Alright, listen people..

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2003)

A great thing happened today. A movie that I have been looking forward to, "The Matrix Reloaded", has been getting mixed reviews by critics and fans. Some thoughts, coming from direct friends, were also pretty jaded saying there was no emotion, and the fight scenes went on too long, and there's hardly any plot... and more. A great thing happened today. That great thing is that these people who thought it was bad in any slight respect is wrong. Not only are they wrong, they are monumentally wrong. Everyone has their opinion, but what I just seen in theaters today was the most amazing, exhilirating, breathtaking, emotional mind jobs I've seen in a very long time. To put it lightly, it was indeed the messiah sequel I was wanting, and then some. Better than the original, and by far even.
Call me wrong, but I know what I seen today. And it was magical. I'm the only person off or online who seemed to absolutely love the dance scene. The entire humanity of it -it established so many things at once, was necessary for so many reasons. It was one, a symbol of their rebellion against 'sleep', the machines' goal, two, a huge reinforcement of the powerful bond between Trinity and Neo, which made their scenes later mean much more (in perfect contrast to how a certain character in X2 didn't have enough time for it's scenes later in the film to matter much, in my opinion), three, a definite way to establish Zion as more than just a repository of human beings, but the last living, thriving pulse of humanity in the world, a celebration especially after Morpheus' speech.
My god, awesome audio-visual piece, in my opinion. I thought it was an interesting way to combine the man/machine concept, seeing the plugs still in their spines and limbs, while an act of love was going on. I loved that entire sequence through and through, one of my favorite parts of the film. Some of the acting could have been better... but the complaints stop there. It had no more "bad stuff" than the first movie, and I'm actually going to say this was a LESS FLAWED film than the original. How can I say that?

Easy. "The Matrix Reloaded" has MORE human moments, MORE soul, and MORE emotion. It does, no argument. There are so many things about this movie that is just a complete trainwreck of emotion. I felt bad for the people of Zion. But more importantly, I felt their struggle. Their need to celebrate, party, have sex... the works. Like I said, if I were in their situation, God knows... I'd be a party animal. Heard that phrase "party like there is no tomorrow?" That's the idea. Also, Morpheus' speech before the act was quite captivating, well acted, and sent tingles down my spine.
More about the film: Morpheus. Morpheus felt like a NATURAL LEADER. He was different because he was in a different position. He is no longer the main man: out of Zion, yes. In Zion? Not hardly, though he is well respected. His words were wise, his feelings were portrayed very nicely, and his overall character was handled to an extreme plane that most films lack. Neo: Neo was just how he should be. He takes orders from his superiors, he owns a lot of ass, and he is just damn cool. I loved his conversation with the Oracle.

Nice. Hell, everything including Neo was nice. It was just a continuation of his character, and I'm happy with it. Trinity was HEART AND SOUL. Hear me: HEART and SOUL. God, I love this woman. I love this character. When Persephone made Neo kiss her, I sank in my seat, just ripped to shreds. People say there is no emotion in this film? I say they are GRAVELY mistaken. When Neo brought her back to life like she brought him back to life in the first movie, I was moves to damn tears.
Well, Not NECESSARILY moved to tears because of the emotion (though it played a huge part in it) but moved because of how incredible and amazing it was to see someone bring someone else back to life with nothing but PURE LOVE. Of course, starting her heart back was amazing in itself but it takes love to accomplish this. Very moving, and one of the best scenes of all time.
All time.
The other characters... Zee, Niobe, Lock, the architect, the Oracle... good. Very good. Mona Gaye was perhaps one of the better actresses in the film. I could feel her not wanting Link to go onto the Nebberchunezzer. She didn't get much screen time, but when she was there, I felt great emotion. The twins are the Darth Mauls of this film. They are in it exactly as long as they should be, and they play their part-- to be totally badass-- with perfect precision and accuracy. Holy hell. Persephone. God, I loved her character too. This was my first time seeing Monica Bellucci in a role, and I must say I'm pleased with the results. She is not only nice to look at, but very deep and quite cool.
Next, Zion. Holy..... When we are first introduced to Zion with that awesome directing and epic music, I just felt like crying. Amazing. This was truly science fiction at its finest. I gaped and awed at the glorious city of human resistance. It was beautiful and majestic. A true sci-fi environment, completely realized by the directors. The action? For me, it was all about regaining consciousness. I liked the first few fights OKAY, then when the burly brawl commenced, well, consider me a loyal fan of this scene. Long. Tense. Oh my God? YES. I am truly out of words.
People say "well why didn't Neo fly away to begin with?" BECAUSE HE DID NOT HAVE THE CHANCE TO, DUH. YIKES, WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE EAT FOR DINNER? It has obviously rectified your thinking pattern. As you PROBABLY DID NOT NOTICE, it takes a while for Neo to gain the momentum to fly away. KIND OF HARD WHEN YOU HAVE ONE HUNDRED REPLICAS OF AGENT SMITH ON YOUR ASS.

Now that that's over, just let me have a moment to myself concerning the freeway sequence.

*moment of silence*
Okay, I'm done. Of course, I will probably have several more moments of silence before I sleep tonight, but that's just one. There isn't any adjectives that can properly describe the amazingness and intensity of that scene. The way Murphus takes out the twins? Hold me someone, boy or girl, I don't care-- this scene is overwhelming and quite frankly I am not worthy to bask in the glory of it. How this scene was filmed, I don't know. And you know what? That's the magic of it.
Plot: Does this have more story than the original? Does this have a better story than the original? In my opinion, they have thier equal values, but I'm going with this new story. That's right, I enjoyed this story more. Why? The first movie was about discovery, this was about human life- about what it takes to survive, morality, CHOICE-- it's all in place, hand in hand. Some of the issues discussed between the characters were quite captivating.

I suck at remembering dialogue on a first showing, but I loved nearly everything that was said regarding the human spirit.
What makes us human? It's all discussed. The machines are digging to Zion, and the fate of mankind is at serious risk. The whole subplots with the Keymaker, KEYMAKER- not KEYMASTER, so PLEASE CEASE AND DESIST with your "THAT WAS TOO MUCH LIKE GHOSTBUSTERS" bull. Yes, it may have seemed that way or came off that way, but this was COMPLETELY different. Another thing that makes me happy-I didn't understand jack **** during the architect scene.

That's why I want to see this movie again as soon as humanly possible-- not only did it deliver the action goods, but the STORY and SOUL goods came in SPADES, but with a pricetag of confusing storytelling. I know people that understood it the first time around, so it is not bad storytelling. I'm just too stupid to understand all the details. The end was GREAT. I LOVED Neo being the Super Cool guy he was, stopping those machines in dead flight, and going into a coma. Nice, nice, and nice. How Trinity wants to stay with Neo rather than sleep... again, nice. Nice emotion here.
What if the prophecy is true? What if tomorrow, the war could be over? Isn't that worth fighting for? Isn't that worth dying for? Morpheus, if Revolutions is even half as good as Reloaded, you bet your ass it is.