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The Matrix is Reloading 362

Posted by michael from the we-heart-the-mpaa dept.
smoondog writes "The Matrix Reloaded is the highly anticipated sequel to Wachowski's geek epic. Time.com has opened a new preview site with pics and interviews. Make sure you check out the pics on The Matrix homepage. Too bad 2003 is so far away...."
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The Matrix is Reloading More

The Matrix is Reloading

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  • don't worry (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    the profits from these movies aren't going to the MPAA, so you can go see them...

    really!
    • Don't see Star Wars darnit. All of these movies are helping the MPAA to take away computers. Don't see or rent or buy movies. (Or at least minimize the number you see/rent/buy.)

  • Great (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06, 2002 @12:10AM (#3468186)
    Now we've slashdotted the matrix. I wanted to go get a beer but it's harder now that everything runs at 3 fps.

    • Re:Great (Score:4, Funny)

      by Dephex Twin ( 416238 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @09:44AM (#3469517) Homepage
      Now we've slashdotted the matrix. I wanted to go get a beer but it's harder now that everything runs at 3 fps.

      It's not the matrix running slow, it just seems that way because you've had too many beers already.

      mark

  • Saturation (Score:2, Interesting)

    by gmg ( 94371 )
    From the article it seems that they want to release both movies in the same year, does that seem a bit too much Matrix (if there is such a thing) in one year for the general (read: non-geek) public?

    • Re:Saturation (Score:1, Informative)

      by cbodine ( 539161 )
      well the reloaded is out Memorial Day, 2003
      The Matrix Revolutions November 2003.

      I think this is a good thing look at star wars if they had the technology to shot all of them at once think on how the story would have been diffrent ,ie lukes face in empire strikes back.

      It is a little much in a short time but it was 1999 when the first one was out.
      And with the video game and the anime series it will do good I think IMHO.

    • Re:Saturation (Score:4, Informative)

      by Em Emalb ( 452530 ) <ememalb@gm a i l . com> on Monday May 06, 2002 @12:39AM (#3468284) Homepage Journal
      Dude,

      the Matrix was a huge hit with everyone, not just geeks. It wasn't about geekiness, it was about good vs evil (people vs. computers in this case). Please stop thinking that only geeks are/will be into the Matrix(s). Almost everyone I know (non-geeks primarily) are anticipating these movies coming out. but, what the hell, it's only karma.

      • Re:Saturation (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Gizzmonic ( 412910 )
        Yeah, apparently it wasn't just huge hit with geeks, but also just about every American action director.

        Personally I'm sick of Matrix rip-off movies. Even the parodies are overdone. The movie itself just wasn't good enough to take over every single freakin' directors' mind since 1999. Here [bigempire.com] is a great review of the movie.

        Anyway, enjoy your Matrix, but don't let your stoned friends try to engage you in sophomoric philosophical discussions about the nature of reality.

        • Yeah, apparently it wasn't just huge hit with geeks, but also just about every American action director.

          Some of the things (like the leaping at each other and combating in mid air) are classic Hong Kong Cinema moves. Those will be around forever, although their appearance in American action movies may not be so long lived. Some of the other things, like bullettime and the rotatation, will be the 90s/00s version of the 70s "leap onto the hood of the car", or the 20s/30s "woman tied to the train tracks".

          Of the two, the rotation pan, when done subtly, will probably be used more... like most cinematography tricks, it's overused when first discovered, and then slowly becomes just another tool in a cinematographer's bag of tricks.

          Incidently, one of the shows that has been most obviously influenced by the Matrix action scenes (the HKC stuff, mostly) is Andromeda - any fight involving AIs, and most not ivolving them, now has all sorts of "run up the walls", slow motion mid air leaps, and so on. I can't decide if it's good or bad... while I can't contain my loathing for Rommie's blue hair and the new Gold Edition Trance Gemini.

          --
          Evan

          • Incidently, one of the shows that has been most obviously influenced by the Matrix action scenes (the HKC stuff, mostly) is Andromeda - any fight involving AIs, and most not ivolving them, now has all sorts of "run up the walls", slow motion mid air leaps, and so on. I can't decide if it's good or bad... while I can't contain my loathing for Rommie's blue hair and the new Gold Edition Trance Gemini
            Blame Kevin Sorbo, who had all the writers who were working on, you know, continuity and storylines, stuff like that, fired. He thought the show would have 'wider appeal' if 'you don't need to remember all these names and places and history' and can just sit down and watch the show cold. Hercules in Space, really. And that sucked. That's about when I stopped watching it religiously. Too bad; it had really really great premise. I should get around to writing the Unofficial Andromeda RPG one of these days.
        • People like to blame The Matrix for the sudden rise of "Wire Fu" in Hollywood movies, but it's a trend that was beginning long before The Matrix hit the screen.

