What happened?

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2003)

I loved the first movie. Being a long time fan of both speculative sci-fi and Hong Kong movies, as well as a big fan of the Wachowski's first film (Bound), I saw The Matrix the night it opened. And it blew me away. It was the most potent, flawless combination of brain candy and eye candy I've seen to date. So I should have expected that the Wachowski's would find it impossible to match that feat, much less surpass it. But I would have been happy if they'd at least come close.
First of all, if you were as turned on as I was by the more cerebral aspects of the first film, you'll be severely disappointed by Reloaded. The only cool idea in the film (actually, the only idea period) is definitely too little, too late (near the end). There is next to no plot, just an eventually tiresome sequence of (admittedly elaborate) action scenes. But the film still might have been worthwhile if not for the often painfully fake animation in these scenes. Until computers can generate images of moving humans that are indistinguishable from real ones, all filmmakers should avoid like SARS using fully animated people for fight scenes. Animated monsters or environments can sometimes achieve verisimilitude, but only because we have no real monsters to compare them to, and environments aren't in constant flux and motion like a living being. But we are simply too aware of exactly what a person, especially one in motion, should look like. There are whole sequences in the multiple Agent Smith fight and the car chase where everyone--worst of all whoever the center of attention happens to be--is animated, and it's depressingly obvious. I spent agonizing minutes during these scenes trying to block my awareness of it, to no avail. And I'm not some FX tech geek who gets off on exposing the clockwork, so to speak. When I see a movie like this, I want nothing more than to be duped. But the abundance of truly weak illusion ruined (for me, at least) every scene it was used in. And that's pretty much all the action scenes. And that's pretty much the whole film.
I have some more minor complaints as well. Such as: while I'm not a big techno music fan (although I giddily jumped out of my seat when Meat Beat Manifesto came belting out of the walls during a scene in The Matrix), I thought the use of music during fight scenes in the first movie was invigorating, brilliant, and unequalled in effect. Unfortunately, the music used during fight scenes in Reloaded is like a watered down, safe-for-your-grandmother mix of beats and typical orchestral music (which equals feces).
I wanted to love this movie. I expected to love this movie. But I didn't even come close--and I don't think this is a case of letdown due to unreasonably high expectations. The Wachowski's really seem to have sacrificed brains for beauty, and flawed beauty at that. This is a shame, especially when they've demonstrated in the past that they are capable of both simultaneously (Bound was just as smart and gorgeous as The Matrix, although in a more low-key way). Not just capable of it, but masters of it. I can only hope that Revolutions will return to the cleverness and visual purity of the first part of the trilogy.
I think it's still probably worth your money to see, though. Especially if you're not bothered by transparent computer animation.