Your Thoughts on the Matrix Revolutions?

[kingpaul]

But there is a simple reason why the characters aren`t sitting behind 2cm of steel, it is even spelled out on the whatisthematrix page - they wanted the audience to see the characters. Quite simple. Imagine you couldn`t see them - wouldn`t that make the whole fight quite boring - all you would be able to see were machines and weapons, no characters. Realistic, maybe, but boring.

Wasn't that reasoning also utilized when Starship Troopers was created?

 

[Berandor]

Sorry, for picking you ou, TrainZ, but just an example of the spoiler-tagytis around here:

Just came back from seeing it:

I think the mecha battle was awesome. Absolutely awesome. I would love to see other movies like that.

As for the rest... it was average. Even under par some times.

Spoiler

Trinity's death scene was VERY bad.

The movie was just what I expected, a great roller-coaster ride. The W. brothers should have realised that and eased up on the talk scenes. They are not good with talk scenes. They should diminish them, or take pointers from Tarantino.

Now THAT is one great director.

The preview of Troy gave me shivers, and that movie preview from the guy that did ID4 (some ice-age New-York thingy) really intrigued me.

You see? Much better!

BErandor

 

[s/LaSH]

OK, I apologise for the 'brainwashed zombies' comment. That was more directed at Hollywood execs, as filtered through my brain, and came out more vitriolic than I intended it, and interpreted as an attack against people I was inferring to be victims, not villains.

If I instead asked people who didn't like it to 'free their mind from tradition', would that have been better phrasing?

Anyway, I'm quite the zombie myself. I enjoyed Charlie's Angels almost as much as Revolutions. I was trying to make some kind of point, and on consideration, I rolled a 1. Fine line, I crossed it. Sorry.

Carry on, then.

Oh, and I did wonder about the APC armour issue. I suppose it would have been too difficult to create individual mech designs to distinguish important characters, as the Japanese would have done, and still have them look realistic. ("Ha! My APC is pink, with red feathers on the back!" "Yeah, well mine's got six arms and bangles!" It just doesn't work for the established tone.)

However, I think it's fairly obvious why they don't have great clothing in Zion - where would they get the material? The sheep? The vast cotton fields they happen to have out the back? Nah, they've managed to get this much together, they're pretty lucky to have it. (Sure, they've got some sources of biological matter - probably big tanks of food algae, though. About a billion years too primitive to create decent fibers.) So what little stuff they have managed to put together, they'll keep around without unravelling it to make new ones, because they're concerned with other matters.

And Bane's actor was spot-on. Incredible. Just gotta say that.

 

[KenM]

Nice picture, indeed. I wondered about it in the movie, too.

But there is a simple reason why the characters aren`t sitting behind 2cm of steel, it is even spelled out on the whatisthematrix page - they wanted the audience to see the characters. Quite simple. Imagine you couldn`t see them - wouldn`t that make the whole fight quite boring - all you would be able to see were machines and weapons, no characters. Realistic, maybe, but boring.
So, if it helps you: in the "real" Zion, the pilots of the APUs are shielded. In the movie Zion, they aren`t.

Mustrum Ridcully

They could have plexiglass windows or something so you can see the characters. Not having any sort of protection for the driver is just stupid. I also don't see how not seeing the driver would make the fight boring. Lots of movies/ anime with tanks/ planes/ mecha fights are exciting without seeing the drivers during the fights.
With the Starship Troopers movie, I heard the could not get the suits right, so the did not put them in.

 

[mmu1]

If you want to get anal about it, all those APUs (or at least as many as possible) shouldn't even had any pilots inside them. They could have just been controlled remotely from behind 10' of concrete by people with matrix jacks.

Not that I think it's necessarily a bad thing, but all Zion technology is style without any substance. Some of the more nonsensical things:

1. Building a city underground by excavating cavities hundreds if not thousands of feet across instead of having a tunnel network, wasting God knows how much effort in the process and making the place completely indefensible. (done, of course, to make for better visuals in the movie)

2. The mysterious shortage of EMP devices after 50 years of war against the machines. (a complete hand-wave to justify the pointless and wasteful battle at the docks)

3. Apparently, nukes don't work against the machines, but explosive shells filled with hand-ground powder do.

4. Mechs - the ultimate in style over substance. Ought to have built hover-tanks, they definitely have the technology...

 

[Tsyr]

Spoiler

We really don't know if Neo caused the explosion or if the machines did it through Neo. I admit we have a vague idea....an assumption as to what happened. And to some that's good enough. But I consider it a little sloppy writing/directing.

