Review Guy Online- Matrix Reloaded (2003)

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The Review

Thomas “Neo” Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is back in this supposedly bigger, and better movie that follows the exploits of the original Matrix. In the first Matrix Neo is introduced to the possibility that his world up until that point has been a sham. Neo finds out that the real world is controlled by Machines, and that they use humans as their own little Duracell batteries. By the end of the first film Neo has embraced this reality, and maybe even the belief that he is destined to be the savoir of humankind.

Fast forward a bit and we find that Neo has come almost full circle. He now has even more extraordinary powers to use in his fight against the machine army, and he is not at all hesitant about using them. Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) has diminished his role as Neo’s teacher, and now acts more as a spiritual leader to the cause. Think of him as Moses to Neo’s Jesus. His purpose seems to be to inspire the population, and to spread his belief that Neo is the fulfillment of the prophecy. With the straight-faced Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) at their side they are ready for anything. .

That anything happens to be a twenty five thousand strong machine army tunneling their way to Zion along with upgraded Agents that have set out to destroy Neo. The goal of the machine army is an easily stated one-the total annihilation of Zion and her inhabitants. There might be only one way to stop it, and that way lies with Neo.

This movie is built upon the foundations of religion that has been taken out, and redesigned for the purpose of the film. Is there any wonder that Neo is called the savior, and that he can do things that seem miraculous? Or that Morpheus is filled with an almost blind faith that Neo is the one destined to save them? In the bible we know that the trinity is the sum of God. The son, the father, and the Holy Ghost. These elements are present in the film just in a movie friendly form. Even the place where humanity will make its last stand has biblical importance. The term Zion in the dictionary has a number of meanings, but they all have related relevance. The terms meaning is: The Jewish people (God’s chosen people), or a religious community or people sacred to god (Chosen people), or an idealized harmonious community. These aspects are all in the film, but this time around the meaning is muddled in a storyline that is average at best.

In the character of Neo (Keanu Reeves) you have a performance that is so dry it is liable to crack. When a man has the fate of the world on his shoulders you would think that he would display some sort of emotion instead of the deer in the headlights look we are shown. Two hundred and fifty thousand people are depending on you Neo, and you look like you just had a really bad blood transfusion. Morpheus character does no better as we see a wonderful actor wasting his talents spitting out awful dialogue. From the Matrix to the Matrix: Reloaded this character has devolved instead of going up to the evolutionary chain. For the most part the connection that is so important between audience, and character is non-existent. I found myself not caring what happened next to any of the characters.

Then the film takes on the feel of a Bruce Lee movie. You know the one when he has to go through different levels to reach the top man. The Directors employ this as he meets different aspects of the Matrix on his way up. Among those he meets are The Architect (Helmut Bakaitis), Persephone (Monica Bellucci), and even a pair of twins. Through each level that he passes he comes closer to his goal.

With all of that said the strong part of the film is the FX that it employs. If you thought the visual effects were off the chart in the first film then you will be floored on this one. The first sequence will convince you of that when you see it. You can be sure that this film will be mentioned during Oscar talk for that very thing. Another strong point of the film is any time that Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) is on the screen. You might remember him as Elrond (Fairy King) of The Lord of The Rings trilogy. His encounters with Neo have left him different. He now carries a bit of sarcasm with him wherever he goes, and claims that he has been freed. After his first battle with Neo he was slated for termination, a directive that he has ignored in his bid to destroy Neo.

The credit for writing and directing this film goes to the brothers Wachowski. Andy and Larry collaborated on the first film, and in November they will release part three of the series. Both have hit acclaim with such films as Bound, and of course The Matrix. They put out a film that is full of lots of good things; to bad much of it is harder to digest than the original.