James Bond vs. The Matrix
Winner: The Matrix
Ambitious inconsistency helps define both the 007 and Matrix franchises, as does a self-referential grappling with their own status as persistent, influential series. James Bond’s cheekiness and seriousness fluctuate in a way his drink order never does, his approach to women, gadgets, and fisticuffs reflecting (to an extent) the era that the eternal agent is living through. His 25 scattershot films’ worth of set pieces follow suit, incorporating off-the-wall camp, impressive stunt teams, and shifting levels of brutality into their reckonings with what it means to be a suave spy who embodies that decade’s idea of “cool.” But over just four elegant, expansive sci-fi films, The Matrix poured the Wachowskis’ obsessions into a single mold. The resulting amalgamation of Baudrillard and wuxia, of cyberpunk and choreography, made an idea far more complex than “hot drunk super-spy” into a household concept—and did so while revolutionizing the action industry. As its mythology eventually wrapped back around in its legacy sequel, The Matrix even gave itself an engaging sense of closure, which Bond only ever approached in its Daniel Craig era. 007 has a more difficult task than Neo. His work as humanity’s savior is never over. He doesn’t die, and only ages temporarily. That’s part of what gives The Matrix its edge: Its relative containment and focus mean that its legacy lives unobstructed in our memories and in all the genre films that have iterated on its code.
Mission: Impossible vs. The Terminator
Winner: Mission: Impossible
“It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity or remorse, or fear! And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!” Sure, this quote is from The Terminator, but it’s also a description of Ethan Hunt. Arnold Schwarzenegger may play a pretty convincing robot, but it also seems like, at any moment, Tom Cruise could pull one more hyperrealistic mask off and reveal that he’s got a metal skeleton chugging away under his barely aging skin. Cruise’s constantly sprinting Hunt is the relentlessness of the Mission: Impossible films and their dogged pursuit of pure spectacle. Resisting being gummed up by their larger techie plot machinations in a way that the time-tripping Terminator sequels never could, M:I and its shifting heavy-hitters behind the camera share a singular focus: Give Tom Cruise the means to put a butt in a seat. While the Terminator films fell off precipitously after the first two showcased both the scrappiness and special effects wizardry of James Cameron and his team, each new Mission blended best-in-class FX work with a central insistence that there was a single man defying the impossible just to feel something—just to make us feel something.
John Wick vs. Mad Max
Winner: Mad Max
It’s fitting that these two franchises are squaring off, two series that use their mechanical stunt expertise as leverage into the realm of myth. From their early tales of pared-down yet heightened revenge to their most recent and most operatic chapters, John Wick and Max Rockatansky embody the spiraling, stakes-raising, legend-establishing trajectory of pure action movies. Chad Stahelski’s prowess with the human body and George Miller’s endless motorized energy both balance their earnest spectacle with sarcasm. With outrageous side characters, a fascinating just-off world that keeps expanding, and set pieces that would make any seasoned stunt performer drool, the pair differ mainly in philosophy: Where Wick is about order and death, Max is about chaos and survival. In this difference, Wick slows to its inevitable finale while Max continues to escalate to overwhelming heights. In approaching these ends, one “permanent” and the other infinite, the franchises embrace repetition as something inherent to their tales. But where the double-tapped headshots show their wear from the workmanlike blank-slate performance from Keanu Reeves, the rotating stars behind the monstrous wheels make the familiar new again. Ultimately, it’s Mad Max‘s enthusiasm in pursuing adrenaline-juiced salvation that floors it towards a future Valhalla.
Readers Poll
Things are evening out in the readers poll after a few high-profile picks snuck through with the Labor Day crowd. Now we’re all pretty even, but we don’t have to be! Vote below on the matchups and follow your heart. Check back tomorrow for the results of the poll, along with a new set of fistfights to vote on.