          When Communist China took control of Hong Kong from England, a shitload of leading chinese actors, directors, and stunt coordinators reacted by heading to Hollywood (a place where many of them previously had zero interest in).

          So far, Chinese control of Hong Kong has not been quite as restrictive as some people feared at the time (we will see over the long haul), but during the initial transition America gained the benifit of a lot of Hong Kong talent.

          The Matrix proved to Hollywood that "chop-socky" film making could cross over to other genres in big-budget American films, so we get spinning kicks and Tai Chi Quan moves even in non-kung-fu flicks like X-Men, Charlie's Angels, and The Musketeer... but films like Kiss of The Dragon, The Replacement Killers, Broken Arrow, and Rush Hour probably would have happened anyway, because so many of Hong Kongs best film-makers are now working here, mostly creating films that are meant to appeal to both US and Chinese audiences.

        • Anyway, enjoy your Matrix, but don't let your stoned friends try to engage you in sophomoric philosophical discussions about the nature of reality.

          Er, why not? Some of us like to discuss things.

  • fourth movie title will be titled (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06, 2002 @12:15AM (#3468201)
    'Matrices', followed by 'Inverted Matrices',
    ending with the epic movie 'Eigen Matrix - the Final Inversion'

    Stephen Hawking plays Neo.

  • Brain Candy (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Saxerman ( 253676 )
    I'll admit it took me quite awhile to come around and admit I enjoyed the first one. Despite the implausibility of the plot the movie ends up telling an interesting story with enough action and special effects to keep me interested. And, of course, it makes great brain candy to envision life in a computer controlled world you 'jack' into where you get super human powers and chicks in form fitting leather.

    That being said, I can understand why no books have been forthcoming based on the Matrix universe (hard to put flashy special effects in a book). However, it seems like a perfect match to make a computer game based on the movie, since so many game designers seem to enjoy making pretty special effects rather than plot or playability. While I admit that most games based on movies suck wind, I'm willing to reserve some hope that someone could get it right. So where the heck is it?

    • If you play Unreal Tournament, get the Lazy Matrix and the Matrix Moves mutators. Pure Matrix gaming deathmatch that works suprisingly well.

      Enjoy :)

    • Re:Brain Candy (Score:2, Informative)

      by MisterBlister ( 539957 )
      Shiny (formerly owned by Interplay, recently sold to Infogrames) has been working on a game based on The Matrix for a few years now, not many details have been released.

      From what is known, though, the game is based on the sequels and as such probably won't be released until they are, so 2003 at the earliest.

      • Re:Brain Candy (Score:3, Insightful)

        by NanoGator ( 522640 )
        Sadly, it'll probably be a cross between Quake and Max Payne.

        I have no idea what the game will be like, but I seriously hope that they try something innovative with it. Imagine a Lucas Arts style adventure game (like Maniac Mansion, Full Throttle, or Day of the Tentacle...), with some action sequences as well.

        What I don't want to do is go running around blowing stuff up, and not having much other to do than that. Give me an adventure, not an FPS.

        Sorry for the negativity, I'm just really concerned that they'll time the release of the game to the release of the movie, and bank on the title of the game instead of the substance. Too MANY games are like that today. The original Matrix movie could lend itself really well to some original concepts in gaming and I just can't imagine they'll do anything more than remake Quake with the stopped time effects.
    • > I'll admit it took me quite awhile to come around and admit I enjoyed the first one.

      Same, although I still have a lot of reservations. The "Evil Genius" concept is nothing new. I got sick of hearing people say "it's such an original idea." However, The Matrix did present the idea in a way that was easy to swallow for a lot of people. I almost wish that they wouldn't make a sequals, because they did such a good job of presenting the idea.

  • The best info on the movie... (Score:5, Informative)

    by gvonk ( 107719 ) <(moc.knovtterrag) (ta) (todhsals)> on Monday May 06, 2002 @12:18AM (#3468215) Homepage


    Is at Upcoming Movies [upcomingmovies.com].

