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Like every other damn blogger, I’m going to review the Matrix: Reloaded, just because I can. The full review will contain spoilers, so only read the extended entry if you don’t mind them or if you’ve already seen it. If you haven’t seen it, here is my mini-review and commentary just for you.

Don’t listen to all those people saying it doesn’t have the magic of the original. If you take a book, and open it up one third of the way in, and read it until you are two thirds of the way through, it won’t seem very magical. In a story, there is an introduction, where the story is set up, the characters are introduced, etc. Its called the exposition, I believe. Then there is the continuation of the story, then a climax and a denouement. The Matrix trilogy is not a series like the Naked Gun series, or Diehard or anything. Those are essentially movies that are just different films with different stories, they just happen to have the same characters and occasional transparent references to the previous films. The three movies of The Matrix are linked so closely that you can’t watch one without seeing the ones before it. It would make no sense at all (even less than when you actually watch them together). They are actually parts of one huge six hour film, broken into three pieces so that short attention span consumers can take it. Keep that in mind, because it is a critical distinction from many of the ‘sequels’ American cinema often produces. The Lord of the Rings trilogy would be another recent example of the same idea, and the Star Wars movies as well (though their success as creating the interwoven stories is debatable at this point).

But I digress. The second movie is the continuation of the whole story. There is a lot of meat here, and a lot of great movie, but the ‘magic’ isn’t the same, because exposition ended in the first movie. The exposition is where all the great discoveries and revelations come, now we get to the heart of the matter. If each movie was just mystery after mystery, then there wouldn’t be any deep story. It would be easy to just throw curve ball after curve ball and keep everyone in the dark, but it wouldn’t be a good story. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing ideas, discoveries and mysteries in Reloaded, but they aren’t of the same character as the mysteries from the first movie. This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, its a good thing.

So don’t worry, and go enjoy the movie! My strong recommendation to you is to go watch the first Matrix shortly before seeing the new one. Madalene and I saw The Matrix eight days ago in a theater by our house that was showing it as a midnight movie. Seeing it so recently made me think of the sequel as just a continuation, jumping in right where the last left off, rather than a different movie that was somehow supposed to stand on its own in competition with the first. The Matrix is a movie in three two hour acts, not three separate movies. Remember that, and many of the artistic decisions will make more sense to you.

Also, stick around for the entire credit roll. At the very end, after the credits are done, is a trailer for the final movie in the series, Revolutions. Its a neat thing to see, and a good way to psych up for the next one.

So, if you dare, read on for a more detailed review and thoughts that will contain spoilers.

A few thoughts… This movie is more of a ‘standard’ action movie, if it can even be described that way. There is more action and fighting, and a little less mind blowing revelation. By now we know what the agents can do, so you aren’t gripping the edge of the seat in utter shock when one of them goes slo-mo and dodges a bullet. We know that Neo can fly, and as cool as it is, its not something we weren’t expecting. However, I don’t think these are marks against the movie. As I said earlier, this is a continuation of a greater story. The second part of a trilogy serves to provide the meat of the story, and the setup for the climax. It can’t be filled with amazing and shocking revelations, because then it would just be more exposition.

However, we do see some amazing things. The big discovery of the movie is that The One’s job isn’t to save Zion in the sense that everyone had been expecting, but to save the concept of Zion, by allowing it to be wiped clean, and then choosing a starter group for the new Zion. In a literal sense, he ‘saves’ Zion, but he doesn’t save the current inhabitants, or further the goal of reclaiming Earth. Saving it is just part of the plan to control it. It comes down to his choice, a major theme in Reloaded. We learn the Matrix is imperfect, and that it hinges on the decisions of the inhabitants to gear its fate. Thats how it survives, but is its greatest weakness. The One can choose life for the inhabitants in their prison, or death in freedom. “Give me liberty or give me death,” but is it ethical to force that same decision on people who don’t know what is happening to them?

Madalene noted to me that the scene early in the movie where Neo fights the whole horde of Smiths looked a lot like a video game. She was disappointed, and felt like it was a cheesy action sequence because it looked like two people playing Tekken together, rather than an action movie. My interpretation of that was to argue that it looks that way on purpose, as an artistic statement. The Matrix is an advanced simulation, and to those who have a greater knowledge of its operation, it is much like a video game. Smith and Neo both ‘play’ the world like a game, because they know its rules, which ones can be bent, and which can be broken. Just like Tekken. Later, when meeting with the french guy/program keeping the Keymaker captive (I can’t recall his name), they even allude to this, noting that it is just a game.

