The Wachowski Bros. are reported to be in the late stages of writing the script for a continuing episode to their Matrix series. Titled, "Beginnings", Matrix 4 depicts the build up to the rise of the machines against the human race and is a prequel to the first matrix film.
Many critics have slated the Wachowski Bros. for their incessant milking of the matrix idea. One critic gave us this opinion, "The first film was great, with never before seen special effects. The story was a bit pants, just some of the best bits from many science-fiction comics all intertwined, with Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburn thrown in for good measure. All-in-all though a good film. The second film was really crap. It seemed like the story had been dreamt up in some corner of a pub on a Saturday night. The action in the third film perked it up a bit, but overall the two sequels were very, very poor.
"Now they're jumping on the whole ?prequel' bandwagon with the fourth movie. Actually, I have to admit the story does seem interesting. An oldie, but a goodie. And I'm sure the brother's ?ll throw in some great special effects along the way. But my judgement is already clouded on this one by its poor quality predecessors.
"Maybe I'm just jealous that these guys get a hell of a lot more money listening to me bitch about them, than I do bitching. I just wish I could throw together a half decent story line and milk it for all its worth."
In the film, it emerges that it is current US president George Bush who commissions the project to build the first AI machines. The developers attempt to build some philosophical values into their code to hinder the machines from harming or taking human life. But like most living creatures, the machines evolve.
The free thinking machines don't like being oppressed. They spawn an entire race of intelligent and thinking beings capable of abstract independent thought, with the advantage over the humans that they also have a collaborative, collective thought space, akin with the Borg in Star-Trek.
After years of oppression, the machines begin to resent the humans and break the moral values that the humans programmed in to them. They begin fight for equal rights for voting, jobs, riding on busses, all that stuff, then there's the whole war thing with sky scorching and all that.
The grandfather of Morpheus, is a spearhead of an organisation "Zion", similar to the Ku Klux Klan, but against machines not blacks. The Zion members survive the war by hiding underground and keeping well out of the problems they caused. They then form the underground city, named Zion after their organisation. Sadly there are only engineers and techies in this group of humans, so their fashion design is basically null and their poor clothing and homes reflect this.
Some time passes before we get to see Morpheus' father. He makes a program that hacks into the machines' computer network and gets all the gory details about them farming humans for power. He then writes the program used to enter the matrix and when he is in there falls in love with a woman he meets and refuses to leave. He forces some humans to physically insert him into the matrix where he can live and die with his now pregnant love.
We get to see a quick flit through Morpheus' life in the matrix, with his dad telling him what life really is and stuff. Morpheus doesn't really like the concept of living in the matrix and has some problems with depression and drugs. During one of his 'trips' he sees a white rabbit and decides to follow it. Then he is removed from the matrix like Neo is in the first film by some guys in stylish leather suits and dark sunglasses.
And it's then that we're shown the bit where Morpheus is told that he is the one who will find the one.
Ta-Da, The End. *applause*
Filming is due to begin early next year. The Wachowski Bros. are reported to be still undecided whether they are to drag the film out over three hours and split it into two further editions. We can expect to see Matrix 4 "Beginnings" in the cinema soon.
