The Matrix was lightning in a bottle. An almost perfect movie. That final scene in which Neo sees the matrix before he destroys Smith still gives me goosebumps.
It was an excellent heroes journey film, following the pattern Joseph Campbell discusses in his work, the sequels didn't bother following any of the classical archetypes and became eye candy set pieces and fights sandwiched in-between dense philosophical babble, I'm of the camp that just pretends the sequels don't exist.
The moment after Neo destroys Smith, where he flexs and the world around him flexs as well, was always my goosebump moment. It was an excellent way to show how world-bendingly powerful The One was. Unfortunately that had to be walked back a bit in the sequels.
Honestly, Hugo Weaving was about 40% of this film. Every single line had you pay attention to every word. You could argue that it’s all writing, but his body language and timing is UNMATCHED!
Between the Matrix movies and the LOTR trilogy, Weaving had a stellar few years at the start of the new millennium. His face and voice was everywhere for a while, and I loved every second of it.
@@martynstembridge7714 Even just his voice and physical acting in V for Vendetta is masterful. In fact, hearing his real voice is really quite jarring now lol.
Agent Smith telling Morpheus that he hates being stuck in the Matrix in the presence of humans because of 'the smell' is one of the best villain monologues ever. Hugo Weaving did an incredible job with Smith, I really think his performance is what makes that character and, by extension, the film as a whole so timeless and iconic.
I thought that scene was brilliant. You know it’s shit when the AI is even annoyed 😂. I hadn’t watched it before and as soon as I watched it, I wanted to review it.
@@TheReelDealFilmReviews another brilliant thing about the monologue is that if he finds the scent of humans inescapable, something we only really ever notice at the extremes, it hints at just how overly attuned his senses are compared to us, without directly explaining it to the audience. So it helps to explain their ability to dodge bullets etc making it subconsciously more believable and the agents more threatening to the audience without us even knowing.
@@RichardVSmall Agent Smith is indeed the perfect villain. Your analysis is great 😊. I would be really grateful if you watched my review to see if you agree with my analysis.
the Matrix captured the vibe of the late 90s perfectly. counter culture and conspiracy theories mixed with trench coats and guns. It was the film we needed at the time. hard to believe it did so well considering the abysmal marketing. I remember watching a couple promos on tv, it looked very strange, and had no appeal. but after seeing the film at a friends house I was hooked. it was world altering at the time. to this day it stands alone, never to be matched or equaled.
For me this was the movie a family member used to showcase their new DVD player and a 60" CRT big screen tv (the ones with pixels that you could fucking see with your eye - given it was still standard def). It was glorious.
Carl Wilson l was in Sydney while they were filming reloaded and l walked passed Lawrence fishburne...he smiled at me, probably cause lm a bit weird-looking, and l knew l knew him from somewhere but l thought maybe just a personality from my hometown or smth...and it hit me! Felt really good. In 99 l thought l was the ONE...l did a lot of pot 😂
@Ben Bla they might be Hollywood assholes (or bitches now) but at least they have accomplished making the Matrix that changed the landscape of modern cinema.... you just seem like a bitter asshole that jumps on peoples comments for no reason, pretty pathetic.
He even gave his earnings from this movie to other people who worked on it but weren't paid that much. I have huge respect for him and have grown up on him most of my life.
In an interview for John Wick 3, Keanu said he loved learning the moves for the fight scenes and remembered it fondly. Whatever people say about his acting, you can't say the man isn't dedicated.
Great Vid .. I don't want to troll .. but KR was perfect for the role: The Matrix itself remains the central character of this entire story. No "actor" ever takes "position" above The Matrix (yeah, Hugo did do well with LOTR) What other stories have you ever heard where "The Story" is "The Star" ?
This is the only movie that I've ever walked out of the theater before with the feeling that what I just watched just blew my mind. Haven't experienced anything like it since.
@@HliasPsinakis Fight Club was definitely a milestone. That dvd was packed with great stuff. the PSAs and all the different commentary tracks. I remember counting the days for that one. interesting tidbit: I have a vhs copy of the Fight Club work print. It has a different soundtrack and some alternate scenes and shit, but before the dvd finally came out, it was all I watched.
Still remember the day I saw it in the theatre. Never heard anything about it until that day and was completely blown away. I was spending the night at my best friends house and woke up with a cold. His dad took us to the movie and I was so enthralled it totally felt like I wasn’t sick anymore. What a memorable film
I loved how the matrix was marketed as a puzzle and revealed nothing. We were dropped into the movie like Neo, into this exciting world of mystery and intrigue. Amazing.
This is by far my favorite movie of all time. Literally the closest thing to a perfect film that could ever exist, in my humble opinion. When I try to explain to other people the reasons why this movie is one of the greatest ever, it's hard for me to put into words (without using the classic line "unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself"), but I think this video essay does a brilliant job of it. I learned a few things watching this and it was awesome hearing you hit on all the points about this movie that I also loved, and why it's so amazing. I really appreciate you making this video. Thank you
Most people say this is one of the best movies ever made but never list what movie is the best of all time because there is non other than the matrix number one.
Still its not the best ever. It is one of the best ever. I would say the best ever movie is Lawrence of Arabia. Check the making of if you already watched the movie. The scope of this movie is unmatched.
@@HILAL19564 Those are classical pieces in film. I like the clsssicsl structure,but because of the time the whole movie that way. The Matrix follows great classical structure and subverts it at the same time. It’s unique in so many ways.
The first film I saw Hugo Weaving in was ‘Priscilla, Queen of the desert’ and then I saw this - I didn’t even recognise him. Weaving is hella underrated.
The Matrix might've been the start of my insatiable craving and passion for sci-fi and dark philosophical concepts since I was a teenager. The dedication of the crew and cast is incredible and it shows. Every time I see something Matrix related (not the sequels though), it makes me happy. That's an accomplishment to leave such an impression for years afterwards.
@@unknownninja1 It is not fully mine :) but think about this way. You have 1 real universe and in it like billions of simulated universes because we know it is possible with powerful enough computers. So probability says we live in simulation not real universe. Good side might be this - if it is true there is way to roll back time bring back dead or like anything... but then well we be big bad Ai.
I was a kid when I first watched it on home video n I was blown away by it. I didn't understand the story my English was poor but it was one of the best experience of my life.
Amazing how many terms & concepts from this movie have found there way into mainstream vernacular (Glitch in the Matrix, Red-pilled, bullet time, wire-fu, etc.)
THE SCORE... WOW... I will never forget this shit booming through the theatre. That Rage song about MLK and Malcolm at the end credits punctuated the end and I knew right then, I would never experience something like this film again.
"Ya know they went after King when he spoke out on Vietnam" "Ya know they murdered X, and tried ta blame it on Islam" Who are "they"? *THEY* are the ones who start all the wars and get others to fight them. They are always the victim and never the aggressor. They are the ones who will tell you all day all the bad things that happened to them with myriad embellishments, but they'll never tell you what they did to provoke such things. They are the ones who cry out in pain as they strike you. To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you're not allowed to criticize.
@@nigelbrayshaw2709 You missed the main one, and many of their citizens are elected officials in the United States, despite making up only 0.27% of the world's population.
I remember going to see this movie in theaters with my mom and her companion. Even as a kid, I knew that this movie was something special, and I wanted to be a badass just like Trinity. It was my favorite movie for a good 15 years after it came out. Many movies of now can't even hold a candle to the special and practical effects, and even in 2019, this movie remains breathtakingly impressive.
