The Matrix Reloaded Review
by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)May 19th, 2003
Matrix Reloaded
Matinee plus snacks
Previously on The Matrix, we learned about the hidden world of Zion, where humans who have been freed from their jobs as battery cells (who was the first to figure out how to escape?) join forces to free everyone. You might recall that professional Dude Keanu Reeves ended up being some kind of messiah, and that the film as a whole redefined coolness in a cyberpunk way, innovating camera techniques as well as creating a whole new mythology.
So, what does Matrix Reloaded got that the original Matrix ain't got? It's chockablock full of kung-fu, apparently the only fight style that the builders of the Matrix decided to program. Someone please upload a new fight style! It's got Agent Smith back and as virulent as a Microsoft virus, proving the old adage that you can never have too much Hugo Weaving. It's got more Keanu and Carrie-Ann Moss and Laurence "Othello" Fishburne wearing slick and sexy black outfits and doing heroic stuff. Sexy Jada pinkett-Smith as Niobe, mystery plot device. It's got a truly kick ass car chase that made me pick up my feet and cover my face in terror and glee (though most LA freeway drivers may not even notice it). The lovely Oracle Gloria Foster (she died, unfortunately between filming #2 and #3) has a nice long scene. It's got a whole mess of not-dumbed-down, complex information, backstory, and explanatory business that may or may not hold up on a second viewing. I suspect it may. But it would help to refresh your memory of the first one.
The Matrix movies are not only "jack in" kind of cyberpunk orgies, but they also reference various philosophies (Greek, Christian, more) and statistics and mathematical bell curveŠzzzzz. What? What was I saying? Thankfully, a knowledge of these mathematical sciences is not necessary but for my companions with a background in it, they thought the movie was even cooler than before.
Why not "Full Price Feature" then? I mean, the first movie got that rating, with even less hullaballoo and layers and kick ass outfits. Well, first there is the far-too-slow first reel, with the Coors Light commercial/rave orgy that goes on for days and days. OK, we get it, pulsating humanity is good, let's save it. OK, Trinity and Neo love each other, get going get going. Next comes another too-long and vaugely confusing scene in the lair of Merovingian, with a mythologically confusing companion Persephone, who eats no persimmon or anything.
Merovingian is another word for an Atlantean, and the people with this name are thought to be the precursors of all advanced (artistically and technologically) civilizations in the world. OK. He has two pals, Milli Vanilli, er, I mean, Twin #1 and Twin #2, whom you might have seen in the preview. They are German and can do interesting things but were sadly underwhelming. I am not sure if they are Geminis or Seussian Things, but no matter how you slice it, they are the love children of Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice and that erases any coolness factor right there.
The final straw that plummeted an otherwise engaging, cool, fun, and worthwhile movie from Full Price Feature to Matinee with Snacks isŠwell I don't want to give it away, but the reason it was unsatisfying is easy. It's a room full of 15" color TV screens and it's maddeningly hokey, distracting visually, and really fast talking smarty pants aurally, so the effect is being very lost and distracted. It will play better with a rewind button.
Go see it and have a blast, it's worth it.
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These reviews (c) 2003 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource
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