Rating: Summary: Good(though nothing new) effects, confusing story Review: Matrix Reloaded wasn't as good as I had been led to believe. There were no new innovations in special effects since the first movie. It's pretty much the same old thing. Cool looking, yes, but not anything that we didn't see in the first movie. The fight scenes (particularly with the 100's of Agent Smiths) were too long and drawn out. It's as if the producers didn't have enough material so they decided to extend several fight scenes. Despite meeting the architect of the Matrix, we learn very little that helps us understand the motives of the machines. Perhaps the third installment will tie up the (many) loose ends. I can only hope...
Rating: Summary: Just as good as the first if not better! Review: Maybe everyone has their opinion but I was very impressed with Matrix Reloaded. I love this cast and the creators really get you thinking! This is a really fun must see! Can't wait to see the next one!!!!
Rating: Summary: great Review: this truly is a great film, and i think the reason for the mixed reviews is that this film makes you think, you cant watch this film if you have a short attention span. As well as some truly inspired action scenes the architect scene and other scenes like it will easily hold the attention of anyone in the leat bit intelligent and with an even rudimentary interest in philosophy. The only thing i could find wrong was it was that the action scenes did drag on a little. Although keanu reeves may not be the best actor i think he is entirely suited to the part, and he keeps true to neos humble begginings as thomas anderson. great
Rating: Summary: Saw it, Liked it, Worth my Time - WOW Review: Though some may be disappointed with this sequel, I was pleased with the added depth that was given to the characters. We learn a little more about Zion and about our heros. We see more development in Neo and his abilities. There needs to be a little work on the computer animation, though, guys, your facials are not matching up. That said, I totally enjoyed this movie. I took my 21 year-old son with me and we had a blast. I look forward to the conclusion of this story with relish. After I see it, I will then take the time to see it in it's entirety, one part after the other. I may have a different review then, but as for now, this is worth seeing.
Rating: Summary: DID SOMEBODY STEAL THE SCRIPT? Review: If the original Matrix was perhaps overrated, it was nonetheless an entertaining, clever take on some prevalent pop culture conundrums with an uplifting spiritual message and an empowering statement of personal liberty as well. Unfortunately, Matrix Reloaded is a poor follow-up. The action FX are aesthetically impressive, but the numerous fights tend to go on and on without ever being won or lost and eventually become repetitive. The philosophical underpinnings of the original film remain, but are undercut by less conviction and the total lack of any plot. And that's the film's main problem: there is simply no story whatsoever. Even an action film needs to have a tangible script to tie everything together and make sense of it all, but Matrix Reloaded plays like its writers are new converts to the stream-of-consciousness literary school. It's just one meaningless fight scene after another interspersed with a few nonsensical segues which the characters use to spout what is evidently supposed to be profound philosophy but is instead convoluted psychobabble. It's not a painful viewing experience since the movie does have so many undeniably great visual highlights, but it is a disappointing, lifeless one. After it was over, my girlfriend and I didn't even feel like we'd actually seen a movie at all. Hopefully the next chapter in the Matrix saga will make up for this one. Not recommended.
Rating: Summary: Can the Matrix sequel be this bad? Yes it can! Review: I LOVE the first matrix however, this is one of those movies you wish was never released. The special effects were great in many aspects however, several scenes cried out "computer generated". I enjoy special effects that are well implemented and seem to be seamless and hidden. Some of the effects in this film fall far short of that goal. You can't help but notice the computer-generated neo doing several of the fighting scenes. The story doesn't seem to be very strong up until the very end. It almost seems as though the first quarter of the movie was just thrown together and if that wasn't enough the acting was simply atrocious. Morphius' motivational speech in the beginning made me cringe in my seat. The fight scenes were far too long. They start out exciting but by the end you just want it to be over. The long fight scenes in addition to the lack of good story development in the beginning of the movie almost drove me to confusion. Trying to keep up with the tiny bits of story between these very long fight scenes was a huge task. This isn't a family film! The first had the benefit of being a fairly clean film. You could take your older children to see it without fear. This film, on the other hand, isn't even close. The orgy/neo & Trinity sex scene in addition to the matrix between the legs shot just drive the film into the dirt. This movie destroyed any desire I had to see the third film. I walked out of the theater with the sense of being robbed. I can't recommend this film to anyone.