Spoiler

My point was, by virtue of the fact that the machines are honoring the bargin with Neo, we know that it was Neo that did it, not the machines. After all, if the machines had been the final blow, they wouldn't feel compelled to honor the agreement. The agreement was for Neo to solve the problem.

 

[Tsyr]

Everyone is saying "Well, the Zionites had all this technology, why didn't they..."

I don't think they DID have all that technology.

They did not, for example, build the hoverships. They are pre-matrix. So is, most likely, everything else in Zion. Zion is mostly a city of scavengers. Witness, for example, the fact that they were loading shells by hand, as opposed to on an assembly line.

Further, that councilmans speach about "I have no idea how any of this technology works" and such... I think that's a very strong indication that Zion is basicly a very primative place. They have figured out the basics... enough to maintain and repair stuff, it seems. But not to build anything new at that level of technology.

 

[KingOfChaos]

Bah..there goes my hope for an actual deep science fiction movie with a lot of symbolism in it. They ruined it by turning it into a crappy action flick -.-

 

[mmu1]

Everyone is saying "Well, the Zionites had all this technology, why didn't they..."

I don't think they DID have all that technology.

They did not, for example, build the hoverships. They are pre-matrix. So is, most likely, everything else in Zion. Zion is mostly a city of scavengers. Witness, for example, the fact that they were loading shells by hand, as opposed to on an assembly line.

Further, that councilmans speach about "I have no idea how any of this technology works" and such... I think that's a very strong indication that Zion is basicly a very primative place. They have figured out the basics... enough to maintain and repair stuff, it seems. But not to build anything new at that level of technology.

That's not how things work - it's only in sci-fi that you end up with the ability to maintain and repair high technology without actually being able to build anything. Unless you have an endless supply of spare parts lying around, being able to repair computers, robots and hovercraft over 50 years requires the same abilities as building them from scratch - you have to be able to make your own semiconductors.

You can come up with a complicated and far-fetched explanation for the discrepancies in Zion technology (in the best geek tradition of rationalizing plot-holes and technobabble at any cost that probably goes back to before the heady days of orginal Star Trek) or you can accept the simple explanation that the directors made a stylistic choice that doesn't make logical sense.

 

[jasamcarl]

OK, I apologise for the 'brainwashed zombies' comment. That was more directed at Hollywood execs, as filtered through my brain, and came out more vitriolic than I intended it, and interpreted as an attack against people I was inferring to be victims, not villains.

If I instead asked people who didn't like it to 'free their mind from tradition', would that have been better phrasing?

Anyway, I'm quite the zombie myself. I enjoyed Charlie's Angels almost as much as Revolutions. I was trying to make some kind of point, and on consideration, I rolled a 1. Fine line, I crossed it. Sorry.

Carry on, then.

Oh, and I did wonder about the APC armour issue. I suppose it would have been too difficult to create individual mech designs to distinguish important characters, as the Japanese would have done, and still have them look realistic. ("Ha! My APC is pink, with red feathers on the back!" "Yeah, well mine's got six arms and bangles!" It just doesn't work for the established tone.)

However, I think it's fairly obvious why they don't have great clothing in Zion - where would they get the material? The sheep? The vast cotton fields they happen to have out the back? Nah, they've managed to get this much together, they're pretty lucky to have it. (Sure, they've got some sources of biological matter - probably big tanks of food algae, though. About a billion years too primitive to create decent fibers.) So what little stuff they have managed to put together, they'll keep around without unravelling it to make new ones, because they're concerned with other matters.

And Bane's actor was spot-on. Incredible. Just gotta say that.

See my above comments. I'm still stuck with the archaic yearning for decent character development and a script that doesn't mistake pomposity for wit/intelligence....