The Matrix Reloaded

A slew of victories against the Machines forces the hand of Humanity’s mortal enemy.  Now an army of 250,000 sentinels is burrowing straight down through the planet to Zion: Humanity’s last refuge.  There is only one hope to stop them: Neo.  However, in order to stop this oncoming invasion, Neo must travel deeper into The Matrix than ever before.  Together with his mentor, Morpheus, and his love, Trinity, Neo will meet new allies and more powerful enemies, some different and some familiar.  All roads lead to a startling revelation…that for all the fighting it may already be too late to save the human race.

When The Matrix arrived in 1999, it brought a hurricane of change and innovation that everyone wanted to jump and expand on.  This went doubly so for Warner Bros. who put not one but two sequels into production, to be shot back to back and released in the same year.  Come 2003, The Matrix Reloaded (at least) was one of the most hyped sequels ever.  No one could wait to see where Neo, Morpheus and Trinity would take us next, especially since Neo could now fly.  And then we got the actual movie and…boy what a major step backwards.

There are certain rules some feel all sequels must follow.  Generally, what made the original film work should continue except it should be done bigger, louder, have more epic stakes, more memorable action and maybe even be a bit sexier than ever.  The Matrix Reloaded tries to do all of this and only succeeds at doing right by a handful of these rules.  The action definitely takes things up a notch with Neo fighting more than one person in multiple fights.  There’s also that fifteen minute car chase sequence that no one will argue sucks in the slightest.  Cars get trashed, programs phase like ghosts, Morpheus slices up a van with a samurai sword then uses said sword to fight an Agent on a moving truck, its hands down one of the best car chase sequences ever put to film.  Oh and Neo fighting more than one person, try neo fighting over 100 Agent Smiths due to his old nemesis gaining the ability to copy himself.  When things get too over the top, it can look cartoony (some of these effects haven’t aged well sadly).  But when the action is on the flesh and blood actors, it blows you away, maybe not as much as the original film but its still worth tipping your hat in respect.

The same cant really be said for the rest of the movie.  The Wachowski’s skill for balancing deep philosophy with mind bending action seems to wain here as they try to do too much on both ends.  As you saw above, the action is fine.  But quieter scenes are bogged down by dialogue that threatens to put viewers into a long slumber until its time for the next fight.  Cause and Effect, the meaning of life, the dilemma of choice, all of these would make good topics for a Matrix sequel.  However, they lack the interest, urgency and wonder of anything spoken in the original.  New characters the Merovingian and the Architect are two of the main reasons these scenes fall flat.  After a couple of minutes, it just feels like youre listening to two philosophy professors who know way more than you do, don’t break down the bigger details and promise that everything they say will be on the final exam.  While the Merovingian has a smarmy charm to him, the Architect’s big scene with Neo towards the end feels like it takes up half the movie and halfway through that, I felt like I was begging for the movie to either get exciting or end, I didn’t care which one came first.  If Reloaded was just “ok” until this point, the Architect scene is what really robs the film of having any chance of standing on the same pedestal as the original film.

There’s also wayyyy to much going on in the film itself, though the Philosophy lectures are battling them for your attention.  There’s a handful of new characters with potential like Morpheus’ rival Locke and his ex girlfriend Niobe.  They don’t really get to do much, as does anyone else who isn’t Neo, Morpheus or Trinity in this film.  And poor Niobe and her cool as hell partner, Ghost, only get mere seconds of action time in (for more of their adventures you can go play Enter The Matrix).  There’s also the reveal of Zion that serves to really dent any initial momentum and serve as the staging ground for a rave orgy that really didn’t need to happen and serves no purpose.  In fact, that could sum up The Matrix Reloaded perfectly, there’s a lot going on that doesn’t need to happen and serves no purpose.  Probably the only non action scene that does serve a purpose is Neo’s reunion with the Oracle, which considering this was Gloria Fosters last film makes the scene itself very poignant and special.

Jeez, Neo promised us he’d show us a world the machines didn’t want us to see at the end of The Matrix.  But it looks like the joke was on him.  The Matrix Reloaded might look bigger and prettier and boast some impressive action.  The sparkle only lasts so long and the light and spirit of the original is dim the further you get into Reloaded.  Dialogue is coma inducing, new characters don’t have much time to do anything, the mystery isn’t as grabby as “What is The Matrix?” and worse yet, Reloaded ends on an intended cliffhanger…that left me say “ok…so what?”  The action and Gloria Fosters wonderful last round as The Oracle are the only redeeming factors of this otherwise highly disappointing sequel.  It was less “whoa” and more “zzzzz”.

6.5/10

And if they shot this back to back with a third film, is there any hope of redemption for the legacy of The Matrix? Ohhhh boy.  We’ve seen the good, we’ve seen the bad.  Check bad tomorrow for the conclusion of the Matrix Trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions, and we’ll get to see the ugly.