Lilly and Lana Wachowski are two of the most important filmmakers of our time, not just for the fact that they directed the Earth-shattering hit The Matrix in 1999, but because they are both trans women as well. They have both openly spoken about their hardships with coming to terms with their gender identity and how they faced discrimination because of it. The most likely explanation as to why every movie after The Matrix is so sincerely about love, which so many find corny and preachy.
The Wachowskis are extremely sincere filmmakers and always have been, but in a world where Ryan Reynolds is considered the greatest comedic actor of all time, there is no longer room for sincerity. Every movie has to wink at the audience, letting them know that they are in on the joke, each one more unoriginal than the last. The Wachowskis are on the cutting edge and wildly ambitious, as they are always trying to show the audience things on screen that they’ve never seen before. Lilly and Lana Wachowski are filmmakers that should be celebrated for their originality in addition to their constant message of love conquering over all.
8 Jupiter Ascending (2015) - 28%
A common trend of the Wachowskis' movies is that everything post -The Matrix has been absolutely derided by critics and moviegoers alike, and Jupiter Ascending is easily the most hated. Jupiter Jones, played by Mila Kunis, is a young woman who works as a cleaner for her wealthier neighbors and is suddenly thrust into a world of interplanetary politics after she discovers that she is genetically an exact copy of the woman who owns the Earth. Jupiter is introduced to this world by Caine Wise, played by Channing Tatum, who is a half dog, half man with antigravity, roller skating boots that allow him to crash through windows just in the nick of time to save her on multiple occasions.
Just writing out the basic synopsis of this movie was a bit of a chore, but the Wachowskis ambition is what makes them so unique. Their biggest problem, however, is that sometimes their ambition gets in the way of other things, which is this movie's biggest problem as well. Filled to the brim with so many really cool ideas, none of them are really allowed to breathe, nor is there any real room for any kind of character development. Kunis is incredibly passive throughout the movie, making it feel like things are happening to her rather than her having any sort of agency over her own decisions.
This is also a big reason why Eddie Redmayne’s performance as the villainous Balem Abrasax stands out for so many who do not like this movie. Jupiter Ascending is a massive interplanetary space opera, and Kunis feels lethargic for the entirety of the movie, even though every five minutes she is being introduced to nine things that would blow all of our minds. Whereas Redmayne understands the stakes of the film and is matching them with his psychotic and flamboyant performance. Though Jupiter Ascending is a rather challenging piece of art, it is still a visual feast and unlike anything else that is being made either at the time or now, which is why this movie deserves a second chance.
7 The Matrix Revolutions (2003) - 34%
Another example of the Wachowskis' ambition getting the better of them is that they seemed to have lost the thread of what made the original so great. As the Rotten Tomatoes consensus so aptly puts it, “A disappointing conclusion to the Matrix trilogy, as characters and ideas take a back seat to the special effects.” Though the special effects might not be as on the forefront as it says, both Trinity and Morpheus take a back seat to Neo’s battle with the machines.
This has to be done simply because, for whatever reason, they decided to add more characters to a movie that was already juggling a lot. Bringing in Ian Bliss as Bane, the real-world version of Agent Smith, which makes no sense whatsoever, and we follow Nathaniel Lees as Minun and Clayton Watson as the Kid as they battle the squids trying to enter Zion. The big third-act battle with the citizens of Zion fighting off the machines and Neo fighting Smith are both big, bombastic, CGI-laden sequences that were detested at the time, however, were precursors for what a majority of what American blockbuster cinema would become.
With about 45 superhero movies a year, each of them ending with massive world-ending battles with two impervious men punching each other through buildings would become standard practice only 10 years later, showing how ahead of their time the Wachowskis really were. Even though the third act of The Matrix Revolutions can be a bit much with its copious amount of CGI, and it gets lost within itself, it is still keeping in theme with all the Wachowskis movies in that it is still about love conquering over everything, even death. Everything Neo does in this movie is still completely for his one true love Trinity. Once again, overly sincere and ambitious to the point of losing the narrative, the Wachowskis are still visionary directors unlike anyone else.
