Robots VS Kung Fu: The Matrix Grindhouse Edition

[Review]
Remember 'The Matrix'? Reality is just an illusion... and only The One, aka Neo, can save us - via some envelope-pushing special effects and a pounding soundtrack courtesy of the likes of The Propellerheads, The Prodigy and Rage Against The Machine.

Well, chuck your memories in the bin. Because everything you think you know about The Matrix is a load of crap and Neo is going to ram it up your back-side, all-the-while accompanied by a mildly weird 80's electronic 'rhythm'. Unless you pay him not to. Then he's your best friend.

If this sounds like your kind of re-edit, then you are going to love this. 'Robots vs Kung Fu' is very left-of-centre which for those of the more cynical disposition (like yours truly) means it is highly enjoyable. Characters are completely mixed up and messed around, often with hilarious results. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Neo tell people to 'fuck off' at every opportunity, his shady morals making him a far more sympathetic anti-hero than the wide-eyed innocent original. And don't get me started on the enigmatic and downright-weird Morpheous.

Then there are The Agents, particularly Agent Smith. Where to start? Well, when he's not buggering his victims off-screen for information, he's having them held-down in an interview room for his own sexual gratification. If you thought the original was bad, wait until you've been treated to this editor's version. Brilliant.

How matrixgrindhouse pulls this off is by delving in to an enviable knowledge of pulp video fare. The list of sources is awe-inspiring and a large hint at just how much work and research went in to this project.

The best compliment I can pay this edit? I'll be back very soon to watch it again. Or was that deja-vu?

[Technical]
I want to end on the high this gargantuan effort deserves, so we'll start with criticisms. The main one is that this film seems confused about whether it is an homage to early-80's VHS straight-to-video exploitation (there was a time when there was very little content to rent on VHS, so shit films were rushed out to fill the vacuum - believe me, I remember by grandad renting a sci-film he thought from the cover must be like Star Wars only for us to watch open-mouthed as people had their skulls melted with lasers) or if it's a dodgy 16mm release of a low-budget sci-fi, which would make it late 1970's. The music and low grade video for me firmly places it in the former, which makes the film-degradation effects occasionally confusing. I'd have loved to see tape drop-out and wear to accompany the rest of the edit, rather than the usual film scratches.

'Grindhouse' stylistically can also be taken so far that the audience isn't sure at times whether a degrading effect is intentional or not. For example, in this edit one of the main characters (Trinity) speaks about 4 long lines of dialogue that are at quite a profound moment in the film (as profound as an excellent piss-take as this can get) and they are virtually inaudiable. Is this a clever device to cover up lines that wouldn't make sense? Or is the sound badly handled? At times it's hard to tell.

As I said in my review, there is an absolute well of footage that the editor has sifted through to make this film - but at times the music sounds a little limited. It fits most of the time, but there are tracks that sound self-indulgent and don't fit in with the others. Listening to the soundtrack to the original 'The Matrix' is a masterclass is putting disparate music together that fits seamlessly, and a project this large deserves as much attention.

All that being said, this is indeed a huge project. Almost every shot has been toyed with in some way or another, and when the trailer says 'three years in the making' you believe it. A massive undertaking that must have taken months of dedication - which is what it takes to make a great FanEdit. Excellent work.

(One last point - the film can be watched on an online video service, making it instantly accessible and user-friendly. FanEditors aspiring to the seriousness and calibre of this project that want their work to reach a large audience should take note.)

Wow. I really thought I'd seen it all, and that no other Matrix fan edits would hold enjoyment for me, but this one proved me wrong! I love this fanedit! I would have given it perfect scores across the board, but the Johnny Mnuemonic stuff -although great to see included and fun, didn't quite connect in narrative fashion that I totally understood - even with the grindhouse framework... I still kind of "got" those parts though.

The incredibly intricately extracted range of source materials (mainly from Dark City, Matrix Revisited and the Matrix Online) is impressive, and well incorporated, and gave me a "wow, I didn't see that coming" feeling to a movie I've literally watched over a 100 times, no joke. This fanedit is a real pleasure!

Super fun and awesome! I enjoyed this fan edit enough to watch the feature fanedit, then immediately watch it with the commentary - all the way threw both series of credits. The Fan Editor should be proud of themselves, for a job very well done, and I eagerly await the planned sequel - even if it takes another 3 years or more, I'll still keep an eye out!

There be some funny shit in this here cake. Ain't gonna give surprises away, though.

Music adds and subtracts, entertainment-wise. At times, a goofy and well-timed tune will turbo-boost your smile, or undo your non-laugh. Fucking excellent.

However, some background music comes across as cheesier and cheaper-sounding than it needs to be—my personal preference favors grindhouse myujik that has a bit more funk, menace, or goofy testosterone. There's a fair degree of musical repetition as well as homogeneity, and some of the lesser tunes draw attention to themselves while making the dialogue sound dim. Such features could be credit toward grindhouseyness, but here they make the viewing challenging in parts—which is a shame, given the many hilarious moments in this soup, or dammit, was it cake we were metaphor-pimping?

Some scenes could do without any music at all. The sound effects and visual gags would have been humor enough.

Dude, with a little more attention to mixing sound and delving for some apropos songs, this edit could have been simply dangerous.

njoijoi: 7 pelvic aerothrusts.

2021 Updated Review:

Has it really been 8 years since I left this review? Damn. Time flies. Well, with the release of the "Analogue Demaster" version, I felt this was worth a re-watch/re-review. I'll say that this is still one of the all time great fanedits out there and should be required viewing for everyone reading this. This really shows you what is possible with fanediting and your only limitation is your own creativity. Everything I said below still stands. The absolute highlight is the faneditor commentary track. It' so great to get a peek behind the curtain of a master at work. Brilliant, all around.

Original 2013 Review:

This edit is a blast. The editor has taken The Matrix as we know it, turned it inside out, crushed it with a sledgehammer, set it on fire and up from the ashes rose Robots vs. Kung Fu. What TMBTM was to Jaws and Star Wars, matrixgrindhouse is to The Matrix. Very highly recommended.

Audio/Video Quality: Horrid. Perfect.

Visual Editing: The number of sources blended together in this edit is jaw dropping. Great work.

Audio Editing: Hard cuts, volume fluctuations, stray noises. Everything that makes a grindhouse a grindhouse.

Narrative: The new story that's created is an incredible feat the editor should be commended on his creativity and the technical prowess to be able to pull it off.

Enjoyment: Take the red pill.

This was such an amazing edit! Serious skills on hand with you man. I'm so glad I bumped your thread and tagged you that one night.

Excellent A/V quality, damaged effects worked really well. Multiple sources are smoothly mushed together without leaving too many traces. Of course there are intentional errors, which adds to the pleasure. It's obvious a ton of work went into this. There were many moments I marveled at the sound editing; the music, rebuilt sound effects, dialogue mashing, etc. Some of the intentional abrupt or awkward cuts didn't work for me though but nothing major. Nicely done with all the added footage. Really made this a unique version without going too nuts on it.

I had a blast with this. Not everything worked for me but all the genius moments outweighed those easily. I sampled the commentary and will definitely give that a listen, and damn look at that a second disc with goodies! Highly highly recommended.

A/V Quality - 10
Editing - 9 visual, 8 audio
Narrative - 9
Enjoyment - 10 (original 9)

Recommended drink: Absinthe