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It’s time to enter The Matrix
When it was released back in 1999, The Matrix managed to revolutionize the genre of special effects in Hollywood movie industry. It provided way more than what was expected from an action movie, with a strong storyline, out-of-this-world visuals and above all things, Kung Fu. All jaws were on the floor when the first time Neo managed to dodge the bullets fired by the Agent, in the now infamous technique, the drunken bullet dodge.
The Matrix redefined Hollywood altogether, leaving score of movies to follow the same path. Charlie’s Angels blatantly copied the string-powered Kung Fu style of The Matrix. Scary movie spoofed its infamous revolving camera angles and numerous TV serials have been copying what The Matrix started off.
Five years down the road, Warner Bros is going to release two sequels back to back. The first one, the aptly named The Matrix: Reloaded, will be released this summer. But this is no ordinary one, as this time around there will be more of the matrix than meets the eye.
Two movies
As mentioned earlier, The Matrix sequels will be released back to back starting from summer 2003. The second movie in the series will be called Reloaded and the third one, Revolutions. Here is a background on how these movies were produced. Warner Brothers gave a whopping $300 million budget for both the movies to the directors, Larry and Andy Wachowsiki. It was noted by both the brothers that as soon as The Matrix was released, all the special effects were instantly copied and, in some cases, they actually outdid the original (remember Swordfish’s revolving bomb camera?)
So this time around the directors have teamed up with their original special effects director, John Gaieta, the man who made Bullet time famous. But now they will be using propriety SFX technology that the brothers claim will at least take four years to copy from scratch. Don’t you believe them? Neither did I until the following scene was described in their interview.
Remember Agent Smith? The robot with the human feelings? Well, he is back and has the power to replicate himself. There is this scene in which Neo faces the Agent on a one-on-one battle. But the Agent starts replicating himself. Soon the screen fills with up to a 150 agents! All of them fighting Neo separately and all of them look totally real and natural. Neo makes proper contact with them and the fight is as real as you would be seeing it if you were standing over there.
Even in the latest of movies, your eye can detect CG (computer graphics) even if it is quite fast moving. We all knew that it wasn’t the real actor jumping around on the buildings in Spiderman and that all the Orcs in the Two Towers were graphics. But this is a whole new ball game. Gaieta claims that the latest Star Wars has “lifeless” graphics in it and doesn’t have any “human” qualities associated with them. On the other hand, Gaieta suggests, in the Matrix 2 & 3 you will never really know who the real actors are and who the graphics are.
But how did he manage to pull this off. Easy answer: money and proper effort. Gaieta’s company Esc (for the escape key on the keyboard) made a special complex just for these effects. With funds at their disposal, Gaieta made something known as the “real” technology. Through this method, the actor is made to do actions under specialized cameras, which record every one of his movement.
These cameras are so powerful that they even record pores on the skin of the actors. These movements are fed to super fast computers which develop a highly accurate 3D model using a rather complex algorithm. Thus the actor himself is virtually transferred into the computer. This way the effects team can make the 3D model of the actor do anything. From raising an eyebrow to doing multiple somersaults, the 3D model can achieve every move perfectly. Thus in that one scene in Reloaded, out of the 150 agents fighting Neo only one is the real one. And if Neo does not know which one is the real one, you sure as hell can’t figure it out either.
So you must be thinking, okay they have managed to multiply people on screen, what about some good old car chases, crashes and bangs? Well the Wachowsiki brothers have that one planned out too.
A private 20-minute screening of this scene was shown to journalists and executives of Warner Brothers, and claims that it is going to revolutionize car chases in the same way the original Matrix revolutionized hand-to-hand combat, are rampant.
In the movie Trinity and Morpheous (key characters in the movie for those who haven’t seen the original) burst out of a building, ending up on the Freeway. Trinity looks at Morpheous and says, “You told us never to go to the Freeway. You told us it would be suicide.” Morpheous looks back and grimly says, “Here is hoping I was wrong.” Following this statement is one of the most amazing car chases.
Big claim
According to the movie’s producer, Joel Silver, “We are going to make the fast and the furious look like the slow and the dimwitted.” Quiet a big claim by any measure as the fast and the furious was a runaway hit and is considered by many as having one of the best car chase sequences ever. But here is a bit of a rundown on the claim.
The directors wanted a hauntingly eerie Freeway and spent searching for months for one. But as we all know, architects don’t make eerie buildings in Australia. Thus the brothers decided to actually build one. Yes they built an actual Freeway in the studio! It took a major chunk out of their budget (about 50 million dollars) but the results are amazing. Those who have witnessed this scene say that it is one of the first car case scenes to involve slow motion integrated into fast paced sequences. And let us not forget the kung fu happening on top of toppling cars, back seats and aboard moving trucks. The visuals, in, short are magnificent. All thanks to the latest patented technology of John Gaieta.
That was all about Matrix 2: Reloaded. All that is known about Matrix 3: Revolutions is that it will be one continuous war running in real time in both the “real world” and the “matrix”. It is going to feature more real life combat between the resistance and the machines that have taken over. In this “war”, the machines which will be rendered are going to possess life like movements thanks to advanced motion capturing techniques again made by Esc.
Now that we are over the highlights of the technical marvel that is The Matrix, what exactly is the storyline? Well, since the last Matrix, Neo has developed messiah-like powers and, for a start, the rebellion has started to win over the machines. The hidden city of Zion is also going to be introduced in the second part, with the third part detailing it during the war. Somehow the machines have come across the location of Zion and are going to attack in 24 hours. It is up to the usual gang of Neo and others to save the day by finding an important man in the matrix called the “Key maker”, who holds all the keys of the matrix. Reloaded ends in a surprising way which will automatically lead to the third part, Revolutions, which features the final war.
The Matrix games are very much on par with the movies they are based on. They are being developed by Shiny entertainment (the same folks who did the very old Aladdin game on the mega drive!). Shiny’s president Dave Perry has worked very closely with the Wachowsiki brothers in making these games as the directors themselves are hardcore gamers.
The series of games will be something of a cut section of the movies. That is it will take specific sections of the movie and base it on that. The directors made sure that the gamers amongst us would be rewarded when they go and watch the movie in theatre. The movies will be more explanatory to the gamer than to the average movie goer.
Here is an example of such a crossover. For example, in the movie, someone drops in a letter for Neo. If you have played the game, you will know that you were the one who actually gave this letter in one of your missions. Thus the games are based on the events in the movies. So if you have played the games, you will understand the movies better.
Technically, the games themselves will push new boundaries in terms of both graphics and game play. All the cool kung fu moves and bullet dodging actions are going to be part of the game and you can play the games through two different perspectives. Over all the games will push new boundaries in the gaming arena as the movies have done in the cine arena. The games will be released on PC, PS2, XBOX and Game Cube.
Conclusion
No matter where you are, rest assured that The Matrix will affect your life. With a huge marketing campaign backing these movies and games, The Matrix is one of the biggest franchises to hit the market. Already there have been cult followings of the first movie all over the world and from the looks of it the sequels will create an even bigger impact. Here is hoping that the movies are going to be released in Pakistani cinemas at the same time it is released all over, so that we too can be part of the Revolutions.
The writer
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