So, Total Film tried to slip this one on us. 2 for 1! That's right, they lumped both Matrix sequels in on the most hated films of all time. Nice try, but this one seems like a slam dunk. Sure, the online internet population may hate on these two movies (something that actually annoys me...more on this later), but are these two movies really hated?
See, I wasn't that huge a fan of The Matrix. Back when it came out, everyone was pumped up for it. People emulated the look of the characters in the movie (long dark trenchcoats, wrap-around sunglasses) and the infamous bullet-time photography was spoofed and stolen all over the place. Like I said, I wasn't a huge fan...I mean, the movie was good and it had it's points for sure, I would not take that away from it, but people were all excited about this movie's action scenes, when frankly, the guy who choreographed this film had done tons of Asian films. It wasn't like he was saving his best stuff for North America or anything, it was just what he did, but no one had seen this before because quite plainly, a lot of people here are really, really ignorant about world cinema.
Anyhow, I wasn't dying for the two Matrix movies. When they came out, yeah they were boring and obtuse, it seemed to be reaching for a higher goal than the films could actually attain (or audiences were willing to put up with...I mean let's face it, people mostly remember the action scenes from the Matrix, not the religious allegories). Anywhoo, the movies made a mint at the Box Office and people seemed to be talking excitedly about the highway scene from Reloaded and the 1000 Mr. Smith fight from Revolutions. Then boom, before you know it, these movies are hated. At least, according the idjit at Total Film who came up with this list in the first place.
The fact is, there were two initial big sellers in Blu-Ray sales: The Dark Knight and The Matrix Trilogy. You can say all you want about how there wasn't much initial selections and this and that and the other thing, the fact is, people were WAITING for this film trilogy to hit Blu-Ray and they were snapped up as soon as they hit shelves. For the longest time I would wander into a store and I'd be damned if I can even find a Matrix trilogy set. When you lump in a bunch of movies with Dark Knight, you know you're getting into heady stuff. Don't give me the "they just wanted 1" thing either, because then they could have just waited for individual releases or hell, just held on to their DVD copies, I mean if they hated 2 and 3 so much, why double dip on the whole damned set?
I got a book off Deceptisean named Film Classics. It talks about (are you ready?) classic films from different eras. You know what he talks about in the book? The Matrix Series, that's right, 1, 2 and 3 and he praises all three films to the hilt. For some guy to put all three movies in a book about film classics and then have it published? To me, that's already showing that those movies aren't hated.
Rating: Worth the hate? They're not hated. Period.
- Stephenstein
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