An In-Depth Look At How A ‘Matrix’ Continuation Could Work
When big movie rumors hit, I tend to want to take a step back before reporting anything. I’ve been there many times where something hits the wire, where I was working wanted a report on it, and then less than 30 minutes later a retraction had to be posted. Then would come the comments of “DON’T YOU GUYS RESEARCH ANYTHING!?” It gets to be pretty annoying, but you have to report on it when you work for some places.
Now, a few weeks ago there, was reports that The Matrix was being rebooted or getting more sequels or remake. The internet went insane when it heard that a film that is arguably one of the best sci-fi films ever could be getting a possible remake.
The Matrix came out in 1999. I was 14, so seeing this insanely beautiful story and filmmaking put on-screen was my Star Wars. Everything I saw in it reminded me of Japanese anime, and all the effects and action in it looked like nothing that has ever come before it. The moment I walked out of the theater, I knew that this movie couldn’t possibly fail in any way. I was right. It grossed $463 million on a budget of $63 million. Not only that, but the movie came out on March 31st, 1999. March was never a time to release a huge movie like it is today.
After it was all over, rumor began to circulate that there will be not one but 2 sequels. Not only that, but there will be a release of something called The Animatrix — a collection of Matrix stories, including a 2-part prequel that showed how the war started. We’ll get to that later.
In 2003, The Matrix Reloaded was released. I still can’t think of a film I was as hyped up for as that one. My friends and I watched the trailer for it over and over again. We sat around discussing every scene like those annoying breakdowns of trailers you see on just about every website. Check out the trailer and tell me that it doesn’t look incredible:
The problem with the film is the film that came after. The Matrix Revolutions when paired with The Matrix Revolutions felt like 2 films that should’ve been one film. A fan even cut together the two and made a cut that made a sequel to The Matrix look amazing, but it was still off. There was so much filler stuff in the Reloaded that people started to look at each other strangely inside the theater. The chase scene to get to a phone call that looked cool, but it lasted too long, the entire Zion scenes… it just felt like they stretched it all to put more action in instead of sticking to story with action to help tell it. That’s why the first worked so well.
I’ve heard that the original plan was for the second movie to be a prequel (the 2-part Animatrix prequel I mentioned earlier), then have the sequel be what you saw in Reloaded and Revolutions to tie it all up. Sadly, what we got was mediocre sequels to an amazing film. So, what could this reboot/remake/revamp be? The 2-part prequel. It’s the best thing to come out of all the stuff released after The Matrix.
Here. Check it out:
PART I:
PART II:
What you get there is some truly interesting and terrifying story. One of the most interesting parts of The Matrix was Morpheus trying to explain what he knew about the war, but he didn’t really know as much as what is shown here. Hell, he didn’t even know what year it was.
Prequel
What could be done to put life back into the story is to adapt the 2-part prequel into a film or TV series. Both can be done well, and both can maybe make The Matrix franchise get a little bit of its prestige back. If you viewed the above prequel, you know that it’s a more solid story than anything you’ve seen in crap like iRobot.
Even The Terminator has been damaged beyond repair with all the crap that came after Terminator 2. I think an adaptation of The Animation prequels could be really good done well and not made just because the franchise name will make money
Beyond Revolutions
Should the franchise bring back some of the past actors? It could go either way. If it reaches the point where the story needs to go into what happens after Revolutions, maybe. There was MMORPG about that made after the last film, but it basically shows that the trilogy didn’t matter since everything seemed business as usual.
If they try to go a route of making stuff after the last film, they can go into the politics of releasing the humans from The Matrix, the continuation of the machines, how the humans could live in the world they destroyed to stop the machines, possible enemies to both, and so on. There could be a lot of material to be explored past Revolutions, but again, who can do it right? The Wachowski’s have all but burnt up all the fuel they have in Hollywood by making one piece of crap after another, so maybe fresh blood is needed.
It takes one human a while to come to grips with leaving The Matrix, but what would it take for billions to leave it? How many red pills and blue pills will there be willing to leave the simulated reality, and how many would want to stay? By releasing humans, the machines open themselves up for a bigger resistance because many people probably wouldn’t be alright knowing they were bred and used for power. I’m thinking there would be a bigger war.
Maybe there’s a way that both a prequel and a sequel series could be made. There is a lot of story to pilfer, but there’s also a lot of ways to screw it up. I guess we’ll see.
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Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post, UPROXX, BGR and by just looking up his name.
Contact: jeff@socialunderground.com