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: 5.14.03

Spoilers: Major

By Sara Michelle Fetters

"Prepare To Get Reloaded – Matrix Sequel Flies High"

Whoa. At least, that word sure as heck applies to the sure-to-be-classic freeway chase that helps close out The Matrix Reloaded. A smorgasbord of speed, noise, exhilaration, violence and unmitigated how-did-they-do-that glee, this might be the car chase to end all car chases – even with the supremely cheesy techno music.

Granted, William Friedkin (The French Connection) or John Frankenheimer (Ronin) in their day didn’t have the technological resources Andy and Larry Wachowski have at their disposal. Even more, they never had a movie studio build an entire freeway for them, especially constructed just so they could demolish it. That’s an impressive gift, but on the heels of the monstrously successful 1999 original spending a few bucks on a disposable piece of asphalt must not have seemed like money spent poorly given the expected returns on two of the most highly anticipated sequels of all time.

But, back to the car chase. Heroes Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) are trying to bring a mysterious entity known as the Keymaker (Randal Duk Kim) out of the Matrix, as he is integral in trying to save the last human city, Zion, from eminent destruction. Buried deep underground, the machines have finally discovered its secret location and are burrowing through the layers off the Earth in order to destroy it and all the resisting members of humanity.

It is up to Neo (Keanu Reeves) and his band to find a way to save Zion from destruction. But this is far from the only thing weighing on Neo’s mind. Ever since he finally awakened to the realization that he was indeed The One the savior has been finding himself plagued with ever-increasing nightmares and visions about his fate. Worse, he’s been having them about his ladylove Trinity, too, and the last thing Neo wants to consider is that her death might be his own doing.

All this pontificating isn’t going to idle the onward movement of the machines, however. Since the events of the first film and their defeat at the hands of Neo, Morpheus and their crew the machines have been finding a way to – not just get even – but put an end to their resistance. That means upgrades, impressive upgrades, starting with the devilish twins one (Neil Rayment) and two (Adrian Rayment), beings with the ability to materialize anywhere throughout the Matrix at will. There’s also the mysteriously beautiful Persephone (Monica Bellucci). She has her eyes set on Neo, but not in the ways one would expect from an agent of the machines.

Then there is Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). Seemingly destroyed by Neo in the first film, the plain-speaking villain has returned stronger than ever, now able to replicate himself at will. No longer a true pixilated henchman of the Matrix, Smith now is a rogue virus reproducing himself almost overzealously in a single-minded pursuit of Neo and his friends.

There’s more – new characters, new places, returning friends, returning foes – going on in The Matrix Reloaded than I can possibly talk about here. Too much more, actually, and unlike the first installment Reloaded is cluttered and overbearing. The movie tries far too hard to tell its story and pull off the biggest “to be continued” in film history. It doesn’t help that the Wachowski’s pastiche of Eastern Religion, cyber-punk science fiction, comic book prophesizing and martial arts mayhem has grown old hat since the original film. Too many imitators have dirtied the soup, making the film’s over-seriousness more than a bit amusing and just a tad tiresome.

Not that any of this should stop people from seeing it. In fact, my reservations aside, The Matrix Reloaded is one of the most kinetically and visually fascinating films I’ve ever seen. The brothers have gone out of their way to make the pyrotechnics and special effects this time around darn near beyond imitation. To say that they have succeeded is beyond the point. More succinctly, to say they’ve taken one of the most influential science fiction epics of the past decade and made something even more groundbreaking is far more exact. Like 2001, Star Wars, Blade Runner and the original Matrix, this movie might just change everything.

Case-in-point, the much-hyped Burly Brawl where Neo fights off an army of Agent Smiths. It’s an impressive moment, but there is much more going on here from a technical standpoint than just that. Sure, the fight is grand, but it’s hard to look at it without thinking about all the man-hours an army of special effects technicians put in trying to make it happen.

More convincing, at least for me, was Neo’s flying. In 1978 Superman boasted, “you will believe a man can fly,” and while the (still inspiring) special effects of the man of steel doing just that were groundbreaking, even as a child I never quite believed he was soaring over Metropolis. The effect of Neo doing it here is not only seamless; it’s astounding. The line between computer-enhanced and simple wire work so razor thin, I’d almost believe fight master Woo-Ping taught Reeves more than just Kung Fu.

It will be interesting, though, to see how audiences react to Reloaded. Sure it’s going to be a hit, that’s a given. But how huge? First off, there isn’t much of a recap of the first film going on here, the Wachowski’s assuming we all know exactly whom Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, Agent Smith, the Oracle (Gloria Foster) and the rest are. Next, there isn’t as much in the way of subtly this time around. The brothers waste no time, running and gunning from one big event to the next.

More importantly, though, Reloaded is the ultimate summer movie cliffhanger. It ends right in the middle of a climax, leaving the heroes and their fates hanging literally up in the air. How will people react to this? Have the recent Lord of the Rings epics and their own cliffhanging conclusions left them ready for one the likes of which filmgoers haven’t seen since the bygone era of movie serials? I’m not sure, but for those that sit through the entire end credits for a glimpse of this fall’s The Matrix Revolutions, I’m sure they’ll find themselves justifiably eager to see how it all comes out.

Which brings me back to that car chase. That alone is enough to warrant the price of admission, maybe even for a second or third trip back to theater. I still can’t get the images of Trinity weaving in and out of oncoming traffic like a human version of a Tron light cycle, or of Morpheus flying through the air like a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. If anything, this freeway cotillion is pure poetry of motion, the Wachowski’s showing off sights and sounds I’d never seen before. It’s beautifully invigorating and, even if it did take two-hours of new age cyber-hokum to finally get there, when all was said and done I didn’t want it all to end.

Whoa, indeed.

Rating: 3 out of 4  |  Read Review #2 (Negative)

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