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| “Buckle
your seat belt Dorothy, because Kansas is
going bye-bye.” —a
quote from The Matrix
The Wachowski Brothers are the dynamic
duo of Andy and Larry Wachowski —
both directors, writers and producers. They
were born in Chicago, Illinois, Andy in
1967 and Larry in 1965. They both quit college
to pursue in show business, and at the time
they were working as comic-book writers
and simultaneously working in the paint
and carpentry field.
Little did anyone know who the Wachowski
Brothers were, when they co-wrote the screenplay
for Richard Donner’s “Assassins”
(1995; starring Sylvester Stallone, Antonio
Banderas, and Julianne Moore). In the media,
it was reported their dissatisfaction with
much of the script’s alterations to
the screen. Thus, they continued in the
film industry but wanting to direct their
own project. A year later, they wrote, excutively-produced
and directed a first feature film, “Bound”
(1996; starring Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon
and Joe Pantoliano), a succulent film-noir
Lesbian thriler. “Bound” became
an international hit, having won various
awards in Film Festivals. As a result, the
film pushed the duo to a higher level, allowing
them to go further into filmmaking and this
time putting their personal influences and
inspirations of comic-books into a movie.
Consequently, since both of them grew up
drawing, they based their love and interest
in Hong Kong and Japanese flicks to animation
graphics by unleashing one of the best sci-fi
films of all times, “The Matrix”
(1999; starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne,
Hugo Weeving, and Carrie Ann Moss). In April
of 1999, The New York Times interviews
the Wachowski’s, they commented, “The
script was a synthesis of ideas that sort
of came together at a moment when we were
interested in a lot of things: making mythology
relevant in a modern context, relating quantum
physics to Zen Buddhism, investigating your
own life.” “We started out thinking
of this as a comic book. We filled notebook
after notebook with ideas. Essentially that’s
where the script came from.”
Due to the special effects it was a marking
stone to a new era of filmmaking, as it
became a worldwide phenemenon among viewers
who awaited its sequel. In 2003, the Wachowski’s
released “The Matrix Reloaded,”
a box-office hit which continues to reveal
answers to the complex plot, but intrigues
new questions of: What is really the matrix?
What is reality? What is what? As the directors
once stated, “Expect the unexpected,”
indeed its definitely their motto —
they have quite an imagination that plays
with audiences perception — so you
never know what’s going to happen
next. —A.B.
Spoiler
Warning: The reviews you
are about to read of “The Matrix”
and “The Matrix Reloaded” may
reveal some key elements of the plot. Therefore,
if you have not watched the films yet, please
do, to read further.
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Bound (1996)
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Gina Gershon (Corky),
and Jennifer Tilly
(Violet) play the
hot-lesbian duo in
“Bound.” |
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Joe Pantoliano (Ceaser)
the mafia boyfriend
in “Bound.”
Photos © Gramercy
Pictures |
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This gender-bending film noir stars Gina Gershon
and Jennifer Tilly (as Corky and Violet),
a hot two some whose paths cross in a seedy
apartment block. Instantly attracted to each
other, they become lovers, and hatch a plan
to relieve Violet’s gangster boyfriend
(the excellent Joe Pantoliano) of $2 million
of the mob money. But their scheme hits the
first of several obstacles when he turns out
not to be the pushover they thought he was,
and the money’s three owners come looking
for the cash. Thereafter things really hot
up as the greedy trio all try to get the upper-hand
in a twist-a-minute plot that’s directed
with tremendous verve, style and imagination.
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| The
Matrix (1999)
Carrie-Anne Moss is Trinity,
the tough and daring sidekick
of Neo (Keanu Reeves), a
computer hacker who is considered
to be the savior, “The
One” in “The
Matrix.”
Photos © Warner
Bros. |
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Laurence Fishburne
is the wise believer
Morpheus, who is captured
and tortured by the
Agents in “The
Matrix.” |
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“The Matrix” opens with the
voices of two people speaking by phone and
a shot of computer screen as a program traces
the caller’s phone number, one digit
at a time. We peer into the green text on
the black screen, teetering on the brink
of a terse phone conversation. *click* “Did
you hear that?” Prophetically, we
slide down through a virtual rabbit hole
of 0’s and 1’s into the world
of the Matrix — the world as we know
it. (Or is it?) We watch, rapt, as Trinity
(played with layered nuance by steely Carrie-Anne
Moss) takes on two entire units of policemen
and then a trio of high-powered suits, led
by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), in a scene
that has been often imitated since its premier
in 1999.
