Original themes sold out in favor of dopey sci-fi action

Rating: 6/10 (19 May 2003)

It's astonishing to me that the people who made this film seem to have no idea what made their first film so good. I can only assume this is the case because their present effort is just plain bad.
It wasn't just the ultra-cool fight scenes that introduced movie audiences to the concept of "bullet-time." It wasn't just Carrie Ann Moss' fine self drop-kicking bad guys and running up walls whilst clad in skin-tight leather and latex. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were an integral part of the film's entertainment value.
But the first film wasn't just a simplistic clash between cartoonish caricatures of good and evil a la Star Wars. It was a revolution fantasy about looking at things in a new way and dealing with the consequences through love and loyalty -- and, okay, kung fu.
In the first film we were made to care about our loveless and pathetic protagonist and his humdrum life as he seemed adrift, as so many of us are, in a cynical and lonely cityscape of cubicles and punch-clocks. We cared about him because he was trying to find out why life was like this and we cared because he wasn't falling prey to the pitfalls of drugs and destructive relationships. He was looking for answers and staying pure to his quest. In a real sense, he was every unmarried young urbanite trying to intellectualize himself happy with the help of a computer and a little too much solitude.
When the answers find him, he takes a chance and leaves his world for theirs and pays the price big time. The system is not happy he's switched sides and seeks to deprive him of his life, his livelihood, and, what's worse, the hot new woman in his life. Anyone who's ever made a major change in lifestyle can relate to metaphors that illustrate this kind of peril.
And it doesn't take a genius to recognize the hidden meanings behind the fact that in one half of the movie Neo (or as he is referred to by Matrix enforcers, Mr. Anderson) is taking orders from whitebread America (his boss, the FBI), and in the second half he's listening to world-weary but wiser poor black housewives (the Oracle) and hipsters (Morpheus).
So, it's the computer enthusiast who thinks for himself allied with the funky downtrodden masses against the straight-laced corporate bloodsuckers. This is a story my generation can relate to. The good guys prevail because they see the system for what it is and because they help free each others' minds. And a little kung fu never hurts either.
'The Matrix Reloaded' is a total sellout. Our hero isn't in the trenches with his new compadres any more, he's flying over their heads, literally, like Superman, and duking it out with Eurotrash bad guys like it was some sort of Schwarzenegger picture. He lands long enough to have sex with his girlfriend or stand around and look iconic in his shades.
They set themselves a pretty high bar for visually interesting fight sequences with the first film and the ones in 'Reloaded' pay off if you try and ignore the fact that it's quite often a completely computer-generated Keanu you see lunging around. But you won't care. This picture's got no soul. All the right actors are there in all the right outfits, but there's way too much of a BattleStar-Galactica-come-Star- Trek-Next-Generation contingent marching around in tunics and talking of "ships" and "crew" like they had invaded this film from some stupid made-for-SciFi-Channel movie-of-the-week. One particular scene seems matched shot for shot out of the BattleStar Galactica TV series: Our spaceship pilot gets home to his rebel abode and gets a bunch of smack from his warrior wife about being more careful when flying through the Alpha quadrant. I mean what the hell kind of crap am I watching here?
I think a better movie would have tested Neo's funky new alliances in some way and would have existed more exclusively in the actual Matrix.
But they thought it would be better to be more like Star Wars or something which is a god awful shame for those of us who really related to the intelligence and style of the first picture.
Why didn't the Wachowski brothers stay true to their original themes and inspirations? My guess is the Matrix got them.
;-)
This movie review by Erik Gloor