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.)

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

I absolutely love this edit (Must have watched various versions 5 or 6 times so far) and it's taken me a while to put it into words. I'd go so far as to say I enjoy this more than the original film and I enjoy the heck out of that! So far I've not scene another edit that so fundamentaly changes the experience of the film. Here is a few of the reasons it rocks...

Audio/Video Quality: 9/10

matrixgrindhouse has cut in unfinished, unused and incomplete footage into the film wherever possible. The image has been recoloured and made all grainy and nasty looking... in a good way. All of this is of course deliberate and enormously fun but if you are expecting HD quality footage you may be upset. But if you're watching this in the proper 'f*cked up 70s/80s Grindhoused to sh*t print' spirit you'll freakin' love it!!

Visual Editing: 10/10

The editing is so seemless that even after several viewings I hadn't notied cuts to footage of completely different movies (The commentary talks you through all that). Yet other edits are deliberately done to introduce enormous jump cuts and continuity errors which adds another layer of enjoyment. If the shot could be changed or replaced... it has been.

Audio Editing: 10/10

This is the best part for me. The entire soundtrack has been replaced with awesome synth Funk cuts that will have you almost dancing in your seat as you watch the edit. Brilliantly the edit comes with a music-only track so you can listen to it in all it's isolated glory. If that's not enough there is an informative commentary too. So much work has gone into getting the sound FX right too and all the scratches and noise you'd expect from a Grindhouse edit have been carefully added. Lastly much of the dialogue has been replaced, cut up and messed with to create an alternate story and some hilarious gags... zzzzzziiiiiip ;-)

Narrative: 9/10

All the characters personalities and motivations have been changed along with the story. So you get a totally different experience. I've knocked one point off because I suspect you have to be familiar with The Matrix to follow some of the changes but that doesn't mean I'd change a damn thing. I love how the story has been made more crazy but cutting in a good chunk of footage from another movie.

Enjoyment: 10/10

10 hardly covers how much fun this edit is. I swear it gets better with every watch and you'll be spotting more and more little visual tricks and gags on every watch. I'm looking forward to my next watch of 'ROBOTS vs KUNG FU' already!

Extras: 10/10
Not only is there 3 audio tracks to enjoy there is a whole extra DVD of bonus materia created for the release. Trailers, deleted footage and alternate cuts abound. Plus the edit itself begins with 3 spoof vintage Grindhouse trailers so good they alone make this worth watching repeatedly!

Thanks matrixgrindhouse for going the extra mile on this one.

"Jesus, I just thought you were a guy?... that was a long time ago"

never been the biggest fan of the matrix films i do however admire the concept and special effects, i just found the characters to be so serious in their delivery the film could have done with a little comical releif so the idea of a fanedit that would poke fun at the matrix universe was appealing.

matrixgrindhouse certainly manages to make the big budget matrix into a cheap tacky low budget affair. many of the aspects with what you'd associate with the film have been removed, and i must admit i found the idea of turning the matrix film into a grindhouse movie impossible but credit to the editor for accomplishing this. there is a lot of fun to be had with this edit, sure there are a few ideas that didn't work for me (i felt the johnny mnemonic scenes were over used) but overall the positives out way any negatives. the new soundtrack is the highlight of the edit, just as with nvjc empire edit it makes the edit fresh and very much like your watching the film for the first time

since TMBTM grindhouse edits i find it unfortunate that there ain't more similar edits in this vain so robts vs kung-fu is a welcome inclusion to the genre and could hopefully influence more edits in this style. a strong first edit and definitely one that you could get drunk to, disc 2 though not accentual has deleted scenes and trailers while the original work-print shows the progress this edit has gone through over the years.