Great action, shame about the pretentious dialogue

Rating: 9/10 (24 May 2003)

Well I've generally slammed the Matrix on these forums, but I'd admit I did enjoy Reloaded. I think it appealed to me as both a martial arts fan and someone who's done some programming. I would agree with the fact that it is nowhere near as great as some are making it out to be.
This is mainly due to the poncey dialogue. At times it is incomprehensible. I have seen many complex films before that I have both understood and enjoyed, but this film takes the piss. So many questions are answered with questions, and it just seems overly pretentious. 'You didn't come here to make a choice you already made that choice, you're here to understand why you made it.' Eh. Talk about answering questions with a riddle. Which is my problem with the dialogue in general. Movie dialogue should add the plot, but should not be the whole plot. Many films can explain things with an image, something I thought worked well in X-Men. You see a shot of Wolverine healing, you've learnt what his powers can do, you don't need 10 lines of dialogue to tell you that. Or in LOTR the shots of the one ring and the pwer it has over everyone, you don't need much more explantion to establish how evil it is. The endless musings on choice become tiresome after the tenth time.
The supposed gravitas the lines are delivered with grates too. No sense or attempt is made to be ironic. The same points are just repeatedly rammed home. Are we free to choose, etc. But these are nothing compared to the near insane ramblings about the programming of the matrix. Jees are we all assumed to have an interest in these techy ramblings. I knew trouble was in store when the Oracle started rambling about programs running all over the place and the system assinilating programs. For the love of God. I have a degree in electronic engineering but this talk of anomalies nearly caused my head to explode. Again this is something handled better in the X-men films, especially through Wolverine's eyes as he jokes about the others names. It had a vein of humour to it which is completely lacking in Reloaded. The best blockbusters never take themselves too seriously, just see the likes of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future or Ghostbusters for examples.
Then there is the relationship between Neo and Trinity, which doesn't exactly sparkle, but I guess they may well be living in a computer game so it's probably hard to get real human emotion from their relationship. And the sex scene was completely unerotic. Are they in love or is he just paying for it, couldn't really tell. Which s why when Persephone asked eo to kiss her like Trinity I couldn't take i hat seriouly. He was hardly that passionate about Trinity in the first place.
As for Neo fighting I never seriously thought he'd lose a fight, he's just got far too hard. And if it's all a computer game where's the fun in that. Wolverine can take serious damage, but he does it on Earth under real physics and he's got a human heart with real emotions. Neo is just so unphased by everything, so unemotional, he doesn't seem at all frightened. Yeah he got cut in a fight but he came back at them even stronger. Once he got the sai no-one really layed a finger on him. And the flying did look a bit pants.
For a film supposed to be compassionate little thought is given for all the destruction going on, the fact so many people seem to get killed, like during the car chase agents destroy a number of civilian cars. Because it looks good? Doesn't Trinity care that people they are trying to save are getting killed as a result of this.
And the finale was very jumbled. What was going on with the two other important missions? Niobe seemed peripheral yet played a significant part taking down the power station. How then? Well you'd have to (like me) play the Enter the Matrix game to learn. That to me is a shameful cash in, where the filmmakers are saying you want the full story then, you'll have to finish the game and watch the animatrix. That's not good cinema as far as I'm concerned. That's cynical marketting.
However while the film isn't as smart as it thinks it is it did make me think all the same. Few films do that. And I did think the martial arts choreography was superb, especailly the Agenet Smith fight. I got a genuine adrenaline rush from that. I loved the expression on their faces as Neo flew off, especially the one just left of the centre. The car chase is high quality action cinema, and the sheer intensity of it was different to anything I have seen before. The fight Neo engages in with Merovingian's goons beforehand was superbly done too. The movements were wonderfully fluid and were realistic yet fantastical.
It's genrally an entertaining film, certainly if it was judged purely as an action film it's a superior beast, with at least 3 excellent set piece moments. I'd give it six out of ten.