20 years ago I was also into Metal, questioning authority and smoking weed. This film got me through college as I based one of the my art pieces on it. Probably one of the most influential films I saw as a teen, along side Fightclub. Those DVD extras were amaxing too. I still get the selection screen music stuck in my head. Shsme the final one jumped the shark.
I saw the original Matrix with my dad when it was first released in theaters. We were pretty blind going in, and we were both absolutely blown away. To this day, this is a very unique film in the history of cinema - even the sequels were unable to reproduce the effect of the original. It certainly opened doors for special effects, and some of the attempts to use those effects in other films failed miserably. It was an ambitious film that was well ahead of its time. 20 years old, and still mind-bending cool!
My favourite movie of all time, first saw is probably as a 5 year old, now I'm 21 and nothing has changed ! Fantastic action seqeunces and the deeper stuff that I can enjoy now that I'm older.
I watched this when i was 13-14 and i think it took me around 5 or 6 times to understand it. I had no idea about the philosophy etc They did a great job and the cgi holds up better than most of the Marvel and DC movies of today
I'm tearing up watching the scenes from the film at the end of the video. The Matrix changed my life. To this day I still get overwhelmed with emotion every time I watch the dojo scene when Morpheus is trying to teach Neo to transcend his own self-imposed limitations.
You think 20 year old movies are old? When I was young we had to watch movies without sound and there were no colors. By the way, never even heard of the Matrix
@@8005010f "By the way, never even heard of the matrix" Is this sarcasm or are you a liar? Pretty weird video to make such a comment under Title of video: The Matrix (1999) Retrospective / Review
Wow! What a work Oliver! I admire your work so much. With this kind of quality even Warner Bros would not turn you down :)) You deserve 10x more subs. Matrix trilogy is one of my fav out there. It speaks so much about our world today. I've spent years analyzing these movies, and every time there is something new that you catch. I don't understand why people hate sequels. They are essential to understanding the whole story and in order not to hate them, I think that it is essential to come to the story with understanding the philosophy of Matrix.. Matrix is one of the few that speaks about the modern world. I would also include They Live. I just thought would you cover The Warriors and some old WW2 movies like for example The Great Escape? Big fan, I hope to see sequels of Matrix asap! :)))
"They added a green filter effect to the first film to match the sequels." I don't think so. The green effect was there from the beginning. I specifically remember how green the scenes inside the Matrix were when this film was originally in theaters. I even mentioned to my friends how the scenes inside the Matrix are very green and the scenes in the real world are very blue. It's an obvious stylistic choice. I also distinctly remember the second time I watched the film in the theater and specifically looked for the green effect. The print I saw was particularly good and clear and the green was even MORE pronounced. Once again I had a conversation with friends about it and commented that the green effect seemed even more pronounced on this print. If the current remaster desaturates that effect, that's not a choice I can get on board with.
Mandella effect, you're from an alternative universe mate because it was never green for me and I studied film whilst watching it and had to desect every little thing for my major.
I also remember the green filter, specifically in the earlier scenes with Neo before he was awakened. I remember every movie after that had a filter, the Jet Li movie 'The One' had some odd purple filter. Years later I learned that the green filter was to signify the artificial world and contrast it with scenes inside the ship as being the real world.
theblazer it is fairly well known that the green was for every scene inside the matrix to be evocative of old style green text. They purposefully did not use it for all real world scenes. That was part of the original idea and was there since release, not added later.
I love the sequels as well, but they arent masterpieces as the first one. Peter Jackson was so smart to make Lotr all the once, so the quality couldnt drop and the production wasnt influenced by the media and fan expectations.
@@kylemundy8871 I know all about the hobbit. After all these years I found a way to appreciate it, it's really three fun good feel movies that if people could relax their book purist tendencies they would enjoy.
Me and a friend went to see this back in '99 the first weekend it came out (so no hype). It was the first time I'd come out of a cinema and everyone was silent...
@@newbiechu7024 OK let's do that! Adjusted for inflation, the budgets of both movies are about equal. Does it seem reasonable to you that a movie with many, large set pieces and groundbreaking, cutting-edge visual effects has the same budget as a shot-on-resort product-advertisement-in-disguise with no story and nothing but a guy wearing drag and doing a funny voice?
The Matrix had a budget of $60 million? Wow, that’s incredible! It looks like a movie that was over $100 million. It shows you that a movie no matter it’s budget or limitations, can still look flawless and completely blow the majority of modern mainstream blockbuster that have over $100-200 million.
One detail that isn't mentioned is that Warner wasn't convinced about the film when it was pitched and only offered $10 million instead of the $60 million which the Wachowskis asked for. Despite this, the brothers decided to use almost the entire $10 million just to make the opening sequence with Trinity showed it to Warner and very quickly got the rest of the budget they needed to finish the film
It turns that's just movie myth. The scenes weren't shot in the sequence they appeared in the movie, so the movie's intro wasn't shot first. As it turns out, Warner Bros. was getting impatient with how long the movie was taking to get made, so the Wachowskis sent them the first big action scene they shot in order to placate them. www.cbr.com/matrix-budget-opening-scene/amp/
Many things in movies(and videogames) before 9/11 pointed to that date and thoose buildings, coincidence or predictive programming ? I don´t know, you judge. ua-cam.com/video/_AUclXzapJo/v-deo.html
Here's the thing, thousands of pieces of art, be it games, movies, tv shows, books etc gets produced every year. We notice specific dates like 9/11/2001 because of what happened that day but do you give it any credence when dates where nothing happened gets shown on screen? When was the last time you paid attention to the date 8/11/2001 being shown in entertainment? In the opening scene the room Trinity is in is 303 so let's go here www.thepeoplehistory.com/march3rd.html and see what happened on the 3rd of march throughout history. Next numbers on screen is Neo's apartment which is 101 so the first of January. In the last scene of the film the date of Neo's message to the machines is shown as 9-18-99 and nothing special happened that day. And on and on it goes.
I'm glad you gave love to the sequels too. I've noticed they're growing more popular with every new generations. It seems they were actually ahead of their time.
@@bennruda11 Animatrix is not about morphius and how and when he woke to the truth about his reality, and the war that is in the animatrix is a montage, as well as beeing an animation. I'm talking about a live action movie, with us seeing morphius as a young man finding out the truth about his reality and joining or creating the resistance.
uh just to be totally clear, from someone that's been there, "neo's" exact look, from coloring, to hair, to glasses, all of it, has been practically a goth uniform since early vampire masquerade days, prolly earlier....high schools were full of tall, gangly teenagers sporting that exact look thru out the late 80's and 90's. Is likely where half the costume direction in this movie game from...
I recently purchased the Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-ray box set, which featured all 3 movies, plus The Animatrix on Blu-ray and a 2-DVD Databank. I also own the original VHS and DVD releases of the first movie. Even though the color palate of the first movie was changed to match the sequels, it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the movie. On the topic of the sequels, I enjoyed Reloaded more because of the special effects, but the final act of Revolutions is more emotionally gripping, especially with Trinity's death and the final fight scene between Neo and Agent Smith. Although the sequels had their fair share of problems, I still found enjoyment out of them.
This movie changed something inside of me. After watching it in cinema I could not stand up because my legs were shaking. That kind of movie shows once in a long time. Matrix (first instalment) will be remembered.
I'd love to see a live action version of "The second renaissance". I really think that could be pretty amazing. Not sure how you could get a happy ending but I'd still love to see it nonetheless.
The Matrix Reloaded is my favorite of the 3 films, while still acknowledging the first as the best one. The Chateau fight scene is pure awesomeness with the Rob Dougan score.
