05/092008 --- The bar for the Summer Movie Season has been set extraordinarily high by "Star Tr...
05/092008 --- The bar for the Summer Movie Season has been set extraordinarily high by "Star Trek," J.J. Abrams against-all-odds, explosively entertaining reboot of a franchise we all thought was dead. Chris :)
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I'm probably one of the few people out there who didn't see the original MATRIX in it's entirety until about a month before the sequel. Yeah, I know...just let me explain. The first film came out while I was working in Japan, and it didn't seem all that interesting to me, and for one reason: in 1995, I went to see another futuristic tale with Keanu Reeves. It was called JOHNNY MNUEMONIC, and I consider it one of the worst films I've ever seen, and was very disappointed with Reeves, who was fresh off his SPEED and POINT BREAK successes....both of those I very much liked. As fun as I think Reeves is onscreen, I've never looked upon him as an actor...or a good actor at the very least.
It was actually two films I saw that finally drove me to see THE MATRIX. The director's, Larry and Andy Wachowski, made their debut with a 1996 crime thriller called BOUND, which starred Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon. I loved the style and originality of it, and I later ended up buying it on DVD (and, NO, not because of the lesbian sex scenes..lol). Like I said before, I've never considered Reeves an actor until I see a little-seen film called THE GIFT, which starred Cate Blanchett. He played a racist, Southern redneck...and he really did get under my skin; he shocked me
so much that I actually started to have more faith in him. So, these two films led me to see THE MATRIX, which I found to be confusing at times; nevertheless, I could see why it struck a chord with a large audience. The cutting-edge visuals, state-of-the-art special effects, as well as the Wachowski's storytelling technique impressed me a lot, though I still was not won over until I saw the sequel.
THE MATRIX RELOADED begins about six months after the first film left off; our heroes are attempted to stop the advance of a race of machines from taking over the last outpost of humankind called Zion; meanwhile, Neo (Reeves) finds himself face-to-FACES with his nemesis from the original, Agent Smith (brilliantly played by Aussie Hugo Weaving). Neo also is now in a passionate romance with Trinity (Carrie Ann Moss), while Morpheous (Laurence Fishburne) is trying to determine the best course of actions throughout while leading Neo and Trinity to obtain a "KeyMaker," which will open a door they must get through. The story in this one is actually more smooth and straightforward than the first one...I think I was more comfortable with these characters this time around, and it certainly grabbed my attention with it's new plethora of special effects.
While Reeves continues his character well in this one, he is very outshone by Fishburne and Moss, who dominate the screen I think. I've never seen a more eye-popping and incredibly exciting car chase in my life, and Fishburne and Moss carry this sequence as they battle not only agents, but a pair of long-haired, albino twins who can change their appearances into ghost-like phantoms. The twins may have a different objective then the Agents, but they have the same murderous goal: to destroy Morpheous and Trinity, who are using trucks and motorcycles to get away from them. What made this sequence so revolutionary, I think, is that it injects the sensibilities of the franchise into, believe it or not, an old-fashioned freeway chase. I would probably get a heart attack on the spot if I was told HOW MUCH that sequence alone cost to make.
One of things I didn't understand about the original MATRIX: what was the purpose of them all wearing sunglasses? I know, they LOOK good, but is their any other point to them? Well, in RELOADED, I just decided to accept it, until it came to the sequence where Reeves fights an army of Agent Smiths. I loved the sequence because it was well-executed, but for some wierd reason, the damn sunglasses came up again...all these people were being thrown into windows, walls and on the ground, and they would come back up with their sunglasses on perfectly intact. It's a minor quibble, grant you, but for some reason it makes me laugh. That's the world of the MATRIX for you, I guess. However, I must note that when Neo opens the door to a new dimension courtesy of the KeyMaker (I bet it would be KEYMASTER if GHOSTBUSTERS was never made), he would be called, the light shines so brightly I thought to myself: maybe he does need the glasses after all, lol.
The DVD has a decent collection of special features, including a "Preload" featurette where you go behind-the-scenes, and it was mind-boggling for me when I realized how much was work to put into these films. Apparantly, the cast went through eight months of kung fu/fighting training, and even took a special driving course for the huge freeway sequence. It certainly paid off quite well...but what was amazing was that after seeing some of the other featurettes (including one devoted to the freeway chase alone), I got the impression with this particular that the sequel didn't make it just to "cash in on the original," as so many others do. The directors concieved of the MATRIX trilogy shortly after they made BOUND, and when they felt that they had a proper epic to tell, they decided to make the first one to see how it would do (like George Lucas did with STAR WARS), and the rest is, well, history.
I must say I will definately be looking for MATRIX REVOLUTIONS next month; hell, I might very well go see it at the cinema. Oh, yes, there is a preview of it on the MATRIX RELOADED DVD at the very end of the film, after the 12-minute credit sequence (see how many people contributed to the making of this film, lol). One more thing I must say, is that I have to admit that a tear came to my eye when Trinity died; like I said, I'm more comfortable with the characters and now, and I think they are starting to grow on me. Warning: if you haven't seen the original, see it first....or you won't understand any of RELOADED. Thanks for checking this review out...I might modify it soon. Cheers :))))
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Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Action/Adventure - Director: Gore Verbinski - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Chow Yun-Fat
Nice op! I loved the first film, but I wasn't too keen on this 2nd one. As much as you have to appriciate the effort and gasp in awe of the effects, it just doesn't have the same re-watchability (is that a word?) as the 1st. Still, I'll be going to see Revolutions...
buzios 20.10.2003 16:04
Great review but I have to disagree with you. I really liked the first Matrix - it was original and entertaining. But this was just a load of old plop - pretentious and meaningless dialogue interwoven with recycled overlong fight scenes all with a touch of wooden acting - yeeuch.
Andy.mack 20.10.2003 00:22
I'm a big fan of both films and keep meaning to check out Bound but can never remember what its called when im in Blockbuster. Andy
The Matrix Reloadeddelivers added amounts of everything that the first film had, with the ... more
exception of surprises. We see more of the "real world" in the "last human city" of Zion and we go back to the 1999-look urban virtual reality of the Matrix for m...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The Matrix Reloadeddelivers added amounts of everything that the first film had, with the ... more
exception of surprises. We see more of the "real world" in the "last human city" of Zion and we go back to the 1999-look urban virtual reality of the Matrix for m...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Neo and the leaders of the human resistance discover that Sentinels are burrowing their ... more
way towards Zion. Estimating they have perhaps just 72 hours until an all-out assault Neo must return back into the Matrix and find the keymaker to gain access to ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Sentinels swarm. Smith clones. Neo flies... but perhaps not even a Chosen One gifted with ... more
astonishing new powers can stop the advance of the Machines.Neo. Morpheus. Trinity. They're back for the powerful second chapter of The Matrix trilogy, and exciti...
![The Matrix Reloaded (Widescreen edition) [DVD] [2003]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78498566.jpg "The Matrix Reloaded (Widescreen edition) [DVD] [2003]")
Oct 19th, 2003
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