BlueWolf's Howl

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May 17, 2003

The Matrix Reloaded

Yes, I've seen it already. I saw it Thursday night (when it came out here) with Joel (the groom from A Faire Wedding).

Read the reviews and go to the site. Then, you'll know exactly what to expect - and what not to expect...

Most of the action is in the trailers. Go to the movie to see the order. Expect action. Expect philosophy. Expect more action. Don't expect revolutionary.

How many giant steps forward can you make? The first movie was awesome. It made you think. It introduced new ideas... well, new paranoia... no, actually it took paranoia to a new level. And it was a new way of making a film. It was a new way of looking at things. People actually looked at the technical stuff at the end of the DVD and found it interesting. That was cool.

So now we have the second movie of a trilogy. If you saw The Fellowship of the Ring and then The Two Towers, you're ready. Reloaded is to The Matrix what The Two Towers was to The Fellowship of the Ring. Typical second movie. There's a lot of explanation and info dumping going on in Reloaded. A LOT of info dumping. Okay, so just how stooooopid do they think we are? And if Neo is "The One," why do they have to tell him everything? Can't he figure it out? Can't we? Sheesh.

And not only do they not leave anything for us to think about on our own...they also leave nothing to the imagination. Nothing. We really didn't need that many scenes of the Zion party to know that Neo and Trinity were knocking boots. We didn't need to see that much of Neo and Trinity knocking boots. And we didn't need to watch Trinity hit the big O and then switch to Neo's dream to make the connection between sex and death. Sheesh. They could have been a whole lot less explicit and still gotten the idea across. We saw the dream sequence enough times between the commercials and the constant replay of it in the movie to have made the connection. Although, you can never get enough of Trinity jumping off the motorcycle and landing while the building explodes...

And Monica Bellucci... now, that was good. But I think Persephone upstaged Trinity. In the first movie, Trinity was hot. No, she was hottttt. Well, just like if one Agent Smith is cool, hundreds of Agent Smiths are more cool. If Trinity is hot, lots of hot women are .... detracting. It took a lot away from the movie and a lot away from Trinity. In the first movie, she was special. She was THE Trinity. The one that was so good that most guys thought she was a guy. She was a bad-assed woman who could hold her own with the guys. She was tough - sexy tough. Now she's one of many sexy tough women. It dilutes the allure.

And now Persephone takes the lead in sexy tough. And Trinity takes a back seat. Trinity's best part is when she says "Kiss This" and points a gun at Persephone's head. That was good. That was the old Trinity. I wish there had been more of that.

I also wish there had been more of Niobe. Reloaded ends up being filler and love story. The love story between Neo and Trinity. Well, they hint at a love story between Morpheus and Niobe, but just barely skim the surface of it. That could have given the story more meat and been a 1-2 punch. Instead it's a 1 with the threat of 2 shaking in the background. A lost opportunity. Perhaps they pick up on it in the third movie?

Some things never change. And some things change.

I'm looking forward to Revolutions. I'm sure it'll be much better. And it's coming SOON! Oh... I almost forgot! When we got out of the movie, we saw a teenager in the parking lot with a coat just like Neo's...wearing the boots and everything. So we looked at each other and said, "hey, that's pretty wild." Then we looked over at the car next to Joel's. It had a wire sculpture on the roof rack. It was of one of the twins. Now, that's wild!

Posted by BlueWolf on May 17, 2003 06:42 PM