Reloaded had some great moments. It doesn't tie together as a film as well as it might, it got overblown and The Walchowkis have no idea how to make a tight film any more (which is strange because Bound and Matrix 1 are very tight films). You see this "flabbiness" throughout all of the rest of their career, even if you like some of their films or scenes it's clear they have lost the plot in terms of having a tight plot structure.
I absolutely loved the Animatrix collection. Different art/drawing styles in each, and each tackling a bite-sized chunk of "how" or "why" questions raised in the first film. Really great example of expanded content surrounding a film in my opinion.
Greatest thing about the Matrix, it was before everyone was on the internet. I went with a friend having only “heard it was good.” We them took each of our friends over the next six months, one at a time, and watched them watch the movie 🎥 🍿! Imagine a world where six months after a cinema redefining movie comes out, your college aged friends haven’t heard of it, let alone know any spoilers. And yes, we did the same thing with fight club.
The Matrix was the film that helped me cope with the disappointment of The Phantom Menace. The Lord of the Rings helped me cope with the disappointment of the Matrix sequels.
Agreed..until I came across some fan theories recently. Specifically, that the Oracle was completely pro-machine and anti-humanity and had devised the cunning plan to mislead absolutely everyone in the movie and also the viewers that Neo, the 6th anomaly, was not actually the One but was there as both a decoy and to serve her purpose of changing the arrangement between humans and the machines after the real One had brought about the threat of collapsing the Matrix- that One being Agent Smith. The ending of Revolutions made so much more sense when considered through that lens. Agent Smith was the change that couldn’t be stopped by the machines.
Agree! The Matrix sequels were huge disappointments & to this day epitomize unfulfilled potential. If I were king for a day I would decree remakes of parts 2 & 3 focusing on Neo leading a revolution to disconnect ppl from the Matrix & start civilizations. So many options for intelligent sequels that would continue until this day, almost like a cinematic Dr. Who. 😀
That's a good point actually. I once heard that children like to play with toys that have no expression because it gives them more room to imagine one sort of. But yes, Keanu Reeves was the best person for the role.
Go watch Speed again. I have no Earthly idea why that movie's been so overlooked the past couple decades, but it's easily better than 99.9% of all movies released in the past 10 years.
@@BoozyBeggar Yes, some good movies are turning to get forgotten over the years like TIME COP from 1994 or some of the great classical musicals as BAKER STREET ( the real Sherlock Holmes musical ) or Finnigans Rainbow
@@rogerlynch5279 Eh, Timecop was okay, but Kickboxer and Hard Target are clearly Van Damme's best movies, and both out and out classics in their own rights, imo.
I saw the movie for the first time in 2016 with some knowledge about how the movie turns out and the memes and I still found it original and a very good movie.
Yeah go watch Ghost in the Shell then you can see all the ideas they stole to make the Matrix there isn't a single original thought in The Matrix besides a black character if that's an original thought
0:44 I distinctly remember this in advertisements. I had no idea what the movie was about and much like Neo was wondering “what is The Matrix” as that was a tag line of the movie. That mixed with the bizarre imagery(Neo touching the mirror and it turning into liquid and the girl moving the blocks with her mind) and Morpheus’ vague and cryptic definition of it and *no one can be told what the matrix is....you have to see it for yourself* had me compelled to watch the movie. Masterclass advertising.
Thank you for another amazing retrospective review. One special note I loved: You credit Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story as helping Hollywood learn a really good actor could learn the martial arts skills needed to portray the character. I loved that film because Jason Scott Lee does such a great acting job in it in addition to handling the fight scenes brilliantly.
I was living in Mallorca when this came out and two friends took me to see it in Spanish (which I do speak fortunately) but I hadn't seen anything before not even a trailer so I had no idea what to expect. That first scene where Trinity hovers in the air then runs around the wall instantly made me sit up and pay attention as my initial reaction was "what the fuck's going on here!". I absolutely loved it and was then some time later fortunately in New York the day it was released on dvd so I was straight down the shops to buy it whilst on holiday, it still stands up today despite being 20+ years old, fantastic film. The two sequels were a bit meh though in my opinion, hopefully the new one won't be shit should it ever see the light of day.
@@T3t4nu5 Probably some kind of mind-control coupled with an insatiable porn addiction. I mean, just look at those dudes in the late 90s and imagine how many hours of porn they watch every day. It's obvious enough when watching Bound, to be honest.
Damn! Those first three minutes sum the movie up so well. I got goosebumps when the music shifted and the lobby shooting spree scene started up. Took me right back to my first viewing of this film, its my personal favorite.
I remember downloading a Workprint version of this film long before it hit theaters. I wish I still had it and only recall vague memories of it but there was a lot of audio and visuals missing. It was still awesome to watch.
I think any fan of the film who's seen it more than once will know the dialogue by heart. Same goes with Empire Strikes Back and any of the other famous movie lines that get condensed and corrupted when making it into a meme.
The love story between Neo and Trinity is a huge shortcoming of the trilogy. It’s flaws more evident in the sequels, but there were hints of it in the first film. Another flaw was making Smith the trilogy’s main baddie. I think a Smith should have stayed in all the films, but he should have become something different, not just Super Smith. Seeing the city of Smiths in the final film was laughable and really killed the finale for me.
@Sam Maloney I see what you mean, and that would work if they kept Smith as a single antagonist. As fun as the playground brawl was, it brought in the multiple Smiths, which isn't the worst thing if they had saved that for movie 3, but they went with it in movie 2, so for part 3 there was no escalation. Just more Smiths. It got to the point where it became goofy, especially when they were all just standing there doing nothing. I liked the 3 Agent dynamic. 3 is the perfect number of antagonists: The muscle, the henchman and the main baddie.
@Sam Maloney The first film was poetry. Its a perfect film. The second film was redundant with a few good sequences, but it had some real goofy lines (was it 2 or 3 that suggested glitches were the reason for vampires and werewolves?). The third film... well, what you call poetry I call cliche. No offense to you, but I'm just not a fan of any story that uses a prophecy as a plot point (unless its traditional mythology). I'm glad you enjoy the films so I don't want to talk shit about them- the Matrix trilogy is better than almost everything I see today... except for John Wick.
@Sam Maloney I also liked Revenge of the Sith. There are good films that use prophecies as plot points, so its not like a prophecy plot will make a film irredeemable. it is just a very lazy story telling device and one that, in the first Matrix was tolerable, but as they stretched the premise out across three films, it became weaker. To clarify, in the first film the "prophecy" was a cheap storytelling gag, but it could be dismissed as we didn't fully understand the Matrix, so a prophecy could have meant "a predictable outcome" being that its a computer simulation. By the 3rd film, they went too heavy on the Jesus metaphors and the prophecy aspect was no longer as easy to dismiss because it was now this huge complex "savior story". So allow me to rephrase it: It's not that I dislike films with prophecy plots, but I dislike the story element of a prophecy.
With the way the Matrix did in promotions prior to being released, how it actually did, and how the sequels turned out...I think the Wachowskis didn't anticipate this film to become the hit it did. When it became the cultural phenomenon it did, and WB wanted sequels, it's almost as if they said "Oh great, we got great plans..." to the studio and when alone, "What the hell are we going to do with this?"
This film is amazing 23 years later (coming this April). Looking forward to seeing more retrospectives especially seeing ones for the sequels Reloaded and Revolutions in the future. I will never forget the first time I saw this on AMC back in 2008 and I was blown away by it.
I just found your channel a few days ago, and im hooked atm. Watching every retrospective and so far - everything's been top notch Oliver. Good work, subscribed for more future projects.
