![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Matrix reloaded - review
May. 15th, 2003 10:07 amWell. I have seen the second film. Was it all that? .......... no, not really. To say whether this is a good movie or not really depends on what you are looking for. This really applies to any movie. Starship troopers was a good movie in my book, because I wanted to see people blowing up aliens with guns....and 'lo! that is what it delivered.
If you want an action film in Matrix 2, then you will get it, though you will be annoyed by extended attempts of bewildering dialog. The actions scenes, when we got to them, are quite frankly amazing. The special effects are mostly fantastic, though a few times someone would move like they were on a cable (which they were of course), and the motion did not seem natural. Still, that's a quibble, there is some great special effects - action stuff going on here. The highway chase was some of the best 14 minutes of action in any film.
If you want a good plot sci fi film, well..........................................., it's hit and miss. The concept of the plot is great. Matrix 1 had a refreshing, innovative, and original sci fi plot. Matrix 2 carries on that story, that the basic premise is great. The execution lacks something though. First of all, and I won't reveal it, but there is a plot twist near the end that hints at extreme corniness. If they are doing to the story what I think they are doing, then it's a turn for the worse, unless they can make it pay off in a way I can't visualize yet. As for the rest of it, there were elements of the plot where you can picture the directors and production staff patting each other on the back because they think they are SO clever, when in fact they are starting to muddy the refreshing waters of the first movie. They are trying to get complicated, then they are trying to fit more complications into it, apparently just for kicks. The movie risks falling apart under its own attempted convolutions. Now this may all pay off in Matrix 3, and all will be vindicated, but they will have a tough time holding this together.
Dialog. hmmm, well, you see...........what the hell are they going on about? This quote from Roger Ebert sums up nicely how I felt about the dialog. "The speeches provide not meaning, but the effect of meaning: It sure sounds like those guys are saying some profound things." That's really it. They are given these lines that will make some people sit back, scratch their chin, and say "That's deep man", while the rest of us are saying "It's not deep, it's meaningless". Banters between characters, where everyone is trying to maintain the image of cool, and out-quip each other. It gets tiring honestly. At times I was thinking "Oh just start a fight scene already", this isn't conversation, this is like 2 macho philosophers trying to one-up each other, when they don't have a lot of material to work with.
Anyways, I don't regret seeing it, I even enjoyed a great deal of it, but it had it's share of flaws.
An interesting feather in its cap however, is one of the best sex scenes I have seen in a film. I have seen other sex scenes, and ok, person 1 and person 2 are on screen, and they are going at it, they are liking it, it's a nice scene, whatever. This one seemed much more intense somehow. I could almost feel it. The emotions expressed were fantastic (all coming from Carrie Ann Moss of course, I think you hardly see Keannu's face, which is for the best considering his acting talent). Either they were actually have sex, or Carrie Ann can fake an oragasm crossed with genuine love better than anyone I have seen. The whole scene is great, and I will remember it among the best sex scenes from a film that I have seen.
If you want an action film in Matrix 2, then you will get it, though you will be annoyed by extended attempts of bewildering dialog. The actions scenes, when we got to them, are quite frankly amazing. The special effects are mostly fantastic, though a few times someone would move like they were on a cable (which they were of course), and the motion did not seem natural. Still, that's a quibble, there is some great special effects - action stuff going on here. The highway chase was some of the best 14 minutes of action in any film.
If you want a good plot sci fi film, well..........................................., it's hit and miss. The concept of the plot is great. Matrix 1 had a refreshing, innovative, and original sci fi plot. Matrix 2 carries on that story, that the basic premise is great. The execution lacks something though. First of all, and I won't reveal it, but there is a plot twist near the end that hints at extreme corniness. If they are doing to the story what I think they are doing, then it's a turn for the worse, unless they can make it pay off in a way I can't visualize yet. As for the rest of it, there were elements of the plot where you can picture the directors and production staff patting each other on the back because they think they are SO clever, when in fact they are starting to muddy the refreshing waters of the first movie. They are trying to get complicated, then they are trying to fit more complications into it, apparently just for kicks. The movie risks falling apart under its own attempted convolutions. Now this may all pay off in Matrix 3, and all will be vindicated, but they will have a tough time holding this together.
Dialog. hmmm, well, you see...........what the hell are they going on about? This quote from Roger Ebert sums up nicely how I felt about the dialog. "The speeches provide not meaning, but the effect of meaning: It sure sounds like those guys are saying some profound things." That's really it. They are given these lines that will make some people sit back, scratch their chin, and say "That's deep man", while the rest of us are saying "It's not deep, it's meaningless". Banters between characters, where everyone is trying to maintain the image of cool, and out-quip each other. It gets tiring honestly. At times I was thinking "Oh just start a fight scene already", this isn't conversation, this is like 2 macho philosophers trying to one-up each other, when they don't have a lot of material to work with.
Anyways, I don't regret seeing it, I even enjoyed a great deal of it, but it had it's share of flaws.
An interesting feather in its cap however, is one of the best sex scenes I have seen in a film. I have seen other sex scenes, and ok, person 1 and person 2 are on screen, and they are going at it, they are liking it, it's a nice scene, whatever. This one seemed much more intense somehow. I could almost feel it. The emotions expressed were fantastic (all coming from Carrie Ann Moss of course, I think you hardly see Keannu's face, which is for the best considering his acting talent). Either they were actually have sex, or Carrie Ann can fake an oragasm crossed with genuine love better than anyone I have seen. The whole scene is great, and I will remember it among the best sex scenes from a film that I have seen.
