Boy oh boy where do I start? First off I'd like to warn everyone that I
don't normally out right recommend movies. In fact every review I write
for Gamelord.Org is in my point of view and could be crap to you as a reader.
Having said that, it means that you should always go see a movie that you
have interest in seeing, and disregard my taste if it is not in the lines
of what you like.

The Matrix was a very anticipated film, which may have worked against it
as I finally sat down to have a gander at the long awaited sequel to the
first movie. Normally when I look forward to something it doesn't seem to reach its potential(at least the potential that I gave it in my head). As I sat and watched it started dawning on me that I was concentrating much too hard on the movie. Which in effect is a good thing as it kept my ADD under control, but a bad thing as it shouldn't have to. It should just flow as I watch it. And for me that was where the major flaw of the movie was. The flow was so abrupt, and almost calculated that I felt that two people really did write this movie. Or one person with Multiple personality dis-order.

Well of course, as we all know two people did write it, and it really showed. It was like being stuck on the 405 during rush hour. Stop and go. Talk and fight. Each scene seemed scripted to accomplish a task. What task that was, I'm still trying to find out. Each Scene on its own was actually very good, but put them together and it started to be a bit redundant. The saving grace for me as a movie go-er was my appreciation for the art that was present at all times. Some beautiful effects and art direction was always present in the movie. From the Geiger like "real" world, to the sinful love scene, things were presented with rich and thoughtful touches.

Another saving grace was the complex and heart racing fight scenes, I even forgave Keanu for flying like superman, because he actually did very well in some of the fight scenes. It wasn't " Enter the Dragon", but it was a lot better than some of the attempts I've seen in the past. The only thing about these awesome fight scenes was it felt gratuitous, like when Halle Barry showed us her breast in "Swordfish". After wards you said damn that was cool, but what the heck was the reason behind that scene? I honestly had really mixed emotions about the movie. When people ask me" did you like it" I had to say "I don't know". Because I really dint know. On one hand was a well thought out visual extravaganza, on the other was a confusing, overly complex story that never seemed to climax. Once you see it you will realize that there is a reason it doesn't climax. But in my estimation, every movie needs to stand on its own, and have conflicts, ups and downs. And this one had mediocre challenges for the overly powerful Neo(Keanu Reeves). I resented his powers after a while. Much like how Luke walked around pompously throwing Jedi powers to the wind in "Return of the Jedi". It bugged me. He kicked everyone ass, which was really cool, but I wanted to scream "who let Steven Segal in this movie???!!!". Another thing that bugged was the apparent military structure that Zion had. They answered to a ommander, but didn't really. He seemed powerless to try and stop Morpheus(Laurence Fishburne) from doing pretty much what he wanted to. I rather enjoyed the rogue persona that the crew of the Nebuchadnezza had in the first Matrix. This Zion ith the governing structure took the romance out of a rogue ship exploring though the system saving people. I liken it to when the Enterprize returns to earth and there are other ships like her. The value of the crew and ship seem to diminish as you realize that they have a whole world full of them.

I can only say that I was in awe of the art and the richness of the visual content. There were lots of cues to old time Kung fu movies and even Samurai romantic notions. But if you held "Reloaded" to the standards of a stand alone movie it failed in the pacing and story department. In the basics of story telling, which I think all movies should have, I think it fell a bit short, no real climax for me to look forward to. Like a dog chasing its tail, it went from one quest to the next in an abrupt manner. Talk, fight, talk, fight, then talk. I was at times confused, and sat in my chair feeling like I need to see this movie again to really understand it all. You shouldn't have to go see a movie again to understand it, you should go because its was so good you don't want to miss anything. This feeling followed me though out the movie and finally broke me once Neo had a redundant conversation with a certain character at the end. The Architect's(Helmut Bakaitis) over usage of words that appeared on the SAT's made me want to pause the movie so I could look some of the vocabulary up. I felt plain old stupid. But worse than feeling that way was the fact that I did in fact understand the gist of it, and realized that he spent 15-20 minutes saying the same thing over and over again, but with different vocabulary.

This was about as annoying as you can get. Imagine trying to learn something in class while the professor tries his hardest to confuse you with overly wordy statements. I think if you are to write a character of superior intelligence he should use lofty words, but not the whole time. Maybe he could have interjected one or too words, but the entire scene, was a thesaurus for the English that no one uses in really life. Trust me, I talk to programers all day long, they don't talk like him. To recap, I was in love with the visual aspects of the movie. The dream like world our heros lived in was gritty and cold, and set the mood, for the contrast of the warmer(however fake it was) pseudo friendly Matrix. It also made for a very good discussion, and theories did start to appear as I discussed it with friends and family. As an optimist I want to belive that was on purpose, but in reality there were just a lot of un answered questions. Lines like "I know because it is my purpose" just does cut it. Explain. It needed to tell a story, but it ended up confusing and sometimes pointless. I can't say I hated the movie, but I cant really say I liked it. I can say I'll go see it again, even though its for the wrong reason. It tickled my curiosity enough for me to want to see it again. This is definitely one movie that you have to see on your own(even twice) to make a good judgement whether you liked it or not. For now, I'm just happy they dint have to blow up a reactor core or go back into time to resolve problems. I'll see how I feel after the second viewing.

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