Surpassed over-hyped expectations

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2003)

Matrix reloaded is a brilliant continuation of The Matrix trilogy. On first pass, (ie, having seen it only once), it surpasses its predecessor in terms of action, suspense, surprise, intrigue, martial arts, romance, character conflict and character depth, special effects, and surprisingly, philosophical wisdom. My only critique to date is that the integration of music and action was not as distinct or as brilliant as in the first film.

I will take brief note of the special effects. They creep up on you like a cat stalking its prey. Early on one finds the movie a bit typical of your medium-budget, mid-1990's sci-fi film. The action scenes at first are intense, but hardly spectacular, when compared to the film's predecessor. But as the action heats up, so do the special effects. For instance, it is not till the fourth fight scene in the film that we see Neo fight his old nemesis, Mr. Smith. At first, the fight seems ordinary. Then it seems rather unique in that Mr. Smith has multiplied. But by the time Neo fights the Mr. Smiths using a sign pole, you cannot help but wonder what it is you are actually watching. And in the 'chase scene', as the camera zooms and pans all around the characters, while standing on a tractor-tailer moving at 60mph, one cannot help but wonder, what is this?

Most critics and critiques I have read dismiss the movie as your typical action/special-effects film. Or they ridicule the film for lacking the mystique and wonder of the first. But as you watch it, pay special attention to the dialogues of control/dependency, of control/volition, of free-will/determinism. Likewise, in first film, we saw philosophical juxtapositions of realism vs. solipsism, of states of consciousness, of creating and controlling your reality. Philosophical themes have definitely not vanished or minimized in the film; far from it, these themes have been replaced by even more thought-provoking questions with even more potency.

The mystique of the first film may have left mass audiences feeling in awe. But to us hard-core sci-fi/mind-bender fans, The Matrix felt flat and undernourished in its presentation and revelation of the real fabric of its universe. Why? Well, that presentation concludes well within the first half of the film, unlike the films' forefathers like Blade Runner, Total Recall, or contemporaries such as eXistenZ, the Thirteenth Floor, in which 'reality' is not revealed until near the very end (or at all). Matrix Reloaded, however, reintroduces that mystique . By cleverly layering philosophical dialogue into characters' motivations, we discover the 'Matrix' is not all we thought it was: it is in fact, much more. Our heroes' Matrix is designed precisely such that 99% of its inhabitants our happy with the 'choice' of living within it, but the remaining 1% feel the need to control their fate, a fate that is itself contained within a simulation. Whereas Matrix closed Pandora's Box in Act 1 of the trilogy, Act 2 -- Matrix Reloaded -- reopens that Box, and will have us guessing well into November.

And with any luck, we'll be guessing beyond that.