Well, this is awesome.
Rob G. Wilson has put together a compilation of scenes (but so much more than that) from films including The Matrix, Fist of a Legend, Tai Chi Master, Drunken Master, The Killer, Iron Monkey, Once Upon a Time in China, Strange Days, Akira, Total Recall, Alice in Wonderland, A Better Tomorrow, Ghost in the Shell, Koyannisqati, Dr. Who: The Deadly Assassin, as well as a clip from Philip K. Dick's famous "dark-haired girl at the door" speech. The project is an extension of another video series, Everything Is a Remix, that takes a deep look at artistic creation (the title's sounds self-explanatory, but the videos are completely enthralling).
More than just a cut-together of awesome scenes from martial arts movies, as it seems at the start, the video actually gradually links the mythologies of these films. It makes wry jabs at specific elements, like the wake-me-up pill in both The Matrix and Totall Recall, but culminates in the all-encompassing philosophy, the big question: what is reality?
The end of the clip offers some worthwhile pieces of literature on the subject. They are listed below the video. Enjoy! Thanks, Rob G. Wilson!
Everything Is A Remix: THE MATRIX from robgwilson.com on Vimeo.
Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
Hard Boiled by Frank Miller and Geof Darrow
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World by Kevin Kelly
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison
"The Allegory of the Cave" by Plato
Source: Robgwilson.com via Vimeo