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April 08, 2003
Agent Smith is back, and he's pissed
Steve Silberman has written a tremendous article for Wired about the special effects work for The Matrix: Reloaded.
The showdown is set in a dingy courtyard in the vast cityscape of the Matrix. A sign on a pole says NO BRAWLING. It will not be a good day for that sign.We'll get the chance to judge for ourselves how real the virtual cinematography is in a few weeks, but it certainly looks as if the Wachowski Brothers are thinking big.
Neo and Agent Smith face off as crows flutter into the air. Words are exchanged. Things do not go well. The agent makes a bold attempt to load himself into Neo's body, but Neo's powers are too strong now. What Smith needs is reinforcements, a cavalry. Being a virus, there are potential recruits everywhere.
If the dojo fight in The Matrix was a kung fu sonata, the Burly Brawl is a symphony. Neo tears the sign from the ground and wields it as a kendo sword, vaulting pole, and battering ram. A woman walking by can't believe what she's seeing; suddenly her body is hijacked, she drops her grocery bag, and another Smith charges into the fray. Whole battalions of Smiths arrive, mount assaults, attack in waves, scatter, regroup, and head back for more. (At ESC, one massive pile-on was dubbed the "Did someone drop a quarter?" shot.) In the thick of it, Neo is dancing, chucking black-tied bodies skyward, pivoting around the signpost, and using shoulders as stepping-stones over the raging river of whup-ass.
Fans will wear out their remotes replaying the scene on DVD, but what they won't see, even riding the Pause button, is a transition that happens early on. When Neo and Agent Smith walk into the courtyard, they are the real Reeves and Weaving. But by the time the melee is in full effect, everyone and everything on the screen is computer-generated - including the perspective of the camera itself, steering at 2,000 miles per hour and screaming through arcs that would tear any physical camera apart.
This is virtual cinematography, but the most impressive thing about the Burly Brawl is that it doesn't look virtual at all. The digital faces of Reeves and Weaving could get past a flank of security guards, and the buildings surrounding the courtyard look dreary and lived-in - the grimy, unmistakable patina of the real.
Not that SFX work is by any means the only thing they need to get right to live up to the standards of the first film, but it's not a bad starting point. Next, let's see them come up with a creative retcon for that ludicrous "people being used as batteries" backstory.
Posted by John at April 8, 2003 10:17 PM
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Comments
Oh my - now I have to wait May 15th to see it? Sigh. Thanks for the article tip...
I came to you by way of Anita... nice to 'meet' you. :)
Posted by: ~Janece at April 9, 2003 06:08 AM
Nice of you to pay me a visit. Do drop in again some time.
Sadly, those of us in the UK have to wait a little longer still, until 23rd May, to find out whether the script of The Matrix: Reloaded is as clever as the SFX.
Posted by: John at April 9, 2003 11:57 PM