Matrix 4 (Spoilers)

[Stalker0]

Just watched it on HBO Max.

And....what a dumpster fire of a movie I'm not even sure I would call it a movie, there were scenes, and characters, and dialogue....but I don't know if you could say that fit together into an actual movie.

I could probably write paragraphs about all the stuff I didn't like in this one, but I'll narrow it down to two points:

• Nothing was Original or Fresh. The movie was so META that it literally told us what made the Matrix, "the Matrix", and that was being original and fresh. Nothing in this movie felt that way, it was all rehashed, all stuff I felt like I had seen before.
  
  
• It felt like Season 8 GOT to me. Things "happened", but for no good reason. Half of the characters I had no idea why they were doing or acting the way that they did. Most of the plot motivations made 0 sense to me. People just acted a certain way because we needed scenes and plot. These weren't "characters", they were plot generators.

Here's hoping John Wick 4 is better. The Matrix 3 ended the trilogy, but this movie may have just killed it.

 

[GMMichael]

Watch it again. I will, but not in the sense that I'm still on the fence. I'm still in low-level shock from the first viewing, but I'll try to coalesce some ideas:

Original and Fresh: the movie is a reboot of Matrix 1, but with a two new angles: dichotomies tend to be false, and Neo isn't the One. Or better yet, Neo knew he wasn't the One for a reason.

The action went by quickly, the "happenings," but the movie did slow down to focus on the important bits. If you spend more time appreciating these and let the action scenes fly by, it might make more sense.

I have my complaints too:

• the Easter eggs and references to earlier movies occur fast and furious, so it's hard to grasp them.
• One or two montages that felt like typical Hollywood cheese.
• Gratuitous fight scenes.
• Agent Smith got dropped like a bad habit. I think?
• Trinity's realization didn't gel for me, on first viewing anyway.

Overall, the meta nature, deja-vu realization, and resurrection of earlier themes made it more than worthwhile. It ain't no Marvel superhero film.

 

[RangerWickett]

It was under baked, like they mixed together a few fanfics instead of planning a real story. Aside from Morpheus's fashion, and blue hair lady's blue hair, and maybe the bit about machines and people starting to work in harmony, nothing was especially compelling.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Thanks for saving me the watch. I saw the general reviews were bad, but general audience taste tends to vary a bit.

 

[Stalker0]

A key point I forgot to mention in my original review above....the movie is BORING.

Frankly, an exciting movie that makes no sense can sometimes be forgiven, there are movies where the ride is so fun I don't care that it makes no sense how I got there.

This is not that movie. When a movie is boring, all I can do is sit there and nitpick it to pieces, and that's exactly what happened with this movie.

The fight scenes aren't that interesting, the effects aren't that neat, the characters aren't that cool, no grand reveal was so cool that it blew my mind. I literally checked the runtime multiple times during the movie....because I wanted to turn it off. While Matrix 3 is not great by any means, at least it had some exciting stuff happening on occasion.

At the end of the time, this is the greatest sin of all. For if entertainment isn't entertaining....then it serves no purpose.

 

[Stalker0]

It ain't no Marvel superhero film.

Agreed, those films have plots and characters

I'm going to dive in to the plot a bit now, as I talked about how nothing was original or neat. Retreading the same old plot from a slightly new angle is not original, its just a retread in disquise. Here are a few ways they could have taken the plot in a completely different direction.

• Neo realizes that it wasn't the machines that brought him back, but the humans....who were so desperate for a central beacon to guide them that they had to bring back "the one" to function.
• Neo finds out that his status as the "one" has created a cult within human society, and that he now has to free minds from his own orthodoxy.
• Neo is resurrected not physically, but as a program. He now gets to explore what its like to be a program, maybe even seeing the machine city "through the program's eyes"
• Neo actually does have mental problems, and the matrix really is in his own head (now this plotline would have gotten reamed for several other reasons, but I at least could respect the balls to go in such a bold direction).

 

[Tonguez]

I loved the meta cheese and I think Lana Wachoski told us exactly what went into the design choice with the whole “What is the Matrix” sequence and the line ”WB wanted a new one and if we wont do it, they’ll do it anyway”

 

[GMMichael]

. . .I'm going to dive in to the plot a bit now, as I talked about how nothing was original or neat. Retreading the same old plot from a slightly new angle is not original, its just a retread in disquise. . .

I just did a rewatch with subtitles. That helped a lot. Thinking "bugs" was modern (80s?) lingo for programs/agents was obviously my mistake. But anyway...

I wouldn't call it a retread in disguise. I'd call it a metaphor, plot element, and nostalgia device (the last of which was brought up by Morpheus). The movie starts off by retreading Matrix 1, shot by shot, but Bugs says there's something wrong. Something's different. Then the similarities take a different turn, moving away from the storyboard and further back, to the plot. As in, someone has to be rescued from the Matrix. Then that person has to go back in to save someone from the Matrix. . . etc. Another evolution of the movie is that it brings up several themes from M1, but offers more information or a different take on them as they come up. For example, Agent Smith from M1 points out that humans define themselves through suffering, which is why the perfect-world Matrices didn't work out. The Analyst, however, takes a different (more recent) approach: humans thrive on suffering, and become more productive during conflict. Next layer: people don't care about facts; they care about feelings. These aren't grand reveals that play out in the movie, but you could look at the real world and ask if the Matrix is explaining what happens here.

But I can see how some people would find that boring.

 

[Mercurius]

Yeah, everything I've read about this film makes me not want to see it. What a shame, I was really looking forward to it.

Interesting how the Wachowskis essentially made one great movie, and everything else after was mediocre to bad (imo). I guess they only had one good film in them.

 

[Stalker0]

But I can see how some people would find that boring.

The issue is not the philosophical content, but the presentation. The original matrix was able to discuss such deep concepts in a way that was engaging and entertaining. This movie quite simply…did not