I had a night of films this evening. Starting with a release from last year I watched Pandorum. It is a tense psychological thriller set on board a spaceship. I liked the idea, of the characters waking up with no memories. The cinematography was brilliant, but the pacing was a bit off the characters running to save the ship from nuclear disaster.
Next up was the 2003 release, Matrix Reloaded. Rather like the Phantom Menace, I couldn't wait to see it when I did though I walked out disappointed. I forgot how ridiculous the Freeway scene was. It is amazing was so over the top, I cant imagine even David Cameron would actually build several miles of Freeway at several million per mile just to create a scene.
I remember reading a review after the Matrix said the directors saw Charlies Angels. They believed that it copied the Matrix so much, it made them wan to make a film which couldn't be copied. Which they did really no one has tried to do bullet time on such a scale as say the scene where Neo does battle with the Frenchman's henchmen. I guess it was that overambition that lets the Matrix sequels down. There were so many ideas and they tried to explore so many of them that ultimately you end up with unintelligible scenes like Neo meeting the Architect.
The final film of the evening was from the end of the 90's ExistenZ. One thing I really notice now when I see a film from the 90 is that unlike today the actors look a bit more like people rather than looking like the spend their lives in the gym. ExistenZ explores the ideas of alternate realities, how our reality is defined by our mind. The Matrix tried the same thing but I think David Cronenberg takes it to the depths.
