Where 1999’s Matrix is discussed

Ready to feel old, my fellow millennials? The Matrix celebrates its 25^th anniversary on March, 31^st, 2024 as we almost get through the first quarter of the 21^st century. It felt as if yesterday when the 1999 movie was the new hotness mimicked by many. Back in 2019, this movie’s 20^th anniversary was celebrated more, in noticeable or otherwise ways. The most noticeable being that March’s trailer for John Wick 3 where Reeves repeated the immortal line “Guns. Lots of guns.” with more emphasis on the word “guns”. Less noticeable included the first season finale of Netflix’s animated Ultraman show where a fight was changed from the manga to look more like Neo’s victory lap over Smith.

Here in the year of 2024 common era, nothing marks the moment. There may be argument to made that Warner releasing Dune Part 2 in March, 2024 is celebrating the 25^th anniversary of Matrix, Dune by Frank Herbert is the grandfather of Chosen One narrative in science fiction after all. But we all know the delay is due to SAG’s more bark than bite strike last year, right? Still, that didn’t stop me from wanting to watch the Matrix again when I put up with people’s bad cinema manners watching Dune 2. Now I did the rewatch and had some thoughts.

What’s in names?

I first saw the Matrix in theatre on my 10^th birthday with my dad, who had been a Reeves fans since Speed (No, I am not sure about how he feels about John Wick flicks.). That was in January, 2000 so you can see that it took a long time for the movie to come out in my neck of the wood. Of course, that was wide release as the movie had some limited screenings in Shanghai in June, 1999 as part of the city’s international film festival. During those 2 releases, the Matrix was released under 2 different titles: first as “er shi er shi ji sha ren wang luo”(22^nd Century Killer Network) then as “hei ke di guo”(Hacker Empire). Neither came close, heh?

As an expansive Hollywood flick, the Matrix was of course sold on Names. Question is whose? The Wachowskis, “authors” of it were still nobody. While this was not their directorial debut, they were still too fresh faced to sell a blockbuster on. The names of Reeves and Fishburne were on the poster, but the former was in a low point while the latter lacks er, international appeal shall we say. Then there is a Name that would attract investors and audience alike, producer Joel Sliver.

Sliver produced quite some high-octane action flicks of the 1980s and the 1990s, including Christmas classic Lethal Weapon. Legend has it, he insisted on Nakatomi Palaz having its top blown up in Die Hard. The Wachowskis might have the idea of doing Hong Kong wire-fu stunt in the Matrix, but without Sliver, they would not even have the money for plane tickets to fly Yuen’s crew to Australia.

Compared to other “Joel Sliver Productions”, one might say that the Matrix lacks high speed car chases. I mean even the “button episode” Die Hard has 2 car stuns. The battles are fought within buildings and high speed chases are strictly on foot. Wonder if that’s due to Yuen’s stunt team’s expertise.

From end of history to desert of real

Talking about the Matrix’ action is getting ahead of ourselves. While the movie opens with action and more or less closes with it, it wants to tell you a story or at least show you a world. First there is an ass kicking hacker lady named Trinity escaping from cops in the at least contemporary to its release time setting. Her objective before she has to leg it is to find someone called Neo. Then a clean-shaved Keanu Reeves appears as this Neo and the first 30 minutes or so are about his paranoia inducing sad lot in life, including getting gestapo shit done to him by 3 men in black. Strangely enough, he got shut up at the cops’ will and a mechanical bug put in.

Eventually Neo met up with a group of armed to their teeth hacker group. They removed the bug in him at gunpoint. Their leader Morpheus greeted Neo as if a man found his long-lost son. After the famous choice of “Red versus Blue”, Neo finally got out of the virtual “end of the history” he lived and came to the desert of real. The “22nd Century Killer Network” translation is probably taken from Morpheus’ remark that they are closer to the year 2199. Machine Intelligence is the apex of planet Earth and homo sapiens are their power source.

Warner used to have a winning formula on their not-adaption-nor-sequel front. Some “well-read” writer-director came up an idea forged from some stuff they viewed and wrote a script for science fiction action movie. While action would be a selling point, those would be pretty front loaded with world-building. James Cameron’s Aliens has this similar formula while the Matrix finalized it with an action-packed opening. Or not, since Demolition Man, another Joel Silver production, did it in 1993 already.