6 Speed Racer (2008) - 42%
An absolute masterpiece that was hated by almost everyone, mostly due to its overuse of CGI. Once again, both critics and general audiences looked at this as more of a bug than a feature. What people seem to have forgotten is that this movie is based on a cartoon, which is why it looks the way it does. Constantly whip panning and a camera that is never still are all hallmarks of a cartoon that was designed to keep kids entertained. Extensive CGI and trippy visuals would later be praised profusely for Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange, again showing that the Wachowskis were just ahead of the curve for what cinema would eventually become.
As always, there is an impossibly sincere message of love triumphing over evil, this time with a more anticapitalist message likely due to their experience working with Warner Bros. with the Matrix Trilogy. They were catapulted to immense success after The Matrix became the huge cultural phenomenon that it was, there was no way to live up to it. After the reaction to the sequels, it was clear that they wanted to make art for art's sake, not monetary value. This is apparent in the Roger Allam character, who plays the evil Elon Musk-esque billionaire philanthropist Royalton who is trying to get Speed (Emile Hirsch) to race for his corporation.
The film ends with Speed winning the final race in an emotional victory, defeating Royalton showing that big corporations can be taken down by the little guy. Speed Racer is much more relevant now than it was in 2008, which is why it deserves a re-watch from not only fans of cinema, but fans of the cartoon as well.
5 The Matrix Resurrections (2021) - 63%
Though it was only directed by Lana Wachowski, this is still a Wachowski movie, and Lana is the one of two people on the planet who should be directing a Matrix sequel. I’ll let you guess who the other one is. Once again, with the theme of love being the most important thing in the world and still being anti-capitalist and anti-big studio, this time investigating not only pop culture but why this movie even exists at all. It holds up a mirror to society by examining our obsession with nostalgia, and ultimately, the reason why Warner Bros. green-lit this movie is to prey on that nostalgia and make money on it.
In the end, Neo and Trinity defeat the evil machines that brought them back in the first place by using their love and tearing down the system in which they were being forced to live. Lana could have gone the easy route and just made a retread of the first Matrix, which would have been preying on our nostalgia, so Lana decided to go her own route. She gives you the exact movie that you think you want in the first half, recreating shots from the first movie, and then pulls the rug out from under you by giving you something completely different.
A movie that is not concerned with what you want, but rather a movie that is concerned with tearing down the confines of what a Matrix movie should be and creating something original. Doubling down on the fact that it is the love between Neo and Trinity that gives them both their strength and their love being the thing that drives both the narrative and the Matrix itself. Lana’s approach to making The Matrix Resurrections may have upset “hardcore” fans of the franchise, but she’d rather make something the audience has never seen before than make a soulless rehash of the first movie.
4 Cloud Atlas (2012) - 66%
Arguably the Wachowskis' most sincere movie, Cloud Atlas skillfully weaves in and out of six different stories in a way that is incredibly engaging over the course of three hours. Once again, it plays with the themes of love conquering all, this time even death, and introduces the idea that we are all connected in some form. They accomplish through having their core cast of about twelve play many different characters throughout all the stories.
Unfortunately, many are put under heavy prosthetics in order for them to look like Koreans in the future, which is a confounding choice that should never have been approved, however, if you're willing to look past that, you will find an absolute feat of filmmaking. The movie effortlessly tells all six tales concurrently, intercutting with one another, so you are never following one for too long. This may sound like it would be complicated and hard to follow, which it would be for any other director, but the Wachowskis are masters of this kind of stuff.
They allow the different stories to bleed into one another with either a similar sound or visual cue, and having stories that have similar themes run alongside one another. Again, they are highly skilled, visionary filmmakers that are showing off for three hours, displaying some of the most incredible visuals you’ve ever seen. Yes, the message of Cloud Atlas may feel corny, but the Wachowskis so clearly believe that love is the most important thing and will always triumph over hate, which in today's world is a message we need to hear more often.