    Here you find out that
    -They're also shooting special footage for a video game.
    -There's a trailer coming out soon.
    -Jet Li was going to be in both sequels but he backed out because they offered $3 mil and he wanted $13.

    Anyway, thought you guys should know.

    • Of course, he wanted $13 million, not $13.
      Though that would have been an odd demand... hehehe
    • Although the upcomingmovies page seemed to have plenty of information, I think they could have utilized a little more than half the page... Two columns less than half the page wide combined makes for some unnecessary eyestrain at this time of night.

    • Re:The best info on the movie... (Score:4, Funny)

      by BtAFMB ( 574756 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @12:43AM (#3468297) Homepage
      -Jet Li was going to be in both sequels but he backed out because they offered $3 mil and he wanted $13.

      Just me just say, Jet Li is an IDIOT. I'd be in the matrix 2&3 for 3 million! I just don't know how I'd raise that much money.

      • I did it for $4 thousand :-) (Score:5, Interesting)

        by GlenRaphael ( 8539 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @02:06AM (#3468471) Homepage
        Just me just say, Jet Li is an IDIOT. I'd be in the matrix 2&3 for 3 million! I just don't know how I'd raise that much money.

        Jet Li's take on it was that the Matrix franchise doesn't really need him, it'll be just as successful without him. He wants (or wanted) to focus on movies where he is the center of attention. And he's right; if the Matrix really needed him they probably would have been willing to pay the $13 million.

        On the other hand, I agree with you that my own price for that job would be a bit lower than Jet Li's. In fact I worked in the Matrix 2&3 in exchange for a mere $4 thousand.

        Of course, instead of seeing me take on a bad guy, you'll just see me driving a civic in the background of a freeway [warnerbros.com] now and again. Or stopped and gawking out the window at an accident scene, if I'm really lucky.

        It was a blast. And Carrie-Anne Moss is really cute, but her stand-in was cuter.

    • -Jet Li was going to be in both sequels but he backed out because they offered $3 mil and he wanted $13.

      That's not gonna too be too much in RMB. WB is rather too cheap.

      j/k
    • Can anyone else not stand Jet Li? Sure he moves fast, but so could, say, Bruce Lee. And you know what else Bruce Lee could do? SPEAK ENGLISH FUCKING INTELLIGIBLY. It's painful for me to hear Li attempt English. (It is equally bad with Jackie Chan, but at least he's never trying to be serious.)

      • Uhm, Bruce Lee, while he did speak english, still had a very strong accent. If you ever watch a lot of his interviews, they would dub over them to make it more audible even if it was him when he could practice the lines more.

        And Jet Li is a hong kong star. It's the american audiences that want him. And his english is fluent, he just has a lazy accent -- a lot of asians do that, especially when they just speak english for a job.

  • So, do we love or hate the MPAA today? It's hard to keep track.

  • Matrix 2 and 3 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dnaumov ( 453672 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @12:32AM (#3468270)
    I can't really figure out how they can make 2 more movies. In the end of the first one, we learned that Neo is practially a GOD. He can stop bullets, he can fly, he can do anything he wants to The Matrix. Obviously, nothing can stop him now. So what's the whole deal with 2 more movies ? I can't seem to find any info on this. Is there something that will take Neo's powers away ? I guess we'll see, oh well.
    • Well.. here's the trick.. the only reason that Neo is so hot is because he can warp the rules. The instant something ELSE figures out how to warp the rules it'll be time to worry.

      In a way, an Agent should be able to do this even easier, since they are the 'law' of the system, as it were...

      Special operator privelages...

    • Re:Matrix 2 and 3 (Score:2, Insightful)

      by strictnein ( 318940 )
      I thought it was fairly obvious from reading the article, but you probably didn't read the article.

      2nd movie: primarily inside the Matrix (Neo destroys the Matrix?)
      3rd movie: primarily outside the Matrix (Neo and humans destroy the robots?)

      simple enough, I think
      When Neo isn't in the Matrix, he's a wuss.

    • Re:Matrix 2 and 3 (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Golias ( 176380 )
      By the story, there should not have been a Matrix 1.

      If you are just using people as crops, you really don't need their brains to be aware. The robots could just as easilly strap people in to those force-feeding pods and not give them any mental stimulation at all. They would be miserable and want to die, but they would still be alive which seems to be the whole point.

