Thursday, November 06, 2003

"the matrix revolutions"
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after catching the movie, i can say that the matrix storyline has safely come to an end. joel silver himself promised that there would be no more movies, though that doesn't discount the merchandising tie-ins and the expected high-revenue earners of the possible books, video games and comics that may come out in the wake of the grand scheme of things. the matrix is a multimedia phenomenon. i would know; i've got the video game, the animatrix, and the reloaded dvd. since it's all pirated, i'd like to say that i'm a part of the mania, though if i'm a bit of a hypocrite if i said that i didn't have any doubts. yes, it's all merchandising, no doubt about it. and yes, there will be sceptics. but it sucks you in. people who've panned revolutions before even seeing it would still see revolutions so that they could pan it even more. it brings about a [withering] sense of closure to the proceedings, though lord knows there're more questions that have been raised than answers. thus, lies the purpose of the merchandising, i guess. will i get the comics? what about another video game, if they come out with it? why not? i want to know what happens. i think that some of you might do so as well.

the movie itself isn't all that much. i'd describe it as a "wild ride down a zen cube while chasing jesus". you'll understand when you watch it. some people have argued that although the visuals are dynamic, there's no substance. all i can say is, was there any substance to the first matrix? no, right? to be frank, nothing compares to that first movie. with the exception of one thing: smith quotes. you can quote smith freely here...there's a lot to choose from. let's be honest, we all loved the matrix because it was so damn cool; we just didn't know why. this movie fares no less...in my humble opinion, seeing neo and smith do the lambada over a rain-drenched city does have its appeal to me. i don't know if it's the effects or whatever, but it touches the fanboy deep inside of me and i sort of get the point of it all. [that's what the world needs...another 20 year old geek]. it's not something that should be critiqued...it's popcorn, plain and simple. and it works. [by the way, that whole battle between neo and smith can be summarized in two words: dragon ball...you'll know what i mean when you watch it].

the philosophical and religious overtones from the first movie come to a head here. most of you would probably already know what i'm talking about. the good thing about reloaded ending where it did was the fact that it raised many questions to which many answers were spawned...and being unsure of whether or not your answers were correct was a cliffhanger in itself. most of the questions raised have been unfounded...everything is as it seems. the machines are digging. can zion make a last stand? will neo defeat smith? to paraphrase smith, "it is inevitable". in other words, dude...duh.

we already know the answers to most of the questions. some may see the movie as one fight scene gone on for too long. some might find it repetitive. some might find it dragging and laggy. i know that after watching trinity do the crane kick so many times, it's become annoying. ditto for the scorpion kick. but it's what we've come to expect, isn't it? it's got the look and the feel of the matrix; that's because it IS the matrix. and one thing's for sure: it's brought a sense of closure to the whole mess. and one thing you should wonder about: was it really neo's game all along?

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

"the matrix redux"
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this is my first real blog in a while. if any of you have been coming back, i apologize for the late post. but there've been a few things that i've had to take care of before being fully sure that i could come back and post. my blog juices had run out after the last few. but i know that simply posting lyrics to songs that you're never going to hear isn't something that people can call a blog. oh, no, it takes a lot more than that to count as a blog, doesn't it? or does it? the question, friends, i leave to you. anyway, today we're going to be talking about the matrix [some more]. at about...15 hours from now, at 12:45 on a thursday morning, i'm going to be watching the matrix revolutions. now, the initial buzz online is basically non-buzz...don't avoid, but don't expect too much at all costs. most people don't like reading reviews...in fact, some people don't read them because reviews are written depending on the tastes of the reviewer. i like reviews...not only do they highlight particular plot points, sometimes, just sometimes, reviews demonstrate the stupidity of the reviewer. but never mind about that. the initial buzz for revolutions has been rather negative. but people want to know what happens. it's not about special effects or bullet time or yuen wu-ping's kung fu anymore...it's about whether or not neo can defeat smith [duh] and whether the real world as we know it is in fact, real.

now, some people have questioned whether or not the fabled wachowski brothers had in fact, even touched reloaded. their no publicity clause was a major point to make, and some parts of reloaded didn't look very wachowski. it's hard to say if the wachowskis were even there in the first place. but one thing you have to notice about reloaded [and it keeps on getting better with each viewing] is how each scene seems to be played to a perfection. i don't know if the brothers storyboard each and every scene [but the detailed storyboards are unbelievable], but the way that it's all presented, reloaded was one hell of a tight movie to shoot. planned to perfection...maybe a little bit too perfect, but what the hell, yea?

so tonight, as i walk into that gsc cinema, anticipating the [anti-]climax for what some people can claim to be the star wars trilogy for our generation [which isn't a long way off], my expectations are going to be kept where they've always been: on neutral ground. no one said that it has to be fantastic...it probably already is.

there is no spoon. i think they all use plastic.