Minute 104: “I think they’re trying to save him.”

Transcript

Transcribed automatically from the audio, and imperfect for it — names and punchlines suffer worst. Useful for finding a moment, not for quoting one.

0:00Welcome back to the Matrix Minute, a podcast where we discuss the first film one minute at a time because we love this movie very much. I am Phil. Hi, I'm Jake and it's Friday. Friday. And with us is the one, the only, Crystal Beth. Hello, I love Fridays. Welcome back. Me too. Yep. And today we have a missing guest. Yeah. Who's busy doing something. Busy doing whatever worthless stuff he's doing. Yeah, Tim's gone. It was so nice to meet him though. He's a wonderful man. He is indeed. That's right. So we're just going to go. We're going to try to make the most of it.

0:40Yeah. We're going to try to fill in Tim's shoes and, you know, see if we can get through this minute with just us. I'll just think like him and think what he would say. It's going to be fun again. So Phil, tell us, what are we going to experience this minute? Well, for Friday, we got the elevator closes and the aftermath of destruction shows itself. The two agents walk in on Smith, who is surprised to see them. Agent Jones tells Brown Smith doesn't know what he was doing. Meanwhile, Trinity plants the bomb in the elevator and Neo gets up on the top. Both of them prepare to use the elevator's trajectory to get onto the roof.

1:22They get ready to blast the elevator and slide up. So right off the bat, I just wanted to mention we watch these more or less before we start talking about them. All of us together in a group. And it's interesting how this minute goes by so much faster than the previous two ones that we watched. Oh, yeah. Right. And I just wanted to mention, I wanted to talk about that when we were talking about the actual lobby fight. But it's kind of like when you're, you know, you have to process all this information. And it's like when you get this fight or flight, you know, like response and your body goes into shock.

2:02And then all this, you know, your just brain goes into overdrive and everything starts to slow down because you're perceiving so much more. And it's interesting to see a movie do that, you know, when you're watching like the lobby scene there. Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, different responses, right? Different perceptions based on what's happening in the scene. Yeah. That's like what I said when we first started. And I was like, I can't believe how long this minute is. Right. Yeah. In comparison, just went by. So, Phil, do you know anything about this? Yes. Okay, so the wide shot, the wide shot with the mausoleum looking lobby that we will never see again, I don't think. We knew thee well.

2:43On the left side is that great tile that, you know, provides the comedy relief. So he's wonderful acting by this, by this, by this flabbergasted tile. Broken tile. You know, very surprised, very shocked. All his friends are dead. So he's like, I better die too. And he falls over. And there he goes. So, IMDB trivia. Let me just mention, they're not very reliable. And sometimes they have really, really, really silly sections that account for trivia. Mm-hmm.

3:23In this case, I remember this one, one of the most, one of the more popular ones where it is mentioned that this is an accident that the tile fell. And they just decided to keep it. Now, I tried to do my research. Crystal, Beth, I don't, you might have done research because you're one of the top people. I love research. Exactly. That's wonderful. And, but I have to say, I believe this was planned. I believe this was, you know, like someone actually pulled a string or something, pulled a string and got that thing to just fall over for comedic timing. I mean, I think that's the only explanation, you know? I mean, maybe it could be random, but it seems so, well, I don't know.

4:07Who knows? Who knows? I always wondered if it was one of those things where it was an accident that happened and then they were like, oh, that's great. Let's do that again, but on purpose. Ah, I never thought about that. There you go. Because it is such an awesome choice. And, yeah, people that are good at their jobs can make choices like that. But my suspicion was that they finished a shot and they were getting ready to do stuff and then something fell and they were like, ha, that's great. And then they made it a specific shot, like an actual choice to make that exact shot. That actually might, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.

4:49You just talked about the middle right there. Yeah, totally. Middle ground. It's a very good middle ground. We cut to the agents. They're barging in and it's Agent Jones, Agent Brown. They come in and they catch Smith in the hat. I don't know what's going on. Like, I know that he's getting very angry at Morpheus, which we mentioned in our previous minutes. But, you know, like the way he, you know, Smith gets up and he's like, oh, I didn't do anything. It's like he got caught doing something way worse. I know, I know. It's like, ah, mom! Exactly, exactly. And the way, like, Agent Jones is like, or Agent Brown goes, what were you doing?

5:33And it's just... And then Smith is just looking at them like he has no idea what's going on. And then Agent Jones says, he doesn't know. And he goes, no what? What's going on? Yeah, what's going on that's such a big deal where he's like, oh my God, he doesn't know. They're like little girls. Yeah, yeah. It's super confusing. Like, like, Bobby was something. I don't know. Yeah. No what? Something happened. I don't know. I guess, I suppose the whole thing is that like, Agent Smith was, he was offline, right? Right. So he wasn't getting any information. What's the information?

