I just got back from seeing The Matrix Reloaded. I was not expecting it to change my life but it was 138 minutes of fun eye candy and a very violent trip back through Wonderland..
Just like the first Matrix film.
The gun play is inspired by John Woo movies. The costumes are pure BDSM and Gestapo fashion. The plot was hard core Philip K Dick, and the execution is live action rip off of Masamune Shiro and other Anime and Manga artists.
As I said before The Matrix borrowed heavily from fringe media styles that is not well known by the mainstream media consumers. Someone can get the copy and original confused if they have seen the copy first.
That being said let me try to finish this review with out giving any any spoilers.
If you have not seen and fully understood the first movie do not attempt to see this movie until your rectify that.
The Matrix Reloaded takes place a couple months after the first movie. Neo has become the most powerful fighter in the Matrix because as Scott Kurtz of PVP pointed out he likes to play the game in God Mode. He has fallen deeply in love with Trinity. We see Zion and it is colored in the earthy tones of red, brown and yellow to contrast the blue and green and blacks of the Matrix. The tribal Zion rave was a very human contrast to the sterile machine world. We learn that the AIs are not a unified force as they appeared to be in the first movie and we learn more about their politics.We find out that Hugo Weaving is back as the forever pissed off Agent Smith and there is a lot of him no pun intended.
Oh yes the violence or should I say action.
The fight scenes are frequent and stunning. They include just about every kind of stunt that you can see in a movie and a lot of stuff crash, explode and get the crap kicked out of it with Computer animation and wire assisted Kung Fu.
Sitting in front of me was a male of my age but this fellow was on the other side of the bell curve of IQ. He made a couple stupid comments during the movie that I mentally took note of. When they saw the squid like robot army he claimed "What the hell is that crap" and then after a dialog heavy intellectual debate about free choice and destiny he grunted "Enough of all this talking shit". The violence in The Matrix Reloaded is spaced as a pacifying pacing tool to keep the less intellectually inclined in the theater to sit through the actual thinking plot dialogs the same way that Disney movies are full of cute dumb gags that small children will enjoy.
The movie was also full of some very strong and smart people of color. Laurence Fishburne was a cool as ever and he got to kick a hell of a lot of ass. Carrie-Anne Moss kicked a lot of ass because she was all out of chewing bubble gum. She also got to have a very hot and well done sex sceen with Neo. Not as good as the Wachowsk brothers first love scene in Bound but still interesting.
Do not go and expect closure because this is still part two of a trilogy and all of the little ends are not going to be tied up in this chapter.
If you plan on seeing it get ready for a blue and green chemically treated S & M looking black leather trench coat clad movie. It was a damn good sequel and if you close your eyes the digital magic makes all the pain of Jar Jar Binks go away.
You touched on something I thought about last night after seeing the movie. I was sitting there in a stupor after this movie has just finished throughly kicking my ass. On the ride home my wife and I were discussing what all happened and everything and I told her, "You know, we are talking about this crap, but I bet you at least 75% of the people in that theater only saw the action in this movie and have no idea why it *really* kicks so much ass."
Wow, I can see this comment getting out of hand, I'll have to continue this in me blog.
Seeing it this afternoon - technically, we got it before you. :p
I saw it last night too and the only complaint I had was that it wasn't a digital theater. But, I am going to rectify that this weekend. I saw every crackle, pop, and cig burn (you can blame Fight Club on that one) and it just took away from the movie for me. Other than that, I thought it was groovy neato.
Bitch bitch bitch. It wasn't a digital theater because I live in the sticks. However I should have sat through the credits because i just found out they had a teaser trailer for The Matrix Revolutions. So if you see it again SIT THROUGH THE CREDITS
Just saw it this morning - roXet is so right that most of the movie will go over the majority of people's heads. The action was unbelievable, no doubt, but the questions the plot raises about causality and free will are having much more of an effect on me as I sit here a few hours after seeing it.
the matrix reloaded isn't out in england until May 23rd!! thats ages away!
The logic games and philosophical discussion in the Matrix Reloaded was simplistic and trite. They mention a few 'control scheme' ideas and bring into play the question of choice and people go whoa!. They didn't delve into any presented idea far enough to make it worthwhile. I consider 90% of the dialog filler material so they can push forward to the next CG fight scene. The pseudo-intellectual dialogue in the film is laughable, including the scene with the Architect in which his vocabulary is used in a failed attempt to supplement actually philosophical depth and make viewers feel intelligent. Blah. I liked the film, but there is nothing amazing about the ideas presented.
i wasn't that impressed with it some of the fight scenes were way too long *the 100 smiths* the car chase/highway scene was not only too long but terribly over computerized along with the rest of the fight scenes
This film was crap. I went to see it on openning night without my Matrix gogles on, and the film was complete shit. The philosophical crap sounded as though the script writers had gotten high before writing it. The acting was up to Keanu's usal standards. The love seens were pointless. It reminded me of playing Doom 2 with the god mode cheat.
I liked the philosophical crap. So how would have made the movie?
I've just seen the film and it's 'ok'. In my opinion there is nowhere near enough philosophical stuff, there's nowhere near enough story! The fight scenes get incredibly tedious and go on far too long, they need some variety, all the characters fight in the same style for god's sake!! enough kung fu! and what was with the music video they decided to throw in? The whole movie's like a giant trailer. Good points: the fighting is cool (in moderation), the special effect are generally good (except the badly done and really fake looking computerised fight scenes), It's still got that cool atmosphere going on (tho i'm not too keen on the earthy zion theme, i prefer the futuristic blue and black with shades thing). My advice for the next movie would be to have more story, you don't have to include loads of fight scenes to keep those of lesser intelligence entertained, just maybe simplify the vocab a little.. and quit it with the computerised character stuff, it doesn't look good and it's not needed!
Well the problem with films and books that are part 2 of a trilogy is that they suffer from the middle child syndrome. They are by definition limited by the movie that is to come after it. So they have to save the best stuff both story and action for last.
But what about Empire Strikes Back? Pretty solid for a middle child, if not the pick of the litter.
Reloaded struck me what it would be like if Philosophy 102 was presented by Sega, which was totally entertaining. I think a lot of people had unjustifiably high expectations for this movie. I mean, the first one was alright, and the second one as good if not better. That's not saying all that much, though.
I have to say when i first when to see this movie, i thought that dropped everything good that the first movie had, and i literaly was angry, because i truly believe in the philosophy of the matrix, after i did some researches i've realized that this is by far the most awesome story ever tell in a movie.
What the hell are you talking about? It is not that deep and there are almost no original concepts in either movies. "Philosophy of The Matrix" my ass. They made a pretty cool action movie but they hardly had absolutely any new philosophical ideas. Go read a book on basic philosophy before you declare the divinity of a popcorn movie