I hate when movies get dated and we loose our emotional attachment. I used to really like Training Day up until 2011. I watched it recently and it felt so dated that it no longer had the same impact.

As for Matrix, it suffers because the slow mo and 360 camera angles were parodied in other movies, and the use of cgi has made sweeping camera shots very common, so the wow factor is gone.

I cannot believe we never got those cool slider phones.

No, we had to settle for iPhones and Samsung Galaxy 8's.

I hate how the new iPhones home button doesn't go down, it makes it feel cheap. I keep pressing it to go down but to no avail:D

I just watched it again as well... i think it's great! sure, some of the technology looks retro compared to what we have now, but otherwise it was solid...

If anything it's dated because it's so much cooler and sexier than what is customary in our culture now... it's all hipster and sanitised now, whereas the matrix envisaged a sexy, leather-clad future...

The film's themes, the philosophical and moral issues it raises... all even more relevant given what has transpired in the world since the movie's release and what is still going on...

Also, Carrie-Anne Moss... Yes please!

What I think makes the movie dated is the two sequels... It dilutes The Matrix so much... Makes it more about world-building-nerdism rather than the matrix's original ideas and concept and the issues it raises... too much answered, too convoluted... too many peripheral characters and side plots... it was fun, in a pop-corn way, but ultimately they really detract from the original...

I think it holds up! The only Thing you can knock it for some of the Carrie-ann moss costumes

@Renovatio said:

I just watched it again as well... i think it's great! sure, some of the technology looks retro compared to what we have now, but otherwise it was solid...

If anything it's dated because it's so much cooler and sexier than what is customary in our culture now... it's all hipster and sanitised now, whereas the matrix envisaged a sexy, leather-clad future...

The film's themes, the philosophical and moral issues it raises... all even more relevant given what has transpired in the world since the movie's release and what is still going on...

Also, Carrie-Anne Moss... Yes please!

What I think makes the movie dated is the two sequels... It dilutes The Matrix so much... Makes it more about world-building-nerdism rather than the matrix's original ideas and concept and the issues it raises... too much answered, too convoluted... too many peripheral characters and side plots... it was fun, in a pop-corn way, but ultimately they really detract from the original...

I really liked II for its action, most notably the whole freeway scene where they actually built a freeway to shoot it (isn't that amazing?)

II ended with a great cliff-hanger moment that didn't eventuate into III being good. III just seemed to be too bizarre and hard to follow.

I think I connected with people on a level that this reality we live in could actually be fake, or manipulated. For some reason this even caused people to go on killing sprees as they believed reality was just a matrix.

What I think makes the movie dated is the two sequels

I was actually contemplating whether the opposite was true and that the sequels in some way preserve the legacy of this film...

I wonder if a lot of people thought they were so bad that the lasting impression for the majority is - first one great, follow ups not so much. They then just have in mind that the first one is good but never actually go back and rewatch it due to the faint whiff emanating from the close proximity of the sequels in one's mind.

If this is so, then the sequels did serve some positive purpose! Certainly that's the reason which had put me off rewatching for such a long time.

Overwhelmingly, most people do love the sequels, maybe even more than the original as they have better graphics and action... So I do see your point and agree with you in that respect...

The issue I have is that they dilute and distort the story and ideas so much... instead of contemplating the ideas in the original matrix, we end up being distracted by the spectacle of those two movies or we end up nerding out on the various details of continuity and links between one thing or another... it all melds together into one meaningless, but entertaining, mess...

I first watched the Matrix surrounded by employees at Lucas Films (a friend worked at the ranch and got me a seat at their viewing), and I hated the movie. I thought there was too much slow motion, which dragged down the action, and the dialog sounded dull and monotone. However, after multiple viewings overtime since then due to its popularity and the sequels, I think it's ok. I'm not in love with the film, but I don't hate it anymore either.

The slo mo was groundbreaking as it was shot with cameras that capture a huge amount of frames per second. Weird to think that anyone thought the slo mo was bad.

@tmdb13060682 said:

I cannot believe we never got those cool slider phones.

They were pretty expensive and aimed at the business market: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_8110

Available on eBay.

@intothenightalone said:

I hate when movies get dated and we loose our emotional attachment. I used to really like Training Day up until 2011. I watched it recently and it felt so dated that it no longer had the same impact.

As for Matrix, it suffers because the slow mo and 360 camera angles were parodied in other movies, and the use of cgi has made sweeping camera shots very common, so the wow factor is gone.

Training Day was always crap IMO. It's also a damn shame they gave Denzel the Oscar for playing your run-of-the-mill thug but passed him up when he played Malcolm X. A role in which he killed it. Don't believe me simply look up old videos of Malcolm X in interviews and you can see how Washington got his speech pattern and mannerisms perfectly. The Training Day award was because Hollywood had been guilted into giving a black man (and woman, Halle Berry got it same year for a terrible role as well) an Oscar.

@The Midi-chlorian Count said:

Just watched this for the first time in years and got to say - not as impressive as I had in mind.

For sure the storyline still more than stands up, it's classic sci-fi, but stylistically, I guess what I once would have thought was pretty cool now seems a bit embarrassing - the black leather gear, trench coats, shades, and the never ending super slo-mo... Not really the best.

I agree. I still love the story and you can take it in so many angles. Have you ever heard the gnostic angle? Pretty interesting. But some of the gimmicky slo-mo and special effects are starting to show its age.

@Damienracer

I know what you mean, it's a necessary step, but shouldn't dominate, in my opinion...

I can't think of another term that better describes the archivist catalogueing of a fictional world, with all questions answered, blanks filled... detailing the minutia of "world/universe", expanding every side character's background and describing all the interactions and precedents in an almost blue-print fashion..

I prefer more mystrey... I like for things to be left to the imagination, for ambiguities not to be settled... for the focus to be on drama, character, ideas, feelings, aesthetics or even plot, rather than to be a geographical, anthropological and documentary survey of an imagined world...

I like leaving the theatre and thinking about the film's themes hours or days later, or better yet, sensing a lingering feeling from the experience.... I enjoy meeting friends and discussing a movie's concepts and the way it made me feel, rather than arguing over the trivialities of the fictional world we were presented with... I think the original Matrix provides more fuel for the former, whereas the sequels tend to be more geared to the latter...

I think the world building part is done more in the other franchises, than in this trilogy, but there is something elegant about the first Matrix that is lost when trilogised 😎

@Damienracer said:

The sentinels and agent Smith were both villains that appeared in the first matrix with the former not destroyed and still enslaving the human race.

I don't have a problem leaving the story there and having the future unknown... it makes it a more unsettling movie and thought provoking as a result, but with a glimmer of hope, which is often discarded in more nihilistic movies today...

But I do understand the urge to continue the story... I did enjoy the sequels, but I do think they take away from the experience of the first...

I didn't know The Matrix was going to be a trilogy when I saw the first one in theatre... But if I had known there were follow up movies, I would have felt differently after seeing the The Matrix, as it wouldn't be mysterious, I would know to tune into the next "episode" to find out what happens and have questions answered instead of dealing with them myself...

It's fine, I can appreciate what people see in the trilogy... as a whole thing...