Nice retrospective, well narrated and researched. Here's a personal anecdote. I was in Vegas staying at Harrah's back in the day and I ended up too drunk to play blackjack so I went up to my room to pass out. At the time 'The Matrix' had just been released and was in theaters but some of the hotels like Harrah's could rent it right to your room's tv. I sat down, loaded it up thinking I'd pass out. I ended up being completely riveted to the screen and remarking to myself: "this is gonna be an absolutely huge hit". It was a really surreal moment to go with a really surreal film.
It's very simple why Matrix is sellable: because it went for those quasi-philosophical but more like core religious ideas that teenagers can get massively invested in. Something is wrong with the world. There is a truth out there that will make everything make sense and resolve the conflict caused by the struggle of the limited mind trying to model reality. The truth is simple and something that satisfies the ego (you are special, you can have superpowers or be immortal, you are better than the sheep, your fantasies and instincts were right all along). Every teenager goes through a stage where such ideas appeal to them, which is what religions have exploited for ages. Had the reality of the world of the Matrix been more devoid of these elements the intellectual arguments would indeed not have interested anybody, as the studio had feared.
When I first saw The Matrix about 3 years ago, I knew that there was a lot of hype for the movie. I had heard so many good things about the movie, and I was pumped to watch it. When I did, I was really let down by the first 70-80 minutes. I thought to myself, "That's it? A bunch of talk and barely anything happening? This is the movie everyone loves?" But then, once Neo and Trinity head back into the Matrix to get Morpheus, I was on the edge of my seat. The action was incredible, and seeing all the plot threads come together in a percise manner made me appreciate all the build-up. It is without a doubt one of my favorite movies of all time. I am so happy it's free on Amazon now. I watched it a few days ago on March 30th, and I just learned in this video it came out on March 31st, 1999 in the US, so I unkowingly celebrated its 20th anniversary. Great video!
The Matrix was lightning in a bottle. An almost perfect movie. That final scene in which Neo sees the matrix before he destroys Smith still gives me goosebumps.
It has the perfect cast
And it explains the world were in now its a wake up call
Plot twist: he didnt actually destroy smitj
It was an excellent heroes journey film, following the pattern Joseph Campbell discusses in his work, the sequels didn't bother following any of the classical archetypes and became eye candy set pieces and fights sandwiched in-between dense philosophical babble, I'm of the camp that just pretends the sequels don't exist.
The moment after Neo destroys Smith, where he flexs and the world around him flexs as well, was always my goosebump moment. It was an excellent way to show how world-bendingly powerful The One was. Unfortunately that had to be walked back a bit in the sequels.
Honestly, Hugo Weaving was about 40% of this film.
Every single line had you pay attention to every word.
You could argue that it’s all writing, but his body language and timing is UNMATCHED!
50/50. Writing can hurt delivery, and vice versa, but both were ON POINT
Between the Matrix movies and the LOTR trilogy, Weaving had a stellar few years at the start of the new millennium. His face and voice was everywhere for a while, and I loved every second of it.
@@martynstembridge7714
Even just his voice and physical acting in V for Vendetta is masterful. In fact, hearing his real voice is really quite jarring now lol.
@@martynstembridge7714 dont forget v for vendetta. He is iconic.
@@STUCASHX actors are really masters at deception on the low lol. I didnt know until LAST YEAR that Mel Gibson was Australian
You know that a film is iconic and influential if it's STILL analyzed more than 20 years later...
literally every Kubrick movie, lol.
Agent Smith telling Morpheus that he hates being stuck in the Matrix in the presence of humans because of 'the smell' is one of the best villain monologues ever. Hugo Weaving did an incredible job with Smith, I really think his performance is what makes that character and, by extension, the film as a whole so timeless and iconic.
I'm gutted he's not in matrix: Res
I thought that scene was brilliant. You know it’s shit when the AI is even annoyed 😂. I hadn’t watched it before and as soon as I watched it, I wanted to review it.
@@TheReelDealFilmReviews another brilliant thing about the monologue is that if he finds the scent of humans inescapable, something we only really ever notice at the extremes, it hints at just how overly attuned his senses are compared to us, without directly explaining it to the audience.
So it helps to explain their ability to dodge bullets etc making it subconsciously more believable and the agents more threatening to the audience without us even knowing.
@@RichardVSmall Agent Smith is indeed the perfect villain. Your analysis is great 😊. I would be really grateful if you watched my review to see if you agree with my analysis.
A rare movie crammed with cgi that actually has a gripping story. I told my 4 daughters that the matrix was my Star Wars.
FACTS!!!!!!
Wouldn't say it's crammed with cgi whatsoever man
@@hcaz5818 the sequels on the other hand 😅
Most of it was in camera
@@hcaz5818 I think the same, it was mostly done on camera, not in CGI.
the Matrix captured the vibe of the late 90s perfectly. counter culture and conspiracy theories mixed with trench coats and guns. It was the film we needed at the time. hard to believe it did so well considering the abysmal marketing. I remember watching a couple promos on tv, it looked very strange, and had no appeal. but after seeing the film at a friends house I was hooked. it was world altering at the time. to this day it stands alone, never to be matched or equaled.
The Matrix is like the iPhone for the 2000s, everything about that decade just came together in one package
One day the studio will f**k it up and make a re-boot or sequel or prequel.
@@DaleBouwman yeah, the M4 is coming which is a bitch.
@bluemonkey223 are you crazy? Once that bullet time was showed, especially of Neo on the roof doing the limbo, the movie was sold.
For me this was the movie a family member used to showcase their new DVD player and a 60" CRT big screen tv (the ones with pixels that you could fucking see with your eye - given it was still standard def).
It was glorious.
Being a Sydney resident, it’s always fun walking through Martin Place where Neo spotted the lady in the red dress. 🇦🇺
What lady?
Carl Wilson l was in Sydney while they were filming reloaded and l walked passed Lawrence fishburne...he smiled at me, probably cause lm a bit weird-looking, and l knew l knew him from somewhere but l thought maybe just a personality from my hometown or smth...and it hit me! Felt really good. In 99 l thought l was the ONE...l did a lot of pot 😂
@Ben Bla Ahhh, much edgy and cynical.
You think you are walking the streets of Sydney ?.... hmm...
@Ben Bla they might be Hollywood assholes (or bitches now) but at least they have accomplished making the Matrix that changed the landscape of modern cinema.... you just seem like a bitter asshole that jumps on peoples comments for no reason, pretty pathetic.
Keanu was recovering from neck surgery and still trained. Dude is a dedicated beast... Simply amazing.
Or alot of pain killers.
Keanu "is a man of focus, commitment ... sheer will. Something you know very little about." :D
He even gave his earnings from this movie to other people who worked on it but weren't paid that much. I have huge respect for him and have grown up on him most of my life.
In an interview for John Wick 3, Keanu said he loved learning the moves for the fight scenes and remembered it fondly. Whatever people say about his acting, you can't say the man isn't dedicated.
Great Vid .. I don't want to troll .. but KR was perfect for the role:
The Matrix itself remains the central character of this entire story.
No "actor" ever takes "position" above The Matrix (yeah, Hugo did do well with LOTR)
What other stories have you ever heard where "The Story" is "The Star" ?
The original Matrix is so far above and beyond what any of the sequels could hope to be, it may as well be another reality.
This is the only movie that I've ever walked out of the theater before with the feeling that what I just watched just blew my mind. Haven't experienced anything like it since.
Aliens made me feel the same way
same man… i was 13 in 99’… changed my mind/life completely… actually braced me to what was to come really…
Interstellar
@@stefenjordan968just to be clear when you say “Aliens” with an “S” you’re talking about the 2nd film the sequel to “Alien”?
