It was 10 years ago today....

Michael.Knight

... that The Matrix hit Irish cinemas.

I mention it because it was probably the single most exciting cinema experience of my life. I saw it in a packed Savoy1 audience on opening night and I had never felt such electricity and excitment from an audience as that night. Gasping and cheering in equal amounts from start to finish as we were taken on a roller-coaster ride of a movie.

I remember going for a pint afterwards in Madigans and all the people I was with were similarily impressed and in agreement that we had watched something very special that night.

Now ten years have passed and I've still never encountered a cinema experience that came close to it in terms of sheer excitement from an audience.

I think (like the Star Wars series) the rep, regard and popularity of the Matrix has suffered as a direct result of its (on the surface - unsatisfactory and ill-fitting sequels) but it should never be forgotten that this movie was a quantum leap in blockbuster movie-making and has IMHO stood the test of time.

ziedth

i would love to see another sequel to this so maybe it wouldn't be remembered for the cack that followed. Still one of the only films i went to see in the cinema 3 times.

SirLemonhead

Ah, so it's been ten years since I saw the Matrix then..

speedboatchase

I came out of the cinema thinking "woah that was amazing looking" but not until I actually watched it on video (yes, video!) did I actually understand what the Matrix was. One of those films were I wasn't paying full attention and wanting to pause and rewind certain scenes. But it sure was purdy

latenia

I went to the early morning preview on the Thursday in Parnell St and it's still the only time I've ever seen more than 10 people at one-it was jammed full at 10AM.

L31mr0d

words can't really express the impact of that movie. It literally blew me away and completely changed my mindset.

I seen it when I was pretty young and remember from that day on saying to myself "there is no spoon" as a way of reminding myself that any limits I was putting on my abilities or what I could achieve where self imposed. It sounds sad now, but at the time, before the internet had exploded it was revolutionary.

It spawned a generation of long leather jackets, mixed martial artists, hackers and people who now could see the internet as a place where they could become anything they wanted.

speedboatchase

speedboatchase wrote: »

I came out of the cinema thinking "woah that was amazing looking" but not until I actually watched it on video (yes, video!) did I actually understand what the Matrix was. One of those films were I wasn't paying full attention and wanting to pause and rewind certain scenes. But it sure was purdy

Wow, I hate watching films with people like you. How hard can it be to follow a simple story...

But yeah, the Matrix was a great film, and IMHO the sequels ruined it's legacy. It was always going to have a sub-par sequel though imho. If they didn't make it then they'd be making it now probably. With Christian Bale as Neo

foxyboxer

My brother was in the US and had seen it before it came out here.
He was raving about it, so the anticipation for something great was high. I remember seeing the Dave Fanning review on network 2 where he showed the scene with Neo rescuing Morpheous with the helicopter. I just thought m'eh, looks alright (just like any John Woo movie):rolleyes:
This was the time when the hype machine for the Phantom Menace was in overdrive so the Matrix came in under the radar.
Finally went to see it and was blown away (pardon the pun) by the bullet time of Trinity. I believe it's our generations indelible StarWarsImperialDestroyerFliesoverheadblastinglasers shot.
One of my favourite movies and can quote it verbatim to this day.

the_syco

Meh. Over 12 years since Starship Troopers. Rented that out on video many times afterwards, before finally buying it on video. Hope they bring it out in BluRay :cool:

Matrix was cool, though. Started to wear trenchcoat cos I liked the trenchcoats that the WW2 German tank commanders wore.

niallon

Always hate the fact that I couldn't experience The MAtrix properly first time round in the cinema (I was 11 when it was released) but I can still recall renting it out of curiousity (on VHS!!) and rewatching it twice before returning it. Incredible piece of filmmaking though it unfortunately opened up too many wrong doors for the action genre. Still, it should never be forgotten how original it was at the time.

First DVD I ever bought too!

AnonoBoy

I remember going to see it with a friend of mine. After the lobby scene he turned to me and said "The guns aren't loud enough in this film."

He was serious too.

L31mr0d

AnonoBoy wrote: »

"The guns aren't loud enough in this film."

I'd agree. I always thought that scene would of been better without any music and just the noise of guns firing, changing pitch for the slowmo. It starts off really well though.

Imagine if they had a dance track over the gun fight in Heat.

Also, has anyone watched the trilogy back to back since? I did it recently and as a whole I thought it was excellent. Having reloaded fresh in your mind really makes a lot more sense of revolutions. It also makes it a lot clearer why the ending was the best of all possible endings (even though initially I hated it)

Neo had no choice. Either he killed everyone in the matrix by shutting it down (remember the person has to choose to leave, they can't simply be disconnected), destroyed all the robots and let everyone in Zion die or he could strike a deal to save the robots, stabilize the matrix and save everyone in Zion.

