MOVIE REVIEW

Matrix Reloaded, The  (2003)

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett-Smith
Director: The Wachowski Bros.

Rating: R

Studio: Warner Bros.

Review Posted: 5.15.03

Spoilers: Minor

By Jon Bjorling

"All Hype, No Payoff In Matrix Reloaded"

The Matrix Reloaded is just another case of hype over substance. It offers us absolutely nothing that we haven't seen before and seen better.

The action scenes are dull, featuring possibly the worst wire work I have ever seen - and I've seen some pretty bad films that use wires. I won't complain about the simple punch/block routines that are performed as fight scenes, because that's pretty much what all kung fu films have done. The only difference between them and The Matrix Reloaded; they had less money and did it far better. The battle between Neo and the multitude of Agent Smiths is pretty much a computer effect in itself.  I can accept the use of CG in the fight scene to a point - but not only do the directors cross that point, they continue skipping on their merry way for far too long thereafter. The Neo/Agent Smiths fight could have been the film's greatest action piece, but instead becomes a cheap-shit fighting game.

The other major action sequence, the freeway chase, has a few great moments. These moments occur only when Trinity and the Keymaker make their getaway on a motorcycle through oncoming traffic. There is real tension in that sequence, but everything before and after suffers from the "I've seen this sequence in just about every other action film I've seen" critique. 

I would talk about the story, but there is no story.  There is only filler between "action" sequences, written by two guys (Andy and Larry Wachowski) who took both a logic class and a basic philosophy course and failed them. You'd think that with all the Christian rhetoric and the basic philosophical concepts given (poorly at that), there would be something worth talking about afterward. But no, there isn't. Unlike the first film, this film has no depth, no reason to question reality because we know the answer - it's the matrix. While The Matrix was a cross between, but not limited to, Socrates' cave metaphor and the story of Jesus, Reloaded is just a bunch of assholes playing a video game.

I will give the film three things. First, the introduction of the Keymaker is hilarious. Second, the motorcycle part of the freeway chase is great. Third, the Architect's revelation about the true nature of the prophecy.  Those three things are the only bits of The Matrix Reloaded that have any worth.

Rating: 1 out of 4  |  Read Review #1 (Positive)

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