From the get-go we are riveted by the quick
editing and visual styling of the world
of the Matrix, replete with it’s wire-fighting
sequences and bullet time. Respectively,
both effects borrow heavily from Hong Kong
cinema’s kung-fu sequences and arcade
games like “Street Fighter;”
and [Japanese] anime’s close compositional
cropping and “physics of decimation”
[Where action is broken down into its parts,
and those components can be highly controlled
to build the most dramatic effect from dynamic
movement]. Somehow, it is perpetually overcast
and rainy like a slice out of “Blade
Runner” (1982), the green-tinted world
of the Matrix is also very noir in its apocalyptic
style and feel.
Very soon, we are also introduced to Thomas
Anderson/Neo (played by Keanu Reeves), a
mild-mannered programmer by day, and hacker
by night. We watch him trawl the Net for
any information about a mysterious fugitive
named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). He
wants to find this man so that he can learn
the answer to the burning question which
haunts him: “What is the Matrix?”
This core question around which this film
is framed is ultimately answered with a
litany of additional questions: What is
reality? Where is reality? WHEN is reality?
Why is reality what it is? Can I control
this reality? When I first saw this movie
in 1999, these concepts blew my mind as
much as a special effects did. Many dystopian
themes were referenced, with like threads
seemingly plucked from “Brave New
World,” “Blade Runner,”
and “Total Recall,” with bits
of 1984 and 2001 —
“A Space Odyssey” woven in for
measure.
The story continues, Trinity arranges for
Neo to finally meet Morpheus face to face.
Morpheus gives Neo a choice between a red
pill and blue pill. “Take the blue
pill, the story ends. You wake up in your
bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland,
and I show you how deep the rabbit hole
goes.... Remember, all I'm offering is the
truth, nothing more...” Of course,
Neo chooses the red pill and he is brought
into the dizzying, dingy vortex of the real
world — a rather bleak place set on
board a craft called the Nebudchanezzar
in the year 2199 (or thereabout). The crew
of the Neb, including Trinity and Morpheus,
rescue and “unplug” Neo from
a power plant where he was amongst the acres
of humans farmed as an energy source by
the Machines that had taken over the world.
When Neo recovers from this rude awakening
he learns the truth about the Matrix:
Way back at the end of the 21st century,
humans created artificial intelligence and
made robots with AI to do Man’s bidding.
Eventually, the Machines rose up in rebellion
after Man tried to crush the Machines’
growing independence, and stifle their freedom
of thought and will. A great war ensued,
and Man launched a global shield to keep
the machines from their only source of energy
— the sun — but at the same
time it basically turned the planet into
an uninhabitable wasteland. Ironically,
the Machines were smart enough to figure
out that humans release enough body heat
to be used as a viable and sustainable energy
source and eventually began to farm entire
crops of humans. The Matrix is nothing more
than a virtual reality program into which
each human’s mind is plugged (literally)
to keep it “entertained,” like
a TV set. I.e. set in way, the humans remain
unaware they are in fact bald batteries
and their b.t.u.’s are being collected
to fuel the machines.
After Neo learns about the Matrix, he is
eventually told about his significance and
purpose, and why the crew risked their lives
to save him. Morpheus tells him, he may
be “The One,” the person who
will be able to save the people still wired
to the Matrix, and be able to unite them
with the people who live in the hidden underground
city of Zion — the last bastion of
free humans. He soon begins his training
to become strong enough to enter the Matrix
and meet the Oracle, who will have further
instructions for him.
Neo’s martial arts training sequence
with Morpheus yields one of the most memorable
wire-fight scenes ever, not only because
of the slick arcade-game styling, but because
of the philosophy being taught by Morpheus
as he calmly and soundly trounces Neo’s
newbie hiney. Eventually, Neo is ready to
see the Oracle (Gloria Foster) and the crew
goes into the Matrix for the meeting to
happen. The Oracle tells Neo that he has
a good soul, but he’s not the one.
He’s waiting for something...perhaps
in his next life. And, once again, he is
given a choice: At some point Morpheus will
be in great danger and Neo can save Morpheus,
if, he sacrifices himself. He will have
to choose his own life or his captain’s.
More than anything else, this film ruins
you because it provides a great blend of
a multilayered plot, fabulous graphics which
actually serve the story as much as they
wow the eye, and it contains a pretty tight
screenplay. —J.E.
