| On May 14th, a group of us were treated
(well, not treated exactly, the tickets were five
bucks) to an early screening of “The Matrix:
Reloaded” at the Studio Movie Grill in Plano.
Let me first start off by saying this is the coolest
place to go and see a movie. The theatre is pretty
comfortable, with rows of counters that you sit
in front of. The seats are roll-around office chairs
that swivel. You can order dinner and drinks from
a menu similar to that of a place like Chili’s,
for about the same price. The staff is friendly
and they made sure we had a great time. Special
thanks goes out to Erin, who was nice enough to
let us into the theatre first, since we had arrived
about 2 hours early. The evening started out
around 8 p.m. with a showing of “The Matrix”,
which was kind of dark because it was from a DVD
projected onto the screen. The lights were left
on which made it even darker, but it was still
cool to be able to watch it, not only for a reminder
but to kill time until the 10:00 screening.
For those not in the know, the first “Matrix”
put forth the theory that nothing around you,
not even your body is real. This theory would
dictate, that you (dear reader) are not actually
reading this review, you’re not really sitting
in front of your computer, or even inhabiting
your body. You, as well as the rest of us are
all in reality lying in pods, being used as human
Duracell batteries to power a world controlled
by machines. Everything around you is an elaborate
computer program being fed into your brain, designed
to keep you preoccupied until you are drained.
Enter Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), otherwise
known as Neo, a computer hacker who is pulled
from this fantasy world by Morhpeus (Laurence
Fishburne). Morhpeus is one of the spiritual leaders
of the last humans still living free of the Matrix,
and believes in a prophecy that Neo is “The
One” (No, not Jet Li) who will rise up and
free them from the oppressive machines.
When I first saw “The Matrix”, I
was blown away by the concept as well as the execution
of the film. It was a complex, though thoroughly
understandable storyline, presented with state-of-the-art
special effects, incredibly choreographed fights,
and BIG action sequences. No movie up to that
point had even come close to achieving what was
accomplished in this movie. Since then, many have
tried, but none have succeeded.
Now, in 2003, we have not one, but two of the
most highly anticipated sequels ever, “The
Matrix: Reloaded” this month, and “The
Matrix: Revolutions” in November. (And a
Videogame that ties into the films like no other
videogame before, but I won’t get into that
here.) The question was, would it be worth the
wait?
In seeing “The Matrix: Reloaded”
the other night, I have to give a slightly ambiguous
answer. Yes and no. Yes, because in terms of taking
the action sequences and special effects to a
higher level, the Wachowski Brothers succeeded
to a point that I think will please fans of the
movies, it certainly did me. The group I was with
all got thoroughly into the movie, and were once
again blown away by some of the awe-inspiring
visuals that flew across the screen.
The reason that the answer ‘No’ comes
into play is because of several problems I had
with parts of the film. “The Matrix: Reloaded”
had several scenes that bogged down the film.
I can fill you in without giving away any spoilers.
Towards the beginning, Morpheus addresses the
people of Zion, which is the underground city
that houses the ‘free’ humans. He
speaks of the prophecy, etc… Once the speech
is over, we sit through a 4 or 5 minute scene
of the crowd dancing around to tribal beats, intercut
with shots of a love scene between Neo and Trinity
(the love interest played by Carrie-Anne-Moss).
The love scene was fine, and mostly tasteful,
but the rest of the time I felt like we were watching
“MTV’s Spring Break Zion” and
the only thing missing was Carson Daly as host.
One of our other friends commented that it was
like “Zion’s Girls Gone Wild.”
Either way, the entire scene was superfluous,
added nothing to the plot and generally just brought
the flow of the film to a ‘grinding’
halt.
Then a little while later, there is a scene in
a restaurant that introduces a computer programmer
from whom Team Neo must rescue a kidnapped “KeyMaker.”
In another loooong scene, the programmer goes
on and on about how he totally understands the
nature of the Matrix and to prove it shows that
he has written a ‘program’ cake that
is such a strong aphrodisiac as to work immediately
upon the first bite. Though fascinating in nature,
while perhaps adding a little to the plot, it
was nonetheless too drawn out and ultimately boring.
One of my other disappointments came in the form
of some of the CGI work. In the first film (at
least from what I could tell), almost all of the
fighting was done by the actors and stunt men
using wires and the like. This was very important
as it added a sense of realism to this sci fi
movie. In the sequel, there were too many points
where it was obvious that CG doubles were inserted
in place of many of the characters. Most of the
time the doubles looked pretty good, but I could
still tell when the character suddenly took on
a sort of ‘plastic’ look. Every time
I spotted this, it took me right out of the scene.
The worst, was in the scene on the highway (which
you’ve probably seen in the trailers) when
one of the ‘Agents’ jumps onto the
hood of a car and smashes it into the ground.
The scene is very cool, but the character looks
terrible, with these big squared shoulders.
Last, but not least there was one major part
of the whole concept that bothered our whole group.
(This is only a spoiler if you haven’t seen
the first movie). At the end of the first movie,
Neo realizes he is ‘The One’ and places
a call to The Matrix telling it that he is about
to wake everyone up to the real world and expose
the façade. In the sequel, this obviously
hasn’t happened yet. I could cope with this,
if perhaps he realized waking everyone up wasn’t
as easy as he thought, but it wasn’t at
all even addressed. It was as if that idea was
completely dismissed and the war simply continued.
I’ve heard some other complaints about
plotting, but for the most part they are unfounded.
One case in particular involves the idea that
if Neo is like a God within the Matrix with the
ability to fly and stop bullets, how can he still
get hurt or why does he even still fight. The
general consensus in our group was that these
abilities seem to start with a hesitation as if
it takes a lot of concentration. In the scenes
in question, Neo wasn’t given time, and
his reactions were more immediate in nature.
The plot of “The Matrix: Reloaded”
does get a little more convoluted and will certainly
confuse you if you haven’t seen the fist
one, so I do recommend watching it before you
go. I will also warn you that it ends on a cliffhanger,
but this really isn’t too bad since the
next film comes out in November.
In spite of the few problems I had with “The
Matrix: Reloaded”, I still recommend it
highly. The Wachowski Brothers have certainly
created a movie unlike any other, and as far a
pure entertainment goes, it delivers it tenfold.
Movie
Site
Directed by: Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne
Moss, Jada Pinkette-Smith, Joe Pantoliano, Monica
Bellucci, Hugo Weaving, Nona Gaye, Matt McColm,
Gloria Foster
MPAA Rating: R (sci-fi violence and some sexuality)
The
Studio Movie Grill |
