Nobody makes films like Lana and Lilly Wachowski, the siblings responsible for directing some of the most narratively and technically ambitious, if also baffling, big-budget movies of the twenty-first century. When their projects aren’t diving deeply into philosophical topics and radical LGBTQ+ themes, they’re doing their best to push the boundaries of moviemaking in terms of story and craft.
Audiences will see how Lana Wachowski fares directing by herself for the first time with the upcoming release of The Matrix Resurrections, the fourth movie in the sci-fi franchise that put her and Lilly’s names on the map. To mark the occasion, here’s a ranking of the Wachowskis’ films together based on an average of their critic scores on Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.
7. Jupiter Ascending – 33.5 Percent
The same year Disney revived Star Wars with The Force Awakens, the Wachowskis released Jupiter Ascending, a space opera of their own creation starring Mila Kunis as a housekeeper who learns she is the rightful owner of Earth. Of course, that plot summary barely scratches the surface when it comes to the film’s outlandish nature, from Channing Tatum playing a half-canine super-soldier to Eddie Redmayne’s marvelously bizarre performance as the main antagonist.
Critics and general audiences were equally perplexed by the smorgasbord of ideas Jupiter Ascending throws at the wall. As Monica Castillo’s review for the IB Times puts it, the Wachowskis “excel at creating fantastic new worlds lurking under the surface of our own, but in Jupiter Ascending, they’ve overstuffed the turkey with too many tangents and false endings.”
6. Speed Racer – 39 Percent
Much like Jupiter Ascending flopped at the box office before amassing a cult following, the Wachowskis’ live-action/CGI movie adaptation of the manga/anime property Speed Racer bombed financially upon hitting theaters in 2008, yet is now regarded by many film buffs as an audacious work that breaks new ground with its visual storytelling while delivering a bold critique of capitalism. It’s also a movie where one of the main characters is a trouble-making kid with a chimpanzee sidekick named Chim Chim.
Perhaps Ian Nathan’s review for Empire Magazine puts it best: “[Speed Racer will] split the ranks like a pizza cutter: you might admire it as a Warholian blur of pop art, gawp and gasp at its Hot Wheels-for-real dynamism, or get a headache.”
5. The Matrix Revolutions – 41 Percent
Released just six months after the second film in the series, The Matrix Revolutions splits its attention between the inhabitants of Zion battling an army of Sentinels and Neo journeying to the Machine for a final showdown with his arch-nemesis Agent Smith. And while it has all the same ingredients as the first two Matrix movies (gravity-defying martial arts duels, characters waxing philosophical about love, choice, and existence), most critics found Revolutions more tired than inspired.
As David Ansel wrote in his review for Newsweek, “The original Matrix was full of dizzying surprises. But it’s turned out that the Wachowskis didn’t have many more tricks up their sleeves.”
4. Cloud Atlas – 60.5 Percent
Before their collaboration on Netflix’s sci-fi series Sense8, Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis teamed up for a movie based on David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas, a kaleidoscopic narrative that spans multiple genres as it follows a group of souls reincarnated in different periods of history. Although the film drew criticism for its unwieldy design and certain creative choices, most infamously having non-Asian actors play Asian characters in one of the storylines, even its detractors tended to have good things to say about its scope, scale and performances.
Robert Daniels, writing for 812FilmReviews six years after the film’s release in 2012, may have summed it up best: “Cloud Atlas isn’t perfect… but it’s a cinematic experience that should be here today.”
3. The Matrix Reloaded – 67.5 Percent
Say what you will about The Matrix Reloaded, but the sequel goes all out in its efforts to build upon its predecessor’s themes while at the same time delivering boatloads of impressive fight choreography, as well as one of the most complicated car chases ever put to the screen. If the movie’s blend of chewy dialogue scenes and stylized action starts to become exhausting after a while, critics mostly still respected the Wachowskis for doing whatever the exact opposite is of “phoning it in.”
Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Carla Meyer noted, “While Reloaded contains nothing as truly innovative as its predecessor, the Wachowskis create something fresh, anyway, by cramming Reloaded with the stuff fans crave.”
2. Bound – 75 Percent
Three years before they first sent Keanu Reeves somewhere over the digital rainbow, the Wachowskis burst onto the scene with 1996’s Bound, a hard-boiled thriller about Violet and Corky, two queer woman who falls in love and conspire to steal millions of dollars through Violet’s boyfriend, a money launderer for the mafia. Heralded as a provocative neo-noir film upon its release, Bound is now regarded as a landmark work of LGBTQ+ cinema that signaled the Wachowskis’ arrival as one-of-a-kind storytellers.
Roger Ebert gave Bound a perfect four-star rating in his review, writing, “Bound is one of those movies that works you up, wrings you out and leaves you gasping.”
1. The Matrix – 80.5 Percent
Shocking no one, The Matrix remains the Wachowskis’ best-reviewed film to date, and with good reason. With its game-changing “bullet-time” sequences and unique blend of sci-fi, noir, horror and existentialism, the movie caught audiences and critics alike off-guard when it first hit theaters in 1999. It would go on to become one of the most influential blockbusters of the last twenty-five years, as well as gaining wider recognition for being a powerful trans allegory.
Writing for TV Guide, Maitland McDonagh called The Matrix “[a] dazzling pop allegory [that’s] steeped in a dark, pulpy sensibility that transcends nostalgic pastiche and stands firmly on its own merits.”
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