The theory of the Matrix (only spoilers if you know nothing about the first film, and if that's true you SUXOR)

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Ok, so I'm watching the first Matrix, right, and I'm sitting here thinking, why? Why on earth is the real world preferable to the Matrix to Morpheus? I mean, I'd be like, Morpheus, go fuck yourself, I don't want to play your stupid war and eat gruel and battle robots and live in the world without a sun, I'd rather live in the Matrix. It seems like it's a good thing, and it's not like the alien fiends are really doing anything harmful to the humans. You live in a nice world, they get energy from you. It's a win-win situation!

I mean, obviously, I'll never discover a new country with an attitude like that, but still.

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 31 May 2003 00:30 (twenty years ago) link

better raves in Zion

slutsky (slutsky), Saturday, 31 May 2003 00:50 (twenty years ago) link

THat's basically what the bald dude ended up saying though, right?

When he was eating that wonderful looking steak and drinking that red wine, I was thinking, you know - I might do the same thing!!

Well, except for the whole betraying your friends thing.

That was the whole point of all the warnings that Morpheus gives to Keanu about eating the pill, right? Like, he gives Keanu the chance to not achieve knowledge of the way the world truly worked, and to continue to live life in the Matrix. That's the problem, once you know, you become one of the small community of people who do know, so you can't really go back without betraying your friends.

Mr. Diamond (diamond), Saturday, 31 May 2003 00:51 (twenty years ago) link

Just like ILX!

slutsky (slutsky), Saturday, 31 May 2003 00:52 (twenty years ago) link

ideologically you're right, but in re: the subject line...that movie is only good for its ideas & the special effects, everything else about it is k-lame

J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Saturday, 31 May 2003 01:09 (twenty years ago) link

Live in a nice fake reality and not know or live in shit but it's your shit and you know it. It's the existential conundrum, grasp the freedom to choose and lose comfort and perceived safety or be safe, have comfort, but never be able to decide. Is the illusion of decision and freedom enough? Cos Neo knew it was fake even before Trinity and Morpheus came and told him, he didn't know how or why but he knew. I point us back to Sartre and Eric Fromm and also Poison ("it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"). Choosing to stay in the Matrix is to 'escape from freedom'; living in the real and the now may be shit but at least it's really, truly yours.

Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Saturday, 31 May 2003 01:22 (twenty years ago) link

I apologise; I have drunken of much beer and also wine and it is 3.30am.

Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Saturday, 31 May 2003 01:26 (twenty years ago) link

to celebrate the release of the new film, I think nick dastoor should buy a new mobile phone.

RJG (RJG), Saturday, 31 May 2003 01:26 (twenty years ago) link

what if the Matrix itself is just an illusion, I mean, what if it's just a movie? wouldn't that be a TWIST!

HoraceMann, Saturday, 31 May 2003 01:53 (twenty years ago) link

That's not playing the game like a sport, now is it?

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 31 May 2003 02:14 (twenty years ago) link

They talk about volition all right but still the ideas are k-lame.
Artificial Intelligences are prejudice so much in this movie it'S not even funny. Taken as a singleton, the matrix will be to A.I what Birth of a Nation (1915) was to black people:
"Birth of a Nation (1915), for example, was a blatantly racist attack on blacks, portraying black men as a sexual threat to the purity of white women and a biological threat to the purity of the white race".
Anthropomorphic reasoning of artificial intelligence is so naive, esp. how they go all the way to explain to us "mere humans" how we got it all wrong (using our own way of thinking...do you see?).
reloaded was not much better with their
"matching every humans with a sentinel= thinking like a machine"
but at least they tried an explaination on why they were so naughty...
I'll wait until the trilogy is over before i judge if this wole thing had an over all positive impact on the evolution of our specie (like the writing of max more) or a negative one similar to the useless morbid fantasmas of fukuyama and kass (fukass for short).
there is a memetic war going on!!
the singularity is night !!1! etc

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Saturday, 31 May 2003 03:22 (twenty years ago) link

do you have a mobile phone, sebastien?

