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Review : The Matrix Reloaded on DVD
The Matrix Reloaded came out on DVD today. I spent the first half of the day getting my teeth scraped and drilled so I thought I would reward myslef like a good fanboy and I picked it up from the store and watched it as the pain medication wore off.
This is the first time that I saw the move since it came out in the movie theater in spring. It starts out with Trinity and her napalm filled flying bike that explodes in a fireball that could take out half a city block all in slow motion. The DVD does not explain why they killed off Tank after the first movie and they switched matrix operators black guys to Link with the dreadlocks.
There is that annoying kid who is Neo's fan but he is the same kid from the artsy piece Kid's Story from The Animatrix.
The underground multi-ethnic hippie Zion rave is still just as awkward and Trinity and Neo humping is still strangely homoerotic. Sorry Trinity has always reminded me of a guy. A feminine guy but still a guy. It is a cyberpunk thing I guess.
Update: I guess it is more asexual than homoerotic. The masculation of women is a reoccurring theme in Cyberpunk literature. Take any William Gibson novel and you will have a strong street wise female like Molly in Neuromancer and Trinity in The Matrix. Combine that with a computer savvy tall nerd with no tan and a long trench coat and you have Case and Neo.
She might not look just like a guy but there is some serious gender ambiguous stuff going on with her character.
I thought you were a guy.. Most guys do.
Any way you had the two most award parts in the movie intercut. The underground hippie rave and Neo inserting his 5 1/2 inch floppy into Trinity's hard drive.
Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith still rules!
There is no commentary tracks by either the actors or directors. I can't believe that they could not lock Keanu in a room with a microphone for an hour and a half. God I hope they are not going to pull a special edition on us and ask all the fan boys to buy another copy of the DVD. There is no new trailers for The Matrix Revolutions but that is not a big deal considering it is going to be out in a matter of weeks.
The movie is still full of Dollar Store philosophy and has a a surreal ability to generate comments from nerds. It is a good popcorn and beer movie and is about as mentally deep as Kill Bill. I sort of see this flick as Cyberpunk exploitation action cinema. It is really well made but there is nothing here that I have not seen in other Hollywood or Hong Kong action movies.
Oh I did notice a cool slight political commentary joke in the scene where Neo talks with The Architect. There is a video mosaic showing the darker elements of human history that starts out with a quick shot of Hitler and it ends with Saddam and The two Bush Presidents in the final mosaic shot.
The DVD looks and sounds great and it is enhanced for wide screens. Make sure that you watch it in a room with low light and your screen is calibrated because there is a hell of a lot of blacks and greens. They did include the MTV Movie awards spoof much like the Lord of The Rings Easter Egg on Fellowship SE DVD.
It is a good DVD but not a great DVD. It did not change my life or blow my mind but it was defiantly worth my twenty bucks and I got a free t-Shirt as a promotion. So now I can look like a total dork.
Sometime I really need to get around to playing Enter The Matrix Videogame.
There is no spoon.
Jake at October 14, 2003 
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Comments
Don't bother with EtM, Jake. If you absolutely MUST try it, rent it first. I beat Ghost's missions easily in one week and didn't even want to start Niobe's.
Posted by: Gavin at October 14, 2003 7:45 PM
hopefully david will come home w/the matrix: reloaded tonight...i hope, i hope!
Posted by: lilly at October 14, 2003 8:29 PM
"Sorry Trinity has always reminded me of a guy. A feminine guy but still a guy. It is a cyberpunk thing I guess"
NO WAY! Trinity has an ass like a horse! Her body in these films is what makes her so hot. No man on earth could have a butt and hips like that. It is just friggin beautiful....don't tell Mandy I said that.
Posted by: pete at October 14, 2003 8:31 PM
EtM is an interesting game to play at first, but the novelty wears off too soon.
It's a minor letdown, considering it came from Shiny (and I like Dave Perry and w00ted when he appeared in the doco).
BTW, I reviewed the DVD yesterday. Hooray for preordering.
Posted by: Matt at October 14, 2003 10:13 PM
Jake, the videogame SUCKS arse. Max paine was much better and it wasn't all that great to begin with. Don't buy the game....instead, borrow or rent it. You will see what I mean.
Posted by: pete at October 15, 2003 2:01 PM
Word. Enter the Matrix was literally the worst waste of $50 ever. For me and for a lot of people.
Posted by: Jay at October 15, 2003 2:35 PM
ETM was a hefty letdown., it's a rental for the fighting and the hacking thing. but whatever you do, do NOT rent/buy the Xbox version. it has the most bugs,...bugs that crash the game. for 20+ million dollars to make this game they could have hired more/better testers... jeez.
Haha!... if you take away the "M" from the end of "ETM" you get "ET".... another game that cost 20+ million dollars and sucked ass!.. haha.
Posted by: BJ Wallace at October 16, 2003 5:56 AM
Aw man, don't dis Max Payne. That game is awesome, especially with the Kung Fu 3.0 mod. I can't wait to try Max Payne 2... it looks awesome and is only 35 bucks at Best Buy this week!
Posted by: Gavin at October 21, 2003 9:51 PM
