*** Official "THE MATRIX RELOADED" Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Kohn]

Well, I was floored, excellent movie. After reading the complaints about the first act dragging, my expectations were somewhat lowered going in. Maybe that was a good thing, but I sure as hell wasn't disappointed. That was probably the shortest 140 minutes I've ever spent watching a movie. When it got to the freeway chase I was surprised, I couldn't believe the movie was already 3/4 over.

The only thing I can say negative is that the temple rave was a little too corny and lasted a little too long. Otherwise I had no problems with the pacing, story, or dialog.

People complaining about too much shallow pop philosophy must not have been paying attention during the first movie because there was just as much of that in the first. I enjoyed that angle of the story here just as I did with the first movie.

I must confess I'm not sure I understood every word at the end, but I got enough to get the general idea.

I think the dialog with the Architect was supposed to convey that this particular machine/program was so advanced that it had a hard time even communicating on a level that humans can relate to

Were some of the action scenes eye candy and somewhat superfluious to the main plot? Sure, but they were still fun, and that's fine with me. Some people have complained about the characters being hard to relate to. Maybe I can't directly relate to the characters, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate that they're f@$king cool as hell. Every teenage kid has daydreamed about having those kinds of powers. The thing I like about the Matrix movies is that they pull this material off with a straight face, none of the tongue-in-cheek cheeziness that you would typically get from similar movies more targeted towards kids.

I think what it comes down to is this. If you saw the original movie once a few years ago and have vague recollections of it being a fun action movie, you might be be disappointed with parts of the sequel. But if you're a true fan of The Matrix who watches it several times a year (or more), you will not be disappointed with this continuation of the story.

Overall Rating: 4.9/5
(Gotta leave a little room for the final movie in case it's even better )

 

[Dalton]

I thought it was very good. I had tempered my expectations going in so i was pleasantly surprised because it was better than i thought it was going to be. There's really not much more i can add to what was said by those that liked it so i give Reloaded:


:star: :star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Lewis Besze]

I liked it as well,it excelled im every level[story, action,acting,drama,SX].Those who were so distracted by the "horrid CGI" can surely offer a better one to the filmakers right?
Perhaps wait for the paperback next time?

 

[BryanZ]

I didn't like this one at all. Please allow me to explain:

1. Was what they showed at the rave really necessary? How many times do you need to show women's breasts and people's feet?

2. Was the sex scene between Neo and Trinity necessary? The only part that was was him asking her to stay on the ship
. Even that could be done with clothes on.

3. Was it just me or did they try to do an extremely poor homage to When Harry Met Sally? The event could have easily been done another way.

4. How many times do you need to do a 360 camera view in a fight? Seemed like one was occurring three or more times per fight.

5. Showing the code was overdone in the first few minutes of the movie and not done enough (if at all) towards the end. Break it up more.

6. Extremely poor editing. This movie should have been at least 10, if not 15, minutes shorter than it was.

7. Related to the above. The fight scenes dragged on and did not seem original.

The problem to me were the director's choices in those areas mentioned above and the editing, which also falls into the lap of the director. This film could and should have been masterful but instead the director blew it bigtime. If they sat back and tweaked the movie in the manner suggested above I would have seen it at least one more time. As it stands now, it is a one time only deal. (Notice what I haven't critized: characters and plot. Both were good. The directors decisions for scenes, fight length, and editing were wretched.)

:star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[BertFalasco]

Let me start off on how genius the [semi] ending (architect portion).

Read on remembering what was said at ending in mind
The fact that there have been 5 other sagas of this very trilogy is awesome. We are just seeing the 6th and 'present' saga of the Matrix's pattern to live. The architect pretty much says that the program loops on this sequence of searching for the One, team together and seek and destroy. Basically, there have been 5 generations of the same characters with the same occupation/purpose.
One point during the movie, I asked myself, "Why did the Matrix create the oracle when in fact she is against it and helping it's very opponent(s)?" The fact of the matter is, this character and others are there to keep the cycle going. If for no Oracle, there'd be no thrive for these people to search for answers, no hope and/or something to believe in.

