The Story and the Effects Still Grab in this Sequel

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2005)

I didn't see "The Matrix Reloaded" until the fourth day early show, and it was still sold out enough that I had to squeeze into the third row, along with the babies, toddlers and little kids there despite the "R" rating, and next to the guy with serious sleep apnea snoring problems.
While I re-watched "The Matrix" to bone up (and get re-enthralled -- I was just telling our IT guys at work when the whole computer system crashed all day that they needed to visualize the circuits connecting), I haven't yet read through the philosophical explanations at the official site, let alone listened to the discussions with spiritual authors on National Public Radio, or yet watched the background short films in the "Animatrix" collection, so I had to ask my son (who was at the first 11 pm pre-opening day showing) for some explanations that I just didn't get -- I hadn't even gotten that Neo is an anagram for One.
What I did get, besides the return of fun fight scenes and visually complicated sets, is that Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss still look really good together and that Neo's and Trinity's love anchors the tale (and provides for droll grist with villains and prophets).
Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus shrinks a bit in stature because we now see him in the fuller context of the politics of Zion, the last human city, and its relationship to the Matrix, plus entanglement in a jealous triangle (one of several going on). Because an original element in the Wachowskis future universe, compared to most sci fi movies, in addition to choices, is human emotions.
Doubtless there's already a few PhD theses on the strong role of women in the Matrix universe -- what will they make of the fact that Trinity never gets on top now that we finally get a discreet sex scene? No ambiguous falling in love with androids in this war with machines, like in "Blade Runner," but rather Zion celebrates human sensuality, complete with a multi-ethnic, city-wide prayer session that ends in a rave to the beat of taiko drums with a touch of "Carmina Burana" (if I could be sure that those frequently recurring drums were on the soundtrack I'd get it, but Warner Brothers prefers marketing to teen-age boys with pedestrian metal tracks from which only the closing Dave Matthews Band re-mix stands out). Interestingly, the women all seem to find Salome's seven veils to dance in, while the men are still wearing their grubby long johns (not that Keanu looks bad in those).
Yes, we have the return of Bullet Time and balletically choreographed martial arts, which works well except for the connecting shots where the CGI turns the actors too much into cartoons. The battle with the multiplying Mr. Smiths is a particular hoot. The freeway chase is noteworthy more for its length than originality of strategies, partly because I couldn't figure out how the Sentinels or the Albino Twins could be destroyed, though its second half turn-around did have me ducking.
One weakness is, as the ever welcome Harold Perrineau (of "Oz") comments, Neo does spend too much time "doing his Superman thing" with flying heroics that could either be a tribute to those movies or just plain retreads.
Stay through the ten minutes of credits for a preview of "The Matrix Revolutions," as "Reloaded" ends with a serial-style cliffhanger.
(originally written 5/18/2003)