Originally Posted by Thursday Next
I don't know about the lawsuit, but the Matrix has ripped off so many other films/stories/concepts that they would have a hard time proving any authorship. I have just seen Total Recall (pretty lame, btw.), another one to add to the long list of 'inspirations' ...the phone call, the red pill, even the pursuit by agents...
I just don't agree that it is bad, though. Also, all these ideas have been done over and over, it's how they are done that makes us watch them again. Really, many film ideas have been used and re-used, it's the nature of the beast. How about the "Guy from now goes back or forward in time" paradigm. That has been done to death, yet we staill liked Back to the Future, The Terminator, and other contemporary films like these. I mean, those concept were definitely done before those films hit, be it in another movie, or a sci-fi television series like The Outer Limits or The Twilight zone.
Sure, The Matrix was treading an old road, but they repaved it wil slick action, slick editing, and wrapped it all up in a fun and interesting package that we hadn't seen before. Sure, Reeves is weak, but it's a sci-fi picture, and many of the supporting actors are good, so I can overlook a weaker lead for the material. Really, The Matrix borrows heaviest from the writings of William Gibson, moreso than any other film (which also borrow from the master of cyberpunk). I am fine with that, as I like the genre, and feel that earlier films hadn't quite reached that level of slickness that Gibson writes about in his books.
The Terminator is supposedly the same story as The Matrix, just told from an earlier time point, before the machines fully take over. The lawsuit I spoke about actually covers The Matrix Trilogy as well as The Terminator Trilogy (Joel Silver produced both), and the author sung the Wachowsjis, Joel Silver, and James Cameron claims her screenplay "The Minds Eye" was the basis for both trilogies. The Wachowski's supposedly recieved the screenplay as part of a contest they held in the 80s for fledgling screenwriters.
Does the case hold water? Seems a bit fishy to me, but I do knoe Harlan Elison already got his name attached to The Terminator when he sued the director/producer for stealing the idea from an Outer Limits episode called The Soldier, in which a soldier from the future is sent back in time to take down another person from the future. Sound familiar?
I guess my point is, ther is no definitive version to these concepts, jsut the versions we have been exposed to first, second and so on. Something becomes original to us when we see it first, and think of it as the original.
All these stories have been told a hundred times, only the names have changed.
Take the alien invasion paradigm. How many times has THAT been done to death. Way too many to count, yet we like some of the later iterations as they have evolved the concept a bit past Wells War of the Worlds, which was written in the late 1800s..
Also, Total Recal is not lame!! Sure the effects are dated at this point, but it's a great Phil K Dick story done pretty well. I have always liked Total Recall, fake pop-out eyes not withstanding...
Meanwhile:
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Altman, 1971) - Wonderful story, told by a great director, and shot by Mr. Vilmos Zsigmond...See it!