Obviously, our Neo, the 6th saga, chose the other door (in architect room), not done by any of the other Ones; ergo, Matrix: Revolutions must be about humans surviving without having to die (ALL OF HUMAN RACE) as that is what the architect explained. The Matrix survives through this pattern, they live off it, and it lives off them. Our Neo is special because he defied the past and will change the pattern.

A flaw that bothers me is if Doser's brother can interpret the numbers on his monitor why did he not cancel the live signal (telephone) when the agent mutated the one guy and connected to the 'real world.'

Very complex deep movie. I loved it.
Forgot to add: At the end of the first one, Neo realizes his power which defies any program in the Matrix in some way, and at the end of Reloaded, he can now defy machines in the 'real world.'
-Bert

(Admin note - spoilers added because this thread is not to have such blatant spoilers in it, lest it ruin the film for people on the fence about going to see it)

Shat, sorry admin, I thought I added tags. I didn't notice because I was in kitchen. I'm sorry.

 

[Paul_Scott]

understand this review is coming from someone who's only seen the original Matrix once, and crammed for TMR by reading hours of posts about the movie.

take this review to be the equivalent of a non comic book fan reviewing X2

nowhere near as bad as some of the extreme reviews led me to believe, but i also doubt it is quite as impressive to anyone but already converted Matrix nerds.
nothing in the movie is going to have me converting to Wachoskiism anytime soon.

since i was coming in somewhat cold( or at best, luke warm) to this universe, i didn't mind the Zion stuff at all.
in fact, the unintentionally funny Rave and Fishburne speech, were enjoyable parts to me.
i can imagine how much fun it would be to have a group of friends together MST3k'ing these parts when it comes out on dvd.
the effects, especially the BB were as others have said, pretty underwhelming.
the PS2 quality of the cgi deserves as much ridicule as no doubt will be accorded The Hulk a month from now.
the only thing worse than the lameness of the cgi, was the fact that the fight was basically pointless.
yes, i've heard the argument for Neo battling on, but a minute would have sufficed in that case.

in fact, the action in this film, and the fights in particular, were what i found the least interesting aspect of the whole enterprise- and it is this area that really kind of shoots down all the Matrix-geeks who are getting off on all the intricacies, references, and clues sprinkled into the piece.
for all its pretensions, TMR is just one big, mostly dopey HK/comic book movie.

you have some serious banter discussing plot points, or the philosophical underpinnings of this universe, and then its time for another inconclusive chop-socky break.

the fact that the same people who obsess over the minutia of the cryptic references, would be frothing at the mouth is there weren't these, predictable, periodic fight breaks, just goes to show the the films are first and foremost
comic-book movies.
in this case though, instead of melodrama punctuating the fights, we have conundrums and puzzles.
i don't know that this makes the film actually smarter than something like ...say X2.
clever? probably.
but then again, intricate and clever isn't the same as good drama.
this is drama for code-geeks.
often during the film i was thinking how i should be reading more up on Mcluhan, because this material, which is leaving me mostly cold, is obviously speaking to a large segment of this generation.
i was contemplating Medium & message more so than
Merovingians.


not really trying to rag the film here.
i found it entertaining ...if more in theory, than anything else.



don't feel a burning need to see it again, or even pick up the dvd when it comes out.
nothing in the film really inspired me enough to want to research the sundry references.
and most surprisingly, i found the action to be pretty but uninvolving...even much of the freeway chase.


Did really love the flying scenes though ( i think their brevity may have been a + here...those definitley left me wanting more) & i can't say i wasn't amused for most of the 152 minutes.

 

[Seth Paxton]

The Matrix Reloaded
9 of 10
(spoiler free and no plot recap)
I told Tino earlier that this was a 9.5 to me, but on further reflection I think its flaws hurt it more than just a .5.

However, this film is structurally a carbon-copy of the first film. Two minor examples that don't spoil any of the plot - both films open with Trinity action sequences and at roughly the same time stamp both films feature a techno-dance sequence. This sort of parallelism goes on throughout the film, and I'm not calling it a bad thing. What I'm saying is if you liked the first one, here comes some more of it but with bigger fights (oh mama) and new plot twists.

