THE MT VOID
03/22/24 -- Vol. 42, No. 38, Whole Number 2320

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Topics:
THE MATRIX (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Starship Launch (comments by Gregory Frederick)
Manly Wade Wellman and Avram Davidson (comments
by Michael Dirda)
This Week's Reading (STRANGERS ON A BRIDGE)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: THE MATRIX (film review by Mark R. Leeper)

[The 25th anniversary of THE MATRIX is March 31. Here is Mark's
review from 1999.]

Capsule: What a mixed bag! This is a film with great ideas,
beautiful visuals, terrific martial arts, and concepts that tie
reality in knots. It also has incredibly thin characters and long
sections where the plot does not advance beyond who is kicking,
shooting, or blowing up whom. The storytelling is totally muddled.
But for the characters and the plot this would be a great film.
Rating: 6 (0 to 10), high +1 (-4 to +4). Note: Every effort was
made to keep this review spoiler-free.

THE MATRIX is a tough film to review for many different reasons.
In the first place, what can one say about the basic concept
without revealing too much? The entire premise of the film is
something of a surprise. I will say that it is fair to say that
things are not as they seem at the beginning of the film, but
saying anything more than that about the premise could conceivably
damage the viewer's enjoyment of the film. In this story the
actuality is really very different from being what it seems to be.
Philip K. Dick would have been right at home in THE MATRIX with his
frequent stories of reality being turned inside out. I believe
there was an episode of the newer series of THE TWILIGHT ZONE on
this concept, but this is its first treatment in detail in a
feature-length film.

Neo, the main character (played by Keanu Reaves), has this gut
feeling that there is something different that is going on beyond
with everybody seems to know. It is something *very* different.
Neo wakes up one morning with a phone call from the mysterious
Trinity (Carrie Anne-Moss) Trinity seems to be something like a
hacker with what frequently look like magical powers--powers like
an ability jump amazing distances. Trinity takes her orders from
someone even more elusive and mysterious, the nearly omniscient
super-hacker Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). The government is
trying to track down the hackers Trinity and Morpheus, and sends to
recruit Neo some agents who look a lot like the title characters in
MEN IN BLACK. Neo is given the choice of helping to capture
Morpheus or of being enslaved by strange forces. Soon it is not
clear to Neo what is real and what is in his dreams. But when he
throws in his lot with Morpheus and Trinity, things become even
stranger. And then they become a lot stranger still.

THE MATRIX is written and directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski who
previously demonstrated that they could write and direct a nice
compact and tightly plotted thriller with BOUND. There is, sadly,
little that is compact or tightly plotted about THE MATRIX. This
is a film just chock full of martial arts fights, shootouts, and
bomb explosions. But the Wachowskis spend very little screen time
fleshing out their main characters or getting us to care too much
what happens to them. We know they stand between the world and
some really nasty fate. Presumably if they lose, the people in the
audience lose also. But that is not the same thing as making us
really care if these people live or die. Keanu Reeves sees to be
is a sort of stupor through much of the film. That is not
unrealistic considering the circumstances but it certainly kills
his empathy value. The characters get themselves in and out of
danger without ever creating dramatic tension.

Somehow in BOUND the Wachowskis did a much better job of getting
the audience to identify with their primary characters.
Unfortunately, the two were far more concerned about the look of
the film than about making the audience empathize with Trinity or
Neo or even Morpheus. This film shows the main characters getting
lots of action, having lots of fights, but never giving us any
reason to care who wins and who loses those fights.

The exquisite look of the film, frequently variations in visual
themes of blacks and reds, is created by cinematographer Bill Pope,
who previously filmed DARKMAN, ARMY OF DARKNESS, CLUELESS, and
BOUND. Perhaps part of Pope's inspiration was the noir-ish world
of DARK CITY. His photography nicely shows off the stunts and
martial arts work of Hong Kong director Wu-ping Yuen, here just a
stunt coordinator and a martial arts instructor. But all too often
Yuen seems to be soaking up screen time. It seems a pity that this
film has such an audacious concept and ends up with so many fights
that could have been taken from any simple police procedural plot.
It is a little insulting to the audience to present some of the
more interesting ideas and then to treat them on such a superficial
level, almost as if the script did not realize how good its own
ideas were. THE MATRIX could have done so much more to engage the
intellect and not simply a gut reaction.

When there was so much potential for an intelligent story here the
Wachowskis have opted to spend most of their screen time on
mindless action. This is a good martial arts film and action film
in a world already overflowing with martial arts and action films.
It should please the vast bulk of the audience who want to see it
Friday night, have a good time, and have forgotten about it by
Saturday morning. Those who would want an intelligent and
thoughtful piece of science fiction will be more tantalized and
frustrated than gratified. I rate THE MATRIX a high +1 on the -4
to +4 scale and a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale. [-mrl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Starship Launch (comments by Gregory Frederick)

This third Starship launch had more progress in this launch attempt
but it ultimately did not complete the mission. There was stage
separation but the booster did not land vertically (engines did not
re-ignite) and the Starship got into near orbit but eventually was
lost. Details listed in link:

<https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/14/world/starship-launch-spacex-scn>

See also:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX1LTw48ymQ>

This failed but the test has gotten farther then any previous test
launch. [-gf]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Manly Wade Wellman and Avram Davidson (comments by Michael
Dirda)

No, Michael Dirda has not sent a submission to the MT VOID, but he
has written a column titled "The Two Best American Fantasy Writers
You’ve Probably Never Heard Of: A New Look at the Works of Manly
Wade Wellman and Avram Davidson".

Paywall-free link: <https://wapo.st/49Zctf2>

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

STRANGERS ON A BRIDGE: THE CASE OF COLONEL ABEL AND FRANCIS GARY
POWERS by James B. Donovan (Scribner, ISBN 978-1-5011-1878-4)was
"the subject of the major motion picture BRIDGE OF SPIES',
according to the cover of the 2015 edition. Note it does not say
it was the basis of the film, and there is a reason for that.

But to explain why, I need to talk about the structure of the film.
There is an almost-explicit three-act structure to it. The first
act is Abel's capture, trial and appeals (with Donovan as his
lawyer) in the United States. The second act is Powers's flight,
capture, and trial in the U.S.S.R. The third act is Donovan's
negotiations to swap Abel for Powers (and Frederic Pryor, an
American student studying the East German economy when he was
arrested, and takes place in Berlin (East and West).

The book, however, was written by Donovan almost immediately after
the exchange. Indeed, he wrote that after February 10, 1963, he
never heard from Powers again, and then had to add a footnote that
in December 1963, while reading the galley proofs, he received a
twelve-pound smoked ham Powers had promised him at that last
meeting.

But ham or no ham, Donovan could only write what he was witness to
or was able to discover from public information. So while Donovan
could cover the story of Abel in detail, the story of Powers was
covered very briefly, and that of Pryor hardly at all. The U-2
flights are not mentioned until page 348 of 427 pages of text. A
discussion of the negotiations for an exchange starts on page 352,
and Donovan doesn't get to Berlin until page 379.