Yeah yeah I know. But I still think if that guy above said he was blown away, I dont think you can convince him to be not blown away with your deep analysis on it. Just kinda pissed me off because I also loved the movie.

I am being fair.

1) Martial arts--most of the actors in the "The Matrix" movies are not real martial-artists. Subsequently, their moves look slow, amateurish, and unprofessional.

As for how it's made...frankly, you can throw in any combo of action, special effects, cinematography, etc., but a movie can still be bad. It's not what you throw into the mix but how you mix it that counts. A movie can have fewer technical elements than "The Matrix" but still be better than it.

2) Philosophy--Perhaps the movies presented philosophy to a wide audience, but how many people were actually inspired to dig further into philosophy rather than just going around saying, "I learned this and that from 'The Matrix.'"? You're right that the philosophy in the movies isn't as deep as what could be found in books, so it is apples and oranges. However, that still makes "The Matrix" a superficial jab at being "thoughtful".

Most of the fights done in the "The Matrix" movies are done on computers, and you can see how blurry and cartoon-ish everything is. I'm sure that there are people who will say, "But it was meant to be unreal/surreal", but I'll believe that statement only when the filmmakers themselves make that claim.

The fights that were done with real actors still look slow, amateurish, and unprofessional. People who know martial arts--people like Jet Li, for example--have moves that are so fast that you can feel the energy leaping off of the theatre screen. On the other hand, watching Keanu Reeves fight makes me feel lethargy.

As for "The Last Samurai"...people who saw both the teaser and the final trailers in my audiences were very responsive to the high production values of the film. Hopefully, it has good enough of a story, too. By the way, the title is a reference to the dying samurai class at the end of the 19th Century as well as to Tom Cruise's discovery of a different kind of honor and valor.

I know this is an old thread, but I just picked it up. I, too, was extremely disappointed with The Matrix Reloaded; so much so, that I have no interest in seeing Revolutions.

I understand Eddie's stand in this regard: the makers of the Matrix movies, and those fans of the series who champion them, stake much of their claims on the depth of the movies philosophically. Personally, I think that although the philosophical arguments posed in the Matrix movies may seem to me to be rehashed and basic Philosophy 101 kind of stuff (i.e.: destiny, fate, free-will, purpose, what is reality, why are we here), that these movies are striking a chord with a generation that has not yet come in contact with these ideas.

Case in point: I remember going to see Jacob's Ladder and being blown away by it's musings on life, death, and reality. However, I know tons of people who were not nearly as affected by the movie as I was. The ideas that I latched onto just weren't fresh to them. I think we are seeing some of the same thing here.

What it comes down to is that the Matrix movies are not just marketed as action movies, but action movies with intelligence, and though their ideas may be intelligent, they are not always fresh to everyone. I think I could have gotten more into Reloaded and just let the philosophical ramblings go by if the action had been better motivated within the framework of the story. Though extremely well executed, each sequence seemed too drawn out and to serve no purpose except to get to the next action scene which I just don't get into.

Give me amazing action with a fresh story, and you've got me hooked!