I found the new underlying plot lines to be a nice direction for the film to go and it refreshed the story well for me. Control. Reloaded is all about how much of ANY choices are really being controlled by other forces and if any man or machine has true freedom of choice. If Matrix was about the branch of philosophy known as metaphysics (what is real) then Reloaded is about about Freedom/Determinism, and it takes it to the same level of investigation.

So if you liked the questions about "how do you determine reality" from the first film, you should love the "does freedom of choice really exist" questions here.

The flaws are primarily in pacing issues and scene connectivity. The front third of the film is bogged down with too much Zion storyline including a needless "don't go" plot for Link and the pointlessly extended Zion dance/love making scene. The idea that Zion's organic nature contrasts with the coldness of the sleek Matrix is fine, but enough already, we get it.

And many times scenes just aren't linked well. This is not to say that they don't make sense, but rather that the flow is more awkward than it was for the first film. This tends to improve in the second half of the film.

To end on a positive note, the film introduces the idea of more than two sides in the battle, which is good, and it introduces a whole new variety of matrix entities. It's not just agents and sentinals any more, but a whole slew of programs with their own interests at hand which adds a ton of spice to the story.

PS - I would have to contradict those that said that either the Oracle or Architect were hard to follow, for me both of their messages came through loud and clear and are a major part of the new direction Reloaded will take you.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

An epic film in 2 parts,AGAIN drawing my Buffy parallels. You're bitching before it's over. THIS IS NOT A STANDALONE FILM. THIS IS PART 1 OF 2!

Excellent point, and one that tempers the mix of criticisms I had for the film. I thought the first half was REALLY slow at times and the fights often seemed gratuitous; it felt like they really just wanted to chat for the first hour but knew the fans expected some butt-kicking, so they tossed in those moments.

A lot of the exposition felt semi-pointless and didn't appear to go anywhere. However, "felt" and "didn't appear" are the phrases of the day, because I don't know what'll happen in Revolutions.

I also thought the film's second half TOTALLY redeemed the flaws of the first. Yeah, I was occasionally bored during the first half, but I became totally involved after that. The movie "rocked me" to a real degree, and given that I see hundreds of DVDs a year, very few movies do that to me. I stayed for a few minutes after the credits started not to read the names - or to see the Revolutions trailer, which I'd prefer to skip - but to regroup and wrap my mind around the whole thing.

I won't claim that all the folks who hated Reloaded simply refuse to use their brains and attempt to take the film as more than just an action flick. However, I don't understand how something as provocative and ambitious as Reloaded inspires such disdain, especially because this isn't a movie we can fairly judge a) after just one showing, and b) before we see the conclusion.

I won't even attempt a star rating or anything like that - it's simply not logical to slap a grade on this flick, at least not until November.

The more I think about Reloaded, the more I like it. And that's a good thing!

 

[Josh Lowe]

I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

I thought it was good. Technically, it was gorgeous. In terms of story, it was pretty interesting. My real gripe comes from the lack of character development. Several new characters were introduced without any kind of background or explanation as to who/what they are. If it weren't for that I would have given the movie a 4.5/5. The concept of predestinty, control, choice, etc was an interesting one. People who complain about Colonel Sanders' dialogue should listen closer. What he was saying was very simple, it's simply fluffed up with a lot of fancytalk.

It absolutely exceeded the negative "official" reviews it got from this site as well as certain publications.

The Zion party scene was good. That added a human element to the story and helped fill in the blanks as to what kind of place Zion is. Celebration of humanity, etc.

Oh, and I wouldn't trust that old man from the counsel.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Second viewing goes so much better. And I loved the first viewing!

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star: /:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Paul Case]

All I will say right now is, "WOW." I must have seen a totally different movie than the one that has generated so many negative reviews. It exceeded all of my expectations. Aside from a few shakey moments (Morpheus' cringe-inducing Zion speech), this movie was incredible. One of its major themes is control...well, it definitely controlled me for 2+ hours! I didn't look at my watch once, which is a rarity for me. People say that there is no character development, which is a somewhat understandable complaint, yet I found myself caring for the characters MUCH more this time than I did in the original Matrix. I was engrossed from beginning to end, and I really bought into Neo and Trinity's feelings for each other. This movie transported me, and I can't wait to take the ride again.

