Matrix Reloaded

Non-spoiler review: see this movie. Spoilers ahead.

The Matrix Reloaded is two movies in one: one is an ass-kicking summer action flick, and the other is deep.

The ass-kicking action flick, appropriately enough, kicked ass. Yes, some of the fights were gratuitous, but isn't that the point? I read a review that said something along the lines of "Why did Neo fight all the Smiths at all if he could have just flown away?" Maybe Neo isn't as all-powerful as we had hoped? Maybe he wanted to prove to Smith that, even with a hundred of them, he could still beat him (which, ultimately, he couldn't. The showdown in Revolutions is going to be epic)?

The freeway scene was absolutely mind-blowing: I was literally out of breath as it finished. The things that Morpheus did with that katana (like destroying the Escalade) made me grin like an idiot. I was dodging cars and leaning in my seat (the way I used to do when I played F-Zero on Super Nintendo) when Trinity was on the motorcycle. Hell, the freeway scene had a story arc of its own: totally satisfying.

I'd happily see the movie again just to get that rush from all the action scenes, but the real reason I'll need to go back two or three times is to take in all of the philosophical stuff thrown out by the Merovingian (can anyone tell me what he was saying in French? It elicited laughter from a substantial number of people in the theater) and the Architecht. (Note: Architecht says "Various grotesqueries" as George Bush flashes on the screen behind Neo). Choice, power and control...there's a lot of dense stuff in there, and I wish I was 1/10th as well-read as the Wachowskis obviously are. I may never get it all, but it'll be fun trying.

I have to say how much I loved this movie. I see reviews where people question things like the rave scene (which really worked for me, and set up the possibility that saviors, messiahs, and control are not really what the trilogy is about at all) and the CGI, and I think that all of the hype over the past year set impossibly high expectations for the film to live up to. The Matrix had its problems too, just like anything else, and that didn't prevent millions of people from falling in love with it and treating it as a classic.

At the same time, Reloaded is only a middle film. The abrupt ending elicited a loud "Oh no" from me, because I need resolution! There are any number of directions that the third film could go (hell, the "real world" could just be another Matrix), and the teaser didn't address any of them. I can't wait for November.

Later: I've read some more reviews now, and a major theme of many of them is along the lines of "it took too long to get into The Matrix, the Zion stuff is boring, blah blah blah." Characters escape the Matrix to get to Zion, where they can live a real life, but people watching the movies don't want any part of real life: they just want the fake world of the Matrix. This has to be intentional (though I wasn't bored by the Zion stuff at all).

May 16, 2003 - 11:25 AM

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