Matrix Reloaded

I was let down by the plot. The sfx were kick ass and the fight scenes (as to be expected) were phenomenal. The original MATRIX was revolutionary as far as action movies/ special effects go. The Visuals/ camera tricks/ computer effects in this film had never been done before, and every action movie to come after would borrow and steal from it. So with creating RELOADED, it be almost impossible to match the first one without coming up with new and more amazing special effects, and a continually good plot. The bitch about the second movie (besides having to live up to such high expectations), was that, the first movie had a central plot, mystery, mysticism and kick ass fight scenes. So many questions: What is the Matrix? Who is Morphius? Who's typing on Neo's computer, who is this Trinity person, why can she jump the length of a building? Is Neo the one? How is this kid bending the spoon? Will Neo and Trinity fall in love? By the second one, all that is answered. Combine that with the special effects, all the mind twisting details about "all you know being a lie and the whole Alice in Wonderland subplot brought us deeper into the story as we all followed NEO into the rabbit hole. There are a million things I can say about the first movie that make it successful (except for Neo blasting out of the phone booth ala Superman with rage against the machine blaring at the very end-cut to credits.

But as far as the sequel, it seems they are turning everything that succeeded for them in MATRIX into something completely different. What was "One curious man looking for the truth in a fake world, and fighting to stay alive against creatures that nobody has ever won a fight with-can dodge bullets and morph into anyone", into "Superman takes a ride on a STAR WARS army battle cruiser to fight the war against the robots, by unlocking the door to deactivate the system" IT FEELS LIKE SUPERMAN, combined with PHANTOM MENACE combined with THE TERMINATOR plot (man vs. machine- war for survival) combined with INDEPENDANCE DAY-NEO BEING THE VIRUS IN THE ALIEN's Computer.

This movie tiresomely gets into the super sci fi metal constructed backgrounds of Zion (every sci fi movie and their mother's cliche' backdrop- George Lucas creams for this crap), guys walking around in ROBOTEK armor suits etc. and it starts breaking down the order of military command, followed by senate hearings. I think we identified with the first movie because they were in New York, but we find out that the world we know is fake, so these unplugged people can harness this and stretch the boundaries of what is possible in our fake world, and all that cool sh*t. This way we can see them run up walls, and jump over rooftops and it looks fantastic because we can relate to the surroundings, so it blows you away. AKA, forget about ZION! Who cares about model sets, I was almost expecting Morphius to go Mace Window on the robot's asses with a purple light saber, they are writing him like Samuel L. Jackson's Phantom Menace character-stupido.

Is it just me, or did that old Senator dude that took Neo down to the generator room started talking like Yoda : "That water regenerating plant you see? Know not how it works I do. But Neo, Yoda knows that important it is. Who depends on who, who controls who? This is Yoda's question, search you must young Jedi, for you are our only hope. So speak the senate. The revolution will not be televised."

If you ask me, I want less ZION, I could give two craps about Zion, I could also care less about all the lame secondary characters they add in this movie. Tank and Dozer's, sister's, husband takes their place on the Nebbacanezzer (sp). WHO CARES! I didn't care about Tank and Dozer, I sure don't give a rat's ass about their BROTHER IN LAW! And what was with that 5 minute rave in the cave down in ZION? I would have been the guy in ZION making the flyers for that rave and getting pizzaid! But it was lame as hell. Ok I get it, Trinity and Neo are having sex and they still have those little metal plugs in their body, humans are on the brink of death, but they can still party like it's 1999, they are human, I understand, thanks for spelling it out for me...again... THIS IS NOT WORTH 5 MINUTES OF SCREEN TIME! Ok, slow motion of the crowd dancing in the mud, I get it, good, girls boobs bouncing w/ see through tops-nice touch, but why? This scene reminded me of that scene in the movie ALI where Will smith runs through the streets of Africa for 10 minutes with kids following him chanting for him to kill Foreman. TOOO DAMN LONG. Less Zion, more Matrix world with kick ass fighting. And another thing, I know it's just to separate visually the "real world-desert of the real" from the "Matrix-fake world, world pulled over our eyes" but why is everyone in Zion wearing these crappie sweaters. They have the capability to build Robotek style battle armor, hover crafts with flat touch screen operating systems, and oxygen regenerators in the center of the earth, but they can't create a decent synthetic fiber. GET THE PROFIT A NEW SET OF DUDS!

Best car chase scene ever in this movie though, even with all that, I still would see it again. Just wake me after the Zion scenes are over.

If it's any consolation, stick around after the credits, they show a teaser for the next one "REVOLUTION", looks better.

Words: COJO from www.cojoart.com