Rating: Summary: Great Entertainment Review: What keeps The Matrix Reloaded from getting a perfect score, even if it excells the technique from the first movie, is that plotwise it can't do much better than the first one. 4 years later and with many copy cats out there, things where not supposed to be as new as they where in the first movie. Not that it's a bad thing, but it's something you have to keep in mind when watching Reloaded, if not you will walk away disappointed and write a 1 star review calling me and other people crazy for writing such reviews. If this already disappoints you, then I have been of some service, wait and rent the DVD. Technically you will want to forget the first movie. This is where they did what some people might think as impossible and redefined special effects for the next four or five years (again). I am waiting for the DVD just to see the making of the agent Smith fight scene, as I as pretty sure that the technique is an enhancend version of the effect seem in Jet Li's "The One". Hint: the executive producer is the same for both movies and the time frame is more than adequate to test the effect feasibility before actual use. Every action scene is breathtaking and worth the admission price. Plotwise the movie is coherent and well developed, many times in a non-linear fashion to add-depth to a simple plot segment (and it works), but is flawed by two sequences. The first is Morpheu's speech in Zion and Neo's love scene with Trinity during a tribal cerimony at Zion. These are the two moments I "got away" from the movie plot and asked myself "is there a reason for this?". Besides that, the plot made it's job to keep my attention on the big screen, giving answers that turn out to be new questions to be answered in the final instalment and expanding the Matrix universe. This movie left me with two questions, when they will start selling tickets for the IMAX version, it opens June 6 ad it was good enough for me to go twice (and technically superb to make it worth on IMAX, even if it is only a digital remastering), and if they will be able to wrap everything on the third movie. As I mentioned, the movie poses more questions than gives answers, so unless they want to flop a great concept they better do it right. I am placing my bets on The Matrix Revolutions, but surely they have (actually had) a hard task, as the disappointment of some fans with this movie may become their tragedy on the last one.
Rating: Summary: Loved the first one, but this was nowhere near as good Review: It would've been impossible to replicate the incredible impact of the first film as that one was something no-one had seen before, but it should have been possible to do better than this IMHO. Yes, the action sequences were good (particularly the motorcyle scene), and the kung-fu had spectacular choreography, but that is just not enough to sustain a 2+ hour film - especially when nothing much happens for the first hour and a half! The special effects were adequate though really nothing that we hadn't already seen in the first film, and to be honest were more than a little comic book/computer-gamey. For example, several times during the slo-mo kung-fu it was quite obvious that Neo is a digital duplicate rather than a real person. As for the plot, it did throw up a few interesting concepts but took far too long to do so - people were simply standing around talking or holding council meetings etc for the vast majority of the film. It also contains the singlemost pointless sex scene on celuloid, adding nothing to character or plot development it's seemingly put in for the sole purpose of showing a bit of flesh. I guess some will enjoy it for just that reason though! All the new characters might have been intriguing, but served only to confuse the issue as many won't get to fully realize their roles until the third film. That's a shame though, because I probably won't be bothering with that film as this one bored me rigid. However if you are someone who enjoys style over substance, then this might be just the film for you.