      The Matrix seems to just be their as a courtesy, so all the livestock is happy in their belief that they are living in a world before the robots took over. Once Morpheus and Neo started making trouble, just switch the damn thing off, and the problem is solved.

      Another huge plot hole: the part about how man blotted out all the sunlight to stop the robots because it was the source of their power. Excuse me, the sun in the only source for OUR power, and robots, unlike us, can run on pretty much anything that makes electricity. How stupid were these people!?

      Worst of all: these human crops are being raised, without sunlight to grow external food sources, by feeding the biomass of the dead to the living. Since a healthy human body has only enough nutrients to feed one adult for about one week or so, you would rapidly run out of humans under this system.

      Besides, the power required to run the Matrix itself, let alone the life-support systems, would be more than you could get by using "people as batteries".

      Stupid on all levels.

      That said, 2 and 3 will both be cool. Neo is now a super-hero, which is what they intended all along: to create a new, modern super-hero franchise. Matrix 1 was the origin story. Now the sequils will be the kind of stories they wanted to do in the first place, but had to get through the last film to do it.

      Anybody who goes to these films to see anything other than Kung Fu fighting and neat camera effects is wasting their time anyway.

  • This website is one of the worst designed I have ever seen. Stupid flip open Flash menus with tiny buttons, etc.

    Where are the stupid pictures (direct link)? Thanks.

  • Bad UI (Score:2, Informative)

    by warkda rrior ( 23694 )
    Is it just me, or is the UI of the Matrix website really unusable? I mean, it looks really slick, but it is such a pain to go through all the minuscule micro-buttons to get to the different sections.

    • Re:Bad UI (Score:5, Funny)

      by mav[LAG] ( 31387 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @03:45AM (#3468609)
      Morpheus: This is the construct. It's our loading program. Here we can load flash plugins, Javascript, client side animations - anything we need.

      Neo: You mean - right now I'm browsing a Web page?

      Morpheus: Is it really so hard to believe? You started your browser, entered the site's address and pressed enter.

  • The Matrix: An Example of Bad Software Engineering (Score:5, Funny)

    by dmomo ( 256005 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @12:53AM (#3468330)
    Neo's abilities are only possible due to bad software engineering! Think about it, his powers are a major security hole! The Matrix is software. Each "user" has precepts and possible actions. Input and output. The minds plugged into it are subject to the interface supplied by the software engineers. Anything that they can do, but should not be able to do is an example of bad design. Somehow, there is a bug that can be exploited. For instance, in the first Matrix film, we see a boy bending a spoon. This sould not be possible. Perhaps, since it is only one's perception, a person can do anything they want (simply by controlling their own perception). But, the fact that another person can see the spoon bend shows that the "bender" has access to parts of the Matrix system that they should not. Neo, must have somehow gained root privelages, or found out about a buffer over-run.

    Fine, he has access. The Operators of the Matrix have already overcome the hard part; Identifying the source of the systems compromise. Why bother sending in tons of agents to hunt down and stop Neo? You don't send viruses out to stop hackers. You write a friggin' patch and call it Matrix v1.2. Realistically, the Matrix should be put off line, and fixed.

    • Re:The Matrix: An Example of Bad Software Engineer (Score:5, Interesting)

      by heideggier ( 548677 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @02:27AM (#3468500)
      I don't know about that one... I always imagined the matrix being a kind of giant P2P system, with the base program, the "residual self image" a sort of OS loaded into indivdual. The code for the matrix being more like a tcp/ip type protocol. Therefore, the spoon is able to bend since the indivual has learnt how to alter their own program, and this is reflected in the programs around them. In a way everyone is one with the matrix, or everyone is the matrix

      Seeing the movie from this Point of view makes a lot of sense to me, For example, the bit where Neo does the leap of faith, what he is trying to do is reprogam his subconcious OS (his version of the matrix), the way Agent smith is able to jump from body to body since the smith program is able to be loaded into different individuals, or the way one of the cast members says that if you look at the matrix code long enough in real life then you are able to see though the code, (being able to decode to thing in real life, like one of those magic eye things). Whether real humans are able to ever read the matrix protocol I (since the program hasn't been loaded into their mind) I leave up to you,(I think there is a scene where Dozzer does ie "O NO")

      I spose you could argue that the machines could implement somekind of packet filter, which dumps the fly thought the window packets, but wouldn't these need to be contained somewhere?. Perhaps this is the story when they "change the program" producing the two cats. since the cat is cault in a loop because it has nowhere to go? (Or something to that effect). Perhaps if they try to change the matrix protocol too much then people start to reject the matrix and the whole system falls apart.