A few criticisms… The third ship that got destroyed, forcing Trinity to enter the matrix, was barely mentioned at all. It reminded me of those guys in Star Trek with the red shirts. They come on, say “Hi,” and then get killed on the first away mission. In the first movie, when you see Switch die when Cipher pulls her plug, its gut wrenching, and is one of the most powerful scenes in the movie. But when the third ship is destroyed and the people just slump over in their chairs, it is just glossed over. No one seems to notice, except that Trinity now must enter the matrix.

Also, it seems like the agents got much wimpier. They supposedly got an upgrade, but they don’t do nearly as much damage. In the first movie, they say that no one who tangles with an agent ever makes it out alive. When Trinity actually manages to shoot the agent on the top of the building, when she says, “Dodge this.” its amazing. They actually survived an encounter with an agent! In the first movie, when Morpheus fights Agent Smith in the bathroom so the rest can escape the building, he gets his ass kicked immediately. Smith just beats the living bejeezus out of him. But now, Morpheus can fight with agents on the freeway, as well as those silvery guys, without sustaining major injuries at all. Same with Trinity. Sure she loses to the agent near the end, but she holds up for a long time, longer than the first movie would have led us to believe they could hold up.

Now, maybe they got better in the time between the movies. Maybe their training programs have improved. Or maybe they are now filled with hope and vigor at their impending success, and have risen to their full potential. A combination of these can adequately explain the disparity, but I feel that it could have been handled a little better.

One revelation I had.. Keanu Reeves has gotten some criticism for his uninspiring lines and continuous ‘Whoa..’ look on his face, like he’s always a combination of bewildered and apathetic. He looks great in leather, but isn’t the best actor in the world. However, I think this may be a plot device. He is The One, which we might think would make him very dynamic and personable, but since he is the sixth of his kind, and is less a person than a programmed design element, it would make sense for him to just do what he needs to do, without being a witty, charming person. We all do what we need to do, the Keymaker reminds us, and Neo’s job is to clean out Zion, and start a new one so that the inevitable ‘anomalies’ have a place to congregate until it is time for the next cleaning. He’s designed to be a person who sweeps the floors clean, and starts a new trash pile. That job probably benefits from a deadpan expression, and a thoughtless sense of obligation and duty. Maybe Keanu is actually doing a great job, and it just looks like he’s a bad actor because we don’t fully understand the character yet. Or maybe not, it was just an idea.

Random thought… Smith is an interesting character. In the first movie, we see Smith interrogating Morpheus. He removes his earpiece, and berates Morpheus. “You are a disease,” he reminds the human. “You disgust me.” We see another side of Smith. He isn’t the business-like agent anymore, but instead shows some desperation. In the first movie, we can’t tell if this is all an act to make Morpheus crack, just part of the protocol for cracking humans, or if it is a sign of more to come from this dissatisfied agent. When the other agents enter the room, they see his earpiece off, and one notes, with a hint of shock in his voice, “What were you doing??” That was a really interesting bit of foreshadowing that caught me by surprise, but is quite amazing and well pulled off. I also love how he continues to call Neo by the name, “Mr. Anderson”. Old habits never die.

A few words on the ‘theme’ of Reloaded. In case you couldn’t tell, ‘Why?’ is the big question of Reloaded. Choices have been made, balls are rolling, and plans have been set into motion. The thing that now separates the strong from the weak is knowledge. The knowledge of why. The Oracle tells us that, the french guy tells us that, and Neo learns a little more about why he exists. The ‘whats’ of the first movie, namely, “What is going on?” is very boggling and amazing, but now we get into the why, and we learn a little more about the matrix. Its not quite as perfect as we thought. Programs run rampant, others seize power, others hide undetected, and others utilize their design to move freely through the matrix. The matrix needs to be cleaned out regularly, and Zion isn’t a stronghold, but is a sort of accidental but convenient holding ground for malcontents until The One can come along and allow it to be wiped clean. I think it makes for a less ‘wow’ movie, but a more interesting one, in terms of things to talk about.

Needless to say, I eagerly await Revolutions. Like I alluded to earlier, don’t think of the end as the end of a movie, but as the beginning of a six month intermission between the second and third acts. Comments welcome!

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