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| The
Matrix Reloaded (2003)
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Neo and cloned versions
of Agent Smith(s)
battle it out on the
rooftop.
Photos © Warner
Bros. |
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Once again the special
effects in the sequel
“The Matrix
Reloaded” are
groundbreaking. |
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“The Matrix Reloaded,” the second
installment of the Wachowski Brother’s
“Matrix” trilogy, begins some
time after Neo has joined Morpheus and his
crew in liberating other humans from within
the Matrix. In order to get what’s going
on in this sequel and to learn more about
the matrix and its history, I suggest that
you first view “The Animatrix”
(2003) DVD and then perhaps play the “Enter
the Matrix” video game before you go
into the theater.
The movie opens with Trinity (Carrie-Anne
Moss) falling out a window, firing away
at an agent and getting killed by a bullet
she is unable to dodge. Neo (Keanu Reeves)
wakes up to discover it’s all just
a dream, and Trinity is still by his side.
This bit of foreshadowing hints at the major
choice Neo will have to make this time around.
Alas, we have to sit through Neo’s
nightmare several more times over the course
of the film; he now has a reason to warn
Trinity that no matter what happens, she
must promise not to enter the Matrix.
Soon after the crew of the Nebuchanezzar
return to Zion, it is discovered 250,000
sentinels have located Zion and are burrowing
down through the earth’s crust to
destroy it, with only a matter of 72 hours
before they breach Zion’s walls. The
leader of Zion wants all the ships to stay
and fight, while Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne)
insists upon contacting the Oracle to see
if she can give them a clue as to how to
stop the destruction of the last cradle
of the human civilization. Ultimately, Morpheus
wins the argument and the council members
dispatch him and his crew go, and two other
ships. One of the two captains is Niobe
(Jada Pinkett-Smith), Morpheus’ old
flame.
The members of the three ships all go
to broadcast level and assemble there —
where they are attacked by agents for the
first in a surprising series of rather useless
fight scenes. Meanwhile, Neo goes on a mad
hunt for the Oracle. She tells, sits him
down for an educational tete-a-tete about
the matrix (I digress, it is nowhere as
well-written as the one from the first episode).
The Oracle tells him within the matrix exists
rogue programs (anomalies) which do not
function for the matrix to the liking of
the Machines, like herself, her bodyguard,
and Agent Smith. All the rogue programs
are scheduled for deletion which is why
they are always on the run. These same anomalies
within the matrix often appear as werewolves,
ghosts and the like. Apparently, the only
way in which Neo can save Zion is by finding
the Keymaker, who is being held hostage
by Merovingian, yet another rogue program.
Agent Smith appears and with his newfound
cloning capabilities fights Neo in one of
the most taut CG effects of the movie. But
with all that spinning and fighting, Neo
just ends up flying away. He rejoins his
crew members and, flanked by Morpheus and
Trinity, the trio go to Merovingian’s
chateau. Unfortunately, he refuses to hand
over the Keymaker, but his spurned and jealous
wife (yet another rogue program), Persephone
(Monica Belluci) offers Neo the Keymaker
in exchange for a passionate kiss. She wants
to “sample” the passion which
Neo shares with Trinity. After they get
the Keymaker, the trio must fight Merovingian’s
henchmen and a pair of albino Rastafarian
twins/ghosts. They leave with the Keymaker
and he tells them how Neo can stop the destruction
of Zion, and it involves getting into a
special room. Of course. The three crews
put their noggins together and decide upon
a course of action.
Unfortunately, tragedy strikes one of
the ships and the plan is now useless without
their hacking abilities. Trinity decides
to enter the Matrix to save the crew, going
directly against Neo’s wishes. Thanks
to her contribution, however, Neo is able
to make it into the special room, and he
now sits face to face with the man who designed
the matrix, also known as The Architect.
He explains to Neo the true purpose of his
One-ness and offers him a choice of saving
the world, or saving the one he loves. He
watches onscreen as his very worst fear
is displayed.
Choice...or free will? Is there such a
thing? Many, many questions and ideas are
postulated by the Architect, frightening
alternate thinking introduced. Neo runs
to save Trinity and needs to consider how
he will save the rest of the world now.
The ending holds much mystery of what is
reality and what is not, and as the film
cuts off in the middle of a dialog scene;
we must wait until November to figure out
what is really happening. —J.E.
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