Minute 2: “Freeze, police!”

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 to The Matrix Minute, a podcast where we discuss the first film, one minute at a time. Hi, I'm Phil. I like making movies and doing art things, and I love The Matrix. What about you? Hi, I'm Jake. I'm Phil's brother. I'm their cousin. And he's our cousin. I cheated. I'm just saying we don't have to describe ourselves every episode. We do. It's magical. It's magical. Seriously? Right? Yes, of course. What? Okay, let's do it again. Let's do it again. Let's do it again. No, we're not doing it again. No, this was great. This is episode two. What happens in this minute, Philip? In this minute, we follow a group of policemen who are searching for someone in an abandoned building. The minute ends with a woman revealed, sitting in an empty room in front of a computer!

0:42And they point their guns up. Who is this woman still? We don't know! And who's inside? A lady. A woman sitting at a desk. And they're looking at a wall. Looking at a wall. And they go, hands up, I think, right? And they do it with such anger and panic. Pure anger and rage. Who is this dangerous person? Who is this dangerous person? Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. So, the codes, again, it goes into the zero. The trace of ciphers. There was some talking still. Some Captain Crunch talking. That we forgot that would happen. Yeah. I mentioned last time, like, oh, I'm so glad they didn't talk about Morpheus.

1:24But they actually did. Yeah, Morpheus believes in the one. I forgot about that. So, they're dropping names already. Dropping mythology? Dropping the one? Yeah, it's making you very curious. And I think that, to their credit, like, you just have these little things in there. And people are already interested to know where this is going. Unless you're that kind of person who makes it. Yeah, who goes, that doesn't make no sense. That doesn't make sense. This movie don't make no sense. And so, when we zoom into the codes, I always loved that visual element they did of actually zooming in physically. Yeah. Into the code. And, I don't know, for me it was always sort of a, kind of a representation of alluding to the Matrix. That the Matrix is a thing, right?

2:05Well, we're going to find out later what the Matrix is. But it's something tangible, something real. We're looking, actually, at the computer. Yeah. And that's what I always liked about that. Yeah, because it's not, it feels like it's going to be an active thing. Yes. It's not live. Right. Yeah. And so, when we get to the first shot of this cop here. I love that first shot where the little iris opens up and it gets big and then it turns into a flashlight. And it's, that's the first live action frame that you see. And it's some cool looking cop dude just staring at his face. It's pretty good compositing. Like, sometimes when you watch these movies, you can see stuff that you weren't aware of. Like, you know. Well, I think the toaster's zero. You develop an eye for it. The toaster's a bit CGI, a little bit cool 3D.

2:45Yeah, yeah. But definitely the compositing of the flashlight was very smooth. There wasn't all of that, you know, like, lagginess. And here you're immediately hit with sort of a flavor of the cinematography. Yes. What the movie's going to look like. Like Bill Pope. And yeah, it's very, I don't know, how would you describe the cinematography in these opening shots? It's all lit with the lights, the flashlights. Oh, right. I never noticed that. Yeah. That is pure flashlight. And they're in some abandoned hotel. Right. And it's weird because there's, like, cables hanging from the ceiling. And it's really disgusting and ugly. Yeah. And, like, what's going on? And there's many cops, too. Yeah. Yeah. Do you guys remember what was the initial thoughts when you saw this?

3:26Do you, I'm trying to remember. I don't think I remember the first time I watched this movie. I was slightly nervous when I was watching this. Yeah, it's kind of scary. Because I was a little bit, not creeped out, but I was just a little bit kind of, sort of. I was intimidated. Too much of the unknown. I was intimidated. I was intimidated. I was intimidating everyone in the room. I'm Phil. I watch. Because I didn't know. You know when you're younger and you begin a movie, you don't know what you're in for? It could be something that's, you know, that's going to freak you out later. It could be something that's safe. So I didn't know. And this is with the scene where I was going, oh, what is this going to be? Yeah, yeah. What are these cops doing? Because of the way it's shot, I think. Yeah. It just gives you that sense of spookiness.

4:08And I like that. Also, I wanted to mention this in the first one, but The Matrix is so clever that it has a double mystery aspect where you don't know what's going on on the metaphysical sense, like the big picture. And that is The Matrix as a construct. Okay. Yeah. But also you don't know what's going on in the story. Like the literal thing that you're watching either. And both of those actually pike your interest already. You know what I mean? Like it just, it makes you. He means playing with sort of these two layers. You're intrigued because it makes sense when you're watching it.

