The Matrix Reloaded Movie Review

Is the Movie Bad?

I heard nothing but terrible things about The Matrix sequels but I always remembered them as fun entertaining action flicks. I remember sitting in my living room laughing along having a good time and after about a ten year gap I decided to revisit a movie I used to watch every other day on HBO, The Matrix Reloaded. I went in with low expectations since I heard nothing but terrible things about this film and when the credits started to roll there was only one question going through my mind,”why is this film hailed as one of the worst sequels out there”. Sure there were some questionable decisions like that abysmal architect scene where he starts spouting out gibberish for five minutes and that one scene where Neo takes on a bunch of Smiths in one of the worst looking CGI fests I have ever seen, but is this seriously one of the worst sequels ever? I think that the public eye judges this film too harshly just because it doesn’t quite exceed the expectations set by the first movie. I will admit that this film is no where near as good as the first but you have to ask yourself one question, “Does that make it a bad film”. I don’t think this movie is worthy of the title “worst sequel ever” because there is just too much to love about this movie. I enjoyed the action sequences… Don’t hate me but I honestly found the action sequences in this film to be far better than the ones in the first film. The choreography was fantastic and it reminded me of a dance, the way each punch and kick kind of matched up with the musical beats, giving the fights more flavor and rhythm. I also thought the chemistry was still there between the three lead actors which is one of the main reasons why I loved the first movie so much. To me, you could have all the best action sequences but if your characters are boring and dull then I might as well be watching a bunch of rubber dummies fight each other, which actually does happen… That courtyard scene… Before I get to that scene let me get into the basic plot of the movie.

The Plot

The film opens with Neo (played by Keanu Reeves) having a nightmare where he watches Trinity (played by Carrie-Anne Moss) fall from a building with an agent firing at her. Apparently he doesn’t sleep very much because of the same relentless nightmare (dammit, Freddy) and this gives him plenty of time to think about his purpose. He has no idea what he is supposed to do so Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne) and the rest of his crew decides to leave a ship behind to await a call from The Oracle. The team schedules a meeting inside The Matrix so they can discuss what the machines plan on doing and we learn that over 250,000 machines are on their way to destroy the city of Zion and all of its inhabitants. We also learn that Smith never really died and has somehow managed to clone himself. What’s better than one Hugo Weaving? Well, a thousand Weavings, of course! After a pretty bad ass fight scene with three upgraded agents and one Neo, we are introduced to the city of Zion, the last human city where we get to meet the people and gaze in wonder at how desolate the city is since it has only been destroyed about five times before by the machines. I enjoyed the design of the city, especially the engine deck which looks like a factory that powers the universe. Getting to see Zion on screen for the first time was a welcome edition since it was only mentioned briefly in the first film. It was like a puzzle piece that finally made its way home, bringing satisfaction to all who wanted a visual representation of the last human city. A dance party breaks out, which goes on for a little too long in my opinion and soon after, Neo receives a message from the Oracle. Believe it or not, this is where the plot officially starts! Neo is informed by the Oracle that he has to travel to the source to end the war. That is the basic plot in a nutshell. The One must get from point A to point B to stop X Y and Z from happening. Okay, since the plot is out of the way, how about I get into what I enjoyed in the movie?

The Good

• The action sequences were great! I enjoyed almost every action set piece, my favorite being the fight in the second act where Neo takes on a bunch of henchmen near a staircase. Might be one of the best fight scenes I have ever seen in my life and the music really compliments the choreography.
• The chemistry is still there between Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity. I really felt like Morpheus truly believed in Neo when he disobeyed direct orders to give Neo his chance to speak with the Oracle. Trinity and Neo have good romantic chemistry and I bought that were in love and not just making googly eyes at each other.
• The camera work was amazing! I loved the scene where Trinity was speeding down the highway on a motorbike with the camera following right behind her, zipping underneath other cars. I felt like the camera was another character trying to keep up with the action.
• I loved the city of Zion and its design. It definitely did look like a city that has been through a war a few times and I did enjoy the time spent there, minus the cave dance scene, even though the caves did look pretty engaging.
• Hugo Weaving is back and just as good as I remembered him. He is such a good villain and it seemed like he was always one step ahead, constantly cloning himself to take on Neo. The action sequences were great! I enjoyed almost every action set piece, my favorite being the fight in the second act where Neo takes on a bunch of henchmen near a staircase. Might be one of the best fight scenes I have ever seen in my life and the music really compliments the choreography.

The Bad

• The CGI is downright terrible in certain scenes. That infamous courtyard scene with Neo battling a thousand Smiths was horrendous to look at in some shots. It looked like a video game half the time and some of the sound effects in the scene was laughable. There’s a point where Neo knocks a bunch of Smiths over with another Smith and I could hear the sound of bowling pins being knocked over. Seriously, movie? That scene along with another scene (which I am going to get to) completely took me out of the movie since it looked so fake.
• What the hell was with the Architect’s dialogue at the end? Why did the directors feel it necessary to have the Architect speak complete gibberish? Every other word was complete and utter artsy fartsy English. Nothing about that scene interested me and my brain just wanted to turn off at that point because it came off as pretentious to me. It felt completely unnecessary and I completely understand why people dismiss the movie based on this scene alone. The only positive I can think of when it comes to that scene is, of course, that it’s damn near the end of the movie. It is easily something you can skip over until the end of his speech since the gist of what he was talking about is summed up there. I dare you to watch that scene without going, “huh”!
• Some scenes went on way longer than necessary. The scene where Zion decides to have a dance party to mock the machines could have been cut a bit shorter. I understood what they were going for, but it felt like padding after three minutes of people grinding on each other. My reaction was, “Okay, we get it! Move along”.

Interesting Facts

• The highway chase scene took almost three months to shoot!
• Sean Connery was originally picked to play the role of the Architect but he turned it down since he didn’t get the concept of the movie. I don’t blame him! One look at the script would scare any great actor off.
• The fight scene between Neo and an army of Smiths took 27 days to shoot.
• The special effects cost one hundred million dollars.
• The inspiration for the morphing effect on the twins was jellyfish.
• Martial arts training for the lead actors took eight months after starting in November of 2000.
• Carrie-Anne Moss did some of her own driving on the motorcycle for the highway scene.
• The Matrix Reloaded is the highest grossing film in the franchise.
• The Zion rave involved over one thousand extras.The highway chase scene took almost three months to shoot!

In Conclusion

The movie was very entertaining to sit through for the most part, except for the infamous Architect speech. I honestly don’t think this movie is as bad as everybody says it is and I would have to say to check it out for yourself to come up with your own opinion on it. Just go in knowing that it’s not going to live up to the first movie, and you should be able to enjoy it for what it is. I went in with low expectations so if you go in with slightly higher expectations then you might be mildly disappointed. The action scenes were a spectacle, the music gave the action more flavor, the camera work was fantastic for both the fight scenes and that scene on the highway, and the characters are all good like they were in the first film. I am going to give this movie three stars out of five since the CGI is pretty dated and some of the dialogue towards the end sucked me out of the movie. Stop being overly pretentious… That can seriously bore the audience and take them out of the movie completely as it did me. If you enjoyed my review then be sure to share this article around on social media! I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!