The Matrix: No Revolution
The Matrix is often cited as a groundbreaking film that introduced
innovative effects and a new style to action cinema. I'm not going to
argue that The Matrix wasn't a great film and it did take effects
to a new level, but it wasn't nearly as original as most people think.
Stylish black trench coats, sunglasses, bullet-dodging slo-mo, Kung Fu,
flying leaps and orgiastic raves populated by people of color: that's
what The Matrix brought to the screen in 1999. |
| Except that Wesley Snipes starred in Blade the previous year
(1998). I am not claiming that The Matrix ripped off Blade;
there is no way it could have, since production on The Matrix
was actually over before Blade was released. But Blade
is, in many ways, a cooler film, even if its effects aren't always as
eye-popping. |
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Both Blade and The Matrix borrow heavily from Hong
Kong Kung Fu action flicks, so it isn't entirely surprising to see similar
moves and choreography used in both. |
| And it isn't terribly unusual for people with superhuman abilities to
leap and practically fly from buildings in movies from this genre. |
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But you might be surprised if they landed with an earth-rumbling (and
camera-shaking) thud and a puff of dust in exactly the same position. |
| Battles against overwhelming odds are standard fare, but identically
armored troops in marble lobbies? Can you even match the screen shots
pictured here with the correct movie? |
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Even the signature effect of The Matrix was not original. Bad
guy Deacon Frost managed to dodge slo-motion bullets quite nicely in Blade,
thankyouverymuch. Granted: The Matrix effect was much slicker
and the Bullet Time orbiting camera was very original, but the actual
bullet dodging was not. |
| One of the strangest critical compliments the second Matrix movie, The
Matrix: Reloaded, received was the praise for the high-energy, orgiastic
rave scene. As you can see in the screen grabs, both Blade and
Reloaded featured wet, sexy, half-naked dancers in a state of
ecstasy. Sure, in Reloaded everyone was bathed in sweat and in
Blade it was blood, but the scenes were the same. I'll also freely
admit that the Reloaded rave was sexually much hotter. But what
struck me as particularly odd wasn't that reviewers were simply impressed
with the Reloaded celebration so much as they were impressed
with the diversity of the crowd. Yes, the Wackowski brothers should be
complimented that Zion in Reloaded was composed of mostly people
of color. After all, that's the way our planet really looks, no matter
what Hollywood typically feeds us. |
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| No, what I found strange was the way reviewers went on and
on about how progressive and color blind The Matrix was. Take
this quote
from my favorite reviewer, Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times:
''Reloaded has one of the most excitingly subversive and radical
points of view ever seen in a major motion picture: a postmodern purview
that accords equal weight to philosophical ideals from people of color." |
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It's not that I disagree with Mr. Mitchell's opinion exactly.
(Well, I do: the Western/Christian metaphors outweigh the Eastern/Buddhist
philosophy by a ton, but that is another article.) It's just that for
a movie that is supposed to be so enlightened, don't the screen grabs
above bother you? We see Neo and Trinity exiting an elevator (the
small inset picture) to find a bunch of brown-skinned people bowing down,
groveling, offering gifts and pleading for blessings from their white-skinned
savior. (Yes, I am aware of Mr. Reeves' ethnicity.) Need I even mention the contrast with Blade at this point?
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Created: 9 November, 2003
Updated: 16 December, 2003
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