Robots VS Kung Fu: The Matrix Grindhouse Edition

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.

The whole modern grindhouse genre is a very fascinating idea but not one that I think works well in a long form format. Hobo with a Shotgun, Machete, and Planet Terror, to name a few, were all novel ideas but after the initial awe wore off I began to become disinterested.

This is the same thing that happened with this edit. I found the idea extremely interesting and unique but half way into it, I lost interest and began to drift away from paying attention. This has nothing to do with the quality of the edit but is more a reflection on my interest and thoughts on the genre.

Rating the technical aspect of a film like this is difficult because bad editing techniques are what make a film a grindhouse film. That being said, this edit is a perfect representation of how the techniques for a grindhouse film should be executed. The amount of work that must have went into this edit is astounding.

I don't really think the Johnny Mnemonic scenes worked very well for the most part because they threw off the narrative, which is why I gave it an 8 rating.

On the other hand, there were several things about this edit that I did enjoy. The running gag of Agent Smith zipping his pants (inferring a certain action) was hilarious. As were some of the lines of dialogue, like the conversation between Neo and Trinity about her being a man a long time ago HAHA!! I also really enjoyed the ending, which I won't spoil.

My favorite part of this edit was actually the fake trailers that occur before the feature film, similar to the fake trailers before Grindhouse (Planet Terror/Death Proof). Trailers of this sort is where I feel the modern grindhouse technique is best used, because they are in a short form format.

Overall, even though I didn't enjoy this edit as much as others I would still recommend it. The ideas are solid and would be hard pressed to find anything as original. For those reasons alone, this edit should be viewed and if another is released I will most certainly view that as well.

I'm glad to have watched this fanedit just as a novelty because it was such a massive undertaking and its such a different viewing experience than the source material, but I didn't really like it that much and probably won't watch it again. I love the Matrix, but don't like grindhouse movies. So, me not liking this edit is something I probably could have predicted, but I was just curious at what you'd change. I actually thought the small changes were more interesting than the large ones (ie "that was a long time ago"). But all in all, it was just too weird for me.

My favorite part was the preview of Rush Hour (Dynamite Twins?).

Scoring the editing and quality is weird since its intentionally bad. But the more important part -
Enjoyment: 7
Original: 10
This isn't a fanfix, so comparing it to the original may not be the best comparison. I did like this fanedit better than any other grindhouse style movie I've seen, so that's something positive.

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.

I really struggled writing this review.

The good news is that the editor succeeds in pulling off a grindhouse version of The Matrix. It's obvious that he worked very hard on this and the end result is commendable. Unfortunately, I didn't quite enjoy this as much as I thought I would. Perhaps it's because I'm not a fan of the grindhouse genre, and it's a bit more straightforward (from a comedic standpoint) than The War of the Stars.

Stuff I liked: The intro cast credits made me smile. I generally liked most of the music choices. There were some actual literal laughs out loud on my part. The Animatrix stuff. The ending(s) were fantastic and easily bumped my narrative rating up a few points. The DVD is really well done, and I'm definitely going to listen to the commentary (the parts I sampled were quite interesting).

Stuff I didn't care for: The intro trailers (again, this is more my disinterest in the whole genre more than anything). The melting film parts (seen it before). The Johnny Mnemonic stuff (I'm not sure why but it didn't engage me). The changes to the narrative (maybe my fault, but there was stuff I didn't get until I read the description on IFDb).

Overall, I'm glad I watched this, and I did enjoy it, but not as much as I expected. I do wonder if I had seen this before WOTS if I might have liked it better, because I couldn't help but compare the two. And it's no fault of the editor that my tastes skew more towards WOTS.

Cautiously recommended.