h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think neos path diverged from the previous ‘ones’ when he saved trinity – the architect said something about controlling the anomaly (one) by giving him a love for humanity that would make him want to save them (i.e. go through the other door) whereas in neo it had been concentrated into one individual (Trinity) so he chose to save her instead.

Of course this could be an anomaly in the anomaly, if every 100yrs you get a ‘one’ who chooses the left door and every 800yrs you get a ‘one’ who goes right… (I may have got the doors the wrong way round and the timeframes probably way off but you get the idea)

Complex? Homework: Start light watch Fight Club then move up a notch to eXistenZ then Mulhullen Drive and finally Pi. Now go and watch the Matrix Reloaded again – see how simple it seems.

Aww yeah, EMP only affects the machines if the people who came into contact with smith were now part machine…and that would explain why neo could still feel the sentinels without the nested matrix theory but then again one of the clones got his hand into Morpheus…I wonder if that will have any ramifications…

Unfortunately this is all done before stuff (Nested matrix, see eXistenZ People becoming what they seek to kill, see Blade or Alien: Resurrection*) It seems after the first idea the producers had a conversation like
“That worked so well because it was original”
“Lets get some more original ideas”
“Yeah go and find the best orgional ideas that other movies have used and steal theirs”
“Yeah”

* -> I’m sure someone with superior film knowledge can point out earlier examples which these films filched.

"Homework: Start light watch Fight Club then move up a notch to eXistenZ then Mulhullen Drive and finally Pi. Now go and watch the Matrix Reloaded again – see how simple it seems."

And don't forget the under-appreciated "Total Recall" which makes no concessions to the viewer in this respect. At the end of the film it is totally unresolved whether or not it was real or an artificial reality. And it has Arnie in it

The only thing I 'got' from Reloaded was that they wanted to turn this into a massive money-making trilogy but didn't bother with enough story. The supposed story-line in Reloaded would have taken up less than half an hour. The rest was just repeated special effects that, in fact, had been done much better in Matrix. Ho hum.

az

Well I've seen all of those films and really, really enjoyed them (I own some of them) but I honestly found Reloaded a better and more interesting film and I care more about the characters. Of course they could ruin it all by Neo waking up at his desk at the end of revolutions but I really, really can't see that happening as there's far too much backstory which would be unbelievably pointless if it was a dream, The Animatrix anyone?

They are fine films (With the possible exception of Pi) - I wouldn't have mentioned them otherwise

I wasn't saying that there was anything wrong with the matrix - quite the opposite I enjoyed it. Thats just a list of films I felt people could work through if they found the matrix complicated.

Once you've watched films with at least five layers of reality or where the first 2/3 of the film happens after the last 1/3 (Well except for the very end) and also didn't actually happen this sort of thing seems a lot easier to handle.

Possibly could add Momento and Intacto to the list somewhere.

*laughs at idea of Neo waking up at his desk in the software company*

Not his desk in the software company - his desk in his apartment. Remember, the opening of the film went:

V/O chat between Cypher and Trinity about watching Neo.
Trinity's "arrest", chase and escape.
Neo is dozing in front of his home PC with pictures of Morpheus on the screen, which then goes blank and types out "Wake up Neo...".

Now - if THAT bit - the "Wake up Neo..." bit, including some guy paying him thousands for a disk of... what was that?, if THAT was a dream - so is everything else. It's a stereotypical geek dream, too. He's not a loser, he's an elite hacker. "Trinity", who he thought was a guy, turns out to be this uber-babe in latex who loves him, and he turns out to be... well, God, almost. And not a pale-skinned hack worker being told off for consistently being late.

It could happen. I hope not, because that would be almost as lame as the so-called "twist" ending of "The Sixth Sense".

H.

Another weak link was the character Link. In Reloaded they talk about both Tank and his brother being killed in the first film, but in fact, only the brother, Dozer, was killed.

I read that the actor who played Tank was abruptly fired from Reloaded when the W brothers found him snooping around in their private office. Apparently all the people working on the film had to sign an 'oath of secrecy' regarding the storyline, etc and the actor who played Tank was thought to be a 'spy' so he got axed.

Too bad, because the Tank character was much more interesting than Link.

Re: the Sixth Sense. The 'twist' ending was lame in that you could see it coming a mile off. But it wasn't as bad as the 'twist' ending in The Others. Snore.

az

Anyone know what a Merovingian is?

I think it's a now defunct line of French monarchy, and possibly something to do with a Grail cult.


Geggs

Merovingian - of or relating to a Frankish dynasty founded by Clovis 1, which ruled Gaul and W Germany from about 500-751 AD.

Also, a totally uninteresting character in the film Reloaded (2003) which was a complete waste of time and celluloid.

az

> Jet Li was Seraph: "First, I must aporogise."

