Robots VS Kung Fu: The Matrix Grindhouse Edition

I fell in love with this edit from the moment I saw the trailer. The humour is 100% on-point and the tone treads the perfect line between ridiculous and sublime. The editing is absolutely first-rate, including the hilarious continuity errors and use of behind-the-scenes footage where wires and other stage apparatus can be clearly seen. In an age where you can sit down and watch a Hollywood 'comedy' and not laugh once in 90 minutes of torture, this edit will make you laugh out loud at regular intervals. Perhaps most impressive is the way in which the editor ambitiously and successfully tells a very different story to the original, one in which everyone is basically an ***hole, Neo a false prophet who plays both sides and Smith a tapdancing sexual deviant. The soundtrack is inspired, it brings everything together with such a glorious 80's vibe. I (conceitedly) consider myself to be quite knowledgeable about music in general, so I was amazed, but not at all sorry to be introduced to 'Space' for the very first time. It's like this music was created specifically for this grindhouse edit, so perfectly does it fit the tone and style. I'm currently up to my third watch in the space of barely more than a week, and I know that total will number in the tens before the end of the year. I literally love everything about this edit and I cannot recommend that people watch it enough!

This was pure awesomeness. The tone was maintained throughout, so if you love the first five or ten minutes the whole thing will be in your wheelhouse. I laughed out loud and karate kicked the air multiple times. Great execution!

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 just watched this last night with some mates and a few beers and i must say we loved it.
as iv said many times before i am a huge matrix fan so when i saw this i had to see it.

this had to be the funnest version of the matrix i have ever seen i love how smith questions people (zip) funny as hell, just how this movie was done was amazing i cant wait for kung fu vs robots 2000

if you need a good laugh this is the movie for you.

PQ: horribly bad just the way it should be
AQ: bad and just the way it should be
Movie: funny as hell loved every minute of it i will watch this every time i need a laugh

[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.)