The Matrix: Reloaded Review

The pseudo real world of the Matrix is recreated in this second story of the trilogy. Neo, Keanu Reeves now believes he is The One, but he’s having nightmares about the woman he loves, Trinity, Carrie Ann Moss being in some terrible danger. And the city of Zion, that last bastion of true humanity, is under threat from the Machine Army which is tunnelling through the earth’s core. Neo must re-enter the Matrix to receive word from the Oracle, the late Gloria Foster, to try and avert disaster. But the renegade Agent Smith, Hugo Weaving, is determined to finish Neo off once and for all. While Smith’s skills have increased, so have Neo’s. The Matrix Reloaded is heading much more towards computer game territory, the emphasis being on big action sequences, spectacular special effects, and generally a sense of unreality in both design and concept. It leaves behind the mythic, romantic, humanistic elements that made the original so appealing. Keanu, kitted out in his almost priestly gear, is effective as the future of the world as we know it, but somehow Lawrence Fishburne’s Morpheus seems to have lost stature. Carrie Ann Moss is as svelte and lithe as ever and Hugo Weaving obviously enjoys his leering evil Smith. Nevertheless the emphasis is on the spectacle rather than the intimate and the film loses a bit of impact as a result.