TL;DR It’s not fast cuts. Fast cuts for a whole scene CAN work. You remember the Incredibles when Syndrome says “when everyone’s special, no one will be”? That’s true, and it’s why the new Matrix feels so bland. The cuts were used to punctuate the choreography but if every punch is punctuated then none of them feel special, and furthermore, the punctuation they used with the cuts didn’t match the actual beats of the action, so it feels really “off”. They had no rules guiding how they cut the scene. The old one had rules guiding how they cut it, which made it feel “on”, basically. Filmmaking and especially editing tend to be very intuitive, things that just “work”, and the first one used all the tricks that “work”, while the new one only aimed to be technically proficient. The new one actually has editing that is “technically” proficient, but it doesn’t have rules. Technically proficient basically means cutting to punctuate the fight. If you look at the choreography for the new one, it’s actually remarkably similar to this. The issue is that they edited it so that EVERY move was punctuated. Every punch, every blow. Cuts are made to punctuate moments, and in the new one, they had no rules on WHEN to cut, or WHAT to punctuate. They did it for nearly every move. That’s what kills the flow of the scene. The hits don’t matter because EVERY hit is treated the exact same. They also don’t have what we call “beats” for the cut, which throws the cut itself off of the “beats” of the choreography. The choreography is a dance. So if the choreography is like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, then you want the cuts to ADD ON. The cuts don’t add to the fights in the new one. They cut at uncritical moments so the chorography is more like 1 – 2, 3, 4 – 1 – 2, 3, 4 – 1, 2 – 3 – 4. That’s why it feels like it’s in a blender. There’s no beat playing out with the fast cuts, and the ENTIRE SCENE is fast cuts. I can’t iterate enough, though, that fast cuts CAN WORK if they suit a beat. Watch Baby Driver to really get a good understanding of what beats mean to action. This one has rules, however. Long takes for the periods where the characters are dishing out blows but not gaining advantage. Sweeping camera movements for when a character deals a blow that is particularly impressive, or otherwise to punctuate maximum intensity. Cutting quicker when a character gains clear advantage. And when they cut quick, you can literally DRUM A BEAT to the action, and the cuts neatly chunk each “section” of the beat out. The part after smith takes off his glasses does this. The choreography has a beat. Close your eyes and listen to it and you can hear the beat. And the editing compliments it by doing a 1.5 second take for the first three beats, then a 1 second take for the next two rapid beats, then a .5 second take for the leg sweep beat, then a .25 second take for when Neo flies into the wall, and it maintains that .25 very quick cut pace until Neo kicks Smith away. The editing COMPLIMENTS the scene by speeding up as the urgency of the scene increases, but also works WITH the beats of the choreography by intuitively splitting it up only when it makes sense, after the three big hits, after the two fast hits, and after the one leg sweep. Your brain literally processes this as a countdown, 3, 2, 1, SMASH, despite there actually being around 7 moves made by each character. Combine that with the quick cuts only being used for when tension is at its height in the scene, and you have a recipe for what essentially amounts to satisfaction from the audience. It just feels so cool.