Cause and Causality (The Matrix Reloaded (DVD))

Member Name: SlyClone2k

Product:	The Matrix Reloaded (DVD)
Date:	27/05/03 (315 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Mind blowing special effects leave you walking away feeling stunned

Disadvantages: Philosophy and plot may seem laboured. I urge you to look more closely.

I couldn't help thinking, as I sat watching Neo (Keanu Reeves) face off 100 Agent Smiths' (Hugo Weaving), that we really live in a time where they can produce some spectacular movies. Reloaded is simply that. Spectacular. The visual aspects of Reloaded push the very boundaries of ocular entertainment; pushes the limitations of Hollywood blockbusters and stretches the confines of the imagination. The principles behind the story and the execution behind the actions of Neo and his friends as they attempt to save the world they know from being further plundered by "The Matrix" are nothing short of fantastic. But it does have its down points, and none so glaring as the formulaic method by which the film has been produced.

Much of the cast remains the same, Laurence Fishburne reappears to play the enigmatic captain Morpheus, and Carrie-Ann Moss continues to dazzle us (well the men anyway) by playing the patent leather cat suited Trinity. To this end we do get a good feel for continuity from the first film.

The first and second films do seem to have something of disjointedness about them, The Matrix barely touches on the others who have escaped and suddenly we are confronted by thousands. For those who haven't seen the short "cartoon" the Animatrix (which I highly recommend you try and do before watching), we set off in Reloaded under the premise that the computer has set hundreds of the squid like Sentinels along with drilling machines to destroy Zion, the last surviving human city. Zion is almost at red alert preparing for the onslaught and the captains of the ships, of which there are several, convene to discuss tactics before they to return to Zion at the order of Commander Lock.

High amongst the list of carefully crafted visual amazements is Zion. A vertical city built far beneath the surface that is highly believable. It vaguely reminded me of the vision of the Brave New World by the artillery man in Wells
9; "War Of The Worlds". It rises triumphantly, vertically carved from what seems to be the centre of the earth. But whilst amazing it was here my first criticisms began for it is a strange city, where alongside marvellous computerised technology that controls the to-ings and fro-ings of the ships, the inhabitants live in almost tribal conditions, with homes carved from the stone. The inhabitants of Zion, some of which control the revolutionary technology seem to live in a perpetual tribal state, wearing ragged clothing and living in cramped poorly lit conditions. I could understand the humans would be wary of computers, but why would they be suitable for some uses and not others? Why could they build massive machines to control the air and light and not machines to create new textiles?

The actual plot of the film centres on the defeat of The Matrix before the impending doom of the free humans. They must free The Keymaker, from the charismatic clutches of Merovingian, who holds all the keys to the backdoors of the computer world, so Neo can reach the source and destroy it. Here some of the philosophy becomes tedious and in the final scenes made me feel rather detached and actually slightly bored. A vague understanding of what runs a computer program, mathematics and logical alga-rhythms may be beneficial in your even getting the ultimate point.

The special effects have moved on with the advancement of technology and while we were all stunned by the abilities of bullet time in the first movie there are several scenes in Reloaded that look like bullet time but are actually relying completely on "the virtual camera". In parts everything you see on the screen is rendered and created within a computer and while this makes for some quite fantastic scenes it also allows us to understand why Keanu has been such a good option for the leading role. One could never be found to say the Keanu Reeves is a man of outstanding acting ability, b
ut his talent in only using 6 of the several thousand facial expressions a human being can make are carried off flawlessly as a computer doesn't have to work to hard too render, entirely convincingly, Neos' face.

So what else of the special effects? Well apart from the long scene previously mentioned where Neo faces an overwhelming number of Agent Smiths, there is also the car chase. This scene, sitting at 17 minutes long, is the longest such scene in cinematic history. Trinity evades death on a Ducati (and increases our pulse rates) by riding it full pelt in the face of oncoming traffic; the Matrix agents morph here, there and everywhere in an effort to recapture The Keymaker who is actually an anomalous program that is marked for deletion by the mainframe; of great note are the dazzling dreadlocked, albino twins played by English actors Neil and Adrian Rayment who show us their incredible ability to become appear and reappear at will. Momentary flashes of bullet time, where cars tumble, bonnets are crushed and trucks explode are nothing short of jaw dropping.

But, as I mentioned before, Reloaded went Hollywood. One particularly scene involving a hedonistic "orgy" of dancing and sex (and a largely unnecessary extended love scene between Trinity and Neo) that seems to celebrate their impending doom. As well as the obligatory sex scene we also get several "laugh out loud" moments where someone does something funny or performs a "hilarious" piece of dialogue. While Merovingian's speech on freedom of choice is in keeping with the context somehow his guidance that swearing in French is like "wiping your arse with silk" whilst pithy, is also somewhat hollow.

Personally I felt that considering the story spouted some weighty but ultimately ephemeral philosophy on causality the layering on of such trivialities was needless. Perhaps it was just that the bloke sitting next to me had an extremely an
noying bray for a laugh (and he was drinking his own bought can of Coca-Cola). The original film didn't need to rely on such obvious gimmicks to become a smash hit success so why bother doing it to Reloaded (and probably Revolutions as well) the films are going to be box office big boys through cult following alone.

I had another note of criticism that was most palpable in the car scene. While Morpheus shows his acrobatic kung fu stuff fighting against one of the agents atop a thundering truck he spends a great deal of it teetering on the edge desperately seeking his balance. It seems odd that he was the person that taught Neo how to control gravity (in part 1) yet fights to control it now. Some of the founding principles, such as how the humans can control the computer world, have been dropped, and certain of the impossible actions that our heroes and heroines could previously perform are no longer within their grasp.

Ultimately the film is enjoyable, but more so for the visual sensation that the Wachowski brothers have directed for us. Plot and philosophy is going to be leaving most of us scratching our heads, not least because of the lengthy spouting of the Architect toward the end. There was a message within the first part that was fairly clear. A glaring idea that wasn't too difficult to comprehend. Now we are asked to try and understand Neos part in the Matrix, why he is there, the implications on his choices and the purpose of his existence in relation to the survival of what he knows. When watching pay particularly attention to what part The Oracle actually plays, what the future holds install for Agent Smith and why Neo is "The One".

There is something behind it all that's going to become clearer in the third part and I suspect that the reason the critics haven't liked Reloaded is because they didn't get it. This is, very likely, one of those movies that will require a couple of viewings to stop your
mind being overwhelmed by the visual feast and to fully convey the cleverness of the message within.

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