The Matrix Reloaded

"The Matrix Reloaded" contains—no, bestows—no, thrusts upon you the blessing of two of the two most amazing action sequences ever to have been committed to celluloid. It also contains one extended scene that damn near defines the word "cringeworthy," and it ends on a cliffhanger in the middle of a plot that will take at least another movie to resolve. (The end title says "To Be Concluded," but if "The Matrix Revolutions," due in November, makes enough money, someone will figure out how to unconclude it.) Furthermore, there are several extended scenes in which no one is beating the everliving crap out of anyone in a gasp-inducingly spectacular way.

These faults may well scare off cinematic cognoscenti, many of whom managed to slum convincingly for the original "Matrix" in 1999. But fans of both action cinema and the philosophy and aesthetic of the first film will find their cinemagoing ambitions well satisfied by "The Matrix Reloaded," even if we have to wait until November to find out just how good this whole thing really will be.

While the Wachowski brothers Andy and Larry, writers and directors of this series, inquired into the nature of reality using numerous ass-kicking scenes in the first film, this second one asks us to consider the legendarily difficult matters of free will vs. determinism and the nature of power, through similar means. Neo (Keanu Reeves), the One whose coming was prophesied (but not in a sacreligious way), is now in full command of his powers within the Matrix. Neo spends his days in and out of the Matrix, beating the tar our of any computer program that dares step. His nights are spent in the embrace of Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss), his kung-fu lover in skintight leather.

But in the "real" physical world, the inorganic overlords are drilling down to Zion, the last outpost of free humans in what we used to think of as Earth. Drastic steps will have to be taken by Neo and Trinity, not to mention their captain and mentor Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne), and such steps are subsequently taken, in a dizzying sequence of plot twists and turns that only stops when there is a superhuman rumble to be had.

The problem the Wachowskis faced with "The Matrix Reloaded" was how to get in enough exposition for a socko finale now that all the fun exposition was already exposited in the opener. Therefore we the viewers must sit through some basic setup stuff. Some of this is pretty good, as in a scene where one of the city councillors shows Neo the machinery that works for the humans and gives us a nice point about power that, in a possible first for an action movie, leaves an important philosophical implication unstated. Some of it is pretty boring, as we see entirely too many grave pronouncements made by solemn-faced people in sets reminiscent of "The Wrath of Khan." (An exception to this calumny is made for the grave pronouncements of Lawrence Fishburne, because his voice is just that cool.)

And one particular part is ineradicably awful. After one of Fishburne's speeches, ringing and stirring, ends with a somewhat unexpected command to party extremely loudly, we watch a vast assemblage of bump-n-grindin' hardbodies in sweat-soaked T-shirts that looks like a subterranean Coors Light commercial, alternating with a depiction of Trinity and Neo physically expressing their love for each other, all set to pseudo-epic thumping electronica. Writing about this scene for Slate, David Edelstein commented, "That sound you hear is Cecil B. DeMille whacking off in his grave," and all I can say is that's apt as apt can get.

But there are, as noted previously, compensating pleasures. First of these in sequence is Neo's rematch with Mr. Smith (Hugo Weaving), who has avoided deletion after his death in "The Matrix" and can now replicate himself. A lot. (And, thanks to modern computer technology, they do all look exactly like him!) To even things up, Neo's fighting is even less tethered to conventional notions of gravity than before; praise for the grace Reeves shows in his smackdowns should be showered upon fight choreographer Yuen Wo-Ping, returning from the first film.

Here, the Wachowskis take the excellent course of gradually ramping up the number of Smiths and the creativity demanded of Neo to fight them; as the action continues, with Neo reaching back for more to blankly dispatch the feral Smiths, your eyes start opening wider and wider until finally the camera is rotoscoping around the frozen action in the manner the first film made famous and you're holding your breath, waiting for everything to snap back into "real" time just to see what the heck Neo is going to do next.

Like a race queen, the ever-voluptuous Monica Bellucci starts us onto our second big star fight scene, this one a hallucinatory jaunt up and down Los Angeles freeways, with Trinity driving both forwards and backwards, two white-dreadlocked programs who can teleport using that distinct advantage to try to stop her, and Morpheus fighting one of said dreadlocked programs atop a moving semi.

Everything in this scene moves at high velocity and changes direction on a dime, but the Wachowskis and their editor Zach Staenberg make sure that as we see enough to provide a coherent overall sense of the action, even as the camera darts and swerves precipitously to follow it. Plus, the scene is really gloriously long, and things never stop accelerating and reversing and shifting for a second, leading up to a final few moments that contain as many philosophical and plot quick-changes as did the action scenes preceding them, and are just about as exhilirating and exhausting.

"The Matrix Reloaded" is not perfect, but it's also more than good enough. Enjoy the action, let your mind wander during much of the rest, and somehow bide your time until this whole thing gets resolved—without any deadweight, one hopes, although in this Matrix, one must admit, you can never be sure what deadweight is.

MONICA BELLUCCI IS ALL THAT AND A BAG OF BINARIES

I know Monica Bellucci is playing a computer program in this movie, but that's the sexiest computer program I have ever seen in all my livelong life. Why can't she be in more movies? Hopefully she plays a far, far more important role in the finale. I realize this marginal paragraph has no point, but, well, I mean, damn. [involuntary drooling] Damn.

Science Fiction Home

Spam-O-Matic Home