The Matrix reboot

[The NZA]

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It’s still not clear what shape the project will take, but sources tell THR that Warner Bros. is in the early stages of developing a relaunch of The Matrix, the iconic 1999 sci-fi movie that is considered one of the most original films in cinematic history, with Zak Penn in talks to write a treatment.

 

Sources say there is potential interest in Michael B. Jordan to star but much must be done before the project is ready to go.

 

At this point, the Wachowski siblings, who wrote and directed the original and its two sequels, are not involved and the nature of their potential engagement with a new version has not been determined. Certainly, Warners would want the two filmmakers to give at minimum a blessing to the nascent project.

 

 

okay, so while this was bound to happen - and i'd much rather we'd just do a spinoff or something, if we must - i gotta say, if & when it manages to capture none of the magic of the original, it'll at least be true to the sequels in that regard

 

 

 

[Little Nemo McFly]

I remember hearing awhile back that the Wachowski...siblings(?) were tossing around a Matrix Sequel Trilogy. I'm kew w/ dat.

 

Didn't everything get kinda reset at the end of the Trilogy? Wasn't another 'One' eventually showing up one day, kinda alluded to at the end? It's been awhile - I'll watch tonite.

 

The potential for 'kick-ass' is there - but, Matrix was one of those things: movies were different back then - it was on the bleeding edge of FX. NO ONE saw what was comin' in that movie. It blew everyone away. Him flying at the end?! WHA?! Can't duplicate what the Matrix was and is. This story that's 'screaming to be made' has to be like, out of this world.

 

All the 'slow-mo' nods and set-pieces can totally back-fire. Like, Michael Bay times a thousand.

[Mr. Hakujin]

Prequels about other incarnations of Neo or the enslavement of humanity (like the short film from Animatrix) could make sense to me. But a reboot or remake of the existing film(s)? Why?

[The NZA]

yeah, the Animatrix really was the only other thing that came of this series past the original that was good, i agree there were stories there that were great examples of directions we could've gone in

[Iambaytor]

But a reboot or remake of the existing film(s)? Why?

 

Because they suck.

[Donatella]

I'm trying to decide whether or not to care about this. I suppose that means I really don't.

[The NZA]

i know it shows its age, but part 1 was an absolute classic - pop philosophy, woo-ping gun-fu choreography & a lot of existing ideas mashed together in a fun way, while the star wars prequels were busy being terrible. as a stand alone film, i think it's still great - but there's just not much built up after it that's worth keeping.

 

i'm less bothered by them rebooting, so much as wondering where exactly they'll take it that will be half as exciting - will it naturally feel tied to the (dated and overly referenced/used/spoofed/etc) source material? will it be enough of its own thing to wonder why it's even considered the same franchise? etc. i mean, the only thing we know so far is that the wchowskis (sp?) are barely involved, which initially seems off-putting but when their batting average was 1 out of 3, maybe it'll be like when lucas let go of star wars and it got good again.

[Da Cap'n 2099]

Part 2 may not have been what everyone wanted after the first one, but it wasn't a bad movie. Saying the Wachowskis only went 1 for 3 is unfair.

[Iambaytor]

Eh, I'll chalk it up to not being my thing but you're one of the few voices that still speaks well of The Matrix Reloaded. I felt I wanted A) a lot more of the same type of action that I loved from the first one and B) a continuation of the story for the first one that builds on the existing mythology in a new in interesting way. I would've sacrified either of those so long as the other was extra juiced up and I don't feel like I even got that. Bringing Smith back was a mistake (though I will admit that the mechanism of his re-appearance was the most interesting thing in the story.) Neo's story just plateaud into another lazy Christ allegory and the whole behind-the-curtain thing just felt underwhelming. The weird dreadlock twins weren't interesting and the movie felt more muddy and soft-focused than the sharp greys and blacks of the original. Even the action scenes felt sluggish and weightless. I will cop to having not seen it in at least 8 years and since it's post-apocalyptic I'll be revisiting it again at some point for my column but it's gonna have to do a lot of legwork to change my first impression.

 

In general I feel like the further the Wachowski sisters are from this franchise, the better. I'm not down on all their work: I love Cloud Atlas, think Speed Racer was goofy fun (though Dexter's Lab did the perfect Speed Racer movie and nobody will ever top that), and I feel like if Jupiter Ascending had had another draft and more room to breathe (like a 12-episode miniseries or just a full-on TV show) it would've been a lot better than it was. But it's pretty clear that they used up all their best ideas in the first movie (some have suggested that the first Matrix was flagrantly ripped off from The Invisibles, I have not read it so I can't comment on that) and though they didn't phone in the sequels they were wrongheaded and just didn't work.

 

Were I personally to reboot The Matrix I would probably focus more on all the stuff from the Animatrix about why the machines put the humans to sleep in the first place, I would maybe leave "The One" out of the picture all together or put him in the background as a supporting character. Much of what works about the Matrix is the way our heroes are outmatched and weak, once Neo became basically invincible and so did the bad guys it became a Dragon Ball Z-esque slog of two people being overpowered to the point that no other characters mattered for anything other than commentary as the two swinging dicks slugged it out. There's a reason the actual story of Jesus is told from the point of view of the jagoffs who happened to hang out with him and not the man himself. The myth is much more interesting than the reality, Neo should be a mythic figure and trying to ascribe humanity to a god or godhood to a man takes away the appeal of the idea.

