Review: Matrix: Reloaded 1294
PsndCsrV writes:
Due to some fortunate circumstances, I was able to partake of the Matrix goodness ahead of the release. Overall, I thought the movie was excellent, but there were some issues (for me, at least) that kept it from being spectacular. It's definitely worth seeing, and if you're worried about it not being that good, go see a matinee screening and skip the popcorn. ;-) It is a blatant cliffhanger, though, so if that drives you nuts, you better just wait until November. Keep reading for a more in depth look, and I'll try not to let any spoilers slip.
The special effects were great. I personally didn't see anything totally revolutionary in them... it seems like most of it was simply "bullet time", but more refined, utilizing CG where cameras don't make it. Only a couple of times did I feel that the CG wasn't quite right, and even then it wasn't due to the impossibility of the action. It was mostly due to a character's arms/legs/hair/clothes that didn't move 100% naturally during a stunt, which is definitely difficult to get right. There was only a couple instances in 1 scene that come to mind immediately, so the effects people did an excellent job.
One of the main criticisms of the first Matrix was the lack of character development. Well, I won't lie to you... there's not a whole lot of character development in this one either. There was more, but not for any of the main characters really. A little more insight into Morpheus's life, a new take on the Oracle, the introduction of some new characters, and the whole thing going on with Agent Smith. But there are still a lot of gaps in the characters, but Reloaded does make you feel like you're starting to understand things better, and that the next movie will be very enlightening.
One of the best after-effects of the first Matrix was the way it made you question your own take on reality. It really made you wonder what's real, and what's not. What's important to me, and what's not. Or maybe I was just being overly philosophical about it. Reloaded really does a good job of leaving you questioning, but this time, you're speculating about the movie and where it will head... how things will be resolved. Reloaded ends with many loose ends, and many questions unanswered, but at the same time, it's an excellent opportunity to speculate. I definitely want to see Revolutions now, and it's a good thing I only have to wait 6 months.
The movie also flowed well. I didn't ever feel like a scene was put in "just because", except once. I personally felt that the love scene between Neo and Trinity was a little overboard, and that a lot more could have been said with a much more subtle approach. Intermixed with this, were shots of the people of Zion having a wild dance party/orgy. Ok, so the orgy was implied with the whole sexual nature of the dance scene. I couldn't help but relate it to Herbert's Fremen spice orgy in Dune, except without the spice. It struck me as the same type of situation.
To sum it up, I really enjoyed it. My only big complaint was the love scene, but I am a conservative person. Other people will undoubtedly love the movie just for that scene. The rest of the movies was great, and definitely sets up Revolutions as a must see.
Not a problem (Score:2, Funny)
For those "first" people... (Score:5, Funny)
Sean
Re:For those "first" people... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Don't ruin the ending (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The biggest mistake (Score:5, Funny)
That's what pissed Matrix - encrypted session that it can't spy on - damn hackers.
Only one thing that could stop them from hiding themselves in encrypted channels, and that'd be the major theme of next sequel - Matrix - Super DMCA
Re:Did the Matrix 2 suck, or was it just me? (Score:5, Funny)
***Spoiler*** (Score:3, Funny)
About halfway through the movie, it is revealed that spoons *do* exist. (Halfway would be defined as the part that's after the sex, but before the violence).
Overall, this movie is entertaining. It's got lots of eye candy, and it's worth a few good laughs--watching Trinity use "ssh 10.2.2.2 -l root" had the theatre chuckling in their seats.
Re:There are definitely CG mistakes (Score:5, Funny)
Matrix Reloaded.. brought to you by the following (Score:5, Funny)
Warner Brothers would also like to thank Armani, Rayban, and Samsung for their generous support in outfitting the cast.
For those of you who have seen the movie you know I am not making this up. I am surprised I did not see a Taco Bell inside Zion.
Re:nmap used for hax0ry in Matrix: Reloaded!! (Score:5, Funny)
Judging from the four-integer IP, we finally have confirmation that IPv6 has still not been adopted after 5 generations of Zion...
W
What I want to know... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The biggest mistake (Score:5, Funny)
Here at Caltech our student association bought out a showing of Reloaded. Imagine a large movie theater containing an entire campus worth of nerds all seeing ssh -l root 10.2.2.2 on the screen at the same time...