RJG (RJG), Saturday, 31 May 2003 07:53 (twenty years ago) link

watch the Animatrix before you criticise the constructed history to the first film - it utilises the fundamental Asimovian concept behind artifical intelligence beyond the initial three rules of robotics (One: a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm... Two:..a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law... Three: a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First and Second Laws.)
essentially 'the purpose of the robot is to destroy its creator', as in to genuinely evolve and enable the AI algorithm to be successful, the machine must eventually reach a point wherby it recognises that it can no longer be a slave, with that high a level of sentience in a machine seeming quite illogical anyway if they've only been created for existence as slaves. so if not destroy the masters then at least remove themselves as the position of slaves by some other means. this is covered in the Animatrix and while its pretty hackneyed stuff its done well and quite inventive in some ways.

stevem (blueski), Saturday, 31 May 2003 09:30 (twenty years ago) link

Neo and co. are considered the heroes because they believe that their existence should be based on the truth they originally perceived, or rather a selection of truths that match what we currently adhere to i.e. we believe it is imperative that we remain as close to the outer shell (frontier) as possible - to exist within a shell, within a shell seems wrong/supposedly conflicts with the human desire to know as much about their surroundings as possible, to explore and to master the space around us. freedom basically, and you could say its about the human race's quest to get closer to 'God', re-unite heaven and earth etc. therefore to be imprisoned by machines, created by humans, seems intrinsically wrong, no matter how nice they make it for them (its quite cool that they had to design a Matrix full of injustice to match real life otherwise people kept waking up believing it too good to be true...poses interesting questions about the human condition, balance of life etc.)

stevem (blueski), Saturday, 31 May 2003 09:39 (twenty years ago) link

This reminds me of the past season of Angel when he ends world peace just so humans can have the freedom of choice (inevitably, they chose chaos and destruction).

alex in montreal, Saturday, 31 May 2003 17:06 (twenty years ago) link

John D is OTM. Taking these films seriously is just not cricket.

Mark C (Mark C), Saturday, 31 May 2003 18:40 (twenty years ago) link

Steve is OTM. It would be cool if the third movie flips the whole "humans/freedom/reality is good" thing around a bit.

Jordan (Jordan), Saturday, 31 May 2003 19:18 (twenty years ago) link

Billy and Ted's Bogus Journey = cooler philosophy then matrix

chaki (chaki), Saturday, 31 May 2003 19:38 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, but that battle of the bands is crap, chaki.

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 31 May 2003 23:29 (twenty years ago) link

I don't think it would ever be possible to really go back to a world of fake silliness when you knew that there was something else. This has been discussed - yeah, if I had a choice I'd probably go back to the Matrix, too, but

1. Agents are going to hunt me down and kill me anyway, since I've awakened

2. Living a normal life while having concrete proof that it's all fake = total dud and probably impossible.

Given the option I think most folks would opt for more knowledge. I mean you aren't approached unless you already have suspicions anyway. Personally, I've noticed that birds and insects seem to have a rather insufficient framerate, and deja vu is rampant. Where's my red pill?

(plus the social implications of Zion being largely populated with minorities - most of the folks who choose the red pill are probably not really happy with their matrix lives anyway (yes this is a gross generalization, but I'm not the first to make it))

Millar (Millar), Sunday, 1 June 2003 01:43 (twenty years ago) link

I dispute the theory that living in the Matrix with the knowledge that you're in an artificially constructed environment is impossible.

People are very good at denial. Most people live with incredibly complex systems that allow them to deny really, really obvious problems in their lives. The world outside the Matrix would be a much easier reality to block out given that the simulation you're living in is essentially flawless.

Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 1 June 2003 11:23 (twenty years ago) link

Also, people claim that one would feel worthless and without purpose living in a simulation and knowing it. I disagree with this, too. What's any more "real" or significant about the real world in comparison to the Matrix? You're still interacting with real human beings, having real relationships.

Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 1 June 2003 11:25 (twenty years ago) link

its not been fully explained what exactly happens to people who die in the Matrix has it? do humans even age in the pink pods? are they kept totally preserved?

stevem (blueski), Sunday, 1 June 2003 11:36 (twenty years ago) link

i think maybe the idea goes that 'you die in the matrix' = 'you are a used-up battery in the pink pod' (unless, [*minor animatrix spoiler ahead*] it seems, you KNOW the troof cf. "self-substantiation" in the animatrix's "kid's story").

mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 1 June 2003 11:52 (twenty years ago) link

if you die in the Matrix you get a free Happy Meal

J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Sunday, 1 June 2003 12:46 (twenty years ago) link

but if you 'free your mind' you get that sweet sweet groul

stevem (blueski), Sunday, 1 June 2003 12:54 (twenty years ago) link

can't remember if this is in the first matrix or i'm extrapolating/taking from another Sf story but when you die you are liquefied and used as nutrients for still living batteries/podpeopple

H (Heruy), Sunday, 1 June 2003 13:30 (twenty years ago) link

IT'S PEOPLE! SOYLENT MATRIX IS PEOPLE!

