Robots VS Kung Fu: The Matrix Grindhouse Edition

Just finished watching Robots VS Kung Fu, wow!

I gave a high audio/video quality rating because the filming era of the footage was changed from the late 90s to the 70s-ish. And all of the quality work done on the video and audio to make it feel like 70s film was dead on. 9 stars for that. I feel like the narrative-voice was a bit off and could have had the voices match up a bit better. so 9 stars for the audio editing. 10 stars on the visual because it was dead on for the time period. 9 stars for narrative and enjoyment because there were moments when I felt a bit lost and had to re-watch parts and understand what's going on.

I tried to keep in mind all of the details as I watched it; like Neo as a drug dealer and possible traitor working for the machines... It's tough to learn the new story when I've watched the old one so many times. It was very good though. The extensive audio work was really good, and making Morpheus out to be a cold hard-ass was a great touch. I also liked the history lesson that Neo received. I suppose that was to catch him up on the years that he missed while he was being removed from the matrix? From an outsiders view of course. I liked the removal of animation, it was nice and made the show feel dated. There was also a lot of the close up action removed. This is so ever-true of old style movies. They didn't get too close to the action because they knew it would make it look fake (because it was fake) so they kept their distance from the action scenes or used obscure shots or made the action start and end quickly. This re-edit nailed that aspect of old film making dead to rights. The blurring from distant shots was a good touch too. Neo killing the people he used to work for was good too, but I'm wondering where he found the time to do that. The previews were good also, along with the DVD Menu work. It really made it an immersed experience from start to finish. The scene of the machine (smith) fighting Neo down on the subway rails was confusing for a few moments. I thought it showed Smith jumping out?? and then it showed Neo and Smith still down there, and then Neo had gotten out of the trains way... that part was trippy. I'm not sure if it was intentional or just an honest error in this massive re-edit.

Over all, this was absolutely great and I think that any big Matrix fan would enjoy viewing it.

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.

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.

I watched the DVD version (still have to watch the 2nd disc with the extras). I haven't read any reviews of the edit yet, and I didn't read any of the detailed info about the edit before watching. Here is my stream of consciousness bulleted noted that I took as I watched the edit:

- Nice DVD Menus!

- Cool Previews

- opening with the cityscapes and narration/conversation kinda caught me off guard

- Nice choice with Jefferson Airplane

- sound replacement/foley effects etc. is kinda interesting, not sure if its intially not supposed to sound polished, either way it works

- the inclusion of some of the behind the scenes/outtakes footage worked, sometimes it didnt (just my opinion)

- been a looonnggg time since I've seen Johnny Mnemonic

- LMAO at "long story"

- in certain places (for example the kung fu training scene), the music could have been a tad lower and the dialogue could have been a bit louder. This is somewhat nitpicky, as this wasn't a constant problem throughout the edit, just in certain spots

- from the meeting with the oracle onward, the narrative and visual editing felt a bit erratic sort of all over the place (again, just my opinion)

- The ending was great though. very, very clever.

- I didn't really know what to expect going into this edit but overall this was a fun, outside-the-box fanedit.

Nice work matrixgrindhouse! Looking forward to Chapter 2!

Let me preface this by saying that every time I would see someone write "you should do a grindhouse edit of _____" on the forum, I wanted to ban them immediately. There were a lot of hack attempts, but shitty-ing up the picture quality and making a bunch of hard cuts does not a grindhouse film make. Fortunately the trend seemed to fade from the spotlight for a bit. TMBTM's War of the Stars edit was a bit closer to the real deal, and that edit was a lot of fun.

Now, with Robots vs. Kung Fu, we have as close as a true grindhouse film as you are going to get. The editor did a fantastic job with this. The editing was quite good at times, the music choices were great, and it really did feel like a cheap grindhouse film. That said, not everything worked for me (a bit too much Johnny Mnemonic footage was used, and the filters/compression were a bit much for me) but I did really enjoy this. I look forward to watching the bonus features and listening to the commentary. Great job!!!!