The Matrix: Reloaded

Rating

Director

The Wachowski Siblings

Screenplay

The Wachowski Siblings

Length

138 min.

Starring

Helmut Bakaitis, Monica Belucci, Collin Chou, Laurence Fishburne, Gloria Foster, Randall Duk Kim, Harry Lennix, Carrie-Anne Moss, Harold Perrineau, Jada Pinkett Smith, Keanu Reeves, Hugo Weaving, Lambert Wilson, Anthony Zerbe

MPAA Rating

R (For sci-fi violence and some sexuality)

Review

The second part of The Matrix trilogy debuts six months prior to the conclusion and leaves more questions unanswered at its conclusion than were resolved from the original The Matrix.

The Matrix Reloadedbegins in a recurring nightmare. The one prophesied to save the universe, Neo (Keanu Reeves), wakes from a dream where his love Trinity(Carrie-Anne Moss) leaps from a building in a firefight, taking a fatal wound and falling to a car on the pavement below.

This outing we learn that the surface-dwelling machines have begun a war against Zion. They are digging through the planet to Zion where they hope to kill the civilization. Neo, Trinity and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) return to attempt to save their world, believing that the mysterious Oracle(Gloria Foster) can give them the answer to their prayers. Disobeying orders to stay and defend Zion, Morpheus and his crew seek the approval of the council to return to the Matrix in search of the Oracle and a solution to their situation.

They go in search the keymaker (Randall Duk Kim) who can open any door within the Matrix onto any other part of the Matrix, just by producing the correct key. They meet Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), a philandering snob who refuses to produce the information the group needs while his lover Persephone(Monica Belucci) endures his attitude.

Where the first film left off, The Matrix Reloaded takes over. With the new war brewing, more answers are needed to save Zion from its oppressors. To accomplish this, the same cast and crew return to continue spinning the tale. Reeves’ performance over the first film degrades significantly. WhenThe Matrix began, his stone-faced attitude fit a character who was part of a machine for years and suddenly was awakened. However, with the second film, we expect him to have become more human in his performance, but he’s still as wooden as he was in the first film. Fishburne’s performance is static from the first film. He plays the role the same, but doesn’t need to change considering his character has not had any recent awakenings. Likewise, Moss continues in the same vein as her earlier performance and even manages to exceed that role with her developing romance with Neo.

The only major new characters include Commander Lock, played by the gruff Harry Lennix. His character provides a foil for Morpheus as they both fight to keep the love of Ship Captain Niobe, played deftly by Jada Pinkett Smith. Lennix is brash and uncouth; a requirement for his character, but his performance is weak and blustery. Smith on the other hand does a fantastic job with her noticeably small role. Hopefully, her character plays a much larger part in the next film. Foster, Duk Kim, Wilson, Belucci and the rest of the secondary cast all give believable performances and help set audience expectations for the characters they portray. Their roles as the various plot-driving characters keep their need for exceeding performance standards to a minimum, but they all perform within and above those expectations.

Andy and Larry Wachowski, credited as the Wachowski Brothers, are the writers and directors of the film. They have created a movie that poses a great deal more questions than its predecessor did and answers a limited few. There are plenty of clues to the final resolution, to be featured in the final chapter to be released this fall. The audience will enjoy debating the nuances they have created and questioning the motives of the characters involved. Intellectual discussion is sure to follow, but the breadth of the conversations about the film will likely be the outrageous, gravity-defying fight sequences. One such scene involves a slew of Mr. Smith clones battling a lone Neo. The scene drags on for too long as we see more and more Smiths joining the fray. When the combat is finally over, the audience is exhilarated, but for nothing that furthers the plot or adds to the value of the film beyond the first two minutes. This skirmish epitomizes the action sequences throughout the film. They begin with outstanding fervor and climax far later than they should.

The Matrix Reloaded is a science fiction, action drama with a brain and a heart, but without a concept for duration. Audiences will certainly adore the film’s bravura and the thought-provoking screenplay will leave them fulfilled, but with a lead as boring as an oak and the girth of its exacerbating brawls expanding, the second chapter leaves us hoping that the third will fill us with the contentment with anticipate.

Review Written

May 29, 2003