6:13Information is Neo's here, and Trinity's here, and they're shooting people. The people you hear are definitely here. Yes. That's pretty much it. They're probably explaining in detail, watching the lobby scene on a little television screen. Look, this needs some music. Yeah. So I think that's about it, honestly. Okay. Because like, for me, this is one of the most confusing parts, because I don't really know. I'm assuming this might be just Smith going rogue, you know? He's actually starting to get his own consciousness and disconnect from the matrix system and become his own individual entity. And therefore, the agents probably are going, oh, he doesn't know what he's doing, because he's probably acting a little bit strange for his programming or something like that.

6:57No, I don't think so. I don't know. I kind of, I erred to that side as well when I was thinking what happened, where they're like, what are you doing? Like, you're not doing what you're supposed to do. And of course, now you don't know what's going on, because I always picture them being like a hive mind. Right. And they're all kind of connected. And the fact that he didn't know what was going on is like an extra warning to the other guys being like, all right, he's going crazy. Oh. Hmm. Or maybe, look, I never put this into consideration now that we're talking about it. Maybe Agent Jones is saying something that's totally unrelated to what he was doing. And he's like, he doesn't know about the intruders.

7:38Ruby's like, oh my God, he doesn't know his surprise parties in two weeks. Oh man, Agent Smith surprise party. That'd be the best. That'd be a blast. I hate this party. Who did you invite? It's just us. Yeah, nothing changes. It's just Agent Jones and Agent Brown. Oh my God, what a horrible party. Sad. What do you think they do for fun? Well, Crystal, you're going to have to understand that we already pitched this show on our Matrix Minute some of the weeks that we had. And we're just talking about what these guys do on their days off.

8:20Yeah, we were wondering what happens and we sort of just came up with this idea that maybe they run really boring errands, you know, all day. Stuff they hate to do, like, you know, they have to go somewhere and like monitor someone and stop for gas and stuff like that, you know. So their daily activities are just as mundane as they are? Yes. Oh yeah. Because maybe this is what they do for fun. Yeah, for them it's like an exciting day. It's like super exciting. Oh yeah, we got called in. Cool. Love work. Works the best. Yes, it's amazing. It's like, there's a problem. Yes. That kind of thing. That's right. And Smith is the only one who sees beyond the Call of Duty and he's the one who just observes their stupidity.

9:04Well, in a sense, like, he doesn't care about the mundane work and doing duties. He wants to do something else, right? But he's stuck with these guys. And he gets annoyed by them all day. Yeah. That's our show. So that was the idea. So we go back to the elevator here. Yeah, we're back at the elevator. So, um. Trinity takes her coat off. Oh, well, you're right. Why did she take her coat off? Huh. Show off them shoulders. Yeah. Worked hard for those shoulders. Gotta get those delts going. Also, maybe an elevator shaft isn't the place you want a billowy cloak on, Neo. Yeah, Neo. What's up with that? He likes to wear his coat. He feels cool. Exactly.

9:45Why Trinity's so much smarter? Cooler. She's experienced. She's like, now is the time for a new approach. Take the coat off. This is, you know. No capes. No capes. And he's like, I like it. No capes. Well, this is also effectively Neo's first time getting to look super cool and do stuff in the Matrix. So he wanted to. So he wanted to. He wanted to extend his. Neo. Come on. His time. His time to be cool. So this bomb. Is that how bombs look like? I don't even know. Crystal Beth, you know everything. So you're going to have to explain this to us. I guess a bomb can really look like whatever you want it to look like.

10:26Really? You can put it in a teddy bear. You can put it in other stuff. I mean, I've seen movies where that happens. Oh yeah, that's true. But this also looks like more of a chemical bomb. Because there's liquid in it. I never realized this. It says on the case, it says Mercury switch delay. What? So there's a little bit of Mercury going on in there. Hey, but don't you think those weird bricks? Oh yes. Isn't that C4? Those bricks? Looks like it, yeah. Like that weird like putty stuff? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's all of the above. There we go. We just put it together. There's cereal included and pine trees. Yes. Captain Crunch. Yeah, I am not familiar with explosives.

