The Matrix Reloaded
Released May 15, 2003

Studio: Warner Bros.
Writer/Director: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski 
Screenwriter: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Monica Bellucci, Daniel Bernhardt, Jada Pinkett Smith, Matt McColm, Harold Perrineau Jr., Harry Lennix, Stuart Wells
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R (for sci-fi violence and some sexuality)
Official Website: WhatistheMatrix.WarnerBros.com

In the second chapter of the Matrix trilogy, freedom fighters Neo (Reeves), Trinity (Moss) and Morpheus (Fishburne) continue to lead the revolt against the Machine Army, unleashing their arsenal of extraordinary skills and weaponry against the systematic forces of repression and exploitation. In their quest to save the human race from extinction, they gain greater insight into the construct of The Matrix and Neo’s pivotal role in the fate of mankind

Review by John Barker Ó 2003
- Who said they don't make 'em like they used to?

As I sit here and write this review and as you sit in your comfortable surroundings and read this review it occurred to me that after seeing the film that I am evaluating, it will change people’s perceptions of cinema forever.

After the release of The Matrix in 1999 it became obvious due to the films conclusion and financial success that it was part of a bigger picture. The additions to The Matrix came in the form of the sequels Reloaded and Revolutions, both released this year, but all is not well in the land of the sequels.

Just as in the first film things start abstractly with a dream/premonition sequence where Trinity, the cyber hacker turned uber-fighter, is killed in a fantastical fight which spills out of a building and onto the street below. From this Neo or ‘the chosen one’, (Keanu Reeves) awakes to find himself returning to the last human city Zion which is buried deep in the earths core. On arrival the crew of the ship, which includes the prophet like Morpheus, (Laurence Fishburne), are told that Zion will be attacked by an army of machines which have so far enslaved the human race in an artificial reality called the Matrix. Neo’s god like presence is Zion’s only hope for survival and to find out what he has to do to achieve this feat he has to contact the Oracle another prophet like figure in this world of religious analogies.

The plot from here on in becomes a little contrived but Neo, after his meeting with the Oracle, has to now find a Gatekeeper who will then lead him to another mystical figure the Architect, who created the Matrix. Along the way he has to battle undertaker clad Agents who fight him at his every turn, lead by the invincible Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), who is now a self-replicating rogue programme who uses the Matrix to settle his unfinished score with Neo.

Anyway, the films strong point is not its continuation of The Matrix’s dense narrative but the action and special effects that directors Andy and Larry Wachowski and visual effects creator John Gaeta invented for the film and its predecessor. This process utilised a technique labelled as flo-mo which allows characters to move in slow motion while cameras fluidly track and pan around objects, this would change action cinema forever.

The idea originated from Manga masterpieces such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and the little known Ninja Scroll, all of which froze moments of intense action and extenuated this to an almost surreal level. Other areas of influence stem from the brothers love of Hong Kong action films, especially John Woo’s method of extending action via varying films speeds and the wire work of martial arts master Woo Yuen Ping who contrived the massively enjoyable Iron Monkey.

The Brothers Wachowski where in fact so in love with Ping’s work that they hired him to choreograph the fight scenes in this trilogy which are as much of a physical or artistic spectacle as the Bubsy Berkley’s dance scenes in Golddiggers of 1933 and many of his other films. The exception to this is Neo’s fight against Agent Smith and his 99 other copies that he self replicates. This fight, although a feat of man and machine, is massively overblown as it is hard to see what’s going on with so many people on screen at one time. This formula resides through the whole film as the hand to hand combat is not really any better in terms of conception, but since the budget has been raised there are just more people for Neo and the others to physically abuse. In fact the aforementioned fight between Smith and Neo is actually laborious because of the time length and lack of spatial awareness which is a criticism that has been leveled at the explosive car chase that builds to the films finale.

The car chase however is never boring, contradictory to what many critics have stated, it is in fact one of the greatest scenes of automotive arousal ever committed to celluloid. Over the past two years we have witnessed the success of The Fast and the Furious and now the release of its sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious has once again attracted the American population into the cinema in its droves. It therefore seems timely then that the culturally aware Wachowski Brothers have placed a lot of the films adrenaline emphasis on a 15-minute car chase down the freeway where cars pirouette and weave through the traffic with the grace of a flock of birds. The directors handle the action originally and luckily the stars do most of their own stunts which leaves this chase in the welcome company of films like The French Connection and Bullitt.

The script is however flawed and irrational at points with some really forced dialogue and delivery. However it is safe to say that Keanu’s rather monotonic performance from the first installment is removed and replaced with a two-dimensional characterization, (he might be a fully formed character by part three?), but it is not his fault. The real problem is our writer/director team have expanded the universe of the Matrix so far that it is hard to see the remnants of the first films group. This means that both Morpheus and Trinity get a bad run for their money as new characters like Niobe and Merovingian get screen time to establish themselves within the saga.

Although my comments above paint a picture of a lackluster follow-up to The Matrix it is with a heavy heart that I admit that this is certainly one of the so-called ‘must sees’ of the year. Whereas faults lie in the script and characterization you can’t take away the fact that this is a first class viewing experience with the screen dripping with really special effects and Owen Patterson’s production design hits a barely reachable high. Like much of Hollywood cinema, big and brash, but it sure is one hell of a ride.