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

I read on. It is a spoof. Whew! It always scares me a little when I think people believe things like that.

Hi Hermi,

Hoovooloo had posted another article from that web-site on another thread and it took me a bit to actually 'get' that it was a spoof, only because it really wasn't too far off from what some really serious fundamentalists might actually say.

Anyhow, there are nutters everywhere.

I know plenty of Christians that don't see Satan all over the place. It's all up to personal choice in what you want to believe and to me all beliefs are quite valid as long as they stay personal. I will respect anyone's beliefs as long as they don't start trying to inflict them on others.

Anyhow, very funny web-site, I thought. Black humour of course, but I quite like that.

BUT NONE OF THIS MAKES RELOADED A GOOD MOVIE - does it?

az

Hi Az.
I liked Reloaded. It doesn't have the same power of the first one but I don't see how it could. It was entertaining and really, that is why I go to movies anyway.

The whole religious metaphor angle just makes for better entertainment (to me). I'm not going to develop my faith from a movie but I can enjoy the ideas other espouse.

Once I figured out that they site was a spoof I read some of the other pages. Oh my... And yes, I do know some who come close to believing that. They are less happy than I.

Major spoiler warning - by meditation, I have come into possession of a full copy of the script for Matrix 3. It turns out that the humans win after all, but just as they are on the verge of defeating the machines, the machines manage to send a robot BACK IN TIME!!! It's mission is to assassinate Neo's mother before he is born. The plan hinges on the robot being disguised to look exactly like a human. Fortunately, quick-thinking Trinity manages to sabotage the evil robots' plan by re-wiring its brain, giving it such an implausible Austrian accent that it is unable to maintain its diguise as a human for more than 5 minutes.

Gif

Hmm... deja vu

Uh oh. We all know what that means...

Gif

Afternoon,

Just wanted too add that I completed the PS2 version of the game last night and, though I haven't seen the film yet due to a reluctant girlfriend, the game is actually pretty good. There are quite a few clips from the film (making me want to see it more) and the teaser for Revolutions is popped on the end. I quite want to see the film to see how the two storylines mix and match - I can't think of anybody having done something similar before. It is a pretty idea...

The game's not perfect though. I think I went into it with really high expectations for a revoltionary experience. It's not, it's a pretty good action game with some neat effects (I always wanted to run along walls, cartwheel off, guns blazing) that are pretty well implemented, and some nicely cinematic elements. Once i'd gotten used to the idea that it wasn't a groundbreaking enterprise, I found I enjoyed it more. I have a suspicion that if I'd gone into the film with the same high expectations I would be disappointed with it. Now I think I might enjoy the film more, because the game has filled in some details for me, and I know that it's *just a film*, not high culture. Which was surely the point of the game anyway. There we go, two cents, no change....

I've seen the film, and am still working through the game (Haven't finished due to a zelda related lack of free time error)

Many of the clips in the game are not in the film but are extra, sorta explanitory bits - you don't need them for the film but it clarifys a few points.

Whens the taster in the game appear. I do not like to know *anything* about a film before I see it, I only watch trailers if I'm undecided. I need to know where it is so I can skip it.

The film and the game are both decidedly above average - they only seem poor when compared to the expections that people had.

I'm with you Acid. I'm hopeful for the film, when I see it.

I've only played through the game as Ghost so far (starting as Niobe tonight), but the teaser is right at the end. There's a clip of niobe and ghost sitting in the dark (having just fired their EMP) and niobe asks what will happen next. Ghost replies that he doesn't know, but it will be one hell of a ride... cue teaser!!

I won't spoil it for you.... but it looks pretty good. Will there be another game, I wonder?

I've only played as Niobe - I wanna fly the hovercraft! I'm on about level four or five of the powerplant so probably not too much left to do. Does ghost end up doing completely different things or does he end up doing what niobe does in her game.

e.g. As niobe recovering the initial disk there is an explosion followed by a message that ghost created a distraction - do you set that explosive as ghost or is it just niobe creates the distraction?

Hey Acid.

I went for Ghost as I like the guns .

I think in some scenes they follow the same path (as in your example) and in others they differ. In the airport they clearly have different objectives, and it seems that they do split. Hopefully find out later!

Incidentally, what's with the Vampires. I know they're in the film but the seem a bit random in the game - good fun to beat up though, more so that the cops.

