What's wrong with the Matrix sequels?

[xCompackx]

This is something that was brought up in the "Stuff Everyone Hates But You" thread, but I've noticed comments about it from time to time so I thought I'd ask: Why did people hate Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions? I haven't seen them in awhile so my memory may be a bit foggy, but was there something storyline-wise that people didn't like or was it just that one Matrix movie was enough?

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

The original Matrix had a nice, simple concept and was paced perfectly. The sequels were trying to say and do way too much, and it just came across as a narrative mess. The second, in particular, felt like a farce at times. I like the general story it was trying to tell, but the execution was dreadful.

[BoilerRoomBrawler]

Lots of meaningless action scenes and filler. The plot and expansion of the world was unnecessary. You got everything you needed from the first movie.

[Deleted]

- The didn't need to exist. The first movie was a perfectly contained story and both the sequels felt like pure filler and world building of a setting that frankly wasn't that interesting. The Animatrix stories did a much better job in showing exactly what happened between the humans and machines and why the planet was in such terrible shape.

- Lots of scenes full of philosophical mumbo-jumbo that added up to a big pile of nothing. For example, what was the point of The Merovingian lunch scene in the second film? The silly French stereotype didn't bring up anything that the Oracle didn't already mention in her apartment, or that the Architect didn't drone on about in that TV room.

- People invested their time watching all three movies for such an incredibly vague ending to the trilogy. I can't think of a single question that the sequels raised that was answered, other than Neo being The One. And even the second movie tried to kill that with the revelation of multiple versions of Zion and multiple "The One"s.

[britishbulldog]

Still love them all. The Neo as a Christ redeemer character was well played.

[Glitch]

They didn't work unless you also watched the Animatrix. Which I think was a huge mistake for the films to be done that way.

The war ending in basically a truce made perfect sense considering humans were the ones that started the whole mess. But since a huge chunk of the audience didn't know that, it came off really lame.
The same goes for the teen boy who idolized Neo.

I think the movies should have included those moments instead of fights with some french guy and his henchmen.

[Danimal]

Jan 17, 2013 23:09:02 GMT -5 Glitch said:

They didn't work unless you also watched the Animatrix. Which I think was a huge mistake for the films to be done that way.

The war ending in basically a truce made perfect sense considering humans were the ones that started the whole mess. But since a huge chunk of the audience didn't know that, it came off really lame.
The same goes for the teen boy who idolized Neo.

I think the movies should have included those moments instead of fights with some french guy and his henchmen.

Like many people I didn't see The Animatrix. If seeing it is central to really getting the Matrix trilogy then ya that is pretty stupid of them.

[Citizen Snips]

The kid and the tough-as-nails general in the third film put on some of the worst acting in a major production in film history.

[salz4life]

I still haven't seen them. I own the original on Blu ray and I think that is enough.

[Deleted]

The just got too bloated.
Every scene became answering questions with questions and answering those with more questions. A story of the war between machines and humans could've been great but they overwrote the sequels to death.

[Hit Girl]

They were unnecessary. The first movie was pretty much self contained. I figured that at the end, Neo infiltrated the Matrix, caused errors, and would then go on to free the rest of humanity. It didn't need further movies.

[Crappler El 0 M]

I remember back from 2000 to early 2003, people could not wait to see the sequel(s) to The Matrix. If the Wachowski Brothers (still brothers then) had not made a sequel, people would have gone crazy with anger and frustration. We would have seen over a decade of people constantly asking the Wachowskis and cast, "When's the Matrix sequel?' or 'Are they ever going to make a Matrix sequel?' or 'Is it true there's FINALLY going to be a sequel to The Matrix?'

People would have said it was a wasted opportunity because the first film left open so many possibilities for sequels. How could they have never gone back to that world?!?

That's how it WOULD have been. Instead, people got what they desperately wanted and a good portion of fans were disappointed. I was disappointed. That's why today The Matrix is mostly considered a great sci-fi film rather than a great sci-fi trilogy. I know lots of people who only have The Matrix on Blu-ray and are content with only having it. I'm one of those people.

[Triple H buried SnS]

*Shrug* I liked them.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

my main problem was that they were unfocussed and introduced a bunch of new concepts that just muddied the first movie and made the whole concept confusing as hell. the first movie, for all its silly philosophizing made internal sense. the sequels, not so much. it felt like they were changing the rules on the fly.

[Bo Rida]

I have to mention the terrible sex scene in Matrix Reloaded.

[kidglov3s]

I was hoping they would be really fun and cool but they were dirty and boring. Like the end of The Matrix left me feeling like we were gonna get out of the muck, not wallow in it for 8 hours or whatever.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Jan 18, 2013 11:58:40 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I have to mention the terrible sex scene in Matrix Reloaded.

"Keanu's Ass" negates any positive argument for the movie.

[4real]

The sequal was so bad I never got round to watching the 3rd film. And I'm not really bothered if I ever see it.