Bring on Revolutions!

:star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2 of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

I feel like Rick James at a NOW meeting -- I liked the Rave scene and the Orgasmic Cake bit.

In any case, I enjoyed Reloaded quite a bit. Could have used some judicious editing, but what a potent trip. Kind of like that feeling you got playing the last act of Metal Gear Solid 2:SOL -- I expected polygons underneath everyone's footsteps.



:star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: .

 

[Adam_S]

:star::star::star::star: (out of four)


DAAAAAAAAAMN!

my initial reaction is that this is better than the first, the ideas are so much larger, the canvas is broader, and suddenly our heros and villians may not be so black and white; good and evil that we thought they were.

The questions this has raised for me include is the matrix really as evil as we're led to believe (well yes it is, after the full callousness of the architect's speech sunk in, but I was still questioning it at the films end, never did so in the first). Is Morpheous really a hero, or is he (so to speak) a religious zealot? scariest line in the film for me was:

My beliefs don't require you to

That really gave you a sense of how messed up Morpheuos could potentially be. Then in the end:

As Neo disillusions Morpheous a little (Neo is clearly holding a LOT back), and he reacts very, very badly. When zealots have their beliefs questioned, or begin to question them themselves they begin to do things like Suicide bombings--and let's remember that Nebuchednezzer destroys Zion (in biblical terms) and that Niobe was the extrememly arrogant woman who lost all her fourteen children (and wasn't Neo supposed to choose fourteen if he choose the human race instead of Trinity).

And perhaps the biggest question of all, is their a matrix within the matrix? Is the world they 'escape' into just a new variation of the matrix. this would be the sort of sick irony that I would expect, the machines create the matrix, but also the alternate 'real-world' matrix so they can still maintain control over all humanity, and still be harvesting the energy from even the people rebelling against them. It's like Palpatine sowing the seeds of the rebellion so he can topple the republic to create the empire only to have the rebellion he began come back to bite him in the ass and topple his empire.


In short I loved it, it answered questions and plot holes from the first matrix (how was the first guy to escape strong enough to survive outside the matrix?), offered a much deeper and richer universe than we ever expected, introduced elements of religion (cult of the oracle as led by high priest morpheous) as they would play out in group ceremonies (as almost every religion does), as well as glimpsing the difficulties of being a messiah like figure, and the new philosophy toyed with was richer and deeper though not nearly as intuitive (I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it all) than the first one.

For all the critics out there who have ever complained that hollywood movies play to the lowest common denominator here is an example of a movie that does not do that but plays to a much higher level of thought. And the great, delicious irony is that most of them are complaining EXACTLY the way that I would expect a regular, entertainment only, moviegoer to respond to something like Godard's Contempt. the action/nudity stuff was great but it was SOOOOO gratutitutous and really interfered and hampered and distracted me that I couldn't understand the rest of the movie.

okay not a perfect parallel, but just the idea of critics responding to matrix the way normal people respond to art films is marvelous to me, and none seem happy--as they did with AI--that the movie doesn't wrap everything up in a nice package or try to shove a philosophy down your throat. Instead it leaves you with more questions than answers, shows us that the actions of Morpheous' focused team affect and yet are only a small part of a MUCH larger world, it sets up that this is multifilm epic and creates a stunning scale and bar for the third film (which I hope will live up to this!).

I suppose the action scenes were pretty good too but my favorite part was teh Architect's speech.

Adam

 

[DeepakJR]

Not to cause an arguement, but most people today are used to traditional types of movies. They look for a good story, which isnt bad, but its not the only thing neede for a goo movie. I thought this movie kicked ass and is too much for me to think about right now. I will watch it several times in the next week and recommend everyone does as well. It is a very ambitious film in which the gaps left have to be filled in by the mind. Its just one of those movies which requires a lot of thought and is usually given a bad review. This has happened twice to me with Ron's reviews, both Reloaded and Minority Report. A few more showings and it should sink in and make sense.