4:48Like cops are going after someone. It's not like liquid goo flying through space. Right. Right. So. Now you have to clarify that a little bit. Okay. I'm not sure I get that. What I mean is you can get into the action seeing these police officers cautiously and seriously. As a straightforward. Visually you understand what's going on. Yes. And then you see this lady in the desk in like an empty, ugly room. Right. That they point in at. And then there's that one cop who just tears down the door. Right. With his. Musket. And they're all like. Hands on your head. Do it. Do it now. I don't think that happened yet. So this is actually. Yeah. I don't think yet. Oh my bad. I think you're going to admit it too. I guess you need to concentrate. This is the first taste we get of what we're actually going to start to find out.

5:31Because I saw the little trailer where I saw all the magical bits, you know, of them defying gravity. Right. I was not a person who went to watch this movie with complete. Ah. No knowledge. So I really wonder. Yeah. How that would have been for someone. At this point. It's pretty. It was a pretty straightforward movie. I mean, there was some codes, but you know. Hey, codes. Telephone. Maybe that's just like the line, how it works. Up at this point. It's pretty straightforward. Cops going to grab a mafia lady. Right. And can I also add that what I love also about The Matrix is these little things that you

6:11find in the movie. Ah, yes, yes, yes. Like the door. So if you notice the door, the number is 303, right? Which is referring to Trinity. Yep. Later in the movie, we'll get to a different door, which will have a different number on it. Ah. Ah. And it's reflected. Is there any more doors with numbers? I don't think so. I think these are going doors. Does Morpheus get a door? Or Morpheus. 808. This would be like a little infinity sign. Yeah. A little infinity sign. So it's an eight that kind of like. Yeah. Just fold over. That's fine. Yeah. Fold over. 88 miles per hour. I think it's the future. What do you think? Here's the thing. I need to be more prepared because I want to find different actors that we see in every minute

6:51that appear and then talk about them a little bit and stuff like that and add some more trivia to it. You don't know who the cops are? How dare you, Philip? I know. I thought you were prepared. I thought you had notes. You would tell me the biography, how many children. We're born at this scene. Yeah. Like during the scene. Oh, I have something to say. Yes. Say. Thank you so much for reminding me. So I have to say a critique of one shot. When we see Trinity sitting in the chair with lights pointed at her and we only see her back. Yeah. Yes. I've never liked those CG looking stamps. Oh, the big stamps? What does it say? Those look so bad. Okay. They're right above her, right? So they're right like on the wall. The stamps that she's facing. On the wall.

7:31I never noticed these. On the wall. Right in front of her is saying city. Hotel? City hoarding? No, city hoarding. What? City hoarding. Well, that's weird. Project number, blah, blah, blah. And so. Yeah. So you never liked that. Are these physical or are these in post? Because they look. I don't think so. They look really weird. Well, to me, those are always weird. So anyway. Check this guy out. Guy breaking in the door. I knew it. That's what I found too. Oh, that screenshot. Are we going to have to put that as like the guy's face? That's the link to that one. But the lights of the flashlight remind me of those like spooky games on like, you know, on the computer that were released a couple of years ago.

8:13Like, I don't know, like whatever. What was it called? The Slender Man and everything. It's pretty spooky. Yeah. I think if I was a kid watching this now, not only what it's about, I thought it would be like spooky. Right? I think it's spooky. Yeah. Because Jacob and I didn't have any, like, we didn't see any scenes from these films before watching the movie. So we had no point of reference or anything to expect. The only thing I had to expect was I saw an action figure at Sam Goody's, if anybody in the States who knows about that store. Yeah. There were some like detailed action figures that existed. And Sam Goody's was a store that usually sold music and movies. But they also had some like more expensive higher end toys available, collector's items.

8:55Right? So in 1999, I was there and I saw, oh, this is what my friend said about the Matrix, but it's rated R, so it must be scary. And then I saw, I think I saw a sentinel and I saw a statuette of one of the agents doing that thing with where you can, you see a lot of his body, but it's, it's a statuette. So it's like a lot of agent torsos on top of one set of legs. Right? Right. And I thought, is that what's going to happen? It's like Cronenberg body horror. But I didn't, but I didn't, I didn't know about that. But I was like, I was like, is that what it's going to be? And then when Morpheus, I'm going to keep that for later. I was going to say like, I actually said this when we were watching the scene where Morpheus

9:37turns around with his sunglasses. Okay. When, you know, the first time in 2001. We'll find out, right? But this one minute ends with a shot of, we get to see Trinity's face. We got a little close up. Yeah. And it's just, I have to say that, I don't know about you guys, but for my generation, that is the Prince's lap. I was in love. Oh! Carrie Ann Moss. You see, this is why I need to get prepared because I totally forgot to do that. So for the next, for the next episodes, we're going to. How long is the episode? 11 minutes. Okay. That's good. We can tell, talk about our appreciation of Carrie Moss. Okay. I mean, I don't know. Carrie Ann Moss. I'd never seen anything before with her.