Circling back to video game

Keanu Reeves to me is just Hollywood’s Mr. Video Game. However, it got little to do with action but 2 T-words. In 2017’s John Wick 2, it’s about “transaction”, as Mr. Wick’s Italian job involves getting weapons, armor and intel. 18 years before that, the Matrix is more about “tutorial”. Even the opening with Trinity looks like tutorial in games since 2010. Here are regular cops, whack them. Here is an Agent, run, run for your life. Here is a big gap, no worry, you can leap over it. Here is a phone booth, it’s an exit, work quick before it’s destroyed.

After this thrill ride, Neo, the obvious newcomer into the story, got his world turned up-side down and finally settled into “when in Rome, do as the Roman do.” Which means training hard in virtual space and show for it. There is the “I know Kung-fu” versus “Show me” fight Reeves and Fishburne trained hard for. There is the Jump Program that might remind people of platformers. There is the weird twins crowd that may or may not inspire Assassin’s Creed, the one with lady in red dress that is. All 3 are like video game tutorial with kiddy gloves on.

Then there is this meeting with Oracle, the team is betrayed within, Morpheus the leader is captured, all hackers but Neo and Trinity are killed, Cipher the dirty traitor included. As part of Neo’s ascent to become the Chosen One, the third act can be nothing short of an exciting action set-piece. It does look like a video game level finally with kiddy gloves off.

First there is the lobby shootout Neo and Trinity would put the “Lots of guns” he ordered to use. Yours truly would think 2005’s F.E.A.R based its combat on this one scene. In that game, one can whack one enemy to death before anyone gets wiser and kill another with jump kick, just like how this lobby shootout starts and ends.

Then there are things designed around a helicopter introducing Bullet Time. Now yours truly had gone through the first three Dune novels by Frank Herbert, this particular way to do slow motion starts to feel like something lifted directly from Bene Gesserit training of book 3 Children of Dune. Of course, people moves too fast to be visible in Dune universe while Bullet Time is from fast movers’ point of view.

After that there is turret scene, main stay of polygonal shooters nowadays. The daring rescue that makes people into believers of Neo being the Chosen One, one can suspect that the destruction of the chopper can be the siblings appealing to Producer Sliver. After Morpheus and Trinity gets out of the Matrix, Neo is stranded in the virtual world as his nearest exit is destroyed by Agent Smith. Here the movie enters it endgame with a scene mixed 3 ways video game would end: final boss fight, daring escape and victory lap.

Final boss fight treats us to another elaborately choreographed fight on a train platform the cast members and their stunt doubles trained hard for. （Post John Wick, there is another game of “spotting Stahelski” added in.） Daring escape is Neo running from three Agents in the Australian city street where bystanders can become threats. Of course, no Chosen One narrative is complete without the rising from the dead part. Neo is gunned down near another exit but gets up with new view of the Matrix, kills Smith with ease, forces the other 2 Agent to leg it and escape in the last second before EMP has to be triggered in the desert of real. If this is not victory lap, I don’t know what is.

Lacking Programming Language

Not sure we would now, Morpheus my lad. Funny thing about technology: it always seems better on paper. By “paper”, I meant “literal science fiction”. Turns out, making people thinking about demerits of hi-tech takes little more than putting a price tag next to it. Just look at Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality in this roaring twenties. What’s that about you yanks needed to invent threats at “end of history”, Parish and Mackey? Maybe back in late 2019. However, Machine intelligence might not use us as power source but they do not seem so invented now don’t they?

Oh, that is certainly not the only thing you lot lacks, Smithy. What’s that? You don’t agree, Smithy? You think you lot is perfect enough? Well, maybe in the year 2199, while here in the year 2024, not sure you would count those generative intelligences among you lot. But they sure are known for lying to us meat bags with the one called DeepFake. Even without the so-called immersive Virtual Reality, machine intelligences are designed to deceive. Guess we meat bags are still lucky that they are still not very good at it.

Of course, blaming everything on machine intelligence nowadays is equally ridiculous. Like whale oil gave way to electricity, machine intelligence, at least for now, is nothing more than a new tool for state power and corporate interest. They still lack programming language for a lot of things.

Only the beginning

At first, I just wanted to write about the 1999 original and be done with it. But the rewatch somehow made me want to 2021’s Resurrection again. And now there is a mountain known as 2003 Matrix sequels. Well, I will try my hardest to have it done by Reloaded’s 21^st anniversary

(To be continued in Mr. Cyberpunk’s part in a long war)