On Rewatching the Matrix, Being Sick, and the Penultimate Disney Favorite

I remember watching The Matrix back in 1999 and loving it.  The story was awesome, the special effects amazing, the philosophy deep and thought-provoking, the cyberpunk computer thing cool, and the overall film just plain good.  I’ve been wanting to rewatch the movie for a while now, and since I was sick and on the couch all day yesterday I decided to do so.

Ten years later and ten years wiser, my feelings were slightly different.  In fact, my Facebook status states: “After rewatching the Matrix, I’ve decided that it pretty much sucks…”  Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the film, but not with the warm fuzzy feelings I had a decade ago.  Here are some reactions.

1.  Why the heck do Neo and Friends dress like they do when they enter the Matrix?  Is all that leather really practical?  I mean, sure, their outfits fit the “punk” genre, but that’s about it.  To me it looks like their clothing choice makes them stand out while in the Matrix, possibly drawing attention to themselves and thereby summoning the Agents.  Plus, it just can’t be comfortable.

2.  The machine v. man war, while not original, is okay.  I like how man scorched the sky to stop the machines from getting their needed solar power.  I like how the robots got smart and then enslaved man and harvested them for energy.  I like the whole creepy weird ~2199 time setting.

3.  Morpheus is just too much of a “I’m smarter than you blah blah” jerk.  I felt his character was too much of a philosophical guru this time around.  He’s all the time asking Neo these random questions (“[Do] you think that’s air you’re breathing now?”).  I understand that he’s trying to “free Neo’s mind” and all and that he’s trying to get him to understand himself, but the way Morpheus does it is just lame.

4.  Agent Smith is just too cool for school.  ‘Nuff said.

5.  Why, when Morpheus called Neo the second time and said “the phone is tapped” and that They were listening, did he tell Neo to meet him at a bridge and then let him go off on his own?  If They were listening, wouldn’t they know to go to the bridge and pick up Neo and Friends?

6.  What was so bad about living in the Matrix?  Sure, Neo felt that something was wrong, that something wasn’t right, but had no idea what it was.  To me it seemed like living in the Matrix was fine and dandy to practically everybody, except that life had problems.  Well, it looks like the Real World had more problems than living in the Matrix.  Like Cypher said, ignorance is bliss.  How much better would life be if Adam & Eve hadn’t eaten the fruit and had their eyes opened?  Likewise, how much better is life in the Matrix with eyes shut?

So those are some of my thoughts.  The movie is still fairly cool to watch, but it breaks down under scrutiny in my book.  Oh well.

I’m doing better today.  My nose is still stopped up and running (seems oxymoronic), but my head hasn’t hurt today, so that’s good.  Since I didn’t work yesterday, I spent the day playing Oblivion (I probably put in 8 hrs), watching The Matrix, reading Warbreaker, and cooking some soup.  All in all, a terribly exhausting day, though filled with entertainment.

The Lion King.  There.  Now you know.