It's not easy being green!

Rating: Null/10 (19 October 2003)

I didn't exactly rush out to see this one because I had been hearing a ton of bad things about it. The fact that I learned that it was being done as two sequels in a row during the same year BACK TO THE FUTURE style--complete with a trailer at the end of the second sequel for the upcoming third one--didn't exactly boost my confidence. So I waited for it to come out on home video. I was an admirer of the first MATRIX movie without being a fan, so the speak, and hoped that the second one wouldn't be just some lousy tack-on.
Fortunately, THE MATRIX RELOADED isn't the disaster I feared it would be. Instead of feeling like a "second movie", it simply feels like a continuation of the same one the way THE LORD OF THE RINGS does, and that's precisely the way I like it. Sure it's absolutely preposterous at points and has even more unintentionally hysterical lines than the first one (remember the following line from THE MATRIX? "Never send a man to do a machine's job"? LOL!), but that doesn't mean it's not fun.
MATRIX fans would scream foul if I gave away even a smattering of what goes on here away. And I really don't need to; if you've seen the first movie you know the sort of thing to expect. So I'll focus on the stuff I liked and didn't like instead.
I wasn't surprised when I learned that the brothers who created THE MATRIX were previously comic book creators--the MATRIX movies are all directed and written like moving comic books, right down to the in-the-air studies and goofy dialogue. The only thing missing during the actions scenes are the "POW!" "BAM!" action words appearing on screen which I keep expecting to see. These movies are quite possibly the most pure comic-book-feel films out there on the market, as near as I can tell. The direction and feel of them is fascinating to watch, and the frequent slow-motion stops actually *help* you follow the action better that you otherwise might--they add more power and emphasis. THE MATRIX RELOADED, if it's at all possible, is even more enthusiastic than the first one was--and it has the right to be since it's gotten all the story setup out of the way with the first film and now can simply relax and add on from there with this one.
The dialogue, as I mentioned, can be downright ridiculous. Morpheus gives what's supposed to be an inspirational speech to a huge crowd that ends up being hilarious as opposed to dramatic, and I can't help but wonder how that poor actor managed to recite that twaddle in that pitch of voice without breaking down in hysterics. And consider the following actual lines from this movie:
"You!" "Me. Me, me, me." "Me, too!"
Now honestly; can you imagine someone actually being PAID to write those lines?! :)
The action sequences are all superbly staged. I'm not one to go ga-ga over special effects action sequences and it takes a lot to impress me in this day and age when computers and effects can give us anything at all effectwise, but the breathtaking freeway bit *really* impressed me! I also have the sneaky suspicion that the MATRIX creators may be fans of the Disney/Squaresoft PS2 title KINGDOM HEARTS, as THE MATRIX RELOADED even features a battle with a staircased entryway that looks like it's straight out of the Hollow Bastion area where you first fight Riku, only the room is a yellowish-green tint as opposed to royal blue.
And speaking of the tint, there's one visual choice here that drives me nuts about this movie. The original movie kept the virtual "real" world realistic. In this one, everything in the "real" world is shot through a green lens. And I do mean EVERYTHING: even the black on the cop cars is greenish-tinted! Now I know it's an artistic visual choice to remind us that this is supposed to be just all computer graphics and all since the trademark "glyph graphics" are bright green, but I personally find that, being an artist, it distracts me from the "real" world parts and makes them a lot less convincing and involving than they were in THE MATRIX. I keep thinking I'm looking at the Emerald City out of THE WIZ as opposed to a "real" virtual world the way I did in the first movie. It's all so green. Everything green. So green as to almost look plastic-ish, the major guiding art directing rule in those portions is... just... all... GREEN. It's an artistic choice! It's an obsessive compulsive disorder! It's a movie for St. Patrick's Day! It's ALL OF THE ABOVE! ;)
Certain questions do come to mind though, even during the action scenes. Such as the twins who are able to suddenly move through substances, which is both an advantage and a hinderance to them (which is ingenious on behalf of the script). One of them appears within a cop car and duing a fight has his arm tied down by a seat belt by Morpheus, which of course begs the question, why didn't the twin simply "morph" his way out of the seat belt? Same with the twin who gets his arm caught in the door. That part doesn't make much sense to me. Other than that though, incidentally, the twins do everything but hiss: they're amusing to watch.
THE MATRIX RELOADED is like a videogame, but it's sure a fun rollercoaster to watch--certainly better than other "rollercoaster" movies like JURASSIC PARK and the like. It has a fascinating backstory to it, and I think that accounts for its success; it works beautifully as an oddly-comforting metaphor for the world we live in, a world where people feel trapped in a reality they are constantly striving to perfect, correct or even ignore.

I've seen several press statements proclaiming this movie to be in the same league as TRON. Nonsense. TRON was a very special movie, the type that only gets made once in a lifetime and approached the idea of a computer world with a staggering poetry, beauty and wistful depth to it that moved the heart and soul as well as the eye. You walked out of the theatre feeling shaken and somehow transformed. That film was groundbreaking, original and a spectacular experience... it still is. THE MATRIX will leave your mind spinning with its weird idea of the real world not really being real and its overall strangeness to toy with, and yes that is a lot of fun, but even that doesn't compare to the loveliness that is TRON. The two are simply not in the same league. TRON is the deeper movie and far more successful in using computers to express the humanity within us all. THE MATRIX is most definitely an action flick designed to provide thrills and gasps as opposed to revelations and emotions.
As a story, THE MATRIX does a good job of reminding us of various things important to existance, especially as it grabs at Biblical references left and right, but even so it still only offers so much. So don't go in expecting anything but a fun mindbending videogame and you'll enjoy yourself. Like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, it's a film that's fun to mentally toy with, a Rubik's cube for the senses. And it's certainly nowhere near the disaster that I've read a lot of press statements to find it to be. I enjoyed it, and I think you might too.