Real Thoughts on Nostalgia Critic Reviews: The Matrix

Welcome to a new series of videos where we (Doug and Rob) give our real thoughts on films that the Nostalgia Critic has reviewed. First up, The Matrix

About Doug Walker

Creator of 5 Second Movies, Nostalgia Critic, Bum Reviews and more.

76 comments

  1. Thank you for doing this New Series.
    I hope you continue it and it lasts.

    • RUSH HOUR 3! That’s the movie it’s from. These are reaction videos I want to see:

      The Wizard, Flubber, Home Alone 3, Christmas Story 2, Doug’s 1st Movie, Good Burger, Nicktoons, Nickcoms, SNICK, Christmas Tree, Last Airbender, Full House, King and I, Catwoman.

      Thank you.

  2. Actually, due to you reviewing the Matrix movies, I just had to watch them, and I found out I like all of them. Obviously the first one is the best one, and the sequels have a lot of problems, but they’re turn my brain off fun and I like ’em.

    The big thing is that I had never heard of Dark City, and holy wow that movie was amazing! Easily made my top 10 list.

  3. Bridge to Terabithia

  4. Hey Doug and Rob! Love this new idea. I’ve always wondered what you really thought of some your NC review choices. I have a few requests!

    The Odd Life of Timothy Green
    Last Action Hero
    Baby Geniuses
    Garbage Pail Kids

    Just what I could think of off the top of my head. Keep it up!

    • Some of their videos, they do an audio commentary on. They did an commentary for Garbage Pail Kids, and they shared their thoughts on the movie: what NC said about it, it’s basically verb atim their thoughts

  5. What’s up Doc?

    Gimme a hard one.

  6. About LOTR:

    You really get a lot more of Sam’s perspective than Frodo’s, especially after they break away from the rest of the Fellowship. You see more through Sam’s eyes. There are even parts of Frodo’s experience that you don’t even get a first-hand view and only learn about through interactions with Sam. And the whole story itself finishes, not with Frodo, but with Sam returning to his family.

    So, yes, Rob is right: at least from about the beginning of The Two Towers, Sam is the real hero.

    • Actually, the whole idea that Neo can affect machines from the real world is a theme from cyberpunk literature. The idea is that, as man continues to connect to machines through interfaces, the interfaces will become more and more efficient to the point that, eventually, the interface itself becomes unnecessary; the brain itself becomes the interface. It’s entirely possible that they were going for something like that.

      But I do agree with this: without some indication that something like that is happening with Neo – that his brain has become wired to directly connect to the machines in some way – it comes out as a big Deus Ex. In the context of the narrative, there isn’t any reason for us, the audience, to make that connection. The Inception Matrix would have been a much more satisfying narrative.

      • Yep, had the same thought. Neo is basically a technomancer a la Shadowrun. A “mage” that can interface with machines and computers by projecting his brain waves. That would explain why he is an anomaly that could not be corrected and why he is the Jesus of the computer world.

    • Real quick on that, also want to point out that Tolkien himself said Sam was the true hero of LOTR

  7. Last Airbender (more Shyamalan hate!) and Secret of NIMH 2. Also, some Alice in Wonderland would be nice.

    • I doubt that his opinion on “Last Airbender” and “Secret of NIMH 2” would be much different from the Nostalgia Critic, except maybe not as hyperbolic. Those were movies that had solid gold solid material, but yet managed to create pretty terrible movies.

  8. Batman and Robin.

    I doubt your thoughts are different than the actual NC review, but I’d like to see your guy’s take on it now that it’s been 7 years.

  9. You have to realize that the average age for youtube commenters is like 15, and their actual maturity levels are even lower. It’s a bit different on this site.

  10. I’m interested what you have to say about Mamma Mia because that’s in my top five favorite movies! I’ll leave a comment when it comes to that (probably will be about a paragraph long. haha). Anyways, I like the second half of the Matrix better. I’m one of those brainless movie goers since I spend all week studying. I just want to see some cool visuals and some action most of th time.

    Ooh, do one on Catwoman!

  11. I didn’t compare this movie to Dark City nor would I. I loved Dark City it was great but not really the same thing at all. The closest in my mind is that this compares The Thirteenth Floor.

    Did they state in the first one that the Oracle was a program because I didn’t think they threw that in until the second one. That was when Neo could see the Matrix and thus see she was a program but the first one never implied she was anything but human I thought.

    Originally the film makers meant the machines to be using the Human brains for computing power which was why the Matrix was necessary to keep their minds occupied and engaged. The studio didn’t think people would understand that and forced the change to batteries.

    • I distinctly remember the Oracle being referred to as a program in the first. But it has been a long time since I’ve seen it, so I could be mistaken. But I seem to remember that connection in the first.

      Actually, the computing power would have made a lot more sense to me. The biological battery theory just seems like it would waste more energy to acq

  12. Would love to hear your guys real thoughts on Twister. Personally I love that movie but each to their own.

  13. That reference is from Rush Hour 3. I know I got it!

  14. Rush Hour 3 for the YU and MI joke.

  15. I think I am a viewer like Rob. I liked it, exactly like he said.
    The movie didn’t need a sequel, but it got one…. or two. ^^
    Well, and the music in second & third were better. 😀
    Some of the soundtrack is still on my MP3-player.