@@LiLTailormade that is correct
The Matrix was EXACTLY the reason I got a DVD player and started collecting movies.
I bought the Matrix dvd before I had bought a DVD player. :D
Fitting to start with a movie about a digital simulation on a digital format.
Same here.
Omg , same for me!!! I got Fight Club as my second DVD.
@@HliasPsinakis Fight Club was definitely a milestone. That dvd was packed with great stuff. the PSAs and all the different commentary tracks. I remember counting the days for that one.
interesting tidbit: I have a vhs copy of the Fight Club work print. It has a different soundtrack and some alternate scenes and shit, but before the dvd finally came out, it was all I watched.
Still remember the day I saw it in the theatre. Never heard anything about it until that day and was completely blown away. I was spending the night at my best friends house and woke up with a cold. His dad took us to the movie and I was so enthralled it totally felt like I wasn’t sick anymore. What a memorable film
I loved how the matrix was marketed as a puzzle and revealed nothing. We were dropped into the movie like Neo, into this exciting world of mystery and intrigue. Amazing.
This is by far my favorite movie of all time. Literally the closest thing to a perfect film that could ever exist, in my humble opinion. When I try to explain to other people the reasons why this movie is one of the greatest ever, it's hard for me to put into words (without using the classic line "unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself"), but I think this video essay does a brilliant job of it. I learned a few things watching this and it was awesome hearing you hit on all the points about this movie that I also loved, and why it's so amazing. I really appreciate you making this video. Thank you
Most people say this is one of the best movies ever made but never list what movie is the best of all time because there is non other than the matrix number one.
Its one of the best because its true were living in a matrix type system pay attention
Still its not the best ever. It is one of the best ever. I would say the best ever movie is Lawrence of Arabia. Check the making of if you already watched the movie. The scope of this movie is unmatched.
@@HILAL19564 Those are classical pieces in film. I like the clsssicsl structure,but because of the time the whole movie that way.
The Matrix follows great classical structure and subverts it at the same time. It’s unique in so many ways.
I'd say the original Matrix and Back to the Future are about as close as it can get.
The first film I saw Hugo Weaving in was ‘Priscilla, Queen of the desert’ and then I saw this - I didn’t even recognise him. Weaving is hella underrated.
Star Wars as well and Lord of The Rings
a true actor
@@reason2look and Red Skull in the MCU
Solid actor, Elrond and Smith were excellent.
@@ngmajora6986 he was also V in V for Vendetta
Crazy to think that this movie is 20 years old!
And Keanu Reeves has since then barely aged a day.
@@hindsightpov4218 Speaking of Keanu, I'm so happy to see him and Laurence Fishburne onscreen together again in John Wick 3.
He's added a personal Forever young- mod into the matrix code.
This movie has existed literally half my life.
That (almost) twenty years has flown by ridiculously fast.
This changed action cinema, shame Dark City couldn't get the same praise. It was such a great film
You the real hero.
@@deadeyedmillennialmedia I love Dark City.
Dark City is a fantastic movie!
Dark City is awesome and very underrated. It's a shame the directors cut is not available on bluray in germany, even today... what the f?!
But did you notice the Dark City soundtrack in this video?
The animatrix was really good companion material to the trilogy
Agreed, it's pretty fantastic.
agreed...many of the companion stories are simply mesmerising if not hauntingly beautiful
You might say that it´s the only other good Matrix film... despite having at least one total turd with the last and longest segment.
Exactly, the 1st and 2nd renaissance are arguably superior to the 2nd and 3rd films.
nopy99 world record (Takeshi Koike), program (Yoshiaki Kawajiri) and beyond (Koji Morimoto) are regularly replayed in my household!
One of my favorite movies of all time. Simply, a masterpiece!
You're god damn right
To think that a young upcoming actor in the 1980s that starred in numerous teen rolls would one day land a part in the matrix truly amazing
The Matrix might've been the start of my insatiable craving and passion for sci-fi and dark philosophical concepts since I was a teenager. The dedication of the crew and cast is incredible and it shows. Every time I see something Matrix related (not the sequels though), it makes me happy. That's an accomplishment to leave such an impression for years afterwards.
me too!
btw do you know its most likely we do live in simulation? Probability theory.
@@prolamer7 really please could you explain further, about you're simulation theory?.
@@unknownninja1 It is not fully mine :) but think about this way. You have 1 real universe and in it like billions of simulated universes because we know it is possible with powerful enough computers. So probability says we live in simulation not real universe.
Good side might be this - if it is true there is way to roll back time bring back dead or like anything... but then well we be big bad Ai.
I was a kid when I first watched it on home video n I was blown away by it. I didn't understand the story my English was poor but it was one of the best experience of my life.
Same
That is because the story is garbage. plot holes, a messias, yawn
The sequels had two things going for them, both of which belonged to Monica Bellucci.
@@vietnamd0820 she's a dude just like the whichowskis used to be. No bs
@@lastofthebrohicans4998 Yeah and the Earth is flat and the moon is made of cheese.
@@lastofthebrohicans4998 Then she's a gorgeous dude. No changing that.
I must say that was one hell of a comment even tho I enjoy the sequels :)
Her personality and her sense of humour?
My GOD, I'm glad that I don't live in a parallel universe where Janet Jackson played Trinity.
but sadly we are in the one where all those other shitty actors ended up in the two sequels.
Just imagine if Will Smith played Neo, that may be even worse lol.
@@Mektek19 Though imagine the music video that could have happened.
ddnt Jada Pinkt act roL part of Niobe
This film almost starred Will Smith, Sean Connery and Janet Jackson! THAT would’ve been a SERIOUSLY FUCKED UP movie!
Amazing how many terms & concepts from this movie have found there way into mainstream vernacular (Glitch in the Matrix, Red-pilled, bullet time, wire-fu, etc.)
THE SCORE... WOW... I will never forget this shit booming through the theatre. That Rage song about MLK and Malcolm at the end credits punctuated the end and I knew right then, I would never experience something like this film again.
There is NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like The Matrix in cinematic experiences since it screened
"Ya know they went after King when he spoke out on Vietnam"
"Ya know they murdered X, and tried ta blame it on Islam"
Who are "they"?
*THEY* are the ones who start all the wars and get others to fight them. They are always the victim and never the aggressor. They are the ones who will tell you all day all the bad things that happened to them with myriad embellishments, but they'll never tell you what they did to provoke such things. They are the ones who cry out in pain as they strike you.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you're not allowed to criticize.
@@BoozyBeggar You're not allowed to criticize Islam, socialism, women, transexuals, gays or 'people of colour' that's for sure.
@@nigelbrayshaw2709 You missed the main one, and many of their citizens are elected officials in the United States, despite making up only 0.27% of the world's population.
Especially with matrix reloaded. That had great credits songs
Always love when you come out with a Retrospective, they are very well done!
Don Davis' score is still unparalleled since the Matrix came out. Dissonant, jarring and entirely appropriate.
I remember going to see this movie in theaters with my mom and her companion. Even as a kid, I knew that this movie was something special, and I wanted to be a badass just like Trinity. It was my favorite movie for a good 15 years after it came out. Many movies of now can't even hold a candle to the special and practical effects, and even in 2019, this movie remains breathtakingly impressive.
20 years ago I was also into Metal, questioning authority and smoking weed. This film got me through college as I based one of the my art pieces on it. Probably one of the most influential films I saw as a teen, along side Fightclub. Those DVD extras were amaxing too. I still get the selection screen music stuck in my head. Shsme the final one jumped the shark.
