The Matrix

See, the problem with the current mindset is that somehow the executives seem to have forgotten that their product is an experience— it's content, and in any other content-driven industry, the understanding has always been that you need new content. You can get away with repeating yourself, but if you're too blatant about it, if the audience thinks they're being manipulated or having their intelligence insulted, that will keep them away. It doesn't matter if they're always being manipulated or talked down to by the very nature of the business— you can't afford to remind them of that fact.

But yes, that's the other thing— this is completely the wrong time to remake Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, and Blade Runner. It's one thing to do that in video games, where nostalgia and retro-irony is, if not where the big money is, at least where a 'reliable' market can be found. But if you're looking to crack a larger market, I think cyberpunk has had its day. It's both a little too on the nose and too far removed to be taken seriously, over-the-top and yet naive. I think there's a case to be made for cyberpunk as satire— the Jetsons for the Neo Kobe set— but these properties did and do seem to take themselves very seriously.

edited 15th Mar '17 2:07:30 PM by Unsung

Too bad, since I love the cyberpunk genre. It's probably my favorite type of sci-fi.

As for the Matrix reboot, um, this isn't exactly what I wanted when I said that I was hoping for another Matrix movie. Even so, I still hope it will be good, if only to redeem the franchise after the disaster that was Revolutions.

I'd say remaking Blade Runner would work, though regrettably only because it'll ride the current wave of generic social allegories, rather than explore anything having to do with artificial intelligence. Ghost in the Shell, on the other hand, I expect to be a dud, much for the same reason - if the trailers are any indication, we're in for another evil corporate supersoldier angst-fest, stripped from the actual ideas of the original story. Covert high-tech operatives that are actually the good guys? Pshaw, I say!

(Really, the anti-corporate drivel spewed from most mainstream films wouldn't be half as annoying if the other most popular theme wasn't gushing about the good old days when film studios had that kind of power over their bipedal assets.)

Still, at least the original Matrix films were already PG-13, so at least the new one won't be able to pull a Robocop or Total Recall.

I'll always keep cyberpunk in my heart, but I don't think it's the right fit for the times we live in. It just doesn't have enough new to say, and it doesn't go far enough, and it looks like the '80s and '90s idea of the future rather than one that might actually happen. Post-Cyberpunk (more Standalone Complex than the first Ghost in the Shell), on the other hand— sure, maybe if Blade Runner 2049 does show some maturation of the original's ideas, there could be a place to examine the impact of those actual technologies. But if sci-fi is stuck in old, discredited ideas rather than standing as the vanguard of new ones, that just seems like such a betrayal of the genre.

There'll still always be a place for cyberpunk, in the same sense as there is for something like Fallout (Zeerust, baby), but as a movement, it's come and gone.

I wish they'd make a movie version of Snatcher, though. That was pretty much already a parody of the genre when it came out in 198X.

edited 16th Mar '17 9:25:22 AM by Unsung

Well, the dark and gritty attitude may be overdone, but I'd say subverting the iPod aesthetic may be a feasible approach. Classical Cyberpunk still treats technology as something foreign, a direct inversion of the optimistic expectations for life-changing inventions. Even the original trilogy came out during the modem age, when films like Hackers and The Net treated computers like magical engines of doom. Complemented by the Platonic Cave themes presented by Dark City or The 13th Floor, and it did paint a convincing yet scary picture of societies directly controlled by technology.

To contrast, nowadays we're all but literally fused to one digital device or another already, so the idea of existing in a cybernetic cradle has become positively mundane. If anything, modern anxieties concern the lack of such electronic connections. Instead, it's become clear that technology may not always present an immediate solution, but is likely never the cause of deeply pronounced social problems.

All in all, if the reboot is to be successful, I'd wager it'd have to focus on something other than the robot war. Instead, it might be high time to look at the sheer transhumanist aspects of being literally connected to almost everyone on the planet, and the fact that, lack of flesh-suits notwithstanding, there are beings in this shared consciousness that are completely artificial, yet equal to humans in every way. Frankenstein for a digital age... though hopefully with a happier ending.

The Matrix movies were rated R.

Well that little hope spot didn't last long.

(I thought it was downgraded at some point. Doesn't seem to have the necessary level of gore or swearing either. Maybe the Machines didn't want more people seeing it...)

