The Matrix Trilogy (1999-2003)

   Blaine: The number one thing The Wachowskis are best known for is creating "The Matrix" Trilogy. I love the first "Matrix" movie, the second one is ok, third not so much. I've been meaning to watch "The Matrix" for a while and I finally got to watch it in December 2009, when I was looking through some old tapes of stuff my family recorded on TV and I found the first "Matrix" on one of them and I watched it, of course it was missing the first 37 minutes of it, but that's ok because it was at the scene shortly after Neo enters the real world and my mind was clear enough to understand what was going on. It felt like a very special movie to me as I was watching it. A little while after that I watched the other two, but they didn't give me the same feeling the first one did. One of the ways I would describe "The Matrix" is it's like putting the mind into a computer and going online.

Plot (trilogy)

Blaine: When The Wachowskis sold the rights to Warner Bros the idea was a trilogy and they already had written the scripts for all three movies, but they had to focus on one at the time and see how it would turn out. The Wachowskis said that they love kung fu movies, Japanimation and science fiction books and that's what inspired them to the idea of "The Matrix". They also think the book Alice in Wonderland is brilliant and so they put a few references into the first movie when they wrote the script. Everyone who was apart of the project had to put a lot of trust into Andy and Lana when they made the first movie because they really knew what they were doing and everyone else had a hard time understanding what "The Matrix" was. The Wachowskis did a lot of explaining through storyboarding of how the scene would look and the storyboards were described as the comic book of the movie.

    Keanu Reeves said The Wachowskis had him read stuff like Baudrillard and Out of Control, which was about systems, evolution, robots and another book called Evolutionary Psychology before reading "The Matrix" script. When The Wachowskis explained to Fishburne what they were making he got fired up because he said no one has made a movie like this before and he fully understood the script after reading it. For the action The Wachowskis wanted to do something different like out a Hong Kong movie where they shoot fight scenes with the long takes and wider angles and wire work as well so that people could fly around and jump incredibly. Martial arts choreographer Wo Ping was hired to train the actors fighting styles and stunt training. At first he said he couldn't do the job because he had a very busy schedule, but Wo read the script and he thought it was brilliant. So he decided to make time for the job. The Wachowskis wanted the actors to be raising their fighting skills to the level of a stunt person because they wanted to see the actors to do the kung fu themselves and it took them six months to do that.

    The actors would have their own person to teach them how to fight and some of them didn't speak English, but each one of them had their own technique. During training, Hugo Weaving found out that he was diagnosed with edema on his bone marrow and had to have an operation on his leg that made him go on crutches for six weeks and Keanu Reeves was recovering from surgery on his neck after having two-level fusion in his cervical spine, so he had to wear a neck brace. The cinematography work when the characters are in the Matrix is a green tint. The first "Matrix" was shot in Sydney, Australia and the first day of shooting they did a Buddhist ceremony and had a feast. The Wachowskis would act out scenes how they wanted them to look. Like Andy would be the actor moving around and Lana would be the camera person showing were the camera would be. Neo in the first one is someone who is a little afraid and someone who is confused and new to this, but at the same time he is strong and he doesn't give up in my opinion. It was obvious that Neo and Trinity were going to love each other in the end of the first movie.

    They look like the perfect couple, they are both really strong people who know how to fight, they really care and love each other and they kiss well. Morpheus is a leader and a wise character and Lawrence described him as someone living in the real world. I couldn't tell if this character was going to die or not in the first movie after he got captured by Agent Smith. 40% of my mind was saying "he's going to die" and the other 60% was saying "I'm not sure". But he survived. The scene I like the most in the first "Matrix" is when Neo and Trinity enter the Government Lobby with guns and take down the guards. I really like how it starts off with Neo's feet slowly coming through the revolving door with Don Davis' music score in the background. And then Neo shows the guard the guns that he has attached to his body and the guard says "Holy Shit!" and then Neo pushes him back. Trinity comes through the metal scanner shooting the guard, calling for backup and it becomes a shootout.

    "The Matrix" is one of those movies that showed an audience something new out of filmmaking with it's story, its effects and its stunts and that's how it became a huge hit. One of the things "The Matrix" is best known for is the slow motion fight scenes and gun shots while the camera's viewpoint moves through the scene at a normal speed. It took 120 cameras and two motion-picture cameras to make those scenes. After the success of the first Matrix, Warner Brothers gave The Wachowskis the permission to continue working on their trilogy. With all the tests they did, with the effects and action for the first "Matrix" they were prepared for the other two. The Wachowskis were shooting both Matrix "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" at the same time. Joel Silver, the producer of "The Matrix" movies describe it as this one giant movie cut in two. I do like bits and parts of the second one and I'm glad that they made it even though I don't think it's as spectacular as the first one. Still it's something new. The first one I feel is more of a rescue movie, the other two are about going to war. I've seen "Scary Movie 3", "South Park" and the MTV Movie Awards do a parody of that scene from "Reloaded" when Neo meets The Architect and that means it's a popular scene. My favorite fighting scene in "Reloaded" I think has to be when Neo goes up against the Blade Leaders and then after he's finished with them it turns into a chase scene where the Twins go after Morpheus, Trinity and The Key Maker.

    Neo knows Trinity is strong, but not strong enough for what he has seen in his visions and he not only fears for her, but himself because she is his world and how could he go on without her in my opinion. I've only seen "Revolutions" twice now. The first time I saw it, I didn't think it was a great ending to the trilogy, but five years later I check it out again and it wasn't bad the second time. Of course I still don't like the ending and I don't think much of the final fight between Neo and Agent Smith, but I do like the battle for Zion. The four actors who have been around for the whole trilogy are Keanu Reeves as Neo, Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity and Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith.

    The late Gloria Foster, who plays The Oracle, died from diabetes while they were shooting "Reloaded". Actress Mary Alice was hired to finish the scenes Gloria hadn't gotten to shoot for both "Reloaded" and "Revolutions". And the character was described to be in a different form. Gloria Foster performance is more serious than Mary Alice. Mary's performance was like the sweet old grandmother who you would visit a lot. Everyone wanted to be apart of the sequels after seeing the first "Matrix". Harold Perrineau, Sing Ngai, Monica Bellucci, Helmut Bakaitis, Randall Duk Kim, Jada Pinkett Smith, Neil and Adrian Rayment, Lambert Wilson and Bruce Spence. I love these characters Andy and Lana have created like Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, Agent Smith, The Oracle, The Architect, The Keymaker and The Twins. "The Matrix" has been around for a while and it remains one of the smartest science fictions and one of the greatest action movies today. My rating on the first Matrix is five out of five stars, the second one is three and a half and the third I would have to say two and a half.