What is the best episode of the cult saga Matrixwritten and directed by the Wachowskis, and starring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss?
Whether we like it or not, Matrix 5 is officially in the works, with Drew Goddard directing (The Cabin in the Woods, Bad times at the El Royale hotel). Because even if Matrix Reloaded widely divided, even if Matrix Revolutions was a disappointment at the box office, and although Matrix Resurrections has divided even more (and wallowed in theaters), the saga of the Wachowski sisters remains a pure object of fascination.
Since the subject Matrix fascinates a good part of the editorial team on a daily basis and we have already proclaimed our love for each film (at different levels), we wanted to talk about the whole saga again, with the usual small ranking.
Warning: zero surprises in this ranking, we mainly used this format to talk about the saga again
4. MATRIX Resurrections
- Sortie : 2021
- Duration: 2h28
On paper, the return of Matrix almost 20 years later Revolutions looked like a huge failure (understand: another uninteresting legacy). And the fact that Lana Wachowski was directing alone this time, without her sister Lilly, was another worrying warning sign. After all, what’s the point of bringing Neo and Trinity back? And above all, why take the risk of desecrating such a cult and mastered trilogy? The answer was given by the filmmaker: after the death of her parents, she needed to bring the two protagonists back to life to mourn (hence certainly the “Resurrections” of the title in the plural) .
We can find it silly, stupid or very beautiful, but it’s good this desire for appeasement, sincere and disinterestedwhich prevents the film from falling into the worst pitfalls. This time, it is no longer a question of Chosen One, of saving Zion, of disrupting the Sentinels or of freeing Humanity from the yoke of the Machines.
It’s about giving a beautiful ending to the great love story, lyrical and chivalrous, which has always been at the heart of the franchise. It doesn’t matter that Neo is only a shadow of himself, that he no longer excels in martial arts and no longer flies. Only his reunion with the woman of his life (or even of his lives) matters.
It was also not a question of stupidly invoking nostalgia with cameos, but of making us think about the posterity of the work in an industry that is going off the rails, in addition to our own relationship to the trilogy. Hollywood thus serves as a slap in the face to the new Matrix. It is not for nothing that Agent Smith is first presented as the CEO of Thomas. Like a Trojan Horse, Matrix 4 allows one of the creators to reclaim her creation, in the same way that Neo and Trinity finally end up taking control of the Matrix which they will remodel in their own way (as promised at the end of the first part).
Well, the announcement of a Matrix 5 directed by Drew Goddard contradicts everything, but for now, let’s enjoy this beautiful symbolism a little more.
3. MATRIX Revolutions
- Released: November 2003
- Duration: 2h08
If the place has since been recovered by Matrix 4, Matrix Revolutions has long been considered the weakest link in the sagaparticularly at the box office ($427 million worldwide, compared to $741 million for Reloaded). And even if it is indeed third in this “ranking”, it is not no less a fascinating and successful film.
The project itself was a crazy gamble: it cost $150 million and was filmed at the same time as Reloaded to be released only six months later, simultaneously in all four corners of the world (with the exception of a few minor markets).
This cold shower is certainly explained by expectations too high or too precise after the second part and its precursor cliffhanger. Part of the disappointment is the questions that have not been clearly answered, but also the fate of Neo and his role in great History.
After being presented as the Chosen One, therefore a singular and exceptional being as Hollywood likes them, his victory was mixed and the choice of a compromise and not a total triumphcould leave a bitter taste in the mouth.
-But it is this final gesture against the grain of the standards that made the original trilogy such a rich and epic work. This ambiguous, almost upsetting ending thus suggests a new beginning more than a real conclusionas the shadow of war continues to hang over Zion.
And then, difficult to suppress your pleasure in the face of the disproportionate final confrontation between Neo and Smithbetween the clone spectators, the pouring rain, the lightning, the orchestral music and the choruses which get carried away. Goosebumps every time you rewatch, it doesn’t move.
2. MATRIX Reloaded
- Sortie : 2003
- Duration: 2h18
At the time, it was probably one of the most anticipated Hollywood blockbusters in history. More expensive, more philosophical, more original, more everything: Matrix Reloaded was to be the ultimate sequel (just as Revolutions). But that was without counting on the provocative extremism of the Wachowskis, who will largely disappoint the press and some of the spectators by pushing their demonstration further than expected.
Let us understand clearly: in terms of action, the first sequel to Matrix is a gargantuan feastwhich remains more than twenty years later an absolute reference in terms of generosity and inventiveness. In addition to the famous sequence of the attack of the Smith clones, which pushes the principle of digital doubling to deliberately absurd extremes, the story is cut in two by a Homeric succession of action scenes lasting around half an hour.
It all culminates in a memorable chase punctuated by the electro tempo of Juno Reactor. The filmmakers explode the limits of what the means sometimes granted to the industry allowed at the time.
It is narratively that the bat hurt, and for good reason: they persist in exploiting Baudrillard’s idea of simulacrum… even if it means completely collapsing the modalities of their own story. The concept of the chosen one pampered by American cinema ends up transcending our perception of science fiction, in a typically cyberpunk logic.
The boundary between human and machine is the real illusion: the human is the machine. And to escape this infernal cycle, where everything is just digital dimensions embedded in each other, you have to believe in the extraordinary. That is to say: get out of the Hollywood ordinary. Now, we are convinced: the mission is accomplished.
1. MATRIX
- Sortie : 1999
- Duration: 2h15
Zero surprises: the first Matrix is in first place. How could we do otherwise with this film that has become instantly cult? How can we forget that the Wachowskis’ (and Warner Bros.) bet was a revolution, celebrated upon its release by everyone with eyes, and immediately copied by everyone? How can we not salute the success of a work arriving at the dawn of a new millennium, as for synthesize a ton of references and open a new post-modern chapter at the crossroads of cultures (Hong Kong cinema, Japanese animation, etc.)?
Behind the scenes, Matrix had everything of a miracle, or even a bug in the Hollywood matrix. Imagined by the Wachowskis even before their first film (Bound), the project was scary for years, in particular because the duo wanted to make it. Thanks to producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Joel Silver, and an ultra-detailed 600-page storyboard drawn by Geof Darrow and Steve Skroce, Warner Bros. ended up launching, with a budget of 60 million dollars.
But it wasn’t until they saw a rough cut of the intro scene with Trinity that the studio pundits really realized understood that Matrix was not a film like any other.
On screen, from 1999, Matrix was obvious. The look of the characters, the casting (Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving), the green lines of code, the music by Don Davis and the rest of the soundtrack (the end where Neo hangs up the phone and spear Wake Up of Rage Against the Machine), the mythology in the form of SF medley, the precision of the staging, and of course the famous bullet time effect : Matrix created a whole dizzying world, full of sensational images, exciting ideas and endless lines of thought (from Plato to transidentity).
Because beyond the extraordinary visual and technical accomplishment, the first Matrix is especially a writing model. With a perfect sense of tempo and a total mastery of the codes of blockbuster cinema, the Wachowskis have concocted an impeccable fable, and a formidable blend of all the ingredients (action and words, love and violence, immediate pleasure and deep reflection). If anyone wants to learn how to write a classic screenplay in the noblest sense, Matrix is certainly one of the good references.
The success of the first Matrix could ultimately be boiled down to one thing: the film itself. If there had been no sequels, we would certainly have missed out on exciting experiences and extraordinary cinematic moments. But that would in no way taint this Matriximmense film-universe which alone brings together the genius of the Wachowskis, of the first and the last second (everything that Neo’s flight suggests, without making a sequel obligatory). Not a crumb extra, and complete satisfaction. That’s what you call a masterpiece, right?
