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THE MATRIX RELOADED by Tom McCurrie
Ah, yes, the approach of Summer heralds many things. Warmer weather. Kids out of school. Scantily-clad babes frolicking on the beach. And, of course, sequels like THE MATRIX RELOADED.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead!)
Now there have been some kick-ass sequels in our time. THE GODFATHER, PART II, for instance. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is another. But most sequels don't live up do their predecessors. Why? Because we've seen it all before -- the premise is no longer fresh. As a result, sequels have to go the extra mile to keep our attention.
Written by the Wachowski Brothers, THE MATRIX RELOADED (otherwise known as MR) does just that, at least visually. We open with a startling sequence involving Trinity trading lead with an Agent as they're both plummeting from a skyscraper. (Great freakin' opening, guys!) But this is nothing compared to what comes later. In fact, MR contains two of the most inventive, and utterly hair-raising, action sequences in recent memory. One has Neo battling a zillion copies of his old nemesis Agent Smith, the other is a fourteen-minute freeway chase that makes THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS look like two kids fartin' around with Hot Wheels. Wow! (Action sequences like these are precisely what was missing from the otherwise solid X-MEN 2.)
But if MR goes the extra mile with the action, it doesn't do so with the script. The man vs. computer premise is the same, of course, but it's no longer fresh enough to pack a punch. And the story is extremely thin: Neo searches for the "Keymaker," a program that will lead him to the heart of the Matrix. This is a thirty-minute plot stretched to well over two hours.
And unlike the first film, there are almost no surprises or revelations to juice our interest. True, there is an excellent twist at the end when Neo learns his rebellious behavior is as programmed as anything else in the Matrix. But this is at the end; too little, too late as far as I'm concerned.
(The movie could have taken a chance and killed off Trinity, but the filmmakers wimp out and have Neo bring her gunshot body back to life in two seconds. [Warning: Mega-spoiler about X-MEN 2!] In this case, X-MEN 2 outclasses its rival by knocking off Jean Grey.)
Making matters worse is the endless, tiresome philosophizing that peppers the story. Neo has protracted conversations with Councillor Hamann, the Oracle and Merovingian about destiny vs. chance, free will vs. choice and the love-hate relationship between man and machine. Compelling enough themes, but they are presented in such a dry manner, and at such length, you're hoping for a slew of Agents to come along and shut them up. These conversations do nothing to propel the narrative or enrich the characters, so they're like dead air to a DJ -- they stop the show dead in its tracks. It would have been better to whittle these babies down to sound bites.
Of course, the dead spots wouldn't be a problem if the characters were interesting. But the people in MR are more archetypes than anything else. Neo is the strong, silent icon, Trinity is the tough-chick icon, Morpheus is the spiritual guru icon, etc. Without a compelling story to prop them up, the anemic characterizations become more apparent. Only Merovingian proves to be memorable, because unlike the rest of the cast, he is given a sense of humor. (Of course, the scrumptious Monica Bellucci is memorable as well, but for two other reasons, heh, heh.)
In the end, MR suffers the fate of most blockbuster sequels -- the action is new and improved, but the story ain't.
Responses, comments and general two-cents worth can be E-mailed to gillis662000@yahoo.com.
A graduate of USC's School of Cinema-Television, Tom McCurrie has worked as a development executive and a story analyst. He is currently a screenwriter living in Los Angeles.
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