Nowadays, the game’s basically finished, though. I believe that the programmers are writing the story now.

Am I the only one that found the sub-layers of Philosophy and Religious exploration the most enticing aspects of The Matrix series? I feel like I’m the only one on the planet that believes the first film exists to set up the world to explore in the second and third. Probably the only other one in the world that feels the films only get better as they go along. (Although a 4th one scares me considerably as well.)

But I am with you that no movie has ever successfully bridged the gap from movie to videogame.

I think that even though the games have worked to propel the story, they all suck to play. (This excludes The Matrix Online. Not because it is fun. It’s not. But because the story it is propelling sucks completely.)

Anyways, you’re right. I don’t like the way a 4th film may play out. As much as I’d love to see it happen and see the Wachowski’s answer all of the questions they left when they finished the third movie.

But I acknowledge that I’m probably one of a very small group of devoted fans.

I believe that any follow up to the Matrix, much like the Matrix sequels, will suffer from declining quality. The universe created for their story is a complex one, full of interesting subcultures and collective groups that all serve interesting purposes. But it has never truly been alive. Everything was subservient to the original story. For example, we see a glimpse of Zion, but we have no idea how it is run. The only important thing about Zion was that it had:

1) Lots of people to fight/die 2) Big mechs that fired big bullets

And that was it. The impression of a fleshed out universe was there, but it really wasn’t. Anyone who tries to flesh out the storyline who isn’t a Wachowski will likely invent some sort of structure or cultural identity that will not jive with the existing mythos, and – because of that – it will suck.

On that note, I question which director is going to want to helm a tentative “Matrix 4″. If it was a new director, would they really want to risk being associated with the potential flop of a fourth Matrix film. If an established director helms the picture…well, they run the risk of doing to their own career with Matrix 4 what Hulk did to Ang Lee.

While the potential for a story is always there, I don’t think the fans should hope for a good follow up movie. People can always expand upon existing stories. People have been profiting off of Asimov’s “Expanded Universe” for a decade and a half now.

The problem is, the more you try to expand an extremely modulized universe, the more the story seems to water down. Further Matrix sequels will simply begin to flesh out boring plot points until no one cares anymore.

Sure. The Merovingian and Seraph might have been previous ones, and the peace between Machines and Humans may not last. Who cares? What happened to Jules after the end of Pulp Fiction? What happens to Clarence after he gets his wings? Who cares? The story has been told. Just because characters are still alive means nothing. So why tell the story.

Anyway, I dont think they should make a Matrix 4. Of course, I’m sure “something” will show up on film when they realize that they need something to justify further video game sales. :P

And I suppose another director would be fine for another film, I was more referring to the story. I know that the Wachowski’s have more of a plan for where the story is supposed to go because that was the idea of The Matrix Online. But since Sony Entertainment has taken over that project now, I believe that they are no longer writing for it.

Speaking of… what are they up to now? What is Peter Jackson up to, too?

More then their actual origin, though, I think that the Merovingian and others hinted at a subculture of programs within the machine’s construct – I think that that would be interesting to see explored.