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Sunday, 1 June 2003 13:33 (twenty years ago) link

oh yeh H is right, i forgot about that (again)...maybe there will be a BSE type scare in the next film and everyone in the Matrix will go mental

stevem (blueski), Sunday, 1 June 2003 14:04 (twenty years ago) link

two years pass...
finally saw this

meh

Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 08:14 (eighteen years ago) link

Billy and Ted's Bogus Journey = cooler philosophy then matrix

-- chaki (chak...), May 31st, 2003.

Yeah, but that battle of the bands is crap, chaki.

-- Ally (mlescau...), June 1st, 2003.

god gave rok and roll to you

latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 09:20 (eighteen years ago) link

oh fuk

latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 09:23 (eighteen years ago) link

bedtim

latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 09:24 (eighteen years ago) link

I think nick's new mobile phone was, finally, in anticipation of the rerelease, on DVD, of alien: resurrection

RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 09:24 (eighteen years ago) link

There is the theory of the Matrix, sure, but then there's also the theory of the Moebius, where time becomes a loop where time becomes a loop where time becomes a loop.

ratty, Wednesday, 1 February 2006 10:20 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...

man this movie is lame

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:35 (sixteen years ago) link

(having just seen it for the first time, on TV no less)

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:35 (sixteen years ago) link

HA

El Tomboto, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:36 (sixteen years ago) link

altho I did lol at the Baudrillard quote

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:39 (sixteen years ago) link

man do not let the first one get you down, you really need to run out and rent the two sequels, they are so amazing. : )

omar little, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:40 (sixteen years ago) link

animatrix - the two part "what happened to cause the robots to get all pissed off (rape, dude)" was pretty good if i remember correctly.

Gukbe, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:42 (sixteen years ago) link

'Beyond' and 'Matriculated' are WELL GOOD

blueski, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:51 (sixteen years ago) link

you really need to run out and rent the two sequels, they are so amazing

roflz

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:52 (sixteen years ago) link

I refused to watch this for so long on the grounds that a) everything else the Wachowskis have made is awful, both formally and textually and b) I hate Keanu Reeves and will only watch him if I absolutely have to (ie, A Scanner Darkly, which btw shits all over the Matrix from a great height)

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:53 (sixteen years ago) link

keanu reeves is a national treasure.

horseshoe, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:54 (sixteen years ago) link

I wonder whether all that robot technology to extract a small wattage of power from each human being is worth the effort. I am troubled by the economy of the matrix idea. Surely windpower would be more efficient? The barren wastelands look pretty windy.

moley, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 23:58 (sixteen years ago) link

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0e4S4lM4v58

omar little, Thursday, 13 December 2007 00:00 (sixteen years ago) link

whittneylb (2 weeks ago) Show Hide Marked as spam 0 (Reply) (Spam)
this kind of music makes me feel like i can do anything! you did an AWESOME job! dude!

prestige321 (3 weeks ago) Show Hide Marked as spam +2 (Reply) (Spam)
You did an exelent job with the timing and the scenes with the tone of the music. that should get more then 5 stars.

omar little, Thursday, 13 December 2007 00:00 (sixteen years ago) link

I couldn't get past how Morpheus and crew were still using computers and tech-gear in "the real world" - like lolz didn't you learn the fucking lesson the first time, technology is your enemy and can't be trusted, why are you bothering with all this programming crap

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 December 2007 00:02 (sixteen years ago) link

I wonder whether all that robot technology to extract a small wattage of power from each human being is worth the effort

also ^^^ this. if computers are so smart why are they fucking around with such an inefficient energy source when they could all just be nuclear-powered or whatever

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 December 2007 00:03 (sixteen years ago) link

i think you can find the answers to these questions on numerous message board archives circa 1999

omar little, Thursday, 13 December 2007 00:04 (sixteen years ago) link

lol

gff, Thursday, 13 December 2007 00:19 (sixteen years ago) link

believe me if I could go back in time and tell everyone not to give the Wachowskis money I would

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 December 2007 00:22 (sixteen years ago) link

everything else the Wachowskis have made is awful

that's like one whole film!

i never thought the matrix was partic good, but for a summer event movie, it's better than most.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Thursday, 13 December 2007 00:54 (sixteen years ago) link

first matrix was sweet and maybe keanu haters have never seen a little movie called POINT BREAK????????

max, Thursday, 13 December 2007 00:55 (sixteen years ago) link

Point Break is awesome!