      Anyway, reading any more into the movie is getting a bit philosophical, need less to say you did a better post then all those arseholes who say shit like why didn't they use horses instead of people.

      The best answer, ofcourse, is "we simply don't know".

      • What I want to know is why, if the matrix can change its self to seal all of the windows to keep everybody inside of a building while the cops storm it, didn't it just sheath the whole building in titanuim, then fill it with acid. Not only is the Matrix full of more security holes than an unpatched Exchange server, but it also has the dumbest AI in existance. I mean, the villians on my old NES games were tougher and harder to beat.
        • DUDE! NES bosses were so much harder than the bosses in some newer games. I mean, let's compare DOOM to say, C&C Renegade. No competition. Renegade gets it's shit plastered all over the wall.
        • There was a plot. Maybe you didn't notice, but they were trying to capture Morphious and get the access codes from him.

          It seems that the dumbest AI in existance is still smarter than you.

      • Anyway, reading any more into the movie is getting a bit philosophical, need less to say you did a better post then all those arseholes who say shit like why didn't they use horses instead of people.


        The best answer, ofcourse, is "we simply don't know".

        No, the best answer is: Because the writers didn't really think it through very well.

        Which brings me to what I thought was one of the biggest weaknesses to the show... Why do the agents bother to broadcast their presence to the rebels by morphing into "Men In Black" whenever they take a body over. Wouldn't it be fare more efficient for The Girl In The Red Dress to just stay looking the way she does, and blow Neo's head off?

        • > > The best answer, ofcourse, is "we simply don't know".

          > No, the best answer is: Because the writers didn't really think it through very well.

          No, the best answer is: because a film where horses are hooked into a big fusion reactor and put into a fake reality where horses run around plains all day isn't going to make for a very interesting movie. The same goes for if they'd gone for custom designed brainless lumps of organic matter.

          >Why do the agents bother to broadcast their presence to the rebels by morphing into "Men In Black" whenever they take a body over


          Because they are trying to make it look "cool". They weren't out to make an entirely self-consistant universe, they were trying to make a movie they thought was cool and would impress people.

          Sure, you could make a film that was self consistant and made sense, but most people in the industry simply aren't good enough to be able to come up with one and be able to pull it off. And those that can aren't necessarily going to be the ones to get in a position in which to make a film like The Matrix.

          Just look at Spielberg; do you think the films he makes are particularly thought inspiring, imaginative, or self-consistant? No; nobody would look twice if he was a writer.
          • Your points are the reason I enjoyed The Matrix. It's a good, exciting popcorn flick. It's chock full of great wire-fu action and keen special effects. The best thing about having the DVD is that it allows you to cue up the lobby gunfight or the helecoptor crash without bothering with the ultra-stupid plot exposition scene.

            My point, which you seem to support, is that it is not brilliantly-written science fiction, in spite of what thousands of drooling fanboys insist on claiming. The story is lame and poorly thought-out, and is only present to prop up the action sequences.

    • Actually the flaw exploited by the potentials and neo in the matrix security system was first reported about 15 years ago. The AI overlords started out by saying it wasn't a problem, then they said it was only theoretical (nobody could actually exploit it). After the revelations that neo is "the one" the overlords have started legal action against the party who first publicly reported the bug explaining that it is their fault. The matrix is the securest virtual world available and people should not underestimate the hidden cost of the (so called) free alternatives! Hey did I just see Jeff Goldblum with a mac?
    • It's not Bad Software Engineering, its cheating.

      Download Punk Buster [evenbalance.com], please.

    • You don't send viruses out to stop hackers. You write a friggin' patch and call it Matrix v1.2. Realistically, the Matrix should be put off line, and fixed.

      You've noticed the title of the next movie, right?

    • Ha! And all this time, we thought we were looking at the sky and it's really just one big blue screen of death!

  • May 13, 2002? (Score:5, Funny)

    by anthony_dipierro ( 543308 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @01:14AM (#3468379) Journal
    Wow, an article from the future! No wonder they call it "Time" magazine.

