If you haven't seen the Matrix Reloaded... Stop!

I'm no film reviewer and I'm not going to try to pretend to be one... And my feelings are still pretty mixed on the movie. (Finally saw it late last night.) My initial thought was "boy, those Wachowski Brothers got a lot more money to do this one than the last and they're showing it!" I think the thing that stood out the most for me was the way the movie was so overt in its themes this time. The original had a lot more subtlety in its symbolism. Its not that the idea isn't interesting -- nothing is real, its just a figment of the machine's imaginations. I mean how old is this? It goes back to the ancient Chinese philosopher, dreaming he was a butterfly... (If you don't know the rest of that one, feel free to drop me a line.) This theory was just really finely examined in this movie -- loudly examined more like it. LOOK, we're exploring the Trinity! There are 3 movies! There are 3 main characters. LOOK the man we call The One is in love with a woman named TRIN-I-TYYYY. Get it? Trin-i-ty. We got paid 3 million dollars for the first hour we were here! Lots and lots of 3's!

And while some of the fight scenes were pretty amazing, they don't really make a whole lot of sense when you think about the fact that Neo can fly now. Why hang out and fight these guys when you can just take off? And why not tell Trinity WHY you don't want her to go back into the Matrix with you? She's a woman, for pity's sake, do you think she is going to listen to you without any explanation?? Let's get serious! And why was that Smith gone human guy so slow in trying to take action to kill Neo? Couldn't he have just turned all of the inhabitants of Zion into more Smiths? What's the big deal? And how does he have all these powers in the matrix if the matrix doesn't acknowledge that he exists? AND if he could get all the way to the ship to give Neo his earpiece, why did he need to turn into a human in the first place? If he can just waltz right up to the ship without anything happening seems to me that would be a lot less painful than getting sucked through telephone wires. But maybe that's just me. And then: WHY is Zion so damned ugly? All those friggin people living beneath the earth and they can't even hang some tapestries or something? And seems to me there should be LOTS of space at the center of the Earth, even if they do have to get all close to the core where its warm, why are they all in that one tiny space? Seems to me someone would have gotten adventurous and explored and little bit further round. Branched out on their own a little. Because that "choice" that they make to free their minds and realize nothing is real -- look at the cost! You're living underground in an apartment the size of your current matrix-sized walk-in closet. With no color. Apparently no one claustrophobic made the choice to open THEIR mind because they would've gone postal down in there!

That's all on The Matrix Reloaded -- we now return to your regularly scheduled, non-movie spoiling blog!
HP