Initially I hated that the matrix didn't end, but in reality, it can never end as not everyone in it will accept where they are.

I remember being excited as hell for damn near a year before hand and watchign as my local cinema did'nt get teh Matrix in till the middle of August when I was on holidays. My first experience of the Matrix was on an art tour when some ass decided that the pivotal film of our generation being watched on a tiny ass bus tv. I argued that we should watch soemthign else instead and offered my video of Fight Club but they were having none of it complaining that it was 18s, though that did'nt matter in the case of the Matrix. Still was an amazing experience and when I got it for Christmas I must hav ewatched it a dozen times the first week.

I've watched all 3 parts back to back a number of times and always loved it. The story makes perfec tsense and the ending is damn near perfect for what went before, anything wlse would be a cop out.

nyarlothothep

I remember people going down on the 2nd and I thought it was quite good, not as streamlined as the first but it was entertaining and different in being philosophically inclined. The third was a bit sh1tty but the ending was perfect for the trilogy, which is something a lot epics tend to get wrong with terrible endings.

Xavi6

Haven't seen it

foxyboxer

the first movie really stands alone. leaves the ending up to the imagination.

the sequels or should that be sequel should ideally have been one movie.
warner bros knew they had a franchise (i hate that word!) on their hands and decided to milk it. Imagine if reloaded and revolutions were one movie, taking out a lot of redundant scenes and characters?
The focus should have been Neo-Trinity-Morpheous-Oracle-Machines-Smiths
but they introduced too many new characters to 'flesh' out the story.
The plot would have been exactly the same re-introduction with the oracle-burly brawl-freeway chase-architect revelation-invasion of zion-final battle-resolution. Basically make it lean as can be.
A lot of unnecessary scenes with the merovingian, trainman etc would have been discarded and a real classic chase movie could have been made.
Unfortunately Hollywood chose the path of "Let's make two of 'em together to save costs and double our profit!" which resulted in two decent but not quite classic movies.

zAbbo

the_syco wrote: »

Meh. Over 12 years since Starship Troopers. Rented that out on video many times afterwards, before finally buying it on video. Hope they bring it out in BluRay :cool:

It's already out, and on Amazon's 3 for 2

The Matrix was pants

p to the e

was only thirteen when it came out and remember a lot of older lads saying it was the best thing they ever saw so had to check it out. blown away does it little justice.

Dman001

I never watched any of the Matrix Trilogy fully. I got them on HD DVD a few weeks back but haven't got a chance to watch them. I'm really looking forward to watch them, especiallly in HD but my bleeding 360 got the RROD for the 3rd time so looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer.

FrostyJack

If they took out all the pointless talking scenes and sex scene (actually most scenes with Trinity in it) and made into 2 films like it was originally planned, it would possibly be the best saga (if you can call 2 films a saga) ever made. Most of the people I talked to that didn't liked either said because it was too drawn out (boring) or they didn't understand certain points (they are idiots).

sillyputty

I have never seen any of the Matrix films but my brother got me the first on Blu Ray for my birthday recently and then he borrowed it before i could watch it and i have yet to get it back. I will eventually get around to it but i hope its not a let down.
I have stayed away from it for so long mainly because i viewed it as a boys film.

tok9

One of my favourite films ever... i was only 10 when it came out and didn't hear much about it... saw it about 6 years later and it simply brilliant. There was one week where i just kept watching the lobby scene over and over...

obviously the sequels weren't as good but they were still decent films... i'd have no problem sitting down watching any of them if they were on the telly..

purple_hatstand

Michael.Knight wrote: »

...all the people I was with were similarily impressed and in agreement that we had watched something very special that night..........it should never be forgotten that this movie was a quantum leap in blockbuster movie-making and has IMHO stood the test of time.

I remember feeling the same way the first time I saw 'Blade Runner'[1982] and 'Akira'[1988].

The first Matrix film is very good (oh, how I wish I could erase the memory of those horrible, horrible sequels) - the first 40 mins is as good as almost anything I can think of in sci-fi...ever.

Its great legacy is in the visionary nature of the special effects, but tbh, when it makes an attempt at gravitas, profundity or genuine emotional resonance, it becomes quite cliched and juvenile.

Its over-arching themes, narrative arc and even its visual style are a fairly indiscriminate plundering of other previous literary and graphic forms - comic books (Neuromancer) and philosophy (Kant, Plato, Descartes and, particulary Baudrillard) as well as Philip K.Dick's novels and Manga anime - particulary 'Ghost In The Shell'[1995].

'The Matrix' is a brilliantly realised piece of sci-fi, though and still looks and feels great today....