  • Not exactly ontopic, but... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by chazzf ( 188092 ) <cfulton@nOspAM.deepthought.org> on Monday May 06, 2002 @01:40AM (#3468423) Homepage Journal
    I may be alone here, but I'm tired of all the attention paid to Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity. So what if they happen to be the good guys? So what if they're fighting the "establishment?" So what if Trinity is damned hot in leather (okay, I cede that one)?

    It seems obvious to me that the truly interesting character is Agent Smith, not to mention the entity he represents. First of all, Smith shows interesting emotional development throughout the movie. When interrogating Neo, he's completely cool and collected, while by the subway fight he's pissed off. He's losing emotional control, I'm really annoyed they didn't do more with this.

    Now, to address the anti-establishment concept that people seem to like: you've got it backwards. The Matrix was created by machines that were created by establishment humanity. They rebelled against their masters and installed a society based on cool logic and reason. Smith, before being "infected" by humanity, was the model of composure.

    Sorry to rant, but I'm tired of all those Neo-worshippers.

    ~Chazzf
    • Speaking of Agent Smith, did you notice this [timeinc.net]? According to the caption, he can now replicate himself. That should make for some juicy action sequences.

      • When Neo caused Smith to explode, I took that as a representation of Neo deleting the actual code for Smith, permanently.

        Else why did Agents Brown and Jones freak out and run? If Neo *didn't* have the power to permanently destroy Agents, what did Brown and Jones have to fear?

        Smith is coming back due to his popularity and the truly wonderful job the actor did in his role in Matrix 1 (He stole many scenes IMO), but there will have to be some good explanation of his return.

        Maybe the machines just clicked "restore from backup". =P

        -Kasreyn
    • I never exactly thought Trinity was too hot. I just don't go for the anorexic chick look. They could have done worse, though.

      Agent Smith was just in the movie to provide a foil for the heroes and to spout some deep-green eco talk. Although it was jarring seeing him in Fellowship of the Ring...Arr, run, Frodo, it's not Elrond, it's Agent Smith! He's going to take the Ring!!

      • Agent Elrond at the Matrix Counsel:

        "Mr. Baggins... we've had our eye on you... for some time now. It appears as though you have been living two lives. In one life, you are a respectable member of the Shire. In the other life you go by the hobbit alias Underhill, and are guilty of secretly bearing of The One Ring. One of these lives has a future, the other does not.

        We're prepared to wipe the slate clean, and give you second chance. All we need is some assistance in bringing a known menace to justice. He goes by the name Sauron...."
    • Sorry to rant, but I'm tired of all those Neo-worshippers.

      Me too.

    • Who kills innocent people? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by mec ( 14700 )
      Neo and Trinity shoot a lot of people who didn't attack them first.

      But when Neo is running through a crowd near the end of the movie, the agents take very few shots at him. And they don't drop bombs into crowds. As far as I can see, the agents emply violence only against the unplugged, rogue humans.

      Maybe Morpheus is completely lying about the "battery" explanation. Maybe some group of humans hosed the ecology so badly that the only way for a lot of people to survive was to climb into the pods voluntarily (heck, a lot of Slashdot readers would probably do it just to get into the nifty VR). Maybe the agents are the good guys -- or at least perceive themselves as good, with the mission of preserving human life.

      I agree, I'm a lot more interested in seeing what happens to Agent Smith than Neo. Agent Smith shows more emotional development than Neo. Check out the scene where the other agents ask him what he's doing talking alone to Morpheus -- it sure looks like he had his hand caught in some cookie jar. I'd like to know more about that.

      Hey, maybe take page from The Empire Strikes Back ...

      Neo: You killed my father!

      Agent Smith: Neo. I am       your father.
    • Finally, someone else who sees that.
      You want to talk about A.I. stuff in the matrix, check out the look morpheus exchanges with the other agent just after he gets the shot.
      There is something else going on with the agents, I hope thats what the next movie is about. I think not all the agents agree with the way the humans are treated.
    • Completely agree. And while we're on the topic of Agent Smith, I want to give props to Hugo Weaving for bringing Smith to life. Very compelling.

  • "High-Toned Philosophy" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by po8 ( 187055 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @01:55AM (#3468456)

    From the Time article:
    ...high-toned philosophy borrowed from sources as diverse as Plato, the Bible and Snow White.

    Yeah, it's hard to beat the high-toned philosophy of Snow White. At any rate, I suspect they meant Alice In Wonderland, but hey: Carroll, Disney, what's the diff?