L8rz,
Deepak Jr.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I just got back from seeing this film, and all I have to say is THIS IS WHY I GO TO THE MOVIES!

This film blew my mind in every concievable way! I though the first was deep, this film goes deeper. I didn't find any of this film "boring", it had intelligence that had me in a vice-like grip in between some of the most staggering and exciting action scenes i've ever had the pleasure to witness!

This film moves...FAST!!! That big fight between Neo and a hundred Agent Smith's is, and i'll go on record with it without the slightest twinge of doubt, the most exciting fight sequence I have ever seen in my entire life!

And the freeway chase, forget it, it makes Bullet look like molasses in winter!

IMO, the film is flawless in every way, I cannot wait to see it again! Although I may wait for the dvd so that I can watch it as many times in a row as I want!

Bring on The Matrix Revolutions, i'm primed!

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star: 's out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:, this film ROCKS!

 

[David Ely]

Okay ... there's enough comments here that there's not much point in me writing a full review. All I will say is that I absolutely loved this film. The only thing I didn't like was the rave scene. I don't have a problem with the scene being in the movie, but it's EXTREMELY long and really strained my patience.

Luckly, everything after the rave sequence was borderline brilliant. This is a movie I will need to see a few more times as there's way too much information to take in on the first viewing.

:star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2 / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: ( 1/2 was taken off for the rave scene)

 

[Patrick Sun]

Upon my second viewing, it still rates an A- from me, but what a visual feast that gives you plenty to gnaw on afterwards as well. This film entertains on many levels, which bodes well in terms of commercial success and artistic/intellectual stimulation.

 

[Mehdy]

Ron, you must have written your review after seeing the movie and going right home...There is SO much information which requires second and third viewing along with the impact...the SHOCK impact...of this movie. I saw the movie on WED 10 pm showing and I have waited a couple of days to let this movie sink in ....prediction 1-this movie will play better on DVD and multiple viewings Before I saw the movie...Now this WILL become true....This movie has the best script,acting, music, special effects, and meaning of ANY movie released this year-HANDS Down...Yes Ron I know you didnot understand a lot of this movie...but
this movie took GUTS to make....to give the audience the
NON13yearold movie approach...it could have been easy but
THEY DID NOT COP OUT......THUMBS UP ON THIS MOVIE.

 

[Stephen_Dar]

Gigantic disappointment for me, I'm a afraid. I was snoozing through the entire movie. It consists mostly of Kung fu fighting, long, repeated, mind-blowingly pointless battles that were dull after the first battle, so you can guess how dull by the 10th time. Plus, the first movie clearly established that Neo had moved beyond the need to fight, so why are we back fighting again in the second movie? Depressing answer - the Wachowskis believe the kung fu was the main reason for the film's popularity, so that's all we got in number 2.

People have said the chase scene was worth the price of admission by itself. I snoozed through that. Cars crashing, cars driving backwards on the freeway. What had we not seen before? Totally fake digital effects added in, not much real driving skill.

So little happened in this film in terms of story that I immediately thought, OK, they ruined the first movie, but wait, if the 3rd movie is great, I'll buy 3 and keep 1, and never buy or ever watch 2 again. However, based on the poor quality of 2 and the preview of 3, all I'll ever own is 1. Sad.

 

[Joshua Moran]

Jeff, I understand that the movie is only part of the story but each film should be able to stand on its own. This film in my opinion does not. The story to me was uninspried and really destroyed the first film. I thought the CGI was terrible you could totally see that most of the time Neo is just a CGI character. Really sad when you read interviews and crap that these acters are doing all these stunts on there own to find out most of it is just crap, the directors inserted Jar-Jaresque stunt doubles and it is obvious. This really brought me out of the film. I felt alot of it was rushed out semi to Mummy Returns where half the CGI looks good and the other half looks downright aweful. As an action film I'd give it :star: :star: or maybe :star: :star: :star: . But as a continuation of a developed story I have to give it 0. Now I will agree this is going to be a love and hate film a friend of mine loved it and said I was completly nuts. So there you go. Everyone should see it out of curiosity and intrest but I can't say I enjoyed it. To each his own I guess.