Matrix Reloaded. Has Anybody seen it?

none | 5/16/03 | none

[The South Texan]

Just curious if anybody has seen this flick yet? The first one was great, but I have been disapointed with squels before.

[Miami_U_Redskin]

Saw it, liked the scenes in Alameda.

[Yardstick]

I thoroughly enjoyed Dark City. Why would it have been better to skip Sutherland's voice over? I'm trying to remember what he said and why it may have taken away from the movie, but I'm drawing a blank.

[fporretto]

A movie that comes much closer to The Matrix than Dark City is the neglected The Thirteenth Floor. Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol and Vincent D'Onofrio do a brilliant turn on the nature of reality and what might be both true and undetectable.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com

[Dead Corpse]

People always whine that movies are dumbing them down. Now along comes a movie that will challenge you a bit, and everyone starts in with the same old hack rants about it.

Reloaded has every bit as much of the religious symbolism that the first one had. I identified Buddism, Judeo-Christian, Nordic-Germanic Asatruar, ect... The Brothers seem to be trying to fit at least five different complete mythologies and hero fables together as one.

This movie continues on from the place the original Matrix left you. Is Neo the One? What is the One? Which reality is the "real" reality? Who is in charge, if anyone?

Too many people expected this movie to be something it is not. IE; visual crack cocaine that the public has come to expect. It is what it is. A master peice that is a continuance of a larger story. Even the ending isn't a complete cliff-hanger and is more of a place marker between chapters in a book.

I, for one, thought it was fabulous....

[Dead Corpse]

-- Watch for Neo's plugs -- he has all of them in most scenes in Zion (even though the first flick started with the Neb. crew removing them!).

They were not removing them. They were cleaning them and closing them off. They cannot be removed. In the first Matrix, after Neo wakes up on the Neb after surgery, there is a scene of him pulling an IV out of a wrist plug. Also note that Morpheus and Trinity ALSO have their plugs throughout.

-- They clearly set the stage for Revolutions by opening up discussions of the balance of POWER and relationships between man and machines.

Not just that, but also the interdependance between man and machines. Also the fact that this is irrelavent in the grand scheme. That the only thing that really matters is who is in control of who. Of course, it also touches on the ethic inherent in use of power as well as the fact that all appearances of control are illusions.

Question: where are the kids in Zion?

Watch the "pilgrim" scenes closer when they get to Zion. Lots of children.

[DoctorMichael]

Warning! Spoiler/Criticism follows!

The special effects of 'RELOADED" were jaw-dropping; the scenes were all beautifully lit (I was particularly impressed by the lighting in the Oracle's scene, very LSD-ish); and the movie was stunning in its cinematography. However, I too was disappointed in the plot which plodded along at points, was full of really bad dialog in others, and was full of metaphysical blather in still more.

Where the genius of the original was that it seemed effortless in weaving the featherlike story, plot, action, religion and metaphysics into a tight knot............RELOADED was leaden.

Yes, gap-toothed Cornel 'Commie' West was a member of the ruling body (Dream on, a$$hole) and, yes there was the scene at the end where Neo was in a room with video-screens as walls and the images very subliminally showed Hitler and George Bush in the wink of an eye (I guess to 'link' them in the viewers mind).

Also, most of Zion's inhabitants were present-day minority-members. I don't know whether this is because 'white-collar whitey' was favored by the machines as a better source of electricity and blacks and hispanics were ignored or that there is some predjudice by Morpheus et al. in the people that they 'free' and that live in Zion. Nontheless, there is still a dicontinuity here in my mind..........it is the Demon-rats (90% of blacks vote Democratic) that want to be plugged into the system and want to be blissfully taken care of by their 'wellfare-pods' financed by Hitlery et al. THIS is the part of the metaphor that glaringly stands out. However, as a dirty-white-boy, maybe this is my 'Jar-jar-Binks' or the 'clonal-origins'- (re: hispanic complaints) -of-the-mindless-storm-troopers, moment.