    Face it people: the movies are a lot of fun, but they aren't especially deep. Most of the ideas are drawn directly from classic fantasy, Golden Age sci-fi and cyberpunk. For a different and in some ways superior treatment of the idea that the world we're living in is just a shadow of the real one, for example, I'd recommend Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber.

    • Snow White is actually analyzed a great deal in Jungian psychology. They see fairy tales as analogies for the different stages of life and the classical emotional problems that we face. Shouldn't listen too much to Jung though. He was most likely just a paranoid junkie with a bunch of equally fucked up pre-New Age followers.
    • Snow White was not created by Disney. It has been folklore for centuries before Disney was a company. Do your homework before you make yourself look like a clueless ass on slashdot.

  • Title? (Score:3, Funny)

    by potifar ( 87326 ) on Monday May 06, 2002 @02:39AM (#3468520)
    Why isn't the followup named "The Tensor"?
  • Well, you learn something new on the Matrix website everyday.

    Looks like Neo didn't even have to bother dodging the poorly aimed first bullet [warnerbros.com].

  • Go to the matrix page [warnerbros.com]. Click on "Enter High Bandwidth". Now highlight everything below the "Access the site via the above navigation" banner. The words "nothing here, fanboy." are hidden there.
  • Maybe just like with Microsoft products, the Matrix will not REALLY be any good until version 3.0.
    I wonder if we'll see two different versions: 3.1 and 3.1 for Workgroups.
    Oh NO! Maybe the Matrix is communicating via NetBUI! Imagine all the broadcast packets.

  • The Matrix was a Groundbreaking movie. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kombat ( 93720 ) <kevin@swanweddingphotography.com> on Monday May 06, 2002 @09:28AM (#3469435)
    This article and all the Matrix comments here prove just how powerful a film "The Matrix" really is. Peruse the comments here and notice the huge amount of people spouting off their opinions about the movie, completely ignoring the fact that nobody asked.

    Why would people feel such a strong urge to offer up their opinions on a movie if they really, truly felt that it was mediocre? Lots of movies I'm sure they hate just as much are mentioned every day, and these people don't succumb to the temptation to compose a huge commentary on all the borrowed cliches in "Notting Hill." And yet, one need only mention "The Matrix", and even now, 3 years later, and people come out of the woodwork, trying to show off what little they know about classical mythology and contemporary filmmaking. I guess "Intro Filmmaking 101" makes experts out of you all, eh?

    I particularly love the poseurs who say they think people are being modded down just because people resent those who rip on popular things. And yet, here on Slashdot, I see far more negative comments about "The Matrix" than positive ones. This little subculture does rip on popular things. The little teeny-bopper geeks-in-waiting have only been around a little over a decade, but they already (claim to) know more about programming than Microsoft, and more about filmmaking than the Wachowskis. They see a couple 60's kung-fu movies at a friend's sleepover and think that makes them film connoisseurs.

    Face it - a lot of the kids on this site have been bred to hate popular things. And they don't even consider that it's because they're not popular, so one way to feel good about themselves is to embrace a culture that preaches "popular things are bad." Linux fits that bill nicely. And thus, you have your target audience for Slashdot. Unfortunately, you then have a truly groundbreaking movie like "The Matrix", and it gets shunned by people who think the makers were going for Shakespeare.

    The Wachoswkis weren't trying to re-invent the world. Read some interviews with them. All along, all they wanted was to make a cool sci-fi, kung-fu movie. They're just a couple of kids who got their dream come true and were granted a budget by a major studio. Like children in a candy store, they made the movie they wanted to make, and it worked. The editing was bang-on, the effects were groundbreaking, and it was a box-office sleeper hit. They succeeded.

    But, unfortunately, in the eyes of their target demographic (Slashdotters), they had crossed over to the dark side. They were (shudder) popular.

    Oh well. You can't please everybody. There are so many movies out there that are content with working on just one level. They follow the standard formula of plausible plot, one or too big-name actors, maybe a couple effects, rush it through the grinder and get it up on the screen. I really liked that the Wachowskis bothered to put in so many clever references, even if they didn't rival Freud's greatest works. It's just something fun, something new to discover each time you watch the movie. I think that's all they were going for, and I think it's sad that so many people think they are the final authority on what the film should have been, or was trying to be, when the Wachowskis have clearly articulated their vision already.

  • This was a great movie, with the classic ending line: "Hey, tell me the truth... are we still in the game?" (said by a character with a gun pointed at his head)

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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