I saw the original Matrix with my dad when it was first released in theaters. We were pretty blind going in, and we were both absolutely blown away. To this day, this is a very unique film in the history of cinema - even the sequels were unable to reproduce the effect of the original. It certainly opened doors for special effects, and some of the attempts to use those effects in other films failed miserably. It was an ambitious film that was well ahead of its time. 20 years old, and still mind-bending cool!
this movie is on my top ten list of best movies of my life
fool
@@nyoodmono4681 Its called an opinion.
My favourite movie of all time, first saw is probably as a 5 year old, now I'm 21 and nothing has changed ! Fantastic action seqeunces and the deeper stuff that I can enjoy now that I'm older.
I first saw the matrix back in 1999 as a 10 year old. Now I'm 30 and nothing has changed my love for my greatest trilogy of all time!!!!!!
I watched this when i was 13-14 and i think it took me around 5 or 6 times to understand it. I had no idea about the philosophy etc
They did a great job and the cgi holds up better than most of the Marvel and DC movies of today
There isn’t anything Marvel has ever made or ever will make that will be better than this film.
@jool5941 only ment the fx
Same. I saw it first around that age. Thought it was cool but didn’t quite grasp the concepts until more viewings
I'm tearing up watching the scenes from the film at the end of the video. The Matrix changed my life. To this day I still get overwhelmed with emotion every time I watch the dojo scene when Morpheus is trying to teach Neo to transcend his own self-imposed limitations.
The matrix is 20 years old. I am officially old as dirt.
I’m 25 and saw this movie when it came out on dvd. Still one the greatest movies I’ve ever seen.
You think 20 year old movies are old? When I was young we had to watch movies without sound and there were no colors. By the way, never even heard of the Matrix
I was 27 when I saw it lol I don't feel that old though. Just got my first Greg hair's
@@8005010f "By the way, never even heard of the matrix" Is this sarcasm or are you a liar? Pretty weird video to make such a comment under
Title of video: The Matrix (1999) Retrospective / Review
I routinely talk to people where pivotal art is at the 40 years bracket. Fuck feeling old, eat that shit up man.
Wow! What a work Oliver! I admire your work so much. With this kind of quality even Warner Bros would not turn you down :))
You deserve 10x more subs.
Matrix trilogy is one of my fav out there. It speaks so much about our world today. I've spent years analyzing these movies, and every time there is something new that you catch. I don't understand why people hate sequels. They are essential to understanding the whole story and in order not to hate them, I think that it is essential to come to the story with understanding the philosophy of Matrix.. Matrix is one of the few that speaks about the modern world. I would also include They Live.
I just thought would you cover The Warriors and some old WW2 movies like for example The Great Escape?
Big fan, I hope to see sequels of Matrix asap! :)))
1999 i was reborn after watching the matrix
"They added a green filter effect to the first film to match the sequels." I don't think so. The green effect was there from the beginning. I specifically remember how green the scenes inside the Matrix were when this film was originally in theaters. I even mentioned to my friends how the scenes inside the Matrix are very green and the scenes in the real world are very blue. It's an obvious stylistic choice. I also distinctly remember the second time I watched the film in the theater and specifically looked for the green effect. The print I saw was particularly good and clear and the green was even MORE pronounced. Once again I had a conversation with friends about it and commented that the green effect seemed even more pronounced on this print. If the current remaster desaturates that effect, that's not a choice I can get on board with.
Mandella effect, you're from an alternative universe mate because it was never green for me and I studied film whilst watching it and had to desect every little thing for my major.
I also remember the green filter, specifically in the earlier scenes with Neo before he was awakened. I remember every movie after that had a filter, the Jet Li movie 'The One' had some odd purple filter.
Years later I learned that the green filter was to signify the artificial world and contrast it with scenes inside the ship as being the real world.
theblazer it is fairly well known that the green was for every scene inside the matrix to be evocative of old style green text. They purposefully did not use it for all real world scenes. That was part of the original idea and was there since release, not added later.
@@annon123 The green filter was accentuated for the DVD release, but was there from the beginning to a certain extent.
I love the sequels as well, but they arent masterpieces as the first one. Peter Jackson was so smart to make Lotr all the once, so the quality couldnt drop and the production wasnt influenced by the media and fan expectations.
But also, lotr was one story.
He had tons of source material. The sequels were wayyy too long which was a by product of having a huge budget and long crew commitments.
Yes. The hobbit sequels got ruined by warner
Lindsay Ellis does an amazing "Hobbit autopsy" video. It'll better explain why they weren't good.
@@kylemundy8871 I know all about the hobbit. After all these years I found a way to appreciate it, it's really three fun good feel movies that if people could relax their book purist tendencies they would enjoy.
Really one of my favorite scifi movies. After 20 years, it never gets old.
Oh nostalgia is strong with this one.
Thank you, Oliver😁
Me and a friend went to see this back in '99 the first weekend it came out (so no hype). It was the first time I'd come out of a cinema and everyone was silent...
Budget for _The Matrix:_ $60 million
Budget for _Jack and Jill:_ $79 million
...
WTF!?
Take in mind the different rate of inflation.
another speakings before thinkingness time
@@newbiechu7024 OK let's do that! Adjusted for inflation, the budgets of both movies are about equal. Does it seem reasonable to you that a movie with many, large set pieces and groundbreaking, cutting-edge visual effects has the same budget as a shot-on-resort product-advertisement-in-disguise with no story and nothing but a guy wearing drag and doing a funny voice?
Money laundering.
The Matrix had a budget of $60 million? Wow, that’s incredible! It looks like a movie that was over $100 million. It shows you that a movie no matter it’s budget or limitations, can still look flawless and completely blow the majority of modern mainstream blockbuster that have over $100-200 million.
First time I saw The Matrix, after I walked out of the cinema, I felt like I could kick everyone's ass. It was that awesome.
"It's not easy being green." - K.T. Frog.
Thank you for making this. My favorite movie of all time, and I don't just say that about every movie I like. This is #1!
One detail that isn't mentioned is that Warner wasn't convinced about the film when it was pitched and only offered $10 million instead of the $60 million which the Wachowskis asked for. Despite this, the brothers decided to use almost the entire $10 million just to make the opening sequence with Trinity showed it to Warner and very quickly got the rest of the budget they needed to finish the film
It turns that's just movie myth. The scenes weren't shot in the sequence they appeared in the movie, so the movie's intro wasn't shot first.
As it turns out, Warner Bros. was getting impatient with how long the movie was taking to get made, so the Wachowskis sent them the first big action scene they shot in order to placate them.
www.cbr.com/matrix-budget-opening-scene/amp/
@Yoshi5020
Yeah, that's what I meant LOL. Thanks for clarifying.
FOR SIX YEARS NOW I’ve been saying you need to be one of the big guns here on UA-cam. This video PROVES that.
He is the One!
that last gonetage felt me in shambles.. chills.. chills all over. and now i am trying to pick up pieces of myself off the floor
Your editing at the beginning and end of the video are fantastic - perfect trailers.
Neo's driving license expires 9/11/2001
Woah
Lewis Davidson I read that in Keanu’s voice, lol.
Many things in movies(and videogames) before 9/11 pointed to that date and thoose buildings, coincidence or predictive programming ? I don´t know, you judge.
ua-cam.com/video/_AUclXzapJo/v-deo.html
Henrik Larsson - It’s definitely Predictive Programming. Also I been subbed to ODD TV for years one of my favorite channels to get information from.
