u/Kinsbane

I've never actually understood the hate behind this. Commenters have tried to channel their feelings towards this but I still don't really get it.

If there are two things humans have always excelled at, it's fucking, and killing.

So why the fuck is the last bastion of rescued/freed humans having a giant, sweaty orgy, such a problem amongst the fandom? I don't honestly get it. Especially in the face of what can be considered "impending doom".

You can bet your ass that before I get to fighting for my life, I'm gonna be fucking my way to victory.

Even in the lead-up to the Zion party, Morpheus both acknowledges some level of futility while also providing hope, and inspiration to having a party of this magnitude.

The last bastion of humanity sees the writing on the wall here - so why has the Zion party been such a point of discontentment among the Matrix fandom?

Edit - I feel this is prudent for people that might be popping-in anew. But I need to make this comment - I'm posting here because of the community, but this post isn't coming entirely from Reddit, or, this subreddit. This is discourse I've read over the years from various sites/mediums.

But still, why does that Zion scene get so much hate? It's got a great soundtrack to it. It's got something humanity needed at the time.

There are plenty of things to take issue with in Matrix: Reloaded. But I don't think the Zion rave scene is one of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcQxWH58EzA

(I'm sorry, I didn't know how to both submit a link post while also providing initial textual commentary, I'm using old-reddit)

Hi, long-time lurker, first time poster, but I've been re-watching the Matrix series, mainly out of nostalgia (like, the lobby shootout scene from the first Matrix became such a cultural phenomenon it got adapted into Conker's Bad Fur Day, just like when Ripley stepped into the cargo loader in Alien).

But the Freeway Chase sequence still strikes me as one of the best action-movie sequences. IIRC, the Wachowskis tried to get permits to shut down a long section of freeway (highway? interstate?) in Melbourne or Brisbane for filming and so they were like, "Alright, we'll just build our own 2-mile-long freeway, but with blackjack and hookers".

I love this entire sequence because it's implied that Neo had already imparted the "upgrades" on the Agents, and when Trinity asks Morpheus about Neo, Morpheus is already full-send into his belief into Neo and is like, "Neo can take care of himself".

I feel like this whole sequence gives secondary (yet still very important) characters like Morpheus and Trinity the agency needed to get shit done in the absence of Neo being physically present.

The introduction of the two Ghosts was very, very interesting to me, as well. They had, probably, a bit too much plot armor (using physical presence with guns, fighting, etc) but would turn into apparitions at the earliest convenience. But I also feel like that's part of the layers of the onion that Matrix: Reloaded was helping the audience to peel back / unravel. in the first Matrix, we got a very focused perspective on what "The One" could do to affect the Matrix but still didn't know at the time how far that perspective could extend, which we find out later in Matrix: Reloaded and even into Matrix: Revolutions.

Another thing I found very interesting about this whole sequence is how calm and adaptable the Exile is (I like to call him the Keymaster, probably a throwback to OG Ghostbusters with Sigourney Weaver, et al). Trinity calls up Link on the Nebuchadnezzar to ask for a hot-wiring program and the Exile just whips out a key, they hop onto a sick Ducati cafe racer bike, and off they go.

But this was where my suspension of disbelief really only fell apart. There's no way those Crown Vic patrol cars could ever keep up with a Ducati of that magnitude. I understand it was shot for the plot, but, still - Trinity has a massive amount of knowledge within the Matrix (especially given how she rides against traffic) and there's no shot (in my mind) that a Crown Vic police cruiser would ever be able to keep up with any kind of Ducati, at all.

But now, to talk about the icing on the cake - the music score for this whole sequence. "Mona Lisa Overdrive" by Juno Reactor. IMO, this score solidifies everything about "The Freeway Chase".

This OST track goes from chill, to absolutely frenetic, to operatic choir vocal ensemble, and has the perfect breaks in-between to match the action/visuals we see on screen, and then goes right back into the freneticism. It's one of those few OST tracks where you can just put it on, close your eyes, and be able to replay everything going on visually just from the audio alone.

But outside of all of that, there's also these fun little '80s car-action-sequences that I noticed with the Freeway Chase. Bystanders' cars, who weren't actually directly affected by the main action sequences, you'd see them just... randomly start flipping over on their own. Like, some stuntman was like, "You know what? these random-ass cars need pistons to flip them over, that'll make this shit better" and the Wachowskis were like, "oh god, fuck yes!"

So now, a custom-built 2-mile-long freeway stage set has just random-ass junkers firing off pistons to get them to flip over for no other reason other than, "Just fucking flip em, bro".

I try not to read too much into the Matrix. I love everything I've ever consumed as a result of the Matrix. Once a week I'll load the Matrix project into Unreal Engine 5 and just wander around the city and marvel at the city generation and atmosphere.

I guess, maybe, at the end, regardless of how you feel about the end-product, it's still very apparent that the passion has always been there with the Matrix, even if the studio-heads or otherwise lost sight of it.

Why is the majority of Matrix discourse I see online revolve around people crapping on the Zion "rave scene"?

The Freeway Chase [Matrix Reloaded] (link in initial post)