Actually Jet Li turned down the part of Seraph, it's actually played by Collin Chou (AKA Sing Ngai).

I am shocked, nay, appalled, to realise that you're right. I've obviously not been paying attention, and having seen an Oriental guy do some kungfu in Reloaded and having heard about two years ago that Jet Li was supposed to be in it, simply assumed and not bothered to check.

Still, he probably got off easy... the curse claimed Tank (who I think was actually arrested and jailed for something or other?), Cipher (who was asked back but demanded too much money, the original Zee (Aaliyah, killed in a plane crash) and the Oracle (car crash), not to mention Carrie-Ann Moss's broken leg...

H.

As someone who tends to watch every movie with wide-eyed wonder I really enjoyed Reloaded. I'm not into computer games (the hand devices rarely work well with paws) and so did not see a lot of familiar computer effects.

*Spoiler*
I thought that, while he was under-played in Reloaded, Agent Smith will be key in the next movie. Remember when Agent Smith told Morpheus that he hated humans, hated the smell? Agent Smith has found a way to exist free of the Matrix - completely out of reach of the monitoring programs - in a human. If Smith can exist outside of the Matrix he has new ways to destroy the human race completely, both Zion and the human slaves, that the control programs can't prevent.

Neo too has crossed over to having within-the-Matrix talents outside of the Matrix.

Remember the conversation with the council member of Zion? Paraphrase: Machines and people need each other. We need to find a way to work together. Neo said that it wasn't an issue of existence it was an issue of control.

So we have Neo trying to wrestle control away from the machines to save the human race and Smith trying to destroy the human race, Zion and slave included.

The Ws could be setting it up as a classic Christ vs Satan clash in the last film.

I agree with the discussion about Morpheus. They really portrayed him with less power and conviction this time around. More like an inspiring crackpot rather than a prophet/instrument of change.

Stupid question: Didn't Neo have a lot fewer plugs in Matrix than they gave him in Reloaded? I thought they had gotten rid of most of them.

I too thought the rave/love scene was long and boring. I also didn't really appreciate the whole traitorous kiss scene unless it was there to put Neo's love for Trinity into question. If he could kiss someone else convincingly... It just didn't work for me. I figure that they included the Moravian(spelling?) scene to show us the depravity/hedonism of some of the programs - maybe set up an argument for the destruction of the ruling programs?

Morpheus is cheered by the crowd when he speaks at the temple - before he even opens his mouth!

The people of Zion trust him, and would follow him to the end of the earth (which may end up being necessary). I can't see him as mearly the 'renagage captain' that some have described him as here. The reason that Morpheus and Lock keep butting heads is surely because Morpheus has the power and following to challenge Lock's position, this is even acknowledged by the council when they dispatch two ships to find Morpheus against Lock's protests.

Morpheus is the military leader that Zion wants, and probably needs, but Lock is the one they've got.

Can't quite see how that gives him less power that he had in the first film.


Geggs

It's the power of right versus the power of public approval. I felt that Morpheus lost the rightness of purpose/surety that he had in Matrix 1.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12987678&method=full

Best review of the movie I've read so far...

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0503/matrixreloaded.html



H.

Though that is kinda funny, it does read everything wrong. Surely it goes something like this:

Neo = Christ
The Arcitect = God
Trinity = Holy Spirit
Morpheus = John the Baptist
Smith = Satan
Zion = Jerusalem (fairly obvious that one)
Counsel = 12 apostles

The fit may not be perfect, but it works after a fashion.


Geggs

Hoo,

The thing about that article about Larry W leaving his wife for another woman is that it is only possibly 'titillating' because of the less than usual sexual preference stuff talked about. Otherwise it is only - Matrix director leaves wife for another woman. Ho hum. Happens daily.

No wonder those guys made a deal that they would not have to give public interviews, etc. to promote their films.

I'm personally not interested in what two consenting adults get up to in their personal lives. And I felt a bit bad reading that article as it was obviously meant to 'shame' Larry W. somehow. I can see why he would not want this to become public knowledge - really it's nobody's business but his own. And of course we live in such a hypocritical age that the pubic *will* end up tittering over all of this.

Stuff and nonsence.

az

Geggs entry is similar to what I've been reading/hearing and to my take as well.

As a Christian I am frequently frustrated with allegedly fellow-believers seeing Satan in everything. There is not a demon under every doorstep. I was disgusted by the True Christian TM article. It appeared to me that the Pastor went in with a preconcieved notion of the movie and made his experience fit it. It didn't make any sense to me at all.

Also I was offended by the "descendent of Ham" reference. The Oracle character was protrayed as a woman of noble nature. That she happened to be black is not relevant in reinforcing or degrading her character.

I am hoping that I read the article in too much of a hurry and it was really a spoof.