*VERY* annoyed - saw Reloaded. Laughed at the jokes, laughed at the bits I wasn't meant to, laughed at the ending, then got up and left, whilst wondering why everyone was staying there... turns out they were showing a trailer for Revolutions afterward, which I wish I'd seen so I could check out the slightly implausible "Arnie-Neo" script possibility.

Gif

Well now most of you are just talking about computer games related to this film, which has nothing to do with the merits of this film as a film at all.

As a film, Reloaded lacked substance and plot and character development. It relied heavily on previous success and special effects and all the 'filler' fight scenes (used instead of having a story-line or plot) had actually been done much better in the original film.

I don't play computer games. I also don't usually go to see Hollywood blockbuster films. But when I first saw Matrix (a friend of mine dragged me kicking and screaming to see it) I was blown away by how well it had been done. I cannot say anything even remotely similar about Reloaded. This was not a film. Just a marketing ploy. A completely snoresville pretence at being a film. Don't get me wrong. I loved the special effects in Matrix. Thought they were quite amazing. Also there was quite a lot of humour in that film. I thought it was quite tongue in cheek, very clever. And the characters were very well-rounded.

Still, have not given up hope that Revelations will perhaps redeem the mess that Reloaded was.

az

Revolutions? Revelations? whatever. . .

Ooooh. Sorry Az, didn't realise we couldn't go a bit off topic onto something which is supposed to help one *get* the Matrix...

hi Jimbob,

It turns out that I am the one going off topic here, thinking that we were discussing a film. Oh well . . .


az

Meeeooow.

As I understood it, and feel free to correct me, the original question was whether people had *got* the Matrix:Reloaded.

As you so rightly pointed out, it's not just a film, it's a marketing operation, one with several levels. The film is one, the Animatrix shorts are another and the game is a third. Of course it's designed to make money, this is Hollywood we're talking about. For all that, it has quite an ambitious scope, which should be applauded. Some imaginative people put a lot of time and work into it, and I can't recall anything quite so ambitious. It's immersive in a way most films aren't. It's an attempt, baby steps, to a situation where the film itself isn't the whole experience.

The concept is that these things should all be experienced in order to see the whole story. But you didn't like the film, don't play games and perhaps haven't seen the Animatrix short films and may not be interested in seeing the 3rd film. Which is not to invalidate your opinion of the film, only to mention that their are aspects of the story which you haven't experienced.

For the record, I thought the first film was OK. Revolutionary FX in places, and an idenitifiable step up from the the usual action movie fare. But it's not a work of art. The dialogue is clunky and most of the ideas second hand. I quite want to see the second because there was enough in the first to pique my interest.

Bye now!

OK, just to clear this up - Morpheous was never leader of the human resistance, he explains that the Nebekenezer is merely one of several ships in the first Matrix.

Anyway, onto reloaded:
Needed more gun action - The lobby scene made the last movie - this time it was all martial arts - much of it good but there were weak bits that should have been replaced by gun-fu.
Neo - He's "The One" and can "remake the matrix as he sees fit" So howcome he seems less powerful than at the end of The Matrix. I would have loved a bot of Jedi-style action,
The Agents - how come suddenly morpheous can take them on?
Link - I prefered Tank, who clearly wasn't dead at the end of the last one. Link just seemed like stereotypical comical sidekick.
The Philosophising - It was crap. "You can't make choices, except when you do" etc. This isn't deep philosophy, or even a logical or understanable one. It was just a load of pseudoreligous babble.

Overall, it was an OK movie, but not grerat. It also had loads of Animatrix refereces in - you shouldn't need to have seen them to know what was going on with some bits.

Examine this matrix within matrix theory that I had before seing Reloaded:
Humans create 'the machines' (notice how its the same name as in the Terminator series) say about 2050. By, lets say 2200 the machines take over and create the matrix. The matrix is set at probably about 1900, and moves through. But what happens when the humans in the matrix create the machines? Sureley then they take over in the matrix and create another matrix.

However, the Architect suggest it doesnt quite work like that. every 100-200 years, "The One" appears, is led to the mainframe by The Oracle and co, the 'free' humans are killed and the matrix is presumably reset back to 1900ish again. Still, something odd is happening with Neo stopping the sentinels.