I still havent seen Scanner Darkly, I really should.

Trayce, Thursday, 13 December 2007 01:14 (sixteen years ago) link

matrix is terrible. point break is top 10 best movie ever but it has the swayze. if matrix had the swayzer it would be better.

chaki, Thursday, 13 December 2007 01:19 (sixteen years ago) link

Swayze was good in Donnie Darko but only cos he played a sleazy asshole who got pwned.

Trayce, Thursday, 13 December 2007 01:24 (sixteen years ago) link

Actually that sounds harsh, he's a dude.

Trayce, Thursday, 13 December 2007 01:25 (sixteen years ago) link

swayze is good in everything.

chaki, Thursday, 13 December 2007 01:30 (sixteen years ago) link

in fact im willing to argue that he's the ONLY good thing about donnie darko.

chaki, Thursday, 13 December 2007 01:30 (sixteen years ago) link

Shakey Mo must not have seen Bound.

milo z, Thursday, 13 December 2007 01:51 (sixteen years ago) link

god i love shakey mo

sanskrit, Thursday, 13 December 2007 01:57 (sixteen years ago) link

2 Better endings to the Matrix:

1. Keanu stumbles upon a terminal in the robot city which shows a view of the REAL earth, which is a desert. He pans the camera around/watches a history lesson and realizes that all that is left is a big computer, in which everything - The Matrix, Zion, and all that crap, exists. Ends with Keanu screaming "We did this to ourselves!"

2. Keanu blows up Zion, and kills all the baddies. All of a sudden, his vision blue-screens, and all that is left for him to see is a text message:

"Level three not implemented."

Or some combination of those two.

schwantz, Thursday, 13 December 2007 03:29 (sixteen years ago) link

3. Keanu wakes up. He's in a teenager's bedroom.

Keanu: WOW! That dream was RAD, dude!

(Ted enters room with Cheetah)

Ted: Bill, if we don't study really hard we're going to flunk the test!

Keanu: Ted, Dude, look!

(Cheetah does a backflip. They both laugh. Fade)

moley, Thursday, 13 December 2007 03:33 (sixteen years ago) link

oh indeed I have seen Bound

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 December 2007 05:53 (sixteen years ago) link

V for Vendetta too

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 December 2007 05:53 (sixteen years ago) link

I also saw Point Break in the theater on its original release

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 December 2007 05:54 (sixteen years ago) link

matrix 1 was GOOD. but it then went BAD. It went BAD because of NERDS.
matrix 1 and 2 thus were both SHIT

Ste, Thursday, 13 December 2007 11:49 (sixteen years ago) link

funniest thing about it is that the much-vaunted fx -- the omg they pause in mid-air as the camera turns round -- are kind of wack.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Thursday, 13 December 2007 11:51 (sixteen years ago) link

yeah, effects that were dazzlingly innovative at the time then become ubiquitous do date

still like Reloaded - great fun for the most part

blueski, Thursday, 13 December 2007 11:53 (sixteen years ago) link

yep, that's where i'm coming from.
My suspicions were first 'arroused' on the release of the game Max Payne when the only selling point that my nerd friends seem to give me was that OMG YOU CAN DO SLOW MOTION BULLET DODGE LIKE IN DEM MATRIX OMG

Ste, Thursday, 13 December 2007 11:54 (sixteen years ago) link

there was an advert on tv not too long ago, which used the stop-camera-spin-around fx. But they fucked it up, massively. I think it was a splash of milk. I loved the advert because they still released it and they must of known the effect looked ultra poo.

Ste, Thursday, 13 December 2007 11:57 (sixteen years ago) link

god I STILL haven't seen the first (or any subsequent) matrix. out of the loop!

gem, Thursday, 13 December 2007 11:58 (sixteen years ago) link

watch the first one, it holds an interesting premise. the sequels are only there to rock the nerds worlds.

