Robots VS Kung Fu: The Matrix Grindhouse Edition

This was a masterpiece*! (*If you like this kind of thing)

The great thing about the grindhouse genre of fanedits is that every flaw and imperfection actually makes it better!
I was, and am, a huge fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, particularly the early Joel episodes, but all of it. And then onto Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax (and Wrecking Crew) and on and on. So in loving that show there is a certain appreciation one gains for this kind of film-making.

I loved that the subplot with that guy named "Raulph?" that Neo kept calling only kinda made sense. (I think the scenes were from Johnny Mnemonic, but I haven't seen that movie).

I loved that horrible background music drowned out quite a lot of the dialogue!

I loved that you could almost always see the wires during fight scenes! The training sequence between Morpheus and Neo was loooooong. It made me think of an old MST3K movie featuring a lot of rock climbing.

I loved how almost none of Neo's inserted dialogue really flowed or worked at all!! It becomes hysterical at times. It is absolutely fantastic!

With these Grind-House edits, every negative comment becomes a compliment, if you really appreciate these! Don't get me wrong, someone could screw this up and create something very boring and completely without narrative. It takes just exactly the right blend to create a masterpiece of ridiculousness such as this. This is genius! (see also War of the Stars)

I really REALLY loved the ending!!! I laughed for five or ten minutes at it's abruptness, despite the preceding summary/montage.

It takes a genius to create something that feels like an authentic inept early 80s cheap sci-fi movie. I wish MST3K were in the corner of the screen to help me through the dialogue that was drowned out by music :-)

This was brilliant and I hope there is a sequel, as the Coming Attractions promised!

I hesitated chasing after this. Wary of yet another franchise edit.
Did not care for this on initial viewing.
Luckily, Robots Vs Kung Fu was brief, so I watched it again.
Yowzer, much more enjoyable.

Solid work here. Editing was deliberately, royally screwed up, in a good way, in a bad way.
Some of the Johnny Mnemonic scenes worked better than others. All were terrible, which only made the film funnier.
Narrative wise, the film hung together as an alternative version - that doesn't always go as intended with edits, but it did here.
Audio editing: Hate Space. Reminded me of a fourteen year old with a Casio keyboard.
Moreover, some of the Hong Kong cuts distracted me no end. A half recognized tune caused me to go, "wait, wait, that's from -- that's from --" then the music was gone. Aarrggh!
On the audio plus side, and this is major. Outstanding commentary track! Focused, always pertinent to onscreen, informative, interesting. mgh, this is one of the best commentaries I have listened to, including a lot of so-called professional ones. Top marks here, babe.

Also downloaded and viewed the supplements. Nothing to say. Did not burn.

For what this set out to do, make a crappy, enjoyable grind version of The Matrix, this succeeded brilliantly. Looking forward to chapter 2 -- even if it takes a couple years.

Hmm how to rate this, I mean it's intentionally bad, but it does that good! This movie was a real blast and a good fresh way to see this movie again, lots visual and narrative creativity. I also have to mention that the music score is epic and the bonus ending is hilarious, I almost wish the sequels were about something more like that. There were a few parts were the narrative was hard to follow, but maybe I just haven't seen enough of the movies this is parodieng to be in on the joke. It's absolutely worth a watch and it was a lot more funny then I thought it would be. I can't remember specifics right now, but there was several edits I found to be very clever.

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!

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.