Here's the thing, thousands of pieces of art, be it games, movies, tv shows, books etc gets produced every year. We notice specific dates like 9/11/2001 because of what happened that day but do you give it any credence when dates where nothing happened gets shown on screen? When was the last time you paid attention to the date 8/11/2001 being shown in entertainment?
In the opening scene the room Trinity is in is 303 so let's go here www.thepeoplehistory.com/march3rd.html and see what happened on the 3rd of march throughout history. Next numbers on screen is Neo's apartment which is 101 so the first of January. In the last scene of the film the date of Neo's message to the machines is shown as 9-18-99 and nothing special happened that day. And on and on it goes.
One of the best sci-fi movies ever made. Great pacing, theme, art design, action and story. Sad that the accompanying media tarnished its reputation.
@michael cooper Yes indeed it is a documentary
I'm glad you gave love to the sequels too. I've noticed they're growing more popular with every new generations. It seems they were actually ahead of their time.
I LOVE your STYLISH trailer-cuts of the movies at the beginning of every retrospective video.. this one's was by far the coolest.. 😊
I'd rather a prequel then a reboot, one about morphius, or one at the start of the war with the machines
Animatrix
Fallen Devonish its called the "Animatrix"
@@bennruda11 "Bless all forms of intelligence."
@@bennruda11 Animatrix is not about morphius and how and when he woke to the truth about his reality, and the war that is in the animatrix is a montage, as well as beeing an animation. I'm talking about a live action movie, with us seeing morphius as a young man finding out the truth about his reality and joining or creating the resistance.
I agree
uh just to be totally clear, from someone that's been there, "neo's" exact look, from coloring, to hair, to glasses, all of it, has been practically a goth uniform since early vampire masquerade days, prolly earlier....high schools were full of tall, gangly teenagers sporting that exact look thru out the late 80's and 90's. Is likely where half the costume direction in this movie game from...
kaz - You are 100% correct. I used to see them all the time as a kid.
vampire masquerade oh man another classic....
I recently purchased the Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-ray box set, which featured all 3 movies, plus The Animatrix on Blu-ray and a 2-DVD Databank. I also own the original VHS and DVD releases of the first movie. Even though the color palate of the first movie was changed to match the sequels, it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the movie. On the topic of the sequels, I enjoyed Reloaded more because of the special effects, but the final act of Revolutions is more emotionally gripping, especially with Trinity's death and the final fight scene between Neo and Agent Smith. Although the sequels had their fair share of problems, I still found enjoyment out of them.
This movie changed something inside of me. After watching it in cinema I could not stand up because my legs were shaking. That kind of movie shows once in a long time. Matrix (first instalment) will be remembered.
I'd love to see a live action version of "The second renaissance". I really think that could be pretty amazing. Not sure how you could get a happy ending but I'd still love to see it nonetheless.
The Matrix Reloaded is my favorite of the 3 films, while still acknowledging the first as the best one. The Chateau fight scene is pure awesomeness with the Rob Dougan score.
disagree, its the worst imo
Reloaded had some great moments. It doesn't tie together as a film as well as it might, it got overblown and The Walchowkis have no idea how to make a tight film any more (which is strange because Bound and Matrix 1 are very tight films). You see this "flabbiness" throughout all of the rest of their career, even if you like some of their films or scenes it's clear they have lost the plot in terms of having a tight plot structure.
@@survivaloftheidiots6239 sucks to be you
@@darthkek1953 wtf are you talking about
@@philchickenfingers1190 this guy goes into good detail : ua-cam.com/video/Mp6YyIybmhc/v-deo.html
16:37 You forgot the best implementation of bullet time parody - ‘Kung Pow: Enter the Fist’!
I absolutely loved the Animatrix collection. Different art/drawing styles in each, and each tackling a bite-sized chunk of "how" or "why" questions raised in the first film. Really great example of expanded content surrounding a film in my opinion.
Most interesting story was Imatriculation.
Greatest thing about the Matrix, it was before everyone was on the internet. I went with a friend having only “heard it was good.”
We them took each of our friends over the next six months, one at a time, and watched them watch the movie 🎥 🍿!
Imagine a world where six months after a cinema redefining movie comes out, your college aged friends haven’t heard of it, let alone know any spoilers.
And yes, we did the same thing with fight club.
The Matrix was the film that helped me cope with the disappointment of The Phantom Menace.
The Lord of the Rings helped me cope with the disappointment of the Matrix sequels.
Agreed..until I came across some fan theories recently. Specifically, that the Oracle was completely pro-machine and anti-humanity and had devised the cunning plan to mislead absolutely everyone in the movie and also the viewers that Neo, the 6th anomaly, was not actually the One but was there as both a decoy and to serve her purpose of changing the arrangement between humans and the machines after the real One had brought about the threat of collapsing the Matrix- that One being Agent Smith. The ending of Revolutions made so much more sense when considered through that lens. Agent Smith was the change that couldn’t be stopped by the machines.
@@joewhittle801 well put my friend.
Agree! The Matrix sequels were huge disappointments & to this day epitomize unfulfilled potential. If I were king for a day I would decree remakes of parts 2 & 3 focusing on Neo leading a revolution to disconnect ppl from the Matrix & start civilizations. So many options for intelligent sequels that would continue until this day, almost like a cinematic Dr. Who. 😀
Then oblivion come out
The Matrix sequels are infinitely more interesting than the Lord of the Rings.
The first Matrix is one of my all time favorite movies.
Keanu Reeves bland character is perfect for projecting yourself into the world of the matrix.
That's a good point actually. I once heard that children like to play with toys that have no expression because it gives them more room to imagine one sort of.
But yes, Keanu Reeves was the best person for the role.
Go watch Speed again. I have no Earthly idea why that movie's been so overlooked the past couple decades, but it's easily better than 99.9% of all movies released in the past 10 years.
@@BoozyBeggar Yes, some good movies are turning to get forgotten over the years like TIME COP from 1994 or some of the great classical musicals as BAKER STREET ( the real Sherlock Holmes musical ) or Finnigans Rainbow
@@rogerlynch5279 Eh, Timecop was okay, but Kickboxer and Hard Target are clearly Van Damme's best movies, and both out and out classics in their own rights, imo.
That is a good point but sometimes less dialogue from a character can be better.
Cannot believe the “The Matrix” is over 20 yrs old.
25 years
Watched this in 2001 with my dad, we were beyond amazed at what we were watching.
10:17 it's so funny to see deadly agents holding hands and behaving so wholesomely
I love this - it makes me so nostalgic. Even though the 2nd and 3rd films aren't perfect, I still enjoy them very much as well.
I saw the movie for the first time in 2016 with some knowledge about how the movie turns out and the memes and I still found it original and a very good movie.
I saw it in the Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood when this movie first came out. It was an awesome experience all around.
Did you watch the sequels?
Yeah go watch Ghost in the Shell then you can see all the ideas they stole to make the Matrix there isn't a single original thought in The Matrix besides a black character if that's an original thought
@@821lancevance
lmao great name
@@johnq4951 nah iv heard they each decline in quality and I'm too lazy to go look for them.
Bound is great. "Corky, I need your help."
0:44 I distinctly remember this in advertisements. I had no idea what the movie was about and much like Neo was wondering “what is The Matrix” as that was a tag line of the movie. That mixed with the bizarre imagery(Neo touching the mirror and it turning into liquid and the girl moving the blocks with her mind) and Morpheus’ vague and cryptic definition of it and *no one can be told what the matrix is....you have to see it for yourself* had me compelled to watch the movie. Masterclass advertising.
