Friday, May 16, 2003

The Matrix Reloaded

I suggested to a friend, earlier today, that between seeing this movie and watching the lunar eclipse, I might fall into some sort of trancelike state, from which I might reasonably be expected to gain total enlightenment. Unfortunately, the eclipse was mostly a wash in this particular part of the world. The movie was good, though I left it with all my neural functions tightly reined in.

The Matrix Reloaded begins with a sequence that, in the script, is probably footnoted "Like the first one, but more so." Like bullet time? We've got it in spades. Explosions? Boy howdy. Even the scrolling green Matrix stuff in the credits gets a boost. It's a tone-setting sequence. Everything that made The Matrix the smash success it was is here, but multiplied. Well, almost everything.

One thing The Matrix enjoyed that its sequel does not is surprise. At the time it came out, no one had released a cyberpunk-flavored film that did not make the audience run screaming from the theaters. Most Americans, if I am any sort of example, had never seen the kind of wire-assisted kung fu fighting that was on display. A thinky action film with great effects and a plot kept under wraps? Unheard of. That is no longer the case.

Arguably, it wasn't really the case at the time of the first film either, but we didn't realize that. Anyone watching Hong Kong films from the past twenty or thirty years would have seen most of the stunts, and the story was nothing new to anyone familiar with, say, Philip Dick. But for most of us, to see all these elements drawn together with a shiny Hollywood (but not too Hollywood) gloss was sheer magic.

This time around we get, as I said, more of everything. The effects display all the cutting edge advancements one would expect. The kung fu is ramped up. The plot is stickier, and the shine (in a good sense) is shinier. But therein lies the problem, if it is a problem. It is possible to sit in theater and check off the landmark scenes one by one, if one is so inclined, all known from their appearences in the trailer, the E! behind the scenes special, the HBO making of show, and so on. (I can only vouch for the existence of the trailer, but you get my meaning.) Here is Neo fighting a screenful of Smiths, as mentioned in multiple magazine articles. Here is the freeway scene.

Ah, the freeway scene.

In short, Reloaded is great in most of the ways that The Matrix was great. It also shares that films weaknesses, like a reliance on overly portentious dialogue in which every phrase is pregnant with Great Meaning, On Which Our Destiny Lies. It thankfully does not add any new ones. My suspicion is that you if you at all liked The Matrix, you will like The Matrix Reloaded, perhaps more so. However, if you had a near-religious experience after watching The Matrix, and were expecting to see the second scroll rolled back and angels marching out from the screen, you may find yourself underwhelmed.

Anyway, soon, I will come back and discuss things in more detail, with spoilers and such. So, keep an eye out for that, if you are avoiding them.