Is Reloadeds Burley Brawl Awesome or Awful?

[wonderer99]

Originally Posted by Evangelos

It's insanely awesome.

Just the idea itself of Keanu fighting hundreds of identical Hugos is so out there that most board meetings would veto on the spot.

Plus,bowling pin sounds.

Lol it was the first time I head the bowling pin sound. I had to rewind to make sure I had heard right. The Wachowskis had their tongue firmly in cheek it seems.

[levcore]

Love the scene, i think the fx were great for 2003 and the ambition is/ was off the charts.

The Wachowski's were in a difficult place when it came to pushing the action/ VFX envelope with the Matrix sequels, particularly with regard to bullet time. After The Matrix came out, EVERYBODY was ripping off bullet time, movies, commercials, music videos. It had been done to death by 2003. The only thing The Wachowski's could do really was try and take the effect/ concept to the next level, utilising a 100% virtual camera and entirely CG shots. No other movies could afford to do that at the time and at the level that The Matrix sequels could.

[Guy87]

I don't mind the effects, not only because dated effects are to be expected but also because that scene is taking place within a computer simulation.

With Smith spamming the copy/paste button you can expect a drop in output quality....

[-JKR-]

Wasn't great, wasn't bad, but it was clearly comedic.

[kabal223]

I hated the scene back in the day when I first saw some scenes on trailers and in the theater I hated even more....

Now I'm just too old to care about it because the rest of the movie is amazing!

[Mothravka]

I would say pretty awful.

[Guy87]

Awesome.

[Zen_Amako]

It seemed like the Wachowkis were more focused on the technology at this point than the story - it felt like they needed something (like the burlyman brawl) to keep them engaged since they couldn't not do the sequels after the huge success of the first film.

They actually had a comic book company for a while called Burlyman.

[Doc Samson]

Love this fight scene (and Reloaded in general).

Reloaded had a huge impact on me when I went to see it as a kid, and that fight scene was talked about for a long time after.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by J999

The first half to two thirds is great. But towards the end it switches to being completely CGI and doesn't bother hiding it. Still fun though.

That's my take on it. The practical stuff is excellent but the all-CG shots look rubbery AF and always have. It goes from awfully awesome to awesomely awful, but lots of fun as you say.

The freeway chase is still an incredible scene from start to finish though.

[Patient Leech]

The music and choreography are incredible.

And who cares if the CGI is obvious at times. It still looks good and I can't believe no one has bothered to notice, but that's the genius of it, because guess what... it IS computer generated even in the context of the movie!

And yes, the Freeway chase is amazing and the Chateau fight is probably the best fight of the entire Trilogy. Just lip-smackin' good.

[kabal223]

What makes Chateau and the freeway chase even more great is the amazing soundtrack.

[Warm Gun]

It's fun. I love some of the gravity-defying stuff he does. Very Neo.



I wouldn't have even made a fourth Matrix movie without one of the Chinese wire teams.

[CreasyBear]

The rubbery VFX actually works in its favor, as the fight becomes increasingly more and more over the top and absurd. Those claiming the ending, with Neo flying off, negates any purpose the fight serves are simply wrong. The fight serves to showcase Smith's growing viral power and Neo coming to grips with that power and not realizing that he can't simply match Smith's power with his own through violence. He doesn't fully understand that until the end of Revolutions, but that thread begins right here and it's an integral scene in the trilogy, beyond just being batshit crazy cool.