The sequels weren’t great — The Matrix Revolutions was flat-out terrible — but all three Matrix films combine were responsible for some of the coolest action moments ever. Let’s reminisce.
Watchmojo put together a little list of the top 10 Moments from The Matrix Trilogy. Time to get angry and what they left out and the specific order in which they listed them.
Maybe I’ll rewatch these at some point. How have they dated? Anyone?
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30 responses to “The 10 Best Moments From The Matrix Trilogy”
Anyone care to list for those of us unable to watch the video?
Can’t watch properly at work but I skimmed through since I’m on my lunch break.
10) Opening scene where the cops raid Trinity and she kicks the shit out of them (The Matrix)
9) Battle for Zion I guess the squid-bots flowing in while the mechs shoot them down, etc. (Revolutions)
8) Neo meeting the Oracle for the first time (The Matrix)
7) Neo vs. Smith final showdown (Revolutions)
6) Dojo training scene (The Matrix)
5) Neo vs. Smith subway fight (The Matrix)
4) Freeway chase (Reloaded)
3) Lobby shootout (The Matrix)
2) “Neo becomes the one” (The Matrix)
1) Bullet time, i.e.: the bit where Neo discovers the ability to dodge bullets after rescuing Morpheus (The Matrix)
I’d personally put The lobby scene at the top in terms of visual style, fight choreography and editing, but the others are definitely the more important. I’d also switch the Freeway Chase and the Battle for Zion.
Why did I take the time to find the music from the lobby shootout for my list?
Age before beauty, son.
Appreciated
10. The Opening (The Matrix) – Trinity escapes from agents
9. Battle for Zion (Matrix Revolutions) – Robot battle
8. Neo meets the Oracle (The Matrix) – “There is no spoon”
7. The Final Showdown (Matrix Revolutions) – Neo vs Agent Smith
6. I Know Kung Fu (The Matrix) – “I know Kung Fu”
5. The Subway Fight (The Matrix) – First time Neo fights Smith instead of running away
4. The Freeway Chase (Matrix Reloaded) – Why fight on a train when you can fight on a truck and then have the truck smash into another truck?
3. The Lobby Shootout (The Matrix) – The one with this song
2. Neo becomes the One (The Matrix) – He aten’t dead
1. Bullet time (The Matrix) – “Dodge this”
Nice summaries
Ah, I knew I’d be beaten to it 😛
I loved these movies way back when. Loved the action, the crazy effects, the martial arts.
Watching it again like, last year, after at least 8 or so years since last viewing, and the fighting has lost a bit of the bang for me (i guess now used to the raw bourne-like brawl fight these days than the choreographed martial arts spectacles of yesteryear), and its much easier to pick out the special effects (neo vs the smith army is a particular offender). My, what simple people we must have been back then…
Not so say it’s lost its sparkle, but it’s definitely aged. Still love them though, but havent gone back to revolutions since the one viewing in the cinema…
I honestly nearly walked out of Reloaded during the Neo vs. Smith Army fight. Even for the over the top fight scenes these movies were just an excuse to showcase in the first place that scene was cartoonishly stupid, and went on too long to the point that it committed the cardinal sin of being boring as hell.
Recently picked up the set for crazy cheap on BR. Wondering how well it will hold up. I remember an interview with them saying how they had just raised to bar so much, it would be years before it could be beat. Then LOTR came out with Gollum and blew it all away.
I feel like the first one holds up the best of the three… I think cos it doesn’t use any CG Neos….
I found the action in the first holds up better because action in the sequels was too disconnected. It’s not that I can tell they’re using special effects or that they were doing things regular humans couldn’t do, it’s that every character had magic powers that turn off time and gravity, so it’s just a bunch of human shaped balloons slowly floating around.
It also still bugs me that the first movie ends with Neo becoming the One, no longer needing to fight because he can reshape the Matrix itself, and then in the second movie it turns out he’s just like the rest except he can fly.
As genre fans, my friends and I always thought that the fights in the Matrix movies were a bit average. You just can’t make regular actors look like martial artists in a few months.
You can make them look like brutal brawlers, though.
