Their bodies and mind become one and final the prophecy comes true. The one that was the first to be in the matrix and can control it is the one. Noe tells dying Morpheus how their "The one" didn't mean one human but both of them together are the one. "we are The One." (Bad dialogue, I know lol) but yeah this would make so much sense to the story. Smith and Noe in one body supporting both humans and machines. Moving on to killing machines and humans for the final plan which is to clear the skies so both can live in harmony. Noe would have powers outside the matrix with Smith's help too and they will be like split personalities and in the second movie Noe might kill all the humans who attacked the machines and attack the machines who try to attack humans (technically becoming the villain for both the groups). The last movie will see him flying into the sky and sacrificing himself, clearing the skies and making them see the light of the sun.
Oooff this is going to be brutally honest!
M.IV was painful to watch…it’s so sad for this revolutionary franchise.
Your pitch was absolutely fantastic! I wanna see that version
You may have seen the modern art piece titled “take the money and run. The artist was given millions of dollars to create something for a museum, and he turned in a blank canvas and kept every dime. I think this is the movie equivalent. The Wachowskis made a purposefully bad movie, made fun of WB, and pissed everyone off. And I think that’s beautiful.
Love the idea for the rewrite! I would be curious about your thoughts about a world with the biological life and synthetic life if the movies started to explore both forms of life coming together to form a single symbiotic lifeform. I guess it would essentially be a cyborg, but the lines between the two could become very blurred which might be an interesting line to walk. Sort of taking the ideas from the movies about how man and machine work together, but this time man and machine are in the same body. It would be a very tangible way to show that humans and machines aren't so different, or that they could benefit from one another.
Your question about "where is that movie?" that raises the question of whether is "a sentient free thinking AI's life worth the same as a human's" is basically the main ethical puzzle raised by the animated film Ghost in the Shell from 1995. Not coincidentally the Wachowskis cited this work to be one of the main influences on creating the original Matrix movie. But I am sure you are aware of this and your frustrated comment was more of a wink to this connection. This concept is by no means an original by Ghost in the Shell, but it definitely improved on it through focussing on the inevitable "marriage" between humankind and AI.
So no need to visit a parallel universe, just watch the genre defining animated masterpiece in this one ;D
I was completely captivated by your version. How could they get it so wrong?
I heard this movie was only made because Warner Brothers wanted a sequel and the Watchoski sisters just decided to make one so terrible that Warner Brothers probably wouldn't ever ask again. It definitely lines up with the meta commentary on the fact it's a sequel being bashed repeatedly over the audience's head.
I'd watch your version of the 4th Matrix movie. Retcon the actual 4th movie ASAP.
It's just a money grab, nothing more than that.
Fantastic helpful video! And also im mad now because i wish that version existed now
Thanks, glad you liked it.
I strive to channel the energy of getting so excited for your own story!
I really loved your rewrite, it’s like you replaced all the cynicism with respect and love for the original material. Thank you.
Many of the mistakes you point out are choices that I liked in the movie. To me they seem to be intentional choices of the director and that were not appreciated by many and not real mistakes
A great analysis Henry!
Although, I didn’t think the first half was too bad. I thought all the meta stuff was quite interesting for the most part. A very different tone from the original trilogy but one that I could get behind if they were committed to it. But they didn’t do that and it all eventually felt aimless as the story progressed. As you perfectly pointed out there were no stakes. For me, many scenes on their own felt compelling from a conceptual point of view but they did not come together to make a coherent and engaging story.
I love your alternate Matrix 4 story idea! I wish that was what we got…
Man, your rewrittigns are just the best.....
What we forget when reviewing The Matrix 4 is that, well, movies 2 and 3 also sucked. By the end of the first movie we already knew everything there was to know about the matrix and the survivors. We already knew that Neo could defeat the Matrix itself so... what's left? Nohing, as we saw in 2 and 3.
The main problem with The Matrix is that the first movie was impressive. The bullet-time scenes where awesome, the "Deja-vu" element that we've all experienced made it feel real. So when the second movie comes around we want to re-live that excitement of finding out about the Matrix, but we already know... we get nothing new, we get more of the same. And in the third movie we get more of same again. So what do you expect from a fourth movie other than more of the same again?
Also: the Wachoski's simply aren't very good at making movies. People talk at length about the symbolism in the matrix, the philosophy, the deeper meaning, while actually saying that they don't have a f*cking clue what is actually being told here.
Many peole like to say that The Matrix is about being trans because... the main character changes throughout the movie. Sure, now show me a single movie where the lead character doesn't undergo som major transformation. How about Alien-1, where Ripley starts off being a lowly worker on a miningship and by the end of the second movie she's basically Rambo. Or how about Shrek who stars of being a secluded monster and by the end of the movie he is a lovable husband.
If the Wachowski's wanted a movie about being trans, why not make Neo male in the Matrix and female in the real world? Or have the matrix being genderless becuase they don't procreate anyway...
No, 4 was a cahgrab by the studio, and just an average movie for the qualities of Wachowksi.
Well, for original Matrix, character named Switch was meant to change gender going into matrix but it was scrapped as too extreme, but still you get tomboyish look fo that character.
"...now show me a single movie where the lead character doesn't undergo som major transformation."
Back to the Future
It's so obviously about the illusions in this reality and spirituality and religion.
Does the Messiah imagery when neo dies not make that obvious?
I'll be damn. Your version of the movie was just marvellous, I want it soo bad. Now I need to rewatch it couple more times maybe it will push out the movie we got from my mind. thank you for this
I love the large Warhammer 40k section of your recommended audible books, superb taste and another great video essay
Omg so at the 1 minute mark we see neo vs morpheus and in this new movie I spot 2 clear fake punches and the next second the original shows some perfect kinetic impact in the original fight dojo fight scene. It's just perfect display of watering down
I love this movie because it's Lana reclaiming the original heart of her story as a transgender coming out story. She blatantly disregards what people wanted from it, and told what she wanted to tell. The nostalgia isn't playing on our nostalgia, but hers from a time in her life and from her greatest creation. As a result there's a love throughout this movie, a powerful love for these characters. It's not a perfect movie, but it's definitely quite different from any typical blockbuster
It’s just not good though
I didn't even end up watching the film in theater, film that I was really anticipating. Just the overall sentiment and information I got about the film made me not do it :D Just like I haven't seen Star Wars 9. It just smelt like ultimate sequel, sequel as in corporate/cashgrab sequel meant to extract maximum value out of movies that came before, not the film they actually made.
I mean this is basically carbon copy of Star Wars 7 in how it was produced. Aka. it copies quite a bit of plot and major elements of previous movie. Again, these movies just extract value from previous movies and do not create any of it's own. And I don't want to knowingly cheapen value of original matrix trilogy by watching this.
But yeah, you just can't make substance of new movie, the previous movie :D:D
As usual, your rewrites are just spectacular!
Glad you like them!
I have a deadline in a few hours, I am already filled with energy drink and desperation. I only opened CZcams because I wanted to change my study music, but then I come across your fresh video. And you know what? Let us forget our assignment