Archive
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS – Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In early 1999 an under-the-radar science fiction action movie called The Matrix opened and immediately became a pop culture phenomenon. It’s filmmakers, the Wachowski siblings, were lauded as icons of the genre, and were given the green light by Warner Brothers to set into motion two sequels. Both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions premiered in 2003, but the response to them was… shall we say… somewhat mixed, and the shiny luster that had been on the Wachowskis began to tarnish. While the visual scale and special effects of the sequels were top notch, the story was criticized for being impenetrably dense and overly-confusing, a mishmash of philosophical ruminations about destiny, free will, and the nature of reality, blended with enormous action set pieces. And then, for almost 20 years, The Matrix quietly disappeared into movie lore. The Wachowskis went off and made other movies – Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending – with equally mixed critical and commercial results. But now, The Matrix is back with a third sequel, subtitled ‘Resurrections,’ and it’s equally as polarizing as its predecessors. Read more…
THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS – Don Davis
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
For Don Davis (and for quite a number of score and movie fans) 2003 has been the year of The Matrix. With the original 1999 movie becoming a surprising world-wide smash, and the May release of The Matrix Reloaded taking a staggering $281 million in the US alone, The Matrix Revolutions is one of the most eagerly awaited films of this, or any year. Equally, following the stunningly realized score Davis provided for Part II, his work on Revolutions has equally become one of most anticipated releases of the year. In a rare turn of events, the score actually meets – and in some cases – surpasses all the expectations, making it easily one of the best scores of 2003. With the talented Wachowski Brothers, Andy and Larry, picking up where the last movie finished, The Matrix Revolutions finds Neo (Keanu Reeves) somehow trapped in an unusual limbo world in between the real world and the Matrix, in which he must again battle the nefarious Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), and from which he must escape before the sentinels reach the stronghold inside the last human city, Zion. Meanwhile, the human leaders and the erstwhile crew of the Nebuchadnezzar – Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), Link (Harold Perrineau), Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Lock (Harry Lennix) – begin making preparations for the imminent invasion…. an invasion which will surely mark the final battle between humans and machines on what remains of the Earth. Read more…
THE MATRIX RELOADED – Don Davis
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The original Matrix movie was a bona-fide phenomenon when it was released in 1999, breaking new ground in many areas: the level and depth of the story by directors Andy and Larry Wachowski; the mysticism and theology that peppers the story; the fetish chic “look” of the film; the once-innovative special effects, with the now passé bullet-time slow motion sequences; and Don Davis’s lavish, electronically enhanced orchestral score, which was lauded by fans but which I personally didn’t care for. Whatever your feelings about its artistic merits, the impact of The Matrix was and is impossible to ignore – and the sequel raises the bar again. Beginning where the original movie left off, The Matrix Reloaded sees Neo (Keanu Reeves) now an established member of the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar, one of many ships under the control of human freedom fighters who are striving to rid the world of the race of machines who have enslaved humanity and tricked them into thinking they are free by creating “the matrix”, a vast computer programme designed to simulate reality. Along with crewmembers Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss) and Link (Harold Perrineau), the crew seek to fulfill the prophecy of “The One” by tracing the Matrix to its source and freeing humanity… but this is only the beginning. Read more…
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