The Matrix Reloaded

Film #138

THE PLOT

Neo and the rebel leaders estimate that they have 72 hours until 250,000 probes discover Zion and destroy it and its inhabitants. During this, Neo must decide how he can save Trinity from a dark fate in his dreams.

Year 1, Day 139

BEFORE: Finishing The Matrix trilogy today will be a double feature of the sequels beginning with the second, The Matrix Reloaded, and following up later today with The Matrix Revolutions. As I said yesterday, I have seen both of these sequels before but unlike the original, I remember hardly anything about the sequels so this experience will give me the chance to refresh my memory and to critique what are the more criticized films in the series.

AFTER: The Matrix Reloaded definitely starts to show signs of deterioration in quality from The Matrix. It still has glimmers of greatness but the focus has shifted from a entertaining story to the eye candy of the fight sequences.

In the first film, the Wachowski’s created this extremely detailed and complex world that these characters inhabit and explore. As I said yesterday, this idea of a real and simulated world is incredibly creative and The Matrix Reloaded certainly expands on that. If histories and mythologies of stories are things you like, this film delivers. There is an incredible amount of information that is told and at times it gets to be too much. I’m all for lots of information and detail but it needs to be spaced out and rationed. The Matrix Reloaded is too much of an information overload and you begin to glaze over bits of info as it’s spewed out.

Another thing that’s worse in The Matrix Reloaded compared to the first film is the action. A large chunk of my review talked about the visual effects, how great they are, and how they even stand up today. The sequel has a bunch of these great visual effects but just like the story, it goes a bit too far. It seems like there are two parts to this film: the long-winded info-dumps and the drawn-out exaggerated fight scenes. There is just way too much time dedicated to the fight scenes in this sequel. In The Matrix all the fights fit the flow of the story and seemed natural. In The Matrix Reloaded it feels as if fight scenes were added just to have more and increase the amount of action in the film.

It’s still a decent entry into The Matrix franchise. All the great characters and story elements are still there to enjoy. But the flaw of The Matrix Reloaded is taking great things too far and milking them for quantity rather than quality. My recommendation now, and I predict it will be the same after I rewatch the third film, is this: definitely watch The Matrix. If you want to learn more about this world watch the sequels as supplements but they are not required viewing for everyone.

RATING: 3 out of 5