10:17I haven't seen much stuff since. She was in Memento. Yeah, definitely. Even Cypher was in Memento. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, he was! You're right. I wanted to see Memento because, yeah, I thought it was like Matrix sequel or something. Because I was like, oh! Because it came out at that point where I was still pretty obsessed with Matrix. And I was like, oh, it's got Trinity and Cypher. I have to watch this no matter what. I didn't know anything about the movie. I mean, it turns out to be a really awesome movie. And my favorite movie of that director. He didn't top himself after that. Who? Nolan? Yeah. That's mine. He's got no Wi-Fi and no LAN.

10:59He's got no Wi-Fi. No, he's got no cell phone. But his assistants do, you know. Yeah, but he has no LAN. But that doesn't count. His assistants do everything for him. No LAN! That's what I always think of. Christopher, no LAN. No actual LAN. Oh, wow. No local area network. Yeah. Guess what, Jacob? Did Carrie-Anne in any of the Matrix films ever say sorry? Or a host? No. Because she's Canadian. She's Canadian? Yeah. What? Yep. I didn't know that. Secret Canadians. I didn't know that. Booting the Matrix. But I can say that when I was... Booting. Booting the Matrix. I was obviously... The Matrix rebooted. So, I didn't really fall in love with Carrie-Anne Moss, but I always thought that her character was just super cool.

11:40Like, come on. Yeah, I don't think I had the crush either, but it was definitely... And her hair was amazing. Her gelled hair. And everything she wore in the movie was just so great. I think her serious attitude and just that sort of a bit... It was a bit macho kind of look she had. You know, a little muscly kind of person. It was, but I think she was a very determined character. Oh, yeah, definitely. She was just not messing around. And that was like... That was kind of... It was definitely not something that I was used to beforehand. Right, right. That was cool, too. That was very cool. A little bit of Sarah Connor, but more digital. Carrie-Anne Moss. A little bit more Sarah Connor, but more digital. I mean... Trinity.

12:21Trinity. Trinity! Come on, leather. She wears leather, right? Yeah, you get to see... Everybody wears leather. On the motorcycle? No. When she's gone? That's wrong. Nioh does not wear leather. You're right, he doesn't. Nioh does not wear leather. No, he just went cloth. Cloth. And then Cypher wears like lizard clothes. No, I hate it. Because he's a snake. See, he's the Judas. He's the Judas. Okay, that's it. I think... Look... Do we have anything else to say? I have nothing else to say. Anything else to say about this? I think we're good. There's no metaphors in here. There's no... Nope. Just a bunch of cops. Just straightforward... The dialogue is mostly... Camera dollying and panning and following the cops to the destination as they open up the door and...

13:04Quick question. My favorite shot is the one where you see just their lights hitting Trinity and I know it looks ridiculous, but when I was watching it with that sting from Don Davis, that, you know, what do you call that? I'll call it crescendo. Disharmonic. Right. What do you call that? Like, when you put sharp notes, you know? Depends on the context. Because it just goes... Like a Discord? Yeah, like this. Wait. It just does this. Yeah, Discord. Yeah. Discord. Wow. Yep. All this buildup. Both of those things together made it kind of scary for me because I'm always a little... Ever since I was a kid, I'm just scared of, like, seeing a flashlight just directly hit something in the dark, you know?

13:47Oh, I know that. Like, afraid of the dentist? I didn't know that. Now we know how to... That's why I'll never be a dentist because I have to put the flashlight into someone's mouth and I see horrors beyond imagination. Imagine if you went to the dentist and that says, I have to have all the lights off to do my work properly. All the lights off and then just one spotlight on your teeth. Yeah. And you... Yep. All right. Well, that's it. Thank you for listening. We're going to go to episode two... Three. Where we see more of Trinity, the digital Lara Croft's... What is the digital Lara? I don't know what she's talking about. Oh, yeah. Digital Sarah Connor. The digital Sarah Connor's, uh... Shenanigans. Shenanigans. Okay, guys. See you later. Jammies.

14:28I'm Phil. I'm Jake. I'm Tim Boy. We don't have to say our names at the end. Okay. Just the beginning. Bye. Bye. Thank you.