11:10I wish I was. That'd be cool. Wouldn't it? Because it does some cool stuff too. It like extends things. Yeah, it extends. I think this is one of the, you know, when they go into the construct, they build stuff like that bug extraction machine. Yeah. Yeah, Crystal. So back in the day when Mouse was still alive, if you remember Mouse. Yeah, R.I.P. Yeah. He had these really crazy looking circular like barrel machine guns he picked up before he got shot. Yes, that didn't land one hit. No. On the bad guys. Oh, yeah. And as you would know, going to IMFDB, the idea was that it seems those are custom made

11:55machine guns. So it's probable that Mouse probably made those in the construct and brought them into the Matrix. So he actually custom made those. And so the bomb would be one of those custom made objects that they probably created. I believe that. I like it. It follows a story and fact and a stamp of approval. And fiction. And stamp. And fiction. Stamp of approval. Movie fact. Yeah. Fact and fiction. I was going to say, what do you guys think about where Neo... I always like that Neo opens the top of the elevator and then he just sort of disappears. Batman vanishes. I love it. I love that shot of the coat just sliding out from the top is one of my favorite shots.

12:41Yes. It's just great because it's like movie magic where it's like you don't have to show Neo doing anything. He's just gone. It's all. And it works. It totally works. What else is there? Morpheus is looking pretty grim. We cut away. Yeah. Morpheus is looking really under the weather. It's great how they actually put that into consideration. And if you look through the moments where Morpheus is... Morpheus? Where Morpheus is sitting... I laughed. That's fine. Okay. Where he's sitting in the chair, he gradually gets more and more sweaty and dirty and... He's got the chair sweats. Yeah.

13:21Yeah. And now he's just... I don't think he even knows what's going on. Yeah. And I wanted to mention when Jones is... You know, the camera kind of dollies into Agent Jones's face. He looks like he's about to cry. He looks like he's... It does. His chin needles. And then when Morpheus lets out like a sigh, it sounds like that's from Jones. And I thought he was... What have we done to this man? That's really funny. That's what I always thought. I think Jones just looks sad in general. So that's probably more likely. Anyway, we got the elevator. They're on the top of the elevator. They're going to...

14:02You know, Neo just goes... Neo pulls out his famous Beretta. Crystal, could you confirm that that's a Coretta? Beretta? Coretta? Beretta? Coretta. I think it is the Beretta. I think so. Do you know what's weird? I noticed that sometimes in films... Like, see, this is a shot where Neo shoots his Beretta. It's interesting that sometimes they actually use, I presume, real guns with blanks, right? Blank bullets. And when that happens, the top of the pistol, right, recoils and it does that whole thing where it shoots out the shell, right? So the top of the pistol slides. It's like, yeah, it's like a real good thing. Yeah. But let's say if you look at this shot, Neo shoots the Beretta and it doesn't...

14:43Oh, wait, does it slide? It does slide. It does slide. Nice. Good. Because sometimes they use props where that doesn't happen. Yeah. And it looks really fake. They did good. They did good. They did good, son. But I think this is just a cool movie moment where it's like, you know, there's no time. Just shoot stuff. Just shoot stuff. Just shoot things, you know? I'm making another Star Wars analogy. Yeah. If it's locked, if it's broken, if something doesn't work, just shoot it and it'll be fine. It worked for Luke, so... Yep. Boring conversation anyway. Luke, we're going to have company! There you go. That's right. It works for everyone. Yeah. You just shoot something. So did Neo have a harness on the whole lobby scene?

15:23Because that makes everything way more impressive. And I didn't even think about that. You know what? I think he did. I think you're right. I think he did. This is a revelation. Because remember when that close-up happens and he shows off his arsenal? Is it a harness, though? Or are those gun holders? Maybe it's both. A combo. It's a combo. Oh my gosh, it's a combo. A harness and gun holders. It's perfect. It's like... It's like a spork. Mouse made that, too. Yeah. Yeah, Mouse is just coating that up all night. Oh my god, I love sporks. He's dead. It's my favorite utensil. Wait a second. They use sporks, don't they? Yeah, it was the utensils of the future. They do. They get them from Taco Bell.

16:04Yes! I miss Taco Bell so much. Because obviously that's the fast food of the future. Because we all know who won the fast food wars. Taco Bell. Taco Bell. Yeah. I wouldn't mind if Taco Bell won. And Dippin' Dots. You guys don't have Taco Bell? No. No. Sad. That's awful. I'd kill myself. I know. I know. Anyway, they look up. They look up. And it's a very high... Oh my goodness, they're looking up? I thought they were looking down. I know they're looking up, but I thought we had a shot of the bottom. Nope. What? Mr. Vertigo Man. They're looking up. They can't look down because there's an elevator there. Right. But I thought for some reason they were showing us the bottom.

