Mandaris

Let me say this and there will be spoilers

I really, really liked the Matrix when if first came out. It was revolutionary in the effects and probably the first piece of media that ever outside of my high school required reading that asked me to question reality.

Although, I remember walking over to a local theater and watching it without knowing what it was about. I think I might have thought it was going to be a clone of Dark City. But now, the image of Neo dodging bullets has been parodied and copied so much, that I’m sure there are people who honestly don’t know where it came from.

Good times…

I remember watching the videos of people saying how the movie had changed their life. I remember how excited I was to find out that there was going to be a sequel¹. I even remember being excited by the video game²!

After all of it, I don’t look back and say it was a waste because it taught me that I have to have some standards on what I want when continuing a franchise. I’ve never gone back to see the movies again. Other than seeing the three main actors popup every once in a while and thinking about how one of the others was removed from the sequels³, I haven’t really thought about the movie franchise.

But then I heard rumors about a reboot.

At first, I heard that Michael B. Jordon was going to be cast as the new Neo.

Then I heard that star of the John Wick films, Keanu Reeves, was going to make an appearance!

Then I heard that Laurence Fishburne was Not going to be in it…

Wait… What?

Ok…

What about Agent Smith?

Nope.

Ok…

Carrie-Anne Moss?

Yes.

Alright, I’ll bite.

And I well… it bit me.

It was 2 hours and a half hours with some change and it seemed to drag on even longer.

It felt like it was trying to say something but didn’t know what words to say.

There are moments where it uses footage from the old trilogy and it feels like when one of your friends is telling everyone they are cool because their older brother is cool.

But this whole time, I’m thinking “why do I care?”.

Should I care about Neo? What about Trinity?

I don’t want to sound heartless, but although they had died in the original trilogy, they accomplished their life goals. I don’t know how many characters can say that. They ended the war between man and machines.

This is actually a first for me.

If a character comes back from the dead after accomplishing their story arch, should I invest in them emotionally?

To be honest with myself.

I did.

But after watching for 45 minutes, I never got the feeling that they were in danger.

I knew that the director had already said that the two main characters where reflections of her parents.

There was no way that they weren’t going to make it.

They were going to be together.

And thus every other character that you can identify makes it through as well.

It’s just a long wait until the end.

Ultimately, my wife said to me “It’s not the worse movie you’ve made us watch.”

Oh, and they cuss in this one.

So, that’s different.