I think The Matrix fell right on the cusp of when Avoid The Dreaded R-Rating took hold around the turn of the millennium. Before then, sneaking in to see an R-rated movie (or even going with somebody's uncle or whatever) was a badge of honour, for at least a couple of decades. Then a new moral panic set in and the pendulum swung to the other side— or rather, instead of the somewhat thorny issue of legitimately risque movies courting younger viewers, you now have faux-risque movies pandering to those same viewers.

On the one hand the former is disingenuous and possibly occasionally harmful depending on the content and ages involved. On the other, I'm not sure catering to the lowest common denominator is great for the art form, and shielding those teenagers (and incidentally shielding the larger movie-viewing audience as a whole) from certain harsher subjects that genuinely do call for the R rating, it kind of seems like you do run the risk of creating a more naive, sheltered culture. It's not only movies, obviously, but I do wonder how much that plays into the backlash/resurgence of a certain paternalist mentality about what is and isn't acceptable in fictional media

Or something. I'm rambling, I'm tired. I'll see if I can put this better tomorrow.

edited 16th Mar '17 10:11:22 PM by Unsung

BMD are reporting that the movie could potentially be a Morpheus prequel.[1]

All about The Matrix and trans metaphor.

So it's been years since I watched this series and I'm in the middle of watching Mario Warfare, thinking that the re-imagining of Toad borrows a lot from Seraph. So I go looking for information on Seraph on Wikipedia and this is what I find:

So now I think back to every fight scene Seraph was in and I can't stop laughing. That makes so much damned sense it's hilarious. I don't know why I didn't catch, or at least didn't remember that. I remember him being the Oracle's guardian but I never looked at his role that way, and I'm pretty sure they never referred to him that way on-screen at least.

Edited by Soble on Nov 7th 2018 at 5:25:08 AM

Holy cow that is hilariously amazing. Thank you for sharing that.

I watched these movies for the first time earlier this month. It was interesting to identify where all the concepts in the films ended up influencing future ones over the years. I knew about the twist in Reloaded beforehand, but was disappointed by it because what was seemingly described by the story wasn't as smart as I pictured the concept to be. I presumed it was a commentary on the over-saturation of "Chosen One" narratives by big media companies, but it was basically just a "Gotcha!" Oh well.

Also the Wachowskis are possibly retiring from filmmaking.

Here's to the (somewhat early) 20th anniversary of my all time favorite movie!

I still get chills every time I see that scene. Pure perfection.

I loved the reaction of the other 2 agents in that. So reserved and SO on point.

This film was brilliant. The sequels had good ideas but I think suffered for their execution. Certainly splitting the plot in 2 (as has become de rigeur it seems) was a bit of a pitfall.

But this was a great mind trip journey.

"How do the machines know what tasty wheat tasted like?"

I had forgotten there was anyone else in that restaurant. I was just kinda picturing them alone—after all, the rest was just scenery.

I guess it's possible that everyone else in the room is literally scenery, not actual people, but it's definitely funnier to imagine them as real people trying to ignore the weirdo wearing sunglasses indoors and his dinner guest who is way to into his food.

You know, as much as I love the action in the first film, some of my favorite scenes are indeed the ones that simply involve the characters talking with each other, as the dialogue is very compelling to listen to. No, it's not exactly how normal people would speak, but it's not going for that kind of feel, instead choosing to emulate the sort of dialogue that anime such as Ghost in the Shell contained; lots of musing about philosophy and the like. Heck, we even get several hints as to how the characters are feeling through not just the dialogue, but the little quirks each of them have while speaking.

Apparently the Wachowskis are working on another entry in the Matrix franchise.

Edit:

Edited by windleopard on May 10th 2019 at 12:47:30 PM

The Matrix 4 is officially announced, with Lana Wachowski writing and directing, and returning cast Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Aug 20th 2019 at 1:25:31 AM

Wait… Didn't Neo and Trinity die at the end of Revolutions? How are they gonna fit Keanu and Moss in this?

Well, Neo has already come back from the dead once and the Oracle was sure at the end of Revolutions that he would return some day. After all, he is Cybernetic Jesus. Trinity... um... she was just sleeping.

So John Wick was just Neo on vacation all along?

Couldn't we have just left The Matrix alone?

That makes an awful lot of sense.

I mean, yeah… the last film wrapped up the story neatly, I don't know what else there is to say.