    P.S. : Italian Judas is called Cypher, yes. ^^

  16. I agree with Rob. The way I see it, there’s a difference between the Protagonist and the Main Character. That’s why you can have villain protagonists in films like American Psycho and A Clockwork Orange. In the first Matrix, Morpheus is the main character, because he is the character that the audience is given most time to know. Neo is the protagonist, because he is the character the audience is supposed to root for the most. I’m probably not explaining this well, but I like how Rob put it with the Samwise comparison. Morpheus is the character that anchors the plot, at least in the original film.

  17. They very likely DIDN’T go the – matrix within a matrix – route because the ‘Thirteenth Floor’ already did it and it came out two months after ‘The Matrix’. I know they wanted to go that route, and it would have been the obvious direction, but it was simply TOO obvious so that’s probably why they didn’t.
    I don’t know this for a fact but it seems the most likely reason to me. If someone wants to point me towards actual evidence to the contrary then I’ll accept that evidence without issue.

  18. We didn’t know the Oracle was a computer program in the first movie, though.

    As for the Matrix review, my problem with it is that you did come off as absolutely hating the movie. Why? Because you always make such a big deal about how multiple opinions are valid and it’s okay to like something other people don’t. Yet, in this, you create a guy who likes the film and tear into him.

    And since he’s the only one disagreeing with you, he comes off as a proxy for the fans who disagree with you. So it comes off as you hating the movie so much that you actually decided to insult the fans of the movie.

    Because of that, I became really nitpicky and nitpicked your nitpicks, pointing out how nearly all of them had an explanation in the movie. The only exceptions are why they kept people alive and sentient and why they didn’t kill Neo outright, but those are the two things that the sequels set out to answer.

    • To put it another way, you seemed really, really petty, something the Nostaligia Critic has never seemed before Even back when he was an asshole, he was only petty to other TGWTG characters.

  19. I am you, that’s Rush hour 3 ain’t it?

  20. I think your sibling rivalry reviews of films you did already count like Lesnar miserables and man of steel and I know you guys are sick of talking about those films, so I think they count.

  21. It has been years since I last watched the Matrix movies but the way I understood the sequels at the time is that the city of Zion and its rebels are indeed a second level of deception, even if the post-apocalyptic world is not a second Matrix. Because why would the machines simulate the crappy reality they already live in? What matters is for the many many “blue pills” to remember, subconsciously, that they chose the Matrix when the few few “red pills” offered them a harsher truth. Not allowing that choice is what caused previous versions of the Matrix to crash. That’s what I thought the Architect was babbling about with his “99.9% of all test subjects” and stuff.

  22. CodyJamesErnestCameron

    I haven’t watched the episode yet and I already know this an brillant idea and hope that it lasts for a long time

  23. As far as I could follow, the original Matrix wasn’t “about” any one specific character, but rather about the three leads altogether. Morpheus has a test of faith but his wisdom and commitment are proven true. Neo is completely out of his depth being led by the nose, but he learns to act rather than reacting. Trintiy… Is on a quest to quest to find her acting skills, but Carrie-Anne Moss is just too poor an actress to succeed. Hell, even Smith has an arc to him, developing a something of a separate personality.

    When you look at the Matrix, very little of substance actually happens. There are three real events that define that movie – Neo wakes up from the Matrix, Smith captures Morpheus, Neo has to rescue Morpheus. Everything else is character development and philosophy.

  24. Nice video and if there was ever a movie that you have already reviewed that I want to see you talk about in great detail then it is Patch Adam because that movie has become a really hot topic after the tragic suicide of Robin Williams and this article has some great clues to why Robin Williams played the roll in Patch Adams in his own special way http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/the-truth-about-the-incredible-friendship-of-robin-williams-and-christopher-reeve/story-fn907478-1227022409128

  25. I would love to see your honest opinion of “The Secret of NIMH 2”. Personally I HATE it. The Secret of NIMH is one of my favorites, so 2 is so bad! But I would love to see where your opinions differ from the NC on that one.

  26. Great video, guys! Looking forward to seeing more. My recommendation is the Super Mario Bros. Movie. How much do you guys really hate that? For myself at least, it was a terrible TERRIBLE Mario movie, but was at least an enjoyable kid’s film at the time. It had a lot of stupid moments, but was at least enjoyable when I was young.

  27. Please do The Last Airbender. That is my favorite review you’ve done and obviously its my favorite show. Don’t stop talking about such a great show and such a terrible movie.

  28. Great idea! I love hearing you guys talk about movies and analysing them. I

    So, the films I’d like to hear you guys talk about are:

    * Hook
    Doug mentioned in the review that he likes it. So it would be interesting in an analysis of what works, what doesn’t. Cause I think it’s an okay movie with great potential that it unfortunately doesn’t always live up to.
    * Batman & Robin
    Just because.
    * Tank Girl
    The film is very creative and threw everything at the wall. Not everything stuck, of course, but I’d like to know if you guys thought anything worked.
    * Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
    About the same reason as Tank Girl. I want to know if there’s anything about the film you think worked or how it could have worked if done differently.

    I think those are the ones I’d really like to see.
    Looking forward to the Mamma Mia one.

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