The arrival of ‘Matrix Resurrections’ on HBO Max has renewed interest in the film and its daring commitment. lana wachowski he resumed the franchise that he had originated with his sister Lilly almost 20 years ago with an unexpected surprise, giving him a meta-cinematic twist to the film, practically commenting on its own existence.
This meta appreciation almost seems like the order of the day, especially when popular culture is tending toward self-awareness, ironic distance, and honoring past franchises that return for sheer economic exploitation. However, these three sequels, available on streaming platforms, already they played that card of breaking the fourth wall subtly to talk about themselves before ‘Matrix Resurrections’ did. And they are really fantastic, as well as ingenious.
‘Back to the future II’ (‘Back to the Future. Part II’, 1989)
director: Robert Zemeckis. Distribution: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Thomas F. Wilson, Elisabeth Shue.
The ending of the original ‘Back to the Future’ anticipated a possible incursion into the true future, which in the end was a bit of a headache for Robert Zemeckis Y Bob Gale when they faced the aftermath. And although the futuristic section is the most remembered -especially because we are past the date on which it takes place-, ‘Back to the Future II’ keeps inside a move and a more complex and daring structure.
Even without being as overtly meta as ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ can be, moving almost the entire third act towards the end of the previous movie, with the characters looking back at acts they’ve already performed, is a very fun if risky move. They manage to keep the action at different levels, doing something very entertaining and clever in the process. That it manages to work so well, and that it doesn’t seem complicated, speaks to how well resolved this sequel is.
See on Amazon Prime Video, on Filmin and on Movistar | Criticism in Espinof
‘Scream 2’ (1997)
director: Wes Craven. Distribution: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jada Pinkett Smith.
The metacinematographic really is an inseparable part of the DNA of the ‘Scream’ franchise, so any film is appropriate for this selection. However, this first sequel is one of those deals more directly with this type of film and uses it tremendously well.
Director Wes Craven and the screenwriter Kevin Williamson they had quite a difficult task, having to produce the film a year after the previous one and trying to avoid plot leaks with constant changes and rewrites -Marvel did not invent anything-. Still they get a coherent and sharp filmwhich maintains a structure quite similar to its predecessor but still maintains the mystery, making clever reflections on the sequels and maintaining the fun and violence so characteristic. It also has the best prologue of the entire saga, which is not saying little.
Watch on HBO Max
‘Undercover at the university’ (’22 Jump Street’, 2014)
directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller. Distribution: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Wyatt Russell, Amber Stevens, Jillian Bell.
Another franchise that hasn’t been cut short on self-awareness and meta commentary was the movie version of ‘new cops‘. Couldn’t expect less Phil Lord Y Christopher Millerwho have handled the complicity with the viewer so well when it comes to exposing the mechanisms of their own works, without ceasing to make genuinely emotional works.
They carry this very well in ‘University Defendants’, with its multiple references to having to repeat the mission, to the means they have to do it, to the roles that the heroes occupy and also mocks the lazy sequels. That’s what makes her witty, but which makes her great in her care for the relationship between the characters of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, one of the best “bromances” we’ve seen in the last decade. And to take off his hat his scenes in the credits.
See on Amazon Prime Video and on Movistar+ | Criticism in Espinof