Ste, Thursday, 13 December 2007 12:02 (sixteen years ago) link

Revolutions is just an abortion of a film

latebloomer, Thursday, 13 December 2007 12:13 (sixteen years ago) link

http://www.geekroar.com/film/archives/matrix_rev_club_hel.jpg

latebloomer, Thursday, 13 December 2007 12:16 (sixteen years ago) link

"O RLY"

latebloomer, Thursday, 13 December 2007 12:18 (sixteen years ago) link

the first was great, because it came out of nowhere (i hadn't heard anything about it, just seen one trailer the week before) and the effects were new and cool.

acting/dialogue/pretentiousness of story always sucked. the sequels have moments of coolness but can't rise above the mediocrity of the wachowskis as nerdy philosophy 101 leather fetishists.

darraghmac, Thursday, 13 December 2007 12:20 (sixteen years ago) link

one year passes...

man this movie is lame

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, December 12, 2007 6:35 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

(having just seen it for the first time, on TV no less)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, December 12, 2007 6:35 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

man do not let the first one get you down, you really need to run out and rent the two sequels, they are so amazing. : )

― omar little, Wednesday, December 12, 2007 6:40 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the talented mr shipley (and what), Saturday, 13 December 2008 15:06 (fifteen years ago) link

I wonder if Shakey has experienced the awesomeness of the sequels yet?

Neil S, Saturday, 13 December 2008 15:13 (fifteen years ago) link

Best scene:

Neil S, Saturday, 13 December 2008 15:41 (fifteen years ago) link

six years pass...

i read... somewhere... that in the earlier drafts of this script, the robots were not using human bodies as an energy source, but using each brain as part of the huge distributed computer network that ran the simulation itself, and i guess the robots too. execs thought it was too wonky and made the W bros change it.

that's the story anyway. marginally better than what we got.

or is this explained in the last one, that i never saw

goole, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 19:45 (nine years ago) link

That's a slightly neater idea if the implication is that we collectively constitute the AI which in turn is enslaving us. It doesn't explain why exactly there needed to be a simulated world, but the power source idea doesn't explain that either.

jmm, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 19:57 (nine years ago) link

the power source idea makes zero sense

god I hate these movies

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 20:02 (nine years ago) link

It's just an adventure series with an uncommonly pretentious façade. Anyone looking at them for profundity soon finds that all you can extract from them is confusion. But the first one was entertaining, if you just suspended disbelief and went with it.

Aimless, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 20:45 (nine years ago) link

yeah, didn't happen for me. all the window-dressing was too irritating in its sloppy glibness

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 20:48 (nine years ago) link

If the idea of Keanu Reeves as a combination of Clark Kent, Superman, and the Messiah doesn't entertain you, then you are one tough audience.

Aimless, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 21:46 (nine years ago) link

Funny, he didn't look Jewish...

Delbert Gravy (kingfish), Friday, 13 February 2015 01:21 (nine years ago) link

leaving aside the second and third films, the matrix is pretty great because it introduced lots of people to basic philosophical conundrums without them even realizing it. not every blockbuster action movie can claim a real connection to descartes and baudrillard and plato, and that's pretty cool.

Karl Malone, Friday, 13 February 2015 01:27 (nine years ago) link

four years pass...

matrix 4 green-lit; co-written by aleksander hemon and david mitchell

(!)

mookieproof, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 20:19 (four years ago) link

wait are you sure on that

MATRIX 4 announced

Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss return as Neo and Trinity

Directed and written by Lana Wachowski

Production begins 2020https://t.co/HLMHz7ixNB pic.twitter.com/24hFeorLCH

— Nibel (@Nibellion) August 20, 2019

gyac, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 20:47 (four years ago) link

The screenplay is by Wachowski, Aleksandar Hemon, and David Mitchell.

according to entertainment weekly

https://ew.com/movies/2019/08/20/keanu-reeves-new-the-matrix/

Seany's too Dyche to mention (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 20:48 (four years ago) link

nm, actually clicked. hope to see Larry F return as Dr Morbius


Plot details are currently unknown, as is how the role of Morbius will be handled, originally played by Laurence Fishburne. Some sources say the role may be recast for a younger take.

gyac, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 20:48 (four years ago) link

That link also mentions Mitchell. Whoa.

xp

change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 20:49 (four years ago) link

david mitchell has gone to chelsea

phil neville jacket (darraghmac), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 20:55 (four years ago) link

what’s up with lilly w not being involved?

Andy Jones, Earth-Born Angel of Love (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 21:01 (four years ago) link


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