After “The Matrix” came out in 1999, it became an instant classic parodied or payed homage in several movies and TV shows. This encouraged The Wachowskis & Warner Bros. (WB for short) to turn it into a trilogy, an anthology anime of short films titled, “The Animatrix,” merchandise, video games & tie-in books. The Wachowskis recruited Keanu Reeves and the crew to come back to work on the sequels back-to-back starting with the second installment, “The Matrix Reloaded and the final installment, “The Matrix Revolutions.”
The Matrix Reloaded was released on May 2003, approximately six months before The Matrix Revolutions came out. It received positive reviews from critics and movie goers alike.
Now that an upcoming fourth installment is currently in the works. It was supposed to come out in 2021. Unfortunately, the ongoing Coronavirus delayed its intended release to 2022. We got two years of patience or more if it’s gonna be a long time for a potential cure. I’d like to share what’s good or bad about The Matrix Reloaded. By the way, Keanu Reeves is reprising his role as Ted in the upcoming “Bill & Ted 3.” One more thing, he’ll be in the highly anticipated video game, “Cyberpunk 2077.”
Today’s review doesn’t contain no SPOILERS. Feel free to read my non-spoiler review.
Full & Empty Elements
Full: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie Anne-Moss & Hugo Weaving reprise their roles and they all did a decent job for their respective performances.
Then newcomers to the franchise including Jada Pinkett Smith, Monica Bellucci, Harry Lennix & Lambert Wilson also did a decent job for their respective performances.
The Wachowskis both did a good job directing the sequel.
Joel Silver produced the sequel as he did with its predecessor.
Action Sequences were awesome to witness. They’re much bigger than the first film.
My favorite part is The Highway Chase. I’m giving it Bonus Points for all that hard work containing actual stunt work, action choreography not from a computer and the chase sequence kept me invested without looking at my clock.
Cinematography didn’t have any technical difficulties throughout.
Some of the effects are a hit and miss. Practical Effects felt good in some fight scenes alongside stunt work.
In one scene, Link said Neo is “Doing his Superman thing.” Both Laurence Fishburne & Harry Lennix went on to co-star in “Man Of Steel.” The first film in the “DC Extended Universe.”
Don Davis orchestrated music for the sequel as he did in the first movie.
The second movie is set after The Animatrix short film “Final Flight Of The Osiris” when The Osiris sent a distress signal before all hell broke lose.
Remember that kid who kept pestering Neo? He was in The Animatrix short film “A Kid’s Story” on how he got out of The Matrix in the first place.
A bald character is named, Bane. Nine Years Later, Christopher Nolan & WB eventually released “The Dark Knight Rises” with a character named, Bane who’s also bald.
After the first film ended, Neo is more powerful than ever gaining all experience taught by his mentor Morpheus and his unique programming in his system turned him into a one man army.
Agent Smith returns with a now power to multiply himself similar to Multiple Man from “X-Men.”
I can’t tell you how it ends. All I can say it sets up the third movie.
Linkin Park’s “Session” is played during the end credits. Linkin Park is my favorite band of all time. I grew up listening to them.
A post-credits scene gives us a glimpse of The Matrix Revolutions.
Empty: Remember what I said about some of the effects are a hit and miss? Well the C.G.I. hasn’t aged pretty well. Neo’s fight with multiple Agent Smiths resemble Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within. When did this become the video game “Enter The Matrix?”
Despite The Wachowskis doing a good job directing, the extensive dialogue between two characters took forever about talking about choice felt like a reminder for some who fell asleep during the first movie. This ain’t a Quentin Tarantino movie with dialogue driven scenes to keep the conversation flowing. Unlike Quentin, The Wachowskis & M. Night Shyamalan don’t know when to keep a conversation organic when it comes to making a genre not dialogue driven. This ain’t a video game like the Fallout” series or “Mass Effect” when it comes to a dialogue tree deciding which path you wanna take.
A dance party outta nowhere occurred. I know the citizens of Zion are celebrating before they fight The Machines, but do we really need to see an MTV-esque music video with the crowd dancing in some form of rave concert? This ain’t no DreamWorks animated movie where everybody celebrates.
A Plot Hole involving Neo not turning around to leave the building as a quick way to aid his comrades. You know the part when a key has something to do with transporting into a new area like “Monsters Inc.” when a door leads to another location?
Without giving too much away, somebody made the worst decision to save a loved one, rather than fulfilling a prophecy.
The Final Verdict: B-
Despite a few blemishes, The Matrix Reloaded is an average chapter in The Matrix series. When I first saw it, I was nearly disappointed, until the highway chase kept me entertained. I’ve decided to give it a B- as a warning in retrospect for The Wachowskis to properly build up a conclusion. Then, the third installment became a miscalculation not as bad as “Jupiter Ascending.” If you want to refresh your memory before The Matrix 4, go ahead and watch all three movies plus The Animatrix.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 