The Matrix: Reloaded


release year: 2003
genre: sci-fi
viewing setting: theatrical sneak preview, 5/14/03

synopsis: Following the events of the first movie, there's more purposeless, senseless mayhem.

impressions: To hell with this movie. It does nothing more than prove that you can take Hong-Kong style martial arts action, gunfights and chases, set it all to a loud soundtrack, throw in something about computers, and the masses will eat it up. This movie is quite flashy - I can't deny that - but it lacks any kind of plot or consistency. Now, those of you who know me know that I like things like Friday the 13th and you may say to me "how can you like one plot-less movie and hate another?" I'll tell you how. In a "Friday the 13th" movie, there are rules. When the killer comes back to life, they explain why that happened. It may be stupid, but it's explained...defined. There is something there to hang onto, to understand. Rules. In this series, there are NO rules. Nothing makes any sense. There's supposedly the real world and the computer/Matrix world, but the lines are blurred and things that are supposed to happen in one end up happening in the other, and vice versa. For the record, the Nightmare on Elm Street series had the same problem. It's always bad practice to define rules for the audience and then proceed to ignore them. The only difference here is that the rules weren't as well-defined in the first place. Anyway...having said all of that, I'll now say this: if you can turn your brain off (not to "low" - to "off") and just sit back and watch hours of kick-ass fights and cool special effects, this is just the movie for you. In that sense, I enjoyed it.

a like-minded review: http://www.dvdreview.com/fullreviews/matrix_reloaded.shtml

acting: Keanu Reeves is no Robert DeNiro, but at least he's found a niche here. Laurence Fishburne seems to alternate between action-leader and prophet. None of the other characters really registered for me, especially Carrie-Ann Moss, who I find repulsive.

final word: 99% flash, 1% plot. You decide what you want.

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