16:45Just look at the bottom. Oh, yeah. Look, see, that's how far they could fall. That's what I thought. Yeah, exactly. That's what I thought. Like, ooh, scary. And that's the end of the minute, isn't it? Yeah. That's about all that happens. Before we end, let's just go into the 1996 zone. Do you have something? I have a little bit of things. And Crystal, if you don't know, this is where we go through the 1996 script a little bit. Oh, good. Talk about stuff that's changed. All right. So, hit it. Yay. So, anyway, in the 1996 script of The Matrix, as you know, the whole government building was a hotel.

17:33It was a Japanese-style hotel. So, you remember that? No. Okay, well, it's news today for you. Yeah. That's where Morpheus is being held in some kind of, in like the presidential suite. Oh. In a Japanese-style hotel. This never made it into the film, Japanese-style hotel. No, no, no. They changed it to a big enforced government building. And, Crystal, you're actually quite right that when they were writing this, the lobby scene in the 1998 version is barely a page long. And there isn't much emphasis in that except for two paragraphs. And another funny thing is that in the 1996 one, it's not even there.

18:19Really? What? There is no actual lobby gunfight. So, what happens? Well, I'll give you a little... You just get right up to Morpheus, pick him up, and leave. Wouldn't that be nice? Let's go, buddy. Tell us. I'll tell you. I'll read it. Exterior, Nico Hotel. Day. A dark wind blows. Interior, Nico Hotel. Day. In long black coats, Trinity and Neo push through the revolving doors. Neo is carrying a duffel bag. Trinity has a large metal suitcase. They cut across the lobby, drawing nervous glances. Dark glasses. Game faces. Several plainclothes cops try to stop them.

19:01They are met with the muted spit of a silenced gun and the razored whistle of throwing stars. That's back when Trinity had throwing stars. Oh, God. Boo. Yeah. No, seriously. Like, in this one, Trinity almost exclusively uses ninja stars and knives. Ninja stars are just... I mean, she would have made it badass, but it's clear that little boys wrote this. Oh, man. That's such a good point. The several... Okay, so then the cops slump down to the marbled floor while Neo and Trinity do not even break a stride. And then they get to the elevator. And that's it. That's all that happens in the 1996 version. That's pretty lame. So they're just throwing stars, unsuspecting men.

19:43They're just... Yeah. And this is in a hotel lobby. And when they were storyboarding it, Steve's gross, there's some storyboards of this deleted thing because this was during them being in a hotel. Mm-hmm. Neo and Trinity... And Trinity... Well, at least Neo does. He starts firing the machine gun in the air so all the innocent civilians actually escape. Mm-hmm. So they don't kill them. So there you go. There's a little bit of... Okay. So they're a little more merciful. Yeah. Back in the script. Back in the night. They just shot the cops that came after them. Wow. And then they just shoot in the air in the hotel lobby and all the people will leave. And they go up. That's pretty fair. Pretty reasonable. Yeah. Wow. So they really just upped the ante, huh?

20:23And then the film version just... Yep. Straight up killed those cops. And that's it. That's pretty much my moment for the 1996 Matrix script. That is interesting. I love rewrites. Right? Isn't it amazing how just sometimes drastically different these things can get? Yeah. That's so... It's the fifth element. I mean, the fifth element. The first... The original script is god-awful. I mean, I... You guys talk about it, right? Yeah. On the fifth element. I read from it. We do dramatic readings. And... That's even better. It is awful. Okay. It is just a bad movie. Now I'm going to have to listen to that whole thing.

21:06Or... I haven't seen... Sorry. You could do the Internet Movie Scripts database and read it and watch the movie because we don't do it in every episode. So it would be... You'd literally have to listen to every episode of the fifth element. Okay. Well, I mean, like, you know, I wouldn't mind. I wouldn't mind at all. Okay. You can listen if you want. Good. I will. Hey. I think that's the crazy thing about, like, with these rewrites is that you can often tell just, like, how much clearer the picture gets with each rewrite, so to speak. Oh, yeah. Which is super interesting. And with that bombshell, I think it's time to say goodbye. It is. So Friday, Crystal, where do people find you?

21:48All righty. You can find me on social media at the Crystal Beth, and you can listen to my podcast, the one I just said, The Fifth Element, is on iTunes, and so is my video game podcast, Unlimited Lives Radio. Perfection. Perfection. Awesome. Well... And I'm Phil. I'm Jake. And I just wanted to mention that thank you very much, Crystal, for joining us. Of course. Once again, for my birthday as well as we record this. Shh, quiet. And, um, you know, it just goes without saying that Crystal Beth is Beth Girl. Yay! You are! Thanks again so much. Of course.

22:29It was, uh, it was great. It was fantastic. Um, I think it's about it, right? The mattress has you. All right, everyone. Um, have a good weekend. Bye. What? What the hell did that say? What? You