Perhaps the most hyped sequel of recent times, it’s hard to say because of Harry LOTR and even X2 running big campaigns, was understandably under a huge amount of pressure to deliver a smart, fun and beautiful science fiction/ action blockbuster. But was that too much to ask? Also trying a different format…
SYNOPSIS
After proving he is “The One” in the first ‘Matrix’ Neo, Morpheous, and Trinity have returned to continue their fight against the Machine Army and free souls from within “The Matrix”. However they now have information from the Osiris (Note: You need to have seen CG movie “Last Flight of the Osiris” to understand this) that Sentinels have made a big drill thing and are only 72 hours away from tunnelling into Zion. Neo is having troubles being “The One”, he is also having dreams about Trinity dying, Agent Smith is back (you know the really evil one who was blown to bits in the first movie) and The Oracle has disappeared. Will Neo save Zion? Will he save Trinity? Will Morpheous lead the people? How can the mysterious Key Maker help? All will be revealed…?
THE VERDICT
Lately sequels have been a good run for your average movie goer, X2 was better than an already great X Men, Two Towers was a welcome addition to LOTR series, Full Throttle added well the Charlie’s Angels, and Cradle of Life was an improvement on a lacklustre Croft series. However the trend seems to have stopped with ’’The Matrix Reloaded’’. ’’The Matrix’’ was a smart, slick and enjoyable action/ Science Fiction movie that combined Eastern style action (not martial arts but extensive wire use, long take fight sequences etc) with Western style plots and film techniques. It followed the very well trod premise that there is a ‘chosen one’ discovering himself, which is common in both Martial Arts and Science Fiction movies, however it did everything so well, no to mention unbelievably amazing special effects that it was an instant hit. Simply put ’’The Matrix Reloaded’’ is a good bits rehash, cashing in on their [The Warchowski Brothers] name for great effects, and big action sequences.
Gone is the slick plot where everything that included is important to moving along the plot, and not dead weight that’s interesting but ultimately superfluous babble in place of plot and character development. Instead we get a lot of psycho babble and red herrings that makes this sequel a slickly produced mess. Basically, to prove that I wasn’t just confused by it all (well not the second time round) it all relates back to the Meme’s theory of individuality. In essence the Meme’s theory is a(n il)logical extension of Darwin’s theory of evolution that eliminates the notion of a “creator” and puts forward the notion that evolution is as a result of “social conscience” or “Self”. Basically what the psycho babble boils down to is that programs within The Matrix, not all of whom are evil (like the program who controls the birds, or the weather, or George W. etc), at different periods they discover “Self” and stop being a program, which leads the Matrix to replace them. It’s effectively Machines taking on human elements specifically individuality (watch the Uncut Terminator 2 for a better version of this), and the existential doomed existence of being without purpose. This is all very interesting and probably great as an isolated scene, or little conversation inducing subplot but it is not a two and a half hour or so long plot, and succeeds only in boring the audience, especially with the Architect enters the fray. But surely if this were disguised behind a “protect the homeland” plot this would be alright… Sadly no, the protect our homeland is very stretched and only leads to a rave party and sets up the possibility of a Matrix within a Matrix (this is not original guys, see “13th Floor” or “Existenz” for worlds within worlds…) The other frustrating thing is that the red herrings, like Smith, go absolutely nowhere, although they will eventually be resolved in “Revolutions”, they should make some progress in this film and don’t… What the?
Also a pain in the arse is hanging around Zion with a bunch of two dimensional characters, more about them later, and there we get to listen to talk, talk and more talk about what should be done and yet no one DOES anything…Isn’t that like lesson one in writing: Don’t talk about doing it… DO IT! So we get bored with a rave party, the most pathetic “fight them on the beaches” knock off speech (honestly Van Damme from “Street Fighter” did a better job with his “go home” speech), and then a repulsive sex scene between two sun starved, string beans who kinda look related.
Alright so the plot’s a convoluted, mess that confuses philosophy for story, surely we can rely on the ever eye-popping fight sequences. Nope. Don’t get me wrong the effects were pretty good, from the conceptually cool 100 Agent Smith fight, to the highway sequence, to Neo flying, to those one trick pony Twins (it’s cool the first fifty times but after a while it gets boring). The FX is off the charts, both in scale and in number. That’s a problem in a way, they’ve decided more is better, more slow motion, more wire jumps, more every expanding explosions, more crazy little program characters, more philosophy, more, more, more, MORE!!!… How about more plot? How about more character development? How about more entertainment? The same applies to the fights, in the first movie they came at a logical point in the plot and actually had meaning, in this they just punctuate Meme theory drivel. They also lack one crucial factor, ok they’re all great looking but they don’t have any tension. Neo deals with any opponents nonchalantly and there is never any hint that the major players will lose a fight, no tension equals no interest and consequently this action plays out fairly obviously.
Alright so the fight sequences aren’t the best, what about characters and performances? Sadly these are for the most part uninspired. Neo (Reaves), Trinity (Moss) and Morpheous (Fishburne) walk through their performances without the same vigour they had in the first movie. The Oracle (Gloria Foster) is fine in a bit part, so is The Key maker (Randall Kim). The other introductions include the supposed Frenchman Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), his woman Persephone (Bellucci who is outstanding again) and his stooges, all of who are uninteresting and flat. The new agents are only there to try and inject tension into fights, seeing Neo dispatch them without even upsetting his Cassock doesn’t make this easy. As for those in Zion, they range from the wife who wants her husband “home more”, the jealous commander, the ex love, the kid with hero worship, the venerable (translation: long winded) Senator, and the mysterious bad ass. Let me compute all this for everyone… Dullsville or in binary 10101000101101011101000101010100111010100101101
When I heard that they were making a sequel I asked why, the first movie was so good, so complete that no sequel was needed. I saw some of the shorts and I thought it looked great, however shorts can be misleading like that. Most of the people I know rave on about this film because of effects or in an effort not to seem confused by the psycho-babble, let’s hope the third one can make a comeback for the series.
IN SUMMARY
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