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    ‘Matrix’ Co-Director Explains Why They Ruined ‘The Matrix’ [Movies]

    Nigel G MitchellBy Updated:8 Comments2 Mins Read

    (Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Matrix Trilogy)

    While The Matrix remains a classic scifi action flick, the second and third movies in the series were a disappointment to many fans of the first film. Specifically, many people were upset by the developments in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolution that revealed that the Machines orchestrated the prophecy of Neo, and that his role as the One was intended to enslave humans, not free them. On a recent press tour for the Wachowski brothers’ ( the writer/director team of the Matrix trilogy) new movie Cloud Atlas, Lana Wachowski (formerly Larry Wachowski) explained their reasoning behind overturning the prophecy of the One, something so many people loved about the first Matrix.

    “What we were trying to achieve with the story overall was a shift, the same kind of shift that happens for Neo, that Neo goes from being in this sort of cocooned and programmed world, to having to participate in the construction of meaning to his life. And we were like, ‘Well, can the audience go through the three movies and experience something similar to what the main character experiences?’ … So the first movie is sort of classical in its approach, the second movie is deconstructionist and an assault on all the things you thought to be true in the first movie … and the third movie is the most ambiguous, because it asks you to actually participate in the construction of meaning.”

    Translation: “We took everything people liked about the first movie, and destroyed it in the second and third movie.” Smart move.

    [Via Blastr via Slashfilm]

    What do you think? Should the prophecy have been kept as truth? Does the twist make the movies more interesting?

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    <span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="38798 ">8 Comments

    1. Maurice Mitchell on

      I guess I'm the only one who wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed all three movies. They didn't need to make a sequel, but I enjoyed both II and III.

    2. Maurice Mitchell on

      I didn't like the second one mostly because it seemed more like a video game then a movie. Go here and fight these bad guys to get the magic key then go here and do this…it literally put me to sleep.

    3. Maurice Mitchell on

      Sounds like a lot of fancy words just to say, "We had a cheat sheet for the first one. The other two, not so much."

      I think the Matrix trilogy is a perfect example of what happens when storytellers depend too heavily on something as blueprinted as the Hero's Journey arc when they're cutting their teeth, then try to veer away in an attempt to prove they can. Compare to JK Rowling, who decided to stick with it and just keep using the Monomyth formula with each Harry Potter installment to wild success.

    5. Maurice Mitchell on

      I am big on symbolism, when it comes to stories like this. Though I ultimately didn't enjoy where the story led, I had fun connecting the dots and seeing the bigger picture. The first was still my favorite. Neo is an awesome superhero.

    7. Maurice Mitchell on

      I agree, JW. There's a reason the Hero's Journey is so popular, just like all story archetypes. If you change it, you risk losing the audience.