Matrix Reloaded Misfires
Published May 16, 2003
I obviously don't "trust" the Wachowski brothers as much as other Matrix fans do (hey even Speilberg made some bad movies). I'm glad that they are using lots of African-American actors, and I love the idea of loading up the story with philosophical references and religious questions. But I'd like a movie that stands on its own and which has a coherent plot structure.
I think that Matrix Reloaded is deeply flawed, and it makes me wonder if the Wachowski brothers are too clever for their own good, or whether they perhaps tried to do too many things in this movie. The original Matrix was simple and direct, and at the same time it was deceptively profound. The Matrix Reloaded takes it as "a given" that every utterance by people like Morpheus or The Oracle is deeply meaningful. Or at least that it will be received as such by their fervent fans (they're probably right about that).
Let's see if "All is Revealed" is when the final movie comes out. But until it does I defy anyone to make sense of the speech given by the Matrix's creator. I'll bet if you transcribe it and read it you will see that it has all of the depth of a computer generated program that spits out philosophy jargon the way that the Alanis Morissette lyric generator creates lyrics that are faux-meaningful. Too much of anything can be bad, including discussions of philosophy (trust me on this one: I was a philosophy major).
So will the Matrix Revolution be a big hit? Will it leave us in starry-eyed wonder at the genius of the Wachowskis? Will it have a coherent plot structure? Will we be asked to join a cult and donate money to a worthy cause?
Stay tuned. You won't know for sure until the last movie comes out.
- Matrix Reloaded Misfires
- Published: May 16, 2003
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- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Action, Video: SF
- Writer: Ernest Svenson
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Comments on this articleComments
The vampire expert raises her hand... Silver bullets have nothing to do with vampires. They're for werewolves. For christsake.
But of course you're right with all the Christian motives. I like long black coats, but when I saw this one in the trailers I was instantly reminded of a monk.
Anyway, Reloaded will only hit cinemas around here next week, so I'll have to wait a bit longer:(
Monica Bellucci personally stated that her character, Persephone, and the Merovingian are like [emotional] vampires. There is definitely a connection between her and the movie in the background. The character she kills may or may not be a werewolf-type program, the actors certainly looked close enough to the classical werewolf-in-manform.
Re: Comment Number 1
No scene with Neo in it is really suspenseful. I thought they were all boring, actually. The Freeway scene was good precisely because Neo wasn't involved until the very end (and when you knew he was going to arrive, you knew it was going to be at the last second and nothing bad was going to happen). Neo is actually very disappointing because even though he can supposedly manipulate the Matrix in any way he wishes, he doesn't, for the most part. He can stop a thousand bullets flying at him, but when someone swings a sword at him, he can't stop that too? The fight scenes would be much more interesting (though, also, much shorter) if Neo would bend/break the rules of the Matrix to do more than just make himself really fast and strong. A disappointingly stupid and unimaginative god.
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I would just like to point out to you that Neo flew at the end of the first Matrix, so he didn't just up and out of no where started flying in Matrix Reloaded. If you were to call out the flaw of his new found powers, the question should, thus, be poised right at the end of the first Matrix. Anyway, I believe it's naturally assumed that Neo can manipulate the Matrix anyway he wants, so thus, he can fly or stop bullets for that matter.
I do admit that it is strange to have a movie where the hero is automatically invincible at the get-go of the movie, but the suspense comes from the vulnerability of those around him. It's like Superman, invincible himself, but his feelings for those around him provides the dangerous aspect of the storyline.
Anyway, I do agree with you how this movie definitely isn't a stand alone movie. Within the first five minutes, the first thought that came to my head (other than that the scene of Trinity falling out of the the building being excessively long) was that, if I hadn't seen the first Matrix, I wouldn't know what the heck is going on.