The Matrix Reloaded (2.0 Money Trains)

I hated it.

This was the stupidest film I've seen since the latest James Bond flick. It:

1. Was incoherent 2. Was atrociously acted (Kevin "Wooden Man" Costner would have been right at home in this film) 3. Had a pathetic plot 4. Was, above all, PRETENTIOUS!

All this dribble masquerading as philosophy, trying to be oh-so-smart by dropping in names like Popper (named in "Animatrix", although he appears in "Reloaded") and Persephone and exploring ideas like "necessary evil" as if its ground-breaking and doesn't date back to the ancient Chinese. And ooh! everything's a computer program and isn't that a mind-trip? Yeah, well, that was dealt with in the first movie: is there really any need to harp on about it for so long in this one? Admittedly, the new ideas revolving around the number of incarnations of the Matrix were interesting but not enough to support the entire film.

So now that the "thinking" element has been dispensed with (and that's what made the first one great: the ideas behind all the action), what we're left with is an action movie that relies on endless special effects to disguise the shortcomings mentioned above. Without these the film would have been NOTHING! With them it was just a whole bunch of stuff that had been seen before with the occasional bit of really obvious computer animation that almost looked like Walt Disney had done it (Neo fighting lots of Smiths, Agent jumping on bonnet of speeding car). Final Flight of the Osiris (last episode of Animatix) did the CGI much better.

And as for the constant slow motion "bullet-time" sequences! Come on! It was like watching a Johnny Woo film. All we needed were the birds taking flight heralding something evil. Oh wait, we had that too. How about something new?

Finally, I've heard it said that this is a film that needs to be watched several times in order to come to grips with all the concepts explored in the film. Well, the concepts aren't that difficult. I reckon it is actually a case of the Emporer's New Clothes and that people are just confusing "incoherence" (point 1) with "sophistication".

The Matrix was a great film. It was intended to be a stand-alone film and that's how it should have been left. It is very difficult to make a worthy sequel, judging by the dross Hollywood churns out. The Empire Strikes Back is the only good one that springs to mind.

In summary, Reloaded's opening sequence with Trinity jumping around is good. Then the handbrake gets pulled on - hard - and the film degenerates from there, chucking in a a big fight (Jacky Chan, where are you?), a chase (see "Ronin" if you want to see a good car chase) a couple more fights and some romance. The best thing about the film was the company and the comfy seats.

My score for Reloaded: 2.0 Money Trains.