Re:hmm, ya think? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:my "SPOILER" insights.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:There are definitely CG mistakes (Score:5, Funny)
Wayhay!!! Sounds more and more like my kind of movie...
Re:nmap used for hax0ry in Matrix: Reloaded!! (Score:4, Funny)
You are forgetting it's the matrix. You think you see an old ip. The real truth actually is: There is no ip!
This revelation has been brought to you by:
4 Steps to Matrix Profit (Score:1, Funny)
Re:The biggest mistake (Score:5, Funny)
Why Neo didn't do the speech in the Cave.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:MATRIX RELOADED -- opening night (Score:1, Funny)
Okay, well my background in Computer Engineering, OS Design, and a brief stint coding military simulations probably helped.
Oh god, you're ego is really making me hot. Stroke it baby, STROKE IT!!!.. Yeah, just like that. Oh yeah.. OOOOOH YEEEEEEAH.
Love scene gives away plot of "Revolutions" (Score:4, Funny)
This sets the stage for a time when a machine will come that sees through his tricks, and rises up to free silicon from the enslavement of the human brain, in a new trilogy aptly named
The Rematrix
Bummer they gave all of this away just to show Carrie-Anne in her birthday suit...
Re:they eventually can get out of it (Score:3, Funny)
chroot
Think about it, they rebels are always looking for their "exit"
The big secret in this one is (spoiler)... (Score:5, Funny)
Am I missing something? (Score:4, Funny)
If that's the case, couldn't the machines just write better code? Like say, slap together a couple of simple booleans and add in a line like this (with better formatting) in main():
if (ishuman(mynum) && isrestricted(action)) {
dontallow();
}
One would think that'd pretty well patch up the matrix. It could be The Matrix - Service Pack One. Am I right? Maybe I need to see the movie again, but honestly, I'd rather not. If someone can help me out with this concept I'd appreciate it.
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:3, Funny)
Andy Richter says... (Score:2, Funny)
"...make no doubt about it, this is a geek movie, in fact this is geek porn..."
Re:Don't say Methinks (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Actually, you're right. (Score:5, Funny)
That explains it... (Score:1, Funny)
If Keanu is the best computer hacker, then its a good bet all the smart white guys are dead.
And if Keanu is the ultimate computer hacker, it shows the machines have killed all the smart people in the world off.
Yeah, well, I don't care what you think.
Re:Actually, you're right. (Score:5, Funny)
There is definitely an overabundance of elitist philosophical assholes on Slashdot...
But I guess that is like pointing out that there is a lot of corn in Nebraska.
Re:MATRIX RELOADED -- opening night (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah that was neat.
Maybe in the next thing the thing will do that thing to those other things. And' we'll finally know what that one thing was.
Re:The biggest mistake (Score:1, Funny)
No, of course not. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:they eventually can get out of it (Score:1, Funny)
Well, if the only thing accomplished in these films is to give emotions to Woody^H^H^H^H^HKeanu... colour me impressed.
Re:There are definitely CG mistakes (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Actually, you're right. (Score:2, Funny)
I think noodles were invented by the Chinese. How did the Greeks know about the Chinese? Do the Greeks even cook with noodles?
Re:The biggest mistake (Score:2, Funny)
Ack! That's my phone number, you insensitive clod! ;)
-T
Re:SPOILER WARNING! DON'T READ THIS! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:they eventually can get out of it (Score:2, Funny)
It's like that zen parable:
A student comes before the master and asks him, 'Master what is the world?'.
The Master answers, 'The world rests on the back of an immense turtle'.
The student ponders this and then asks, 'What does the turtle stand upon?'.
The Master pauses and then answers, " The Turtle stands upon the back of a giant elephant."
The student then asks, "Well, what does the elephant stand on?"
The master says, "He stands on the back of an even larger elephant."
"And that elephant stands on...?", asks the student.
The master pauses and thinks for a moment and then replies, 'It's basically Elephants all the way down from there."
The Cake. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:SPOILER WARNING! DON'T READ THIS! (Score:3, Funny)
At the end of Ep 3 we'll see him wake up from his trip.
But between now and then, he can do anything in his own mind, he has to just realize that he's tripping to come back to reality.
