The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Genres

Action | Sci-Fi

Directors

The Wachowski Brothers

Countries

Australia | USA

Cast

Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Gloria Foster, Harold Perrineau, Monica Bellucci, Lambert Wilson, Randall Duk Kim, Harry Lennix, Anthony Zerbe, Nona Gaye, Helmut Bakaitis, Neil Rayment, Adrian Rayment, Daniel Bernhardt

Storyline

Neo (Keanu Reeves) and the rebel leaders estimate that they have 72 hours until 250,000 probes discover Zion and destroy it and its inhabitants. During this, Neo must decide how he can save Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) from a dark fate in his dreams.

Opinion

There's no better way to mess with a great film than making a sequel to it. And unfortunately that's what happened to "The Matrix", which got the beauty of not one, but two sequels, the first of which is "The Matrix Reloaded", a chaotic action flick that it's also the reason I never watched "The Matrix Revolution".

The plot is truly terrible. First of all Neo's story didn't need a following and that's one of the reasons the plot is so unexciting. The other reason is the lack of ideas, and thus the straightforwardness of the story that isn't just simple, but also lacks in twists. Unless you call a series of predictable turns twists.

The message sent by this film is also wrong. While the first film showed that it isn't important whether humans defeat or not machines but what counts is that they realise it's something they can do if they really want to, this film actually says that destroying is all that counts. And love, that's important as well. 

Another problem is that the tedious story is paired with overlong dialogues that want to be the smartest kid in the room, and those two combined make the film even more boring. If that's even possible.

But then there's the action, which is great. It still has some problems, though, like the fact that is the same action of the previous film, with sequences that seem copied and pasted straight from it. Sure, the action scenes are still pretty exciting, but they are just not enough to make a good sequel. Or film.