Enter the Dragon rewritten by anally retentive computer nerds.

Rating: 7/10 (26 December 2004)

*This is a follow up to the original Matrix and therefore anything to be said here could be seen a spoiler to the original.*
I have learned so many things watching movie and then writing about them. Here is just a selection: That a bit of cheap music can instantly create a bit of tension or take me back in time. That big subjects don't necessarily make for big movies (nor the other way round). That I don't like people trying to disguise cliché (including that tried and trusted good-versus-bad theme) by trying to wrap it up in so much wordy and visual nonsense.
(Guess which one of those faults the Matrix Reloaded falls in to?!)
Entertaining or not, the film makes little to no overall sense. However there are bits of plot I think I understand: It is set in two versions of the world, one the world of dreams (or close variations) and another in the "real world."
The "real world" is just a mine shaft in the ground where a group of escaped prisoners play revolutionaries against the computer - The Matrix - that entraps them. In other words a lot of what we see is a video-game played out in a giant computer - but you can actually "die" in this video game through the film's own convenient b/s logic.
Yes the script is pure garbage, in that no can really understand what is going on and this - or so the authors hope and presume - will prevent anyone from questioning it. After all you can't question what you don't understand, right? This movie has a logic all of its own and often the reverse of any known human version. Why stand and fight when you can flee through flight? Trapping humans in order create electricity, huh? First Spielberg with his "futuristic" three wheeler cars and now this!
Is this not the central paradox of sci-fi: People that are smart beyond are wildest dreams judged by what they create and are also incredibly stupid judged by what they say and do?
(The Wachowski Brothers don't do interviews so no one can question them about this b/s world of their own invention. I suppose the praise they receive is the praise that many people who build castles in the air receive: Stolen from people that do great work in the real world and who are far smarter. There is a million miles between thinking up "a car that runs on tap water" and actually creating a real one!)
The look is quite interesting and the fact that so many people were dark glasses gives us the feeling that no one is quite human. Even when they are. Or sort of. Black people seem to have a large role to play and that is indeed curious - but like a lot of what goes on here, I have no idea what it means. Maybe they are the "blacks with no soul" that were mentioned in Kentucky Fried Movie. People that turn this handicap to their advantage by playing MOR at weddings!
The worst bit is the computer operator (Link) who gives a running commentary on proceedings like he is on a speedway track. Having seen people being captured (Superman like) from certain death with my own eyes it is good that this is confirmed verbally. Second worst bit is the creator of the Matrix (well he claims he is - he is a white bearded theatrical lovey so he must have!) who spouts even more riddles than your old maths teacher.
Bruce Lee (most famous for Enter the Dragon which this apes), with only his body and the occasional numchucka created tension, speed and excitement that they can only top by millions of dollars worth of computer special effects and fly-by-wire. No let me take that back: Bruce you were still better than all of them, even with their special effects and wire work.