Chapter 155: Mech War Robots

The original history's "Matrix" performed fairly well at the mainland box office, but it was far from a blockbuster.

The first film premiered in 2000, grossing 17 million and ranking ninth for the year.

The second and third installments also released in 2003, each earning about 43 million and placing third and fourth for the year.

They fell behind "Cell Phone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

The box‑office did not explode like "Titanic" for various reasons.

First, the original is a bona‑fide Hollywood film, and some viewers subconsciously did not want to watch it.

Neo's abilities cannot be used at the train station, leaving him trapped.

As Neo returns from the Matrix, Bei En (the person possessed by Smith) also awakens.

After Neo departs, Smith finds the Oracle and assimilates him. Smith becomes stronger and lets out a swaggering laugh.

Mo Feisi and the others could not possibly accept such terms; after a fight, Cui Niti's gun points at Mei Luo Wenjia's head while the bodyguard's gun points at Mo Feisi and the others.

The film's huge box‑office success proves that "Journey to the West" is indeed the biggest Chinese‑film IP.

Bei En tampered with the spaceship, preventing it from taking off.

Like the "Transformers" series, the "Lord of the Rings" series, and "The Hobbit," the trailer shows that the special‑effects scenes are certainly top‑notch, but because the characters and actors are foreigners, some viewers subconsciously lack immersion and do not want to watch.

Neo, however, refuses to leave the Matrix and wants to see the Oracle.

After the spaceship crashes, the heroine Cui Niti is mortally wounded.

The robot army finally arrives, and the human base gathers a massive mech force.

This segment fully displays the brutal war between humans and robots, serving as an effective rebuttal to the claim that "The Matrix" is "pseudo‑science‑fiction."

Before this, both mainland and overseas media claimed that "The Matrix" is actually a "pseudo‑science‑fiction" film, merely cloaked in a sci‑fi skin, with the main action being hand‑to‑hand combat and gunfights, essentially an upgraded Xianggang movie.

Even Chen Kaige thinks this scene was well shot; future war movies could take a cue.

For example, Zheng Baorui's 2014 "Havoc in Heaven" had a wildly absurd plot, a Douban rating of 4.4, yet grossed 1.045 billion.

Just as "Three Body" won the Hugo Award and was embraced by the West, more and more people came to love the work.

In this world, this IP currently belongs to "The Matrix."

Seeing this, the audience wonders whether Zion, the real world humans think they inhabit, is actually another Matrix.

If that were truly the setting, the concept would be colossal.

Smith is no longer under the Matrix's control and begins threatening its security. If he is not eliminated, the Matrix will soon collapse and everything will be destroyed.

The Oracle replies that she will not tell you about the other saviors; the time is not yet right.

As for killing robot octopuses with the mind, it is because the savior's power comes not only from the Matrix but from the source itself.

Mei Luo Wenjia naturally does not want to die and quickly compromises.

If it were "Havoc in Heaven," many Chinese would

In the end, although Bei En is destroyed, his eyes are burned.

To escape the growing swarm of robot octopuses, the spaceship breaks through the lightning layer; the male and female leads see the real sky for the first time. That scene resembles the one in "A Chinese Ghost Story 3" where the ghost Xiao Zhuo carries a young monk through dark clouds, with Buddha light shining similarly.

Placed in Jiang Heng's "Matrix" series, it is similar; the audience inside mostly holds excited hearts, awaiting the screening.

In fact, many viewers still cannot fully grasp the film's setting, yet feel proud of its massive global success and thus like it.

Later comes a long segment of the human army preparing for battle, including the spaceship's launch; watching it in 2003 was still quite shocking.

The film opens, continuing from the previous part; Neo and Bei En (the person possessed by Smith) lie head‑to‑head, giving the scene an allegorical feel.

Cui Niti takes the train to the station and picks up Neo.

Neo is trapped in the train station, a portal between the Matrix and the real world, controlled by a program called "Train Man," whose boss is the second film's villain Mei Luo Wenjia, who offers a hefty bounty for capturing Mo Feisi and the others.

In Zion, Mo Feisi pilots the spaceship back, using an electromagnetic pulse cannon to wipe out many robot octopuses, granting humans a brief peace; however, soon a deluge of robot octopuses attacks again.

Neo meets the Machine Master and tells him

At the story's start, Neo and Smith were mortal enemies, and in the end they still

He wondered why the Oracle didn't tell him about other saviors, and why he could, in the real world, kill a machine octopus with his thoughts.

When thousands of mechs launched together, firing on the octopus robots pouring out of the newly bored passage, the audience inside was thrilled, after all, this was a shocking scene never before seen in Chinese-language cinema.

And this segment

As the "Underground Emperor" of the Matrix world, Mei Luo Wenjia is very

Cui Ni Di went alone to investigate, but was captured by Bei En. Neo came to rescue, only to discover that his teammate had been possessed by Smith.

Mo Feisi and Cui Nidi then go to see the Oracle, and then

Even if one finds it hard to get through on first viewing, one won't think it's the work's fault.

In terms of design, the mechs resemble those in "Pacific Rim," but are much smaller, only a little over three meters tall.

Soon, a horde of robot monsters flies toward the spaceship. Neo uses his mind again to repel the robot octopuses, further

Cui Ni Di was blunt: either hand over Neo, or we all die together.

There were simply too many octopus robots, covering the sky and earth, making viewers' scalps go numb; the destroyed robots and mechs piled up like mountains.

The Oracle also told Neo that Smith was his opposite, seeking to destroy everything, and only Neo could stop him.

The male protagonist Neo and the female lead piloted the ship to the Machine City, where they saw a massive human power plant filled with countless humans still in slumber—a scene both shocking and sorrowful.

Neo proposed that he enter the Matrix to eliminate Smith, after which the Machine City would halt its attack on Zion, and everyone could live in peace. The Machine Lord agreed to Neo's proposal and linked Neo to the Matrix.

Upon entering the Matrix, Neo quickly met Smith, only to discover that everyone in the Matrix had been assimilated by him; the Matrix contained only Smith, like a super virus infecting all files.

(End of chapter)