Spurred by a letter from Danny asking if I wanted to go see the Matrix Reloaded, I have to point out I’ve seen it twice already. The movie is visually appealing, and the fight scenes are wonderfully choreographed, but it lacks the grit and depth of the first film. It’s more of an action flick than anything else, but I think I can underline the short comings by drawing from one scene from the original Matrix.
You know the scene well, Mr. Anderson has just been chewed out by his boss, he’s not back at his boring little cub when a FedEx package arrives. Opening it, a cell phone drops into his hand and instantly rings. It’s Morphesus, a man Neo knows and admires, but has never met. Neo learns he is in imminent danger, and at that moment “agents” are looking for him. “Shit!” exclaims neo. “Yesss….” reaffirms the voice on the phone, “if you don’t want to find out what this is about, do exactly as I say.” The mysterious caller perfectly times Neo’s escape, where he must open a window and climb scaffolding to the roof. But Mr. Anderson can’t go through with it, and retreats right into the “agents” hands.
That is good writing.
Mr. Anderson is yanked from his calm world into one of danger and mystery. There’s a good chance his life is on the line. He’s got to place trust in someone he has no reason to. There’s humor. There’s a great plan. And that plan is thwarted not by technical obstacles, but by character trait.
The Matrix Reloaded carries none of that among its special effects and fancy fighting.
At no time do you feel Neo is in any real danger. Overwhelmed, perhaps, but not outmatched. With sequel number III coming out this Thanksgiving, we know he won’t die this film. There’s little character building, the humor appears far less, and it’s all to clean cut and the mission is obvious.
The Oracle does a great job capturing the essence of the prior movie, but she’s the only one who does. We don’t see enough quality time of Agent Smith, so that’s made up for with quantity.
Perhaps the biggest threat to the story line is the hinting of a holodeck within a holodeck plot, which has been beaten to death by StarTrek, and only properly mutated into a enjoyable solution by Farscape writers who took a refreshing approach.
Warning… here comes a spoiler.
Neo meets the Matrix’s architect, who confirms there was once a “perfect” Matrix but that humans didn’t adapt well to perfection. The solution was to have conflict. On the surface, it seems he’s talking about the challenge of every day life being necessary. However, near the end of the movie, and outside the matrix, Neo senses and stops the machines from attacking their position. The door for Zion being part of an Uber-Matrix is cracked too far open for my taste, though none of this can be confirmed until this coming November.
Suspension of disbelief is perhaps the biggest thrill enjoyed by watching the Matrix, only this time around we’re lead to believe that Mr. Smith has escaped the matrix. This either pushes the edge of what’s believable, or it allows for more circumstantial evidence of an uber-matrix.