Remaking the Matrix.

The Matrix II - better known as 'The Matrix Reloaded' - has begun filming. Keanu Reeves is back as Neo, saving the world from the treachery of computers.

What do you get when you cross the Bible with The Hobbit, Das Boat, Snow White and the works of Aristotle?

Apparently, just some of the many influences that went into influencing Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, the brothers and the director's behind the film The Matrix.

For those that missed this classic ... watch it NOW! It is a must-see on the reading list (or should that be viewing list) of any serious SF auteur.

A brief capsule of the first flick would be Neo, a frustrated computer hacker in the 20th century, discovers that he is actually being used as a human battery by AIs in the far future who have seized control of most of the Earth. They are farming humanity like factory chickens, and keeping them docile with a group virtual reality existence of the late 20th century.

Neo is broken out of this spell by a small group of human renegades who are fighting the AIs, and enters a broken, world so bleak and terrifying that it makes the dystopia of Bladerunner look like a holiday in Corfu.

Matrix viewed like a Woo Kung-Fu flick scripted by Philip K. Dick at the height of his paranoia, with SFX provided by George Lucas. Brilliant action combined with a fab script and lots of philosophy about the human relationship within an industrial and information society.

Fans of the film will be overjoyed to hear that the Wachowski siblings are currently in Australia finishing off the 'trilogy' by shooting 'The Matrix Reloaded' and The 'Matrix Revolutions' back-to-back.

The down-under production habit and release drip-feeding (Reloaded hits the streets 2003) isn't the only thing that they share with Lord of the Rings, albeit that was more of a Kiwi affair. Tolkien is regularly trotted out by the brothers as one of the big influences on The Matrix ... in fact, they have compared the first movie to The Hobbit, in how it sets the world up for the next two films.

If that's the case, then wow. Phantom Menace was how Lucas 'set up' his trilogy, and let's face it, that sucked compared to The Matrix.

The MIB-like AI avatars are back in Matrix Reloaded, including the main baddie, Agent Smith - who has learnt to replicate himself so that Neo has to fight a platoon of Smiths at the same time.

As Neo, Keanu Reeves is continuing his biblical quest to convince the AIs to set his people free from their VR bondage. He's aided in this battle by the inhabitants of the Free City of Zion - this underground fortress, said to be the remnants of some Pentagon survival bunker, now vastly expanded by refugees from the machine-led pogroms against mankind, features heavily in the two movies.

Neo's girlfriend Trinity is back - at least for most of the second movie, as she dies in heroic fashion at the climax. She is also meant to be bought back to life in the third movie, possibly as a reanimated tool of the AIs.

Laurence Fishburne again reprises his roll as the Gandalf-analogue, Morpheus, which should please the ranks of fandom. The wise old Oracle, played by actress Gloria Foster will be seen in Reloaded - but this proved to be her last screen role, as she passed away before shooting on 'Revolutions' got underway.

The singer/actress Aaliyah was meant to star in the second movie as a Zionite who sells the city out, leading to its destruction at the end of Reloaded, but her sad untimely death scuppered this.

Marvin Gaye's daughter, Nona, has now replaced Aaliyah, but the part has been substantially rewritten to accommodate the new actress's different thespian style (e.g. she may not now get trotted out for a Judas moment when Zion falls).

Revolutions - the third film- is said to continue as the biblical subtext, as Neo leads the remnants of humanity Moses-like across the wilderness of a shattered and abandoned Earth in search of the promised land and an ultimate resolution of their persecution by the machines.

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OTHER CONTENT - June 2002

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Drinking from the Oasis (Trek) A search for spare parts leads the Star Trek Enterprise crew to a crashed starship with a surprising secret. (TELEVISION) Trials And Tribbleations Author David Gerrold interviewed on his many SF novels; plus, does he really want to be remembered as the damn scriptwriter behind Trek's classic 'The Trouble with Tribbles' episode? (AUTHOR INTERVIEW) Script versus Special Effects in SF Jane Palmer asks some tough questions of the SF/F film industry. Like has plot taken one CGI-generated laser blast through the heart too many? (COMMENT) The Observation Deck This month's news shorts include a US tax on science fiction and the discovery of oceans of ice on Mars. Is the space race about to kick off again? (COMMENT) The Future in Futurama. Doh! Matt Groening, creator of Futurama & the Simpsons, interviewed by big Jim Pickard. (MOVIE INTERVIEW) My Spider-Sense is Tingling Marvel Comic's Spider-man finally makes it onto the big screen. Mark Leeper finds the movie fast, fun and faithful. (FILM REVIEW) When Clones Attack II Mark Leeper finally slips into Attack of the Clones. The latest Star Wars movie is a mixed bag, but there is ample that is rewarding, to make this film worth seeing. (COMMENT) Of Immunities & Wizardborn From Lois McMaster Bujold's 'Diplomatic Immunity' to David Farland's 'Wizardborn', the June book review sack has swollen large again. Read those SF/F novel reviews here. (BOOK REVIEWS) Flesh Fair: What Went Wrong With A.I? James L. Cambias puts Kubrick's last movie AI under the microscope, and boy, he doesn't like what he finds. It makes him angry. (COMMENT) Remaking the Matrix The Matrix II - better known as 'The Matrix Reloaded' - has begun filming. Keanu Reeves is back as Neo, saving the world from the treachery of computers. (MOVIE GOSSIP)

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