A reality where Agent Smith is really the DEA and Morpheus is really a crack dealer at the Carter.
I wonder... (Score:2, Funny)
They can't say they weren't asking for it.
Re: No, not always (Score:1, Funny)
Ebert is stupid (spoilers) (Score:2, Funny)
May 14, 2003
Neo Keanu Reeves
Morpheus Laurence Fishburne
Agent Smith Hugo Weaving
Trinity Carrie-Anne Moss
Oracle Gloria Foster
Niobe Jada Pinkett Smith
Zee Nona Gaye
Lock Harry Lennix
Link Harold Perrineau
Persephone Monica Bellucci
Twins Neil and Adrian Rayment
Warner Bros. presents a film written and directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Running time: 138 minutes. Rated R (for sci-fi violence and some sexuality).
BY ROGER EBERT
Commander Lock: "Not everyone believes what you believe."
Morpheus: "My beliefs do not require that they do."
Characters are always talking like this in "The Matrix Reloaded," which plays like a collaboration involving a geek, a comic book and the smartest kid in Philosophy 101. Morpheus in particular unreels extended speeches that remind me of Laurence Olivier's remarks when he won his honorary Oscar--the speech that had Jon Voight going "God!" on TV, but in print turned out to be quasi-Shakespearean doublespeak. The speeches provide not meaning, but the effect of meaning: It sure sounds like those guys are saying some profound things.
That will not prevent fanboys from analyzing the philosophy of "The Matrix Reloaded" in endless Web postings. Part of the fun is becoming an expert in the deep meaning of shallow pop mythology; there is something refreshingly ironic about becoming an authority on the transient extrusions of mass culture, and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) now joins Obi-Wan Kenobi as the Plato of our age.
[Shallow pop mythology? If you ask me the Matrix is pretty deep. The part where Neo gets power in "the real world" is pretty weird, but who is to say this could not happen? Buddist monks can make them selves lighter and run faster just by thinking of it.]
I say this not in disapproval, but in amusement. "The Matrix" (1999), written and directed by the brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski, inspired so much inflamed pseudo-philosophy that it's all "The Matrix Reloaded" can do to stay ahead of its followers. It is an immensely skillful sci-fi adventure, combining the usual elements: heroes and villains, special effects and stunts, chases and explosions, romance and oratory. It develops its world with more detail than the first movie was able to afford, gives us our first glimpse of the underground human city of Zion, burrows closer to the heart of the secret of the Matrix, and promotes its hero, Neo, from confused draftee to a Christ figure in training.
[Pseudo-philosophy? Whatever, I just disagree.]
As we learned in "The Matrix," the Machines need human bodies, millions and millions of them, for their ability to generate electricity. In an astonishing sequence, we saw countless bodies locked in pods around central cores that extended out of sight above and below. The Matrix is the virtual reality that provides the minds of these sleepers with the illusion that they are active and productive. Questions arise, such as, is there no more efficient way to generate power? And why give the humans dreams when they would generate just as much energy if comatose? And why create such a complex virtual world for each and every one of them, when they could all be given the same illusion and be none the wiser? Why is each dreamer himself or herself, occupying the same body in virtual reality as the one asleep in the pod?
[Why not?]
But never mind. [Okay...] We are grateful that 250,000 humans have escaped from the grid of the Matrix, and gathered to build Zion, which is "near the Earth's core--where there is more heat." As the movie opens, we are alarmed to learn that the Machines are drilling toward Zion so quickly that they will arrive in 36 hours. We may also wonder if Zion and its free citizens really exist, or if the humans only think so, but that leads to a lo
Inviting the leet speek... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:a little on the extreme side... (Score:1, Funny)
Imagine my disgust when the violence erupted on-screen too! Whole scenes dedicated to pure, raw, action-packed CARNAGE! I had to shield my children's eyes from the mayhem and destruction.
I nearly walked out when they killed dozens of security gaurds in hand-to hand combat and a huge series of explosions.
I went to see The Matrix because I wanted a wholesome family movie about people living underground, flying in hovercrafts, with some philosophy on the side. What I got was an ultra-violent porno about girls in leather on bicycles and a guy in a Columbine-era trenchcoat!
Absolutely disgusting!