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Comment by aidenn0 | Hacker News Reader

No Hugo Weaving either it looked like.

I recently realized that in an action movie the hero almost doesn't matter. The villain makes or breaks the movie. Luke Skywalker, John McClane, Neo: they're irrelevant next to Darth Vader, Hans Gruber, and Agent Smith.

Hugo Weaving was on fire as Agent Smith in The Matrix. One of the best performances I've ever seen. The interrogation room at the beginning, and the desperation with Morpheus at the end, are just pure perfection. This movie is going to suck unless they can figure out a new villain half as good as Agent Smith in Matrix 1.

I trust Neil Patrick Harris to be a compelling villain, but I'm not even sure he's the main villain.

The Matrix 4 must be the long awaited true sequel to Dr. Horrible.

Counterpoint is action movies where the conflict with the villain is not the primary conflict. e.g. True Lies; sure there's some terrorist stealing nuclear bombs, but that's not what the audience cares about.

True Lies is about a NSA agent using agency powers to spy on his wife, who's not even cheating on him (he just think she is). The bomb plot is just an excuse for the horse chase, and that horrible fighter jet at the end.

Hugo at least was in talks and read the script. It's just that scheduling conflicts didn't allow it.

>Hugo Weaving, who starred in the franchise as Agent Smith, was originally approached to reprise his role, but he had scheduling conflicts with his involvement in Tony Kushner's theatrical adaptation of The Visit, leading Wachowski to conclude that the dates would not work after staying in touch with Weaving for a while.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix_Resurrections

Fishburne wasn't even contacted.

Do you want me to translate this from Hollywood BS? Hugo probably thinks it’s a stinkerrrr.

That's definitely a possibility. Hugo said he read and wanted to be part of it despite some initial reticence about going back to the franchise again.¹ I guess we'll see. I'm surely not betting on being as good as the first.

¹https://www.gamespot.com/articles/matrix-4-hugo-weaving-spea...

I’ve heard an interview with the Dir. of Photography of Matrix 1/2/3 and he said the Wachowskis lost their way after 1, changed their entire way of dealing with actors (it shows) and he hated the experience. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t the only one.

Tbh my impression is there was some genius ghost writing done by one or multiple individuals on Matrix 1, which as per Hollywood rule, is never to be acknowledged (this happens all the time). The Wachowskis are now stuck in this weird loop of making films that are not as good as that one while having far more than enough opportunities to do it at this point.

I can only imagine the pitch to try and keep him in. "Get this, what if Agent Smith decided AGAIN not to get garbage collected?!"

Hopefully, his character Agent Smith is still in?

I don't think so, Neil Patrick Harris might be playing an equivalent role it seems like. The old storyline is done, this is now the present or near future or so it seems. Kind of alluding to "you don't need super tactical Agents, you can just give them a pill and a nice Chardonn... er.. cellphone and distract people into oblivion."

The progression of phone technology will be striking. By 1999 or 2003 standards the phones in the movies were cutting-edge chic. How would they do that to a future awash in branded touchscreen smartphones, I wonder.

"Take this if you want to live" Christina Ricci says as she hands Morpheus Jr. a holographic PinePhine running Arch and a neural uplink transceiver, tossing what looks like a earbuds case on the ground as it shimmers and transforms into a hoverbike speeder (branded PORSCHE for the requisite product placement just like in the first film). They speed off in search of Johnny Silverhands.

Agent Smith was destroyed in Matrix 3. It was a reasonably major part of the plot.

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