 

I mean, I know the whole trilogy was both interestingly and boringly derivative but what my hope for this reboot presupposes is maybe it doesn't have to be. Neil Gaiman wrote a really great short story taking place in the universe of The Matrix that is way more interesting and clever than all four films (it's in Fragile Things but I don't remember the title of the specific story) so it can be done, we just need the right people doing it and Lana and Lily Wachoswki are better at coming up with ideas and action set-pieces than they are at following through with a compelling story; it's no coincidence that their best work is either adapted or borrowed heavily from other properties.

 

Also I feel like Inception and Doctor Strange have expanded on what could be done with The Matrix going forward, though folded streets and M.C. Escher shit is only one aspect that could be expanded. Somebody with a big imagination needs to be in charge with this to make the matrix itself more trippy and cool and to make the post-apocalyptic world outside the Matrix seem less empty and dull.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Iambaytor

[The NZA]

^agreed with a lot of that: lazy christ allegory, neo being broken/overpowered made things a lot less interesting, etc. i didn't like the way we either broke from the rules or just established we never got out of the matrix (when neo displayed powers while unplugged) but the ending was jarring and hinged on something coming of it in 3, and went nowhere.

 

i liked the peek behind the curtain but it was philosophy 101 stuff and not terribly exciting. i recall the highway fight scene being a highlight but man, those dread twins just weren't good villains like i'd wanted them to be, and starting with neo vs 101 smiths felt like this huge step down from well executed fight choreography to uninteresting CG.

 

it's still better than part 3, but that one felt like the last season of highlander or something.

[Visitant]

I actually wanted MORE of the ghosts/supernatural stuff. I feel like there's so much untapped shit there they could have done a whole movie about.

[Little Nemo McFly]

Yup - the whole Matrix concept has potential up the whazoo - 'specially w/ all that supernatural stuff they briefly touched on.

 

For the record, I luv the first 2 - not so much the 3rd one. I hated, hated, hated that Neo had powers in the real world. The whole...Trilogy ending was so anti-climatic. It's a shame how lack-luster the last one was. A sequel Trilogy could end up being a soft reboot.

 

Remember the Matrix tie-in game? That was the shizzie! Such a different time...I remember talk back in the day w/ Peter Jackson wanting to do a similar product while filming the Lord of the Rings films. They (WB?) just ended up doing straight-up video game adaptions of the movies. Side-side note: Lego LoTR is the best video game adaption of any movie(s)...ever.

 

it became a Dragon Ball Z-esque slog of two people being overpowered to the point that no other characters mattered for anything other than commentary as the two swinging dicks slugged it out.

 

LOL!

[Iambaytor]

There were 3 tie-in games. Enter the Matrix where you played as Jada Pinkett Smith's character, Path of Neo which had a batshit ending, and The Matrix Online which was an MMORPG. This was the way Path of Neo ended.

 

[Little Nemo McFly]

Never played 'Path of Neo'. I remember it being a product of the complaint that you couldn't play as him in 'Enter the Matrix'. Heard it was a'ight - I should get on that.

 

When I heard of that MMORPG - I thought it was the perfect use of the IP. I was really excited to see where it could go - thought it would be a MMORPG staple. (Not into those games, but I expected that property to perfectly lend itself to that...and actually take the genre beyond.) I don't think it even lasted a year. Looked like crap.

[The NZA]

[The NZA]

semi-related:

 

The Matrix is Coming to 4K Blu-ray on May 22nd

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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced that it will release on 4K Blu-ray Lilly and Lana Wachowski's blockbuster The Matrix (1999), starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Gloria Foster. The release will be available for purchase on May 22. 

Synopsis: In the near future, a computer hacker named Neo discovers that all life on Earth may be nothing more than an elaborate facade created by a malevolent cyber-intelligence, for the purpose of placating us while our life essence is "farmed" to fuel the Matrix's campaign of domination in the "real" world. He joins like-minded Rebel warriors Morpheus and Trinity in their struggle to overthrow the Matrix.

SPECIAL FEATURES AND TECHNICAL SPECS:

• NEW 4K REMASTER SUPERVISED BY DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY BILL POPE
• NEWLY REMIXED DOLBY ATMOS TRACK for this release
• Dolby VisionTM HDR-enabled presentation that dramatically expands the color palette and contrast range and uses dynamic metadata to automatically optimize the picture for every screen — frame by frame.

4K BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Written Introduction by the Wachowskis
• "Philosopher" Commentary by Dr. Cornel West and Ken Wilbur
• "Critics" Commentary by Todd McCarthy, John Powers and David Thomson
• "Cast & Crew" Commentary by Carrie-Anne Moss, Zach Staenberg and John Gaeta
• "Composer" Commentary by Don Davis with Music Only Track

BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

• The Matrix Revisited
• Follow the White Rabbit
• Take the Red Pill
• Marilyn Manson "Rock is Dead" Music Video
• Teaser Trailer
• Theatrical Trailer

*The Blu-ray release will also be sourced from the brand new 4K remaster of the film.