Matrix Reloaded, The (2003)

Matrix Reloaded, The (2003)

Like just about everyone else in America, I saw this movie in the theater last week. I've gotten mixed reviews from my friends, and I suppose my review is somewhat mixed too. Bottom line is I liked it. Pros were the story development (especially along the philosophical/theological lines) and the action/effects (of course). The main con in my mind is that many of the fight scenes were too long and the effects were not as consistently seemless as in the last movie. Many people disliked the "cave rave" scene but I actually enjoyed it although I have to admit it made no sense whatsoever. Just looked like a great party to me :)

The thing about the Matrix is that it's really about taking japanese anime inspiration and bringing it to life. There was no mistaking the anime feel this time. I can't find the reference now, but I have read earlier that when the Wachowski brothers pitched the movie to studios, they showed them graphic animations depicting a cyberpunkish superhero. The first movie was just setting the stage for the real story about this hero.

Comments

[sean]

Story development -- what story development? I thought the story fell apart to the point where it was basically non-existent. Counting the holes in the story would take longer than counting elements that -weren't- holes.

OK, I admit that I couldn't drag myself through that whole article linking the Matrix to obscure theological and philosophical references.. So maybe I'm missing something. But if you buy that, you might enjoy this talk by uber-navel-gazer Martin Rees:

"IN THE MATRIX: MARTIN REES -- All these multiverse ideas lead to a remarkable synthesis between cosmology and physics...But they also lead to the extraordinary consequence that we may not be the deepest reality, we may be a simulation. The possibility that we are creations of some supreme, or super-being, blurs the boundary between physics and idealist philosophy, between the natural and the supernatural, and between the relation of mind and multiverse and the possibility that we're in the matrix rather than the physics itself. "

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/rees03/rees_index.html