3 The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - 74%
The Wachowskis' follow-up to their masterpiece that had more hype around it than The Force Awakens. This movie could never live up to the cultural phenomenon that was The Matrix, but they sure tried their hardest. While keeping the stunningly choreographed fight sequences, The Matrix Reloaded introduces a lot of lore into the franchise. With characters like the Merovingian and his gang of werewolves and vampires that were from an earlier version of the Matrix and The Architect, who explains the entire history of the Matrix to Neo, but at such a pace it can be very difficult to keep up.
Nevertheless, the Wachowskis are still exuding their expert filmmaking skills out of every orifice, never slowing down and keeping the audience engaged the entire time. Neo fighting the Merovingian’s men in his mansion and the incredible highway chase sequence in which they built a 1.5-mile highway in Alameda to film. Eventually, the movie gets so lost in the weeds, that there is a wild ending in which they clearly thought would intrigue the audience, but it ended up confounding them. Even though The Matrix Reloaded has some very impressive action, it still ends up asking way too much of the audience and just gives everyone a headache.
2 The Matrix (1999) - 83%
The most culturally important movie since Star Wars in 1977. This caused a seismic shift in the landscape of cinema forever, in that every movie after this is trying its hardest to either copy it or avoid copying it all together. The Matrix is also the most misunderstood film of all time. Often used on the internet as a tool to justify hatred, when in reality the movie is also about love and would later be rediscovered for its trans allegories. Specifically, the love between Neo and Trinity, and it is what not only brings Neo back to life but allows him the strength to defeat The Agents effortlessly.
The movie’s biggest flaw is that they were too subtle in their messaging, which is why every movie the Wachowskis made after is yelling their theme of the power of love (sorry Huey). The Matrix introduced new cinematic techniques with bullet time, in addition to showing Western audiences to Eastern fighting styles in a mainstream way for the first time. Influenced by Hong Kong action cinema as well as anime, the Wachowskis hired Yuen Woo-ping to choreograph the fight scenes who had directed Iron Monkey and Drunken Master. He and Reeves would meet again later, as Woo-ping was the action director for Reeves’ directorial debut, Man of Tai Chi.
This movie managed to synthesize everything that was in the zeitgeist of the time better than anyone, from cyberpunk to slick action, but there is one that is most important of all: cynicism. People were downtrodden by a rapidly changing world, and they wanted to believe it was all happening for a reason or was a part of a great design. The Matrix not only had that answer, but did it in a revolutionary and stylish way: we are all part of a computer simulation that took the world by storm. With some of the best fight choreography ever put to film and highly efficient and effective storytelling, The Matrix will go down as one of the greatest movies of all time.
1 Bound (1996) - 86%
The popular legend of this movie is that this was their guarantor for them to prove that they could direct in order to make The Matrix. However, they once said in an interview with BuzzFeed (so take it with a grain of salt) that it was made up by long-time collaborator, and producer Joel Silver, to create a mythology around them. Bound is actually them trying to make something that was solely their own after having been railroaded after writing the script for Assassins.
This Coen Brothers-esque movie follows Jennifer Tilly as Violet, a tragic woman who is looking to take control of her life. She meets Gina Gershon as Corky, the recently released from prison, butch lesbian whom she falls in love with. They come up with a plan to rob Violet's husband Caesar, played by Joe Pantoliano in an Oscar-worthy performance, of mob money so that could pin it all on him and get away cleanly. However, as Robert Burns said, “the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft agley.” Nothing goes according to plan, and the audience spends about the last hour watching all three characters try to get out of the impossible situation that they have found themselves in: not getting killed by the mob.
The Wachowskis came out swinging with their directorial debut, already very confident, making cinematic choices that were so distinct that it was obvious to everyone that they were going to be two of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Bound is a violent and gripping 90s erotic thriller the likes of which do not get made anymore, as well as being the Wachowskis' first foray into directing, and deserves to be seen by more.
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