Yeah, i remember being wowed by them in high school or whenever it was when they came out. After developing a more refined pallette for fight sequences over the years and coming back to see them, its very noticable how slow/stop-start and choreographed it looks
10. Opening Theme (The Matrix)
9. Battle for Zion (The Matrix Revolutions)
8. Meeting the Oracle (The Matrix)
7. Final Showdown between Neo & Smith (Matrix Revolutions)
6. “I know Kung Fu” “Show me.” (The Matrix)
5. The Subway Fight (The Matrix)
4. The Freeway Chase (Matrix Reloaded)
3. The Lobby Shootout (The Matrix)
2. Neo becomes ‘The One’ (The Matrix)
1. “Bullet Time” (The Matrix)
i must be the only one who liked the 3rd movie so much more than the second, because the 2nd was just utter tripe.
Revolutions > Reloaded
yikes. some of those effects have aged quickly hey.
The green screen stuff looked pretty average even when it came out.
Back in 2003 or so I was discussing the Matrix with a friend. He was wondering why on earth in the Subway fight Smith didn’t just snap Neo’s neck when he had him in that headlock. He was clearly unbeatable, Neo was on the ropes, at his physical limit. Instead of ending him then, Smith pontificated, and that was his undoing.
I positied that Neo was at that point already beyond Smith’s reach. He looked beaten, but I think if Smith could have killed him there and then he would have. Instead he had to convince Neo it was his time to die by using the metaphor of the train to wipe him out. Smith is a construct of the Matrix, the appearance of the train was no random chance. If he could get Neo to believe that his death was as inevitable as an oncoming train, he would have him.
Neo of course resisted, and Smith fell victim to the train. Of course, the train failed to destroy him. In this scene, Smith hands Neo the tools to beat him. Neo now realises inevitability is simply another construct of the Matrix and as a free mind he no longer has to obey it. Sure, he doesn’t unlock his real power until he’s gunned down by the agents at the film’s climax a few minutes later, but that was the actual genesis of his evolution.
Taken in the context of the greater trilogy you could argue that was the Matrix’s goal all along. Reloaded introduced the other fables that it constructed to control humanity. Agent Smith’s “G-Man” approach is just the latest in a long line of ham-fisted imagery something something edgy 90s social commentary something something human cattle. At the end of the day, can’t we all just get along?
I like to think that Smith was trying to convince himself more than Neo at that point. His reality was being questioned just as much as Neo’s after all. He could kill Neo, but he needed more than that. He needed to make Neo agree with him. Show him undeniable proof that the rules still applied. He saw nearly impossible things happening and it was obviously leading to the impossible. Smith was an agent of a system built on control and order. Built on rules. Sure those rules could be bent and broken, but only in a logical way. Yet before him stood a man who was working towards becoming something the rules simply did not apply to.
That’s why by the end he’s taking it all so personally. It also helps explain why Trinity was able to defeat an Agent with ease. He’d just witnessed a regular human move like an Agent. Not strictly impossible, Agents can move that fast after all, but enough to rattle an Agents core beliefs.
I feel it is more result of the “taint” that Smith described to Morpheus and which was the defining character trait of Agent Smith: he had spent so long among humans that humanity had imprinted on him. Anger, frustration, cruelty, amusement… hubris, overlaid what should have been a machines ruthless, unquestionable efficiency. Savouring the moment of his victory while adding insult to the injury replaced what should have been an easy, cold-blooded kill.
How could you leave out that chateau fight scene with the merovinhoweveryouspellit’s minions?
Matrix…. Trilogy? Crazy talk!
If you’re reading this and considering you’re due for another viewing, might I suggest that instead you check out some fanedits that put interesting spins on the story! (ie The Matrix Dezionized merges the 2 sequels into one and takes place entirely inside the Matrix).
At least in these fight scene shots there was more than that Jason Bourne ‘shake the camera around hard to reflect how hard they are punching each other’ trick.
I prefer these old fight scenes, longer takes and wider angles so you can actually see what’s going on.
Yes, very much influenced by the Hong Kong martial arts films that the directors were referencing. That’s probably one of the key differences between Hong Kong and Hollywood fights.
Youtube “Every Frame a Painting” for the discussion on why Jackie Chan is awesome for more stuff.
I feel that’s the difference between Asian fight scenes vs American fight scenes. Hollywood seems to think that it’s better to have close up shots of the fight, to show emotions on faces. This necessitates that they do other tricks like camera shaking to make the fight look more involved. Asian fight scenes gets rid of the close ups and go for wider shots and longer takes to show more of the choreography.
The Matrix was good… or so I thought until I watched the undoubtedly superior ‘Computer Boy’