Originally posted by banana
What a waste of my time and money. Yet another "Sci-Fi" film without much sci-fi.
Let's see, what was wrong with this film:
1. Boring fights. If you've seen "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", you know what to expect. Which you would think would be cool, except we've seen it all before. Boring, boring boring!
I've only seen bits and pieces of "Crouching Tiger", but I know what you mean about the wire-fighting sequences. They were good, and entertaining, but there seemed to be so many of them. Its as if the movie was 20 minutes of plot with 2 hours of martial arts and car chases and bad dancing. The only parts of this film that seemed sci-fi was the "dual universe" concept, the non-linear thinking ("the choice has already been made, the question is why did you choose" or something like that). Nothing we haven't already seen in the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" premier episode.
Originally posted by banana
2. Ludicrous massive car chase where all the cars are obviously being driven over ramps on two wheels, causing them to flip wildly and explode into small, thermonuclear explosions. I LOL'd when the bad guy, after shooting about 4 clips worth of rounds into the good guys' car, finally shoots the tires of the car out! We've seen this kind of car chase before, and it was done with much better style and panache in "Smokey and the Bandit".
Yeah, ya know I had my doubts about the armour rating of the Cadillac CTS. Sure, the styling is square and boxy, but I thought that was for artistic reasons rather than the fact that Kevlar is only sold in parallelograms. Even so, the car chase was good enough to keep my interest.
Originally posted by banana
3. WTF is up with that weird, slow-motion dance sequnce in Zion? I must be getting old, because that part didn't move me at all, I was just sitting there thinking "WTF is this?"
To me, this was
THE WORST PART OF THE MOVIE. It contributed ZERO to the plot, accomplished absolutely nothing, the music was horrible (the disco cymbal back-beat made the whole thing laughable), and didn't stimulate me at all (but maybe that's because I watch "Howard Stern" and "Wild On..." when I fly AH and I've become desensitized to bad dancing). It went on longer than it really should have. It also detracted from the Neo/Trinity love scene which was shorter than it should've been. Speaking of, what was up with that? No nudity bonuses in the budget? Carrie Ann got a case of body image blues? How did this movie earn an "R" rating? It sure wasn't the sex scene.
You forgot one other bad part:
4. If the Matrix world is computer generated, and the rebels who go inside can manipulate their perception of reality, then why can't Morpheus and Trinity "do the Superman thing", too? Along these same lines, why does Trinity get killed by the Agent's bullet if she can manipulate reality, as evidenced by her giant motorcycle jump that starts off her action sequence? Can't she just imagine that the bullet doesn't exist?
Originally posted by banana
What I actually liked about the film:
1. Mostly Black actors as the heroes. It was good to see that a majority of the good guys were black. That being said, Morpheus goes through the whole movie reciting lines like he's got a bad case of gas and doesn't want anyone to know about it. Talk about wooden acting and wooden dialogue!
I wouldn't say the dialogue was wooden, but it was certainly forgettable. About the only line worth throwing around at work is "Mis-Ter Anderson..." in my best "Agent Smith" voice. Pinkett-Smith's role seemed too small and never really got developed. I didn't care for Neo and Trinity blowing off the "groupie"-type guy. Maybe I need to go back and re-watch the first one to figure out his association with them.
Originally posted by banana
2. The restroom scene where the bad guy's chick demands a sensuous kiss from Neo while his babe watches, was cool.
Yes, a very well done scene by all 3 actors, particularly the bad guy's chick, who sort of reminded me of Tia Carrer's character in "True Lies" in the scene when she's toying with Arnold while Jamie Lee Curtis watches. I think a better way to play that scene would've been something like:
Woman: "Kiss me the way you kiss her."
Neo: "I can't. I kiss her that way because I love her. I don't love you."
It would've established the power of love and development of Neo a bit better.
Originally posted by banana
3. I liked the Keymaker character, he was a sneaky little bastige that I was hoping was going to make it through the film in one piece.
Probably one of the better supporting characters in the film.
Originally posted by banana
Really guys, this film could've been so much better. I am not satisfied by explosions and passe' action sequences that have been done better many times before.
If they would've put more "head candy" into the film, it would've been much better. Instead, they copped out and went the "eye" candy route.
If the original "The Matrix" was Aces High, then "The Matrix:Reloaded" can be thought of as "Janes WW2 Fighters".
'nuff said, don't waste your money.
One thumb down.....WAY down
I actually went to the theatre to see "X2" but the theatre changed the viewing times and didn't update their web page, so I saw Matrix 2 as an alternate plan (car was in the shop and I had a few hours to kill until it was ready). Overall, as far as sequels go, it was better than the sequel to "Star Wars: A New Hope" but worse than the sequel to "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". Its a good film, but I would suggest simply waiting and watching it on DVD at home a week before the 3rd "Matrix" film comes out.