There ARE a few good sequels. Aliens, Godfather II and The Empire Strikes Back come to mind. IMHO........The one thing that a good sequel must have is something in the plot that is as revelatory as the first movie that enables it to stand on its own as a story:
1) The allusions of Ripley's Motherhood ("Keep away from her, you bitch') when she fights the Queen alien;
2) Michael Corleone's orders to kill his own brother Fredo that illustrates his ruthlessness and descent into depravity;
3) Luke's revelation of Darth Vader's fatherhood ("I am your father").

There was nothing similar to a "I am your father" 'moment' in RELOADED.

Still worth the viewing.

[Dead Corpse]

There was also Gorbachev and Carter on the video wall. Also what looked suspiciously like one of those commercials from the 70's (some bimbo in a pink polyester suit smiling in delight at some wonder product). Also, a soccer game. BFD. Snap shots of the last hunder years. The Bible mentions Satan, does that make God evil?

There was nothing similar to a "I am your father" 'moment' in RELOADED.

In fact, there was more than one. The "backdoors" revelation. As well as Neo's standoff with the Sentinals towards the end of the movie.

[Helms]

Saw it 2pm 5/15 and enjoyed it. It is what it is, science fiction and metaphyscis.

[The South Texan]

Good reviews. Keep them coming.

[blake6900]

The creator mentions the "grotesqueness of humanity" as images of war, death, destruction, Nazi Germany flash across the monitors and for a few frames the images of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are shown.

That's why liberals loved Krintong's presidency so much: he never attacked anyone...except for Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti, Iraq, East Timor, Waco, Yugoslavia, Elian Gonzalez, etc.

[GSWarrior]

I hope the dialog is better than the original.

"I'm going in."

"You can't"

"I have to."

"Then I'm going with you."

"You can't."

[Revolting cat!]

Matrix Reloaded. Has Anybody seen it?

Nobody's seen it, nobody's going to see it.
(Also, the paper reports this morning that it's showing in FRANCE, at Cannes. Boycott!)

[Constitution Day]

Mrs. CD and I are going to see it this weekend... we watched the original last night for the first time in a while.

[bootyist-monk]

I saw the film with a bunch of Warner Bros. executives, and when it was over, there were a bunch of long faces. Will it make a 150 million this weekend? No doubt. But should it? That is another story.

What was missing from this film that was present in huge doses during the first Matrix was "adult supervision". The brothers now can do what they want, and that means imagery, efx and pop philosphy are the focus. Story arc, structure and character development don't rate as a blip on the radar. This is a shame, because Bound and the Matrix had both look-at-me camera work and heart.

Here's hoping that the next film regains what made watching the first Matrix so much fun.

[bootyist-monk]

I hope the dialog is better than the original.

Your hopes will be dashed.

[DoctorMichael]

The brothers now can do what they want, and that means imagery, efx and pop philosphy are the focus.

This then means that the finished product reflects not only their artistic vision but also their political and personal views expressed via the plot and characters. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.............I wonder how different the movie would have been, and what it would have said about the Brothers if, when the camera panned down the assembled ruling 'Councilors' (and instead of the Brothers selecting Cornel West as a contemporary/academic/political science/activist/) the collective audiance saw, let's say, Newt Gingrich or Rush Limbaugh dressed in the torn clothes doing a cameo appearence, guiding humanity towards "freeing [it's collective] mind".

Here's hoping that the next film regains what made watching the first Matrix so much fun.

Since it supposedly will be released this Fall (?) it may already be filmed and 'in-the'can' awaiting (or in the process of being) editing and final touches.........therefore CAN it be saved at this point in time?

[LanPB01]

I strongly disagree with anyone that equates the sequel to even being close in quality to the original. Perhaps the third movie will tie everything together, but as of now, I'm very disappointed. The sequel just doesn't work as a stand-alone movie.

[Dead Corpse]

The sequel just doesn't work as a stand-alone movie.

Neither was it supposed to. Hence a lot of the minging going on here with the critics.