The Matrix Reloaded (2003) – 2.7

Looking back, I suppose it was no wonder that The Matrix Reloaded (2003) was an exceptional disappointment, although something in me had vaguely hoped the Wachowski brothers might hold out and do something splendid.  Instead, they sold out and produced a sequel that falls far short of the original, hyping the pretentious philosophical and religious undertones while completely foregoing the pop grandeur of the first Matrix (1999).  From the first action scene, in which Trinity kills some cops and flees from several agents, one can’t help but experience a certain inertial “been there, done that” feeling that pervades the film.  The much-hyped “Burly Brawl” scene in which Neo fights off hundreds of Agent Smiths is a CGI embarrassment, coming off like a boss stage from a mediocre PS2 game.  And the horrendously literal imagining of Zion is a pure Star-Wars knockoff, particularly the solemn Senate meetings, in which a couple of septuagenarians in Chico’s costumes bring the whole production to a screeching halt.  Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are delicious to look at as ever, but even their sex scene is cause for embarrassment, spliced with the now-infamous, totally inexplicable rave in which the nubile Zion residents celebrate the apparent end to their blissful existence.  Reloaded plays like the eleventh sequel to some long-ago classic; God knows what’s in store for us all with Revolutions.