Went to see The Matrix Reloaded this evening. Following are some brief thoughts on the film. WARNING! There are spoilers here, so you many not want to read if you haven\’t seen it!
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Naturally, The Matrix Reloaded faced many challenges, not the least of which was being the sequel to The Matrix. With that said, the film was a disappointment on several levels.
1) The Matrix had so many \”wow\” moments that I lost track. Discovering the nature of the Matrix. Seeing Neo take the pill that opened his eyes to the truth. Bullet time. Incredible special effects. Intense action. A killer plot concluding with a dynamite ending. They could have left the movie alone and I would have been content to imagine what happened next. Unfortunately, The Matrix Reloaded did not have a fraction of \”wow\” moments. Yes, there were a few new cool characters (the twins). Yes, the special effects were taken up a notch. But I walked away from it thinking, \”so what?\”
2) I realize that I am probably too stupid to figure out the convuluted philosophy. Or perhas it just failed to hold my interest. Something about the storyline seemed smaller than the first movie. Whereas I found The Matrix to engaging and thought provoking, the sequel tried to hard to be thoughtful, mostly coming off as pretentious. By the time the movie reached the end, I hardly cared that Trinity was killed. I found myself almost emotionally void at a moment that should have wrenched my heart. And the architect? I snickered to myself because he reminded me of a Batman arch-villian from the campy TV show.
3) What is with the Matrix orgy? And how about the preponderence of foul language? The first movie got along fine without g–damn this and shi* that.
4) Long drawn-out action sequences. The car chase could have been cut in half. While it was very cool, I felt like it was just filler… like many scenes in the movie. Every scene in The Matrix added to the overall experience. I feel like the Wachowskis ran out of ideas for this flick.
I have more thoughts, but it is late and I am tired. I am hopeful that I will enjoy the movie more when it comes out on DVD. I intend to read other\’s thoughts to see what they took away from the film. But I am even more hopeful that the writers saved up their best ideas for the conclusion, Matrix Revolution, which is due out before Christmas.