Rating: Summary: Matrix Reloaded proves that bigger not always better Review: Matrix was a sci-fi masterpiece, however, Matrix Reloaded attempts to capture some of that glory but fails in most categories. First of all, the opening is horribly boring as the first 40 minutes are unbearably slow. The speeches and exposition comes across as pretentious and often cheesy. As an aside, to see an awesome intro, check out X2 whose opening scene alone is better than Matrix Reloaded. Secondly, while the action/fight scenes are very well done in the Matrix Reloaded, they do become very redundant very quickly as all the fights are reduced to punch-block-kick-block-jump and variations thereof. The only worthy scene is the freeway chase scene. The "villians" in the film are very poorly depicted. Finally, the ending is one that made me wanna pull my hair. It seemed like it was the last minute of a pro-wrestling show. All in all, Matrix Reloaded is an average action movie which should be fine EXCEPT it happens to be a followup to Matrix which makes this look like garbage.
Rating: Summary: Reloaded Lives Up to the Hype Review: When it was first announced that the Wachowski Brothers would expand The Matrix into a trilogy, I was very skeptical if they could surpass the success of the original. After seeing the movie, Reloaded was a very enjoyable movie experience and it is better than the original, slightly. The Matrix Reloaded succeeds where most sequels fail in that we are given greater insight into what The Matrix is while keeping the concept of the story fresh. And of course, Reloaded delivers on the riveting rollercoaster action that we have come to expect, along with the philosophical overtones that can have your mind swimming for days on end. As many reviewers noted, the first 30 to 40 minutes are slow and some scenes seem to drag forever (i.e. the Zion "orgy" dance scene, Neo & Trinity's sex scene), save for the dream sequence opener. However, that period of the movie turns out to be quite necessary for a few reasons: 1) The first half-hour or so provides the audience a good feel of how Zion looks like and how their society functions, 2) To establish the purpose of the plot that Zion must brace for the attack of the machines and the way Morpheus and company want to counterattack, and 3) the "cliffhanger" ending. Even the undeveloped angle of Morpheus' involvement in a love triangle plays off as a little more tension within the Zion camp. But the film starts to pick up to its more frantic, visually captivating pace when Neo meets the Oracle. In an engaging dialogue, the Oracle helps out Neo's mission to save Zion by informing him that to succeed, he must free the Keymaker, an introverted man (or computer program?) that could enter and exit out of any portal anywhere in The Matrix, from the Merovingian, a Frenchman who philosophizes about the notion of cause and effect and basically likes to screw around. In turn, the Keymaker holds the key to the mainframe of the Matrix, where the Architect of the Matrix, a rather imposing and overly sophisticated cross between the looks of a Colonel Sanders and a cold, indifferent Wizard of Oz, grants Neo the grand opportunity to free humankind, finally. But would it come at a price? In the middle of all this is the awe-inspiring eye-candy for the CGI fanatics, in particular the "Burly Brawl" where Neo fights off with seemingly relative ease, against a hundred or so Agent Smiths and of course, the 15 minute freeway chase sequence, although not at the same calibre of the chase scenes in Bullitt and Gone in 60 Seconds, it goes down as the most memorable and mind-blowing sequences of Reloaded. If you thought the Wachowski Brothers' hype that Reloaded's special effects would render the infamous Bullet-Time technology of the original Matrix was all baloney, this scene would make you think otherwise. There are many mixed reviews about this film, but if you ask me if Reloaded is worth the price of admission, it's a definite yes. Is it better than the original Matrix? That question is pretty difficult to answer and you would have to see Reloaded, as well as the first, quite a few times not only to see if this outing is superior to its predecessor, but like the first, you would have to see it a couple of times to gain a better understanding of the film. Personally, having seen it four times the past week, I would have to say it has a slight edge over the first. From the pulse-pounding action sequences, to the advanced CGI, to the rather involving new characters (i.e. the Merovingian, the Architect and in particular, Persephone nicely played by Monica Bellucci even if it's for quite a short time), and even to the soundtrack played during the end credits and the trailer of Revolutions that follows afterward, Reloaded is an amazing work of art. Just when you think you know the Matrix, you'll walk out of the theatre just as mesmerized as the first. Like Morpheus said in the first Matrix, "There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."
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