Thank you for another amazing retrospective review. One special note I loved: You credit Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story as helping Hollywood learn a really good actor could learn the martial arts skills needed to portray the character. I loved that film because Jason Scott Lee does such a great acting job in it in addition to handling the fight scenes brilliantly.
I was living in Mallorca when this came out and two friends took me to see it in Spanish (which I do speak fortunately) but I hadn't seen anything before not even a trailer so I had no idea what to expect. That first scene where Trinity hovers in the air then runs around the wall instantly made me sit up and pay attention as my initial reaction was "what the fuck's going on here!". I absolutely loved it and was then some time later fortunately in New York the day it was released on dvd so I was straight down the shops to buy it whilst on holiday, it still stands up today despite being 20+ years old, fantastic film. The two sequels were a bit meh though in my opinion, hopefully the new one won't be shit should it ever see the light of day.
The fact that this is so good but all the sequels sucked shows that old Internet myth that the story was stolen may not be a myth after all.
Crazy to think that when I first saw the movie, the Wachowskis were still brothers... 😏😂
..they still are. their utter self loathing doesn't change reality. Period
@@T3t4nu5 Probably some kind of mind-control coupled with an insatiable porn addiction. I mean, just look at those dudes in the late 90s and imagine how many hours of porn they watch every day. It's obvious enough when watching Bound, to be honest.
can we just say that this man is editing god man I always love how you make your trailers for the you are doing reviews.
Damn! Those first three minutes sum the movie up so well. I got goosebumps when the music shifted and the lobby shooting spree scene started up. Took me right back to my first viewing of this film, its my personal favorite.
I remember downloading a Workprint version of this film long before it hit theaters. I wish I still had it and only recall vague memories of it but there was a lot of audio and visuals missing. It was still awesome to watch.
Wow that’s amazing
This and the Blair Witch Project.
What if I told you Morpheus never said "what if I told you..."?
M.E.
I think any fan of the film who's seen it more than once will know the dialogue by heart. Same goes with Empire Strikes Back and any of the other famous movie lines that get condensed and corrupted when making it into a meme.
The love story between Neo and Trinity is a huge shortcoming of the trilogy. It’s flaws more evident in the sequels, but there were hints of it in the first film. Another flaw was making Smith the trilogy’s main baddie. I think a Smith should have stayed in all the films, but he should have become something different, not just Super Smith. Seeing the city of Smiths in the final film was laughable and really killed the finale for me.
@Sam Maloney I see what you mean, and that would work if they kept Smith as a single antagonist. As fun as the playground brawl was, it brought in the multiple Smiths, which isn't the worst thing if they had saved that for movie 3, but they went with it in movie 2, so for part 3 there was no escalation. Just more Smiths. It got to the point where it became goofy, especially when they were all just standing there doing nothing.
I liked the 3 Agent dynamic. 3 is the perfect number of antagonists: The muscle, the henchman and the main baddie.
@Sam Maloney The first film was poetry. Its a perfect film. The second film was redundant with a few good sequences, but it had some real goofy lines (was it 2 or 3 that suggested glitches were the reason for vampires and werewolves?). The third film... well, what you call poetry I call cliche. No offense to you, but I'm just not a fan of any story that uses a prophecy as a plot point (unless its traditional mythology). I'm glad you enjoy the films so I don't want to talk shit about them- the Matrix trilogy is better than almost everything I see today... except for John Wick.
@Sam Maloney I also liked Revenge of the Sith. There are good films that use prophecies as plot points, so its not like a prophecy plot will make a film irredeemable. it is just a very lazy story telling device and one that, in the first Matrix was tolerable, but as they stretched the premise out across three films, it became weaker.
To clarify, in the first film the "prophecy" was a cheap storytelling gag, but it could be dismissed as we didn't fully understand the Matrix, so a prophecy could have meant "a predictable outcome" being that its a computer simulation. By the 3rd film, they went too heavy on the Jesus metaphors and the prophecy aspect was no longer as easy to dismiss because it was now this huge complex "savior story".
So allow me to rephrase it: It's not that I dislike films with prophecy plots, but I dislike the story element of a prophecy.
My man! Wonderful job ! Super comprehensive and thorough recopilation of all things Matrix. Congrats ;)
I've seen this movie probably 100 times and can quote it to a T, and that end trailer you made still got me hyped to watch it again. Nicely done.
This was one of the most important films ever made. Nothing since Star Wars inspired culture like this movie did.
A perfect scifi movie. I still remeber the day i watched it in the cinema.
With the way the Matrix did in promotions prior to being released, how it actually did, and how the sequels turned out...I think the Wachowskis didn't anticipate this film to become the hit it did. When it became the cultural phenomenon it did, and WB wanted sequels, it's almost as if they said "Oh great, we got great plans..." to the studio and when alone, "What the hell are we going to do with this?"
The Wachowskis wrote it as a trilogy.
Yeah you’re wrong
Sorry guys, not changing my mind here. But the fourth film was not bad actually.
The alternate casting for this is so interesting. And yes it was one of the first DVDs that I did half
This film is amazing 23 years later (coming this April). Looking forward to seeing more retrospectives especially seeing ones for the sequels Reloaded and Revolutions in the future. I will never forget the first time I saw this on AMC back in 2008 and I was blown away by it.
This film has everything.
One of the greatest films of all time imo.
And this is how you make a movie blood, sweat and tears.
I just found your channel a few days ago, and im hooked atm. Watching every retrospective and so far - everything's been top notch Oliver.
Good work, subscribed for more future projects.
Nice retrospective, well narrated and researched.
Here's a personal anecdote.
I was in Vegas staying at Harrah's back in the day and I ended up too drunk to play blackjack so I went up to my room to pass out.
At the time 'The Matrix' had just been released and was in theaters but some of the hotels like Harrah's could rent it right to your room's tv.
I sat down, loaded it up thinking I'd pass out.
I ended up being completely riveted to the screen and remarking to myself:
"this is gonna be an absolutely huge hit".
It was a really surreal moment to go with a really surreal film.
20:06 Progidy is one of my favorite bands.
07:56 Janet as Trinity could've single-handedly destroyed the whole trilogy
To be fair that would have saved us from watching the 2 sequels destroy the trilogy.
It's very simple why Matrix is sellable: because it went for those quasi-philosophical but more like core religious ideas that teenagers can get massively invested in. Something is wrong with the world. There is a truth out there that will make everything make sense and resolve the conflict caused by the struggle of the limited mind trying to model reality. The truth is simple and something that satisfies the ego (you are special, you can have superpowers or be immortal, you are better than the sheep, your fantasies and instincts were right all along). Every teenager goes through a stage where such ideas appeal to them, which is what religions have exploited for ages. Had the reality of the world of the Matrix been more devoid of these elements the intellectual arguments would indeed not have interested anybody, as the studio had feared.
When I first saw The Matrix about 3 years ago, I knew that there was a lot of hype for the movie. I had heard so many good things about the movie, and I was pumped to watch it. When I did, I was really let down by the first 70-80 minutes. I thought to myself, "That's it? A bunch of talk and barely anything happening? This is the movie everyone loves?" But then, once Neo and Trinity head back into the Matrix to get Morpheus, I was on the edge of my seat. The action was incredible, and seeing all the plot threads come together in a percise manner made me appreciate all the build-up. It is without a doubt one of my favorite movies of all time. I am so happy it's free on Amazon now. I watched it a few days ago on March 30th, and I just learned in this video it came out on March 31st, 1999 in the US, so I unkowingly celebrated its 20th anniversary. Great video!
Top video again Oliver.
Please don't refer to 1999 as the 'early days of the internet' - I first used the 'net in 1984/85 - you're making me feel old!