There’s not much to say about this pronouncement other than ‘why?’ to be honest. To be fair it would seem as though there are a lot of different directions that the Matrix could go in if you really took the time to look, but revisiting a story with Neo and Trinity seems kind of like a huge case of denial when it comes to accepting that the characters have already played out their arc and just need to be allowed to rest. As Kevin Burwick of MovieWeb has relayed neither one of these projects will be a remake or a reboot, so that’s a plus, but there’s no telling yet just how far into the Matrix either one is going to go, or why anyone is bothering to make the trip yet again. The Matrix was a huge hit when it came out, and the second movie was kind of blah since it went into so much explanation and conjecture that it bored a good part of the audience to the point that anticipating the third one was kind of difficult, especially since it was bound to give us even more dry, boring dialogue when all we wanted was a good knockdown drag-out fight between Neo and Smith. And somehow even that kind of disappointed on one or two levels.
When the first movie came out it was great since it was something new, fresh, and hadn’t been done in this manner before. Even better was the technology and effects that allowed Neo to dodge and eventually stop bullets in midair. The last fight between Neo and Smith was still kind of anticlimactic but it served the purpose of showing the aggressive program that things had changed and Neo was on the verge of discovering just who he was and what he could do. But from that point on he became just another souped up hero that could do things that others couldn’t in a world where the laws of physics could be bent to the breaking point. He was ‘The One’ that could set everything right and in truth he was the one that set things in motion and still needed a great deal of help from those around him. The whole messiah complex that is given to certain characters in a story is a very old but tried and true method that people still tend to like since it gives them something and someone to believe in, even if that savior doesn’t want the praise or the attention.
As far as the Matrix is concerned however there was enough of a linear story to make it work and be done with by the time the third movie was over and finished. The Animatrix was a clever way to integrate a great number of stories that were either independent of or had something to do with the main story, as the Final Flight of the Osiris was directly related to the movies and was of great import. There are a lot of stories that could spring from the main trilogy, but the question is still why simply because getting people to understand and follow the story even with Neo and Trinity present. If you can recall some time does pass between the movies in which it’s possible to see that that Neo and Trinity could possibly be seen to share a few more adventures and a story line that might show their deepened relationship, but it’s hard to know just what’s going to come of this since for a lot of us, the Matrix was a seriously flawed system that was basically being allowed to run as it was since there wasn’t a big enough threat to worry over. Once Neo was awakened and told the truth of who and what he was things started to pop off and the program Agent Smith wasn’t just moved off the board, he was removed from the grid entirely, becoming a huge problem for both the machines and the humans as he acted like a virus, taking over as many people as he could in order to disrupt the Matrix and eradicate the person that had done such a thing to him.
In all honesty it feels as though this movie has played out and really needs to be allowed to rest for a while longer. It’s been a good number of years now since the third and final movie was released, but at the same time it still feels as though it needs to be left alone for a few more years at least until it’s really good and ready to be re-examined. At this point it almost feels as though taking it out would be a mistake, and that people wouldn’t respond to it as well as the creators are hoping. Justin Kroll of Variety and many others might prove to be right when all is said and done.
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