Cool story from Tarantino about watching it on opening night.

The Matrix wowed audiences and filmmakers on its release.

James Cameron called The Matrix, “one of the most profoundly fresh science fiction films ever made”.

And Quentin Tarantino called seeing The Matrix, “a mindblowing experience.” Here he is talking about it.

25/25 pic.twitter.com/GYQrA0Azjm

— All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) March 31, 2023

Will Smith already had the best 90's run of any Hollywood actor. Replace WWW with Matrix and it's an all-timer. Don't know who'd possibly top that except maybe Arnold or some classic actor from the olden days.

Edit: Actually it's probably 77-84 Harrison Ford.

I honestly think the Will-Smith-as Neo/Val-Kilmer-as-Morpheus version could have rivaled if not exceeded what we got. I love Keanu and Fishburne in those roles, and am glad it ultimately went to them (especially since no one would have been more dedicated to the training), but the alternate version probably would have been an even bigger success, financially speaking.

What would have been really interesting to see is how Smith would have reacted to/navigated the sequel scripts. By that point in his career - 2002-ish - he had more influence over his scripts, and I wonder how much of the weirdness and untraditional aspects he would have tolerated. Had he gone for it, though, for instance, his scene with the Architect could have been subtly awesome. Keanu plays it cold and calculated, but Smith's defiant, f-you version could have been fun too. It's just fun trying to imagine him in some of those scenes.

Butterfly effect...if Will Smith takes the Matrix, does Bad Boys II still happen? (Released same year as Reloaded.)

Does Jada Pinkett get cast in the sequels? Probably not.

And we can probably kiss the John Wick franchise goodbye.

Fishburne is the best part of the first movie. Not so much the other ones.

Chris Rock and Will Smith suck on each other's hot dog fingers onstage.

Great…there you go trying to reboot things again!

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Butterfly effect...if Will Smith takes the Matrix, does Bad Boys II still happen? (Released same year as Reloaded.)

Does Jada Pinkett get cast in the sequels? Probably not.

And we can probably kiss the John Wick franchise goodbye.

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Bad Boys II happens 2005-ish instead, post Matrix sequels. But then The Island (2005) is likely directed by someone other than Bay, and who knows how that then affects Transformers (2007).

Either way, personally speaking, two of my best friends met working on Bad Boys II. I would still know one of them, most likely, but the other probably not, which is crazy to think about. All because of a single decision Will Smith made in 1998.

Top 5 movie of the 90s

The Truman Show and The Matrix both aged like fine wine.

I was a graduating sr in high school. Profound impact on my movie watching life.

Quote:

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24 years ago today

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Morpheus taught the chosen one to play
Zion's been going in and out of style

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Will Smith already had the best 90's run of any Hollywood actor. Replace WWW with Matrix and it's an all-timer. Don't know who'd possibly top that except maybe Arnold or some classic actor from the olden days.

Edit: Actually it's probably 77-84 Harrison Ford.

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2 good contenders. What about Tom Hanks from like '93 to '02? His range is epic.

I saw The Matrix completely cold, I didn't know what it was about or who was in it, and I hadn't even seen a trailer or any marketing. I was at a point in my life where going to the movies with a group of friends and letting whoever decide on what we were watching was completely normal.

Simpler times added to an unforgettable movie experience.

/side note: I feel like the DVD was marketed more than the actual movie release.

The Porkchop Express said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Chris Rock and Will Smith suck on each other's hot dog fingers onstage.

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I guess you haven't seen "everything, everywhere, all at once"

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Will Smith already had the best 90's run of any Hollywood actor.

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Jim Carrey has entered the chat....

• Ace Ventura
• The Mask
• Dumb and Dumber
• Batman Forever
• Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
• The Cable Guy
• Liar Liar
• The Truman Show
• Man on the Moon

Still holds up. Showed it last year to my 12 year old and it blew his mind. If you ask him helly day it's his favorite movie.

TexasAggie_02 said:

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The Porkchop Express said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Chris Rock and Will Smith suck on each other's hot dog fingers onstage.

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I guess you haven't seen "everything, everywhere, all at once"

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I haven't, and if that's the advertisement for it, I never will.

I also saw it cold with a good friend.

Walked out thinking. That was pretty awesome! We weren't thinking 'ground breaking' consciously but it clearly was.

Does still hold up too

I enjoyed the second one too. Too bad the third pretty well flopped

And I don't even have words to describe the 4th other than 'how the **** could that travesty ever happen?

It's like Hollywood is deliberately trying to destroy all the iconic stories. .

A friend told me I should see it.. I was 25 the year it came out.


It's on my short list of 3 movies that I had no idea what they were about and came out of the theater just shaken up like WTF was that - in a good way - like I had trouble extracting myself out of the world in the movie and back into my reality.

The other 2 movies on that list are Fight Club and Pulp Fiction.

Buddy and I went through a McDonald's drive thru in Houston after the movie. He glanced in the mirror and there was a well-known sportswriter from the Houston Chronicle in the line behind us. That led to several months of Matrix jokes about "This is an odd version of the Matrix where Kenny Hand is behind us in the drive-thru at McDonalds"

The sequel was so showy and Hollywood-esque. I remember enjoying the first 30 minutes or so and then just kind of lapsing into a feeling that it was cool fight, flee, cool fight, flee, and feeling none of the cool-ness of the first film.

My dad and I went and saw the third one on a Wednesday afternoon, I think the day it opened, other than my Dad talking **** to a hardcore Matrix fan behind us who got mad at us for talking during the previews, I can't remember hardly anything but I remember being really unimpressed. But that's life, isn't it? Too much pressure to make needless sequels when the first one was perfect.

EDIT: Forgot they made a 4th until I read CBR's post. Have no plans to ever watch it.

Rocagnante said:

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When I bought the dvd I went ahead and bought my first surround sound system as well so I could enjoy the scene where Neo and Trinity storm the lobby. Most expensive dvd ever purchased.

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Ha ha - me too! That lobby scene was always the first one I played after a new home theater purchase, be it a receiver, subwoofer, etc. Always shook the room!

He's a solid #2 or 3, maybe behind Harrison Ford.

Edit: Forgot about Hanks.

I'd probably go:
1. Tom Hanks
2. Will Smith
3. Harrison Ford
4. Jim Carrey
5. Mike Myers maybe?