Matrix Weekend

I had a Matrix weekend. Barb and I made plans with Rhonni and Pete to go and see Matrix Reloaded on Saturday night. In order to prepare for the movie Barb and I rented the original Matrix and ordered some Domino's Pizza. It's been a while since I've seen The Matrix so I had forgotten almost everything except for the basic plot concept. The movie is still awesome a few years later. A little more cheesy-looking and a little less awe-inspiring. That probably has a little to do with the fact that The Matrix itself has spawned quite a few cliches of it's own. Overall though, it's still a great movie to watch and it's nice to know that movies that weren't hyped to death before release can still become classics.

Watching the first movie definitely helped with Matrix Reloaded. I didn't have to spend any time trying to remember what had happened. Our seats for the movie were dangerously close to the screen (Korean theatres have assigned seating). I thought I might get an aneurysm, but I adjusted fairly quickly. Barb and I went with Rhonni and Pete, plus our friends Colin and Lilli. I think half the waygook population of Gumi was in the theatre with us though. The movie was amazing. The action was incredible. I was worried they would just rely on the same old bullet-photography/wire-fighting technique that made the original so cool - but that's been done to death in the past few years. They definitely stepped it up though. The martial arts in this movie blow the original away. The fight scenes are just damned cool. Reloaded has the kind of action scenes where you actually want them to end, because you need to blink and relax; you're tired of the adrenaline building up. The motorcycle scene with Trinity is amazing! Some of the people I went with said they noticed the computer animation a little too much. I'm usually really sensitive to that, but I didn't notice it in Reloaded. Maybe my eyes were too fried from being too close.

As far as plot goes, I've read a few mediocre reviews of the movie. I was worried that it would fall into the usual middle-of-trilogy constraints and would be a victim of The Matrix's popularity. This was somewhat true, but not to the extent that many of the reviews had me expecting. The story was really good (i don't think I would use the word great) and was only cheesy at certain moments. Neo's conversation with the Architecht of the Matrix (Don't worry, I'm not going to spoil anything if you haven't seen it) was a little forcefully complicated and the overall plot had a "I can be as good as Star Wars" legacy-making to it. There seemed to be a lot of laying the groundwork for possible prequels, Star Wars style, as well. I don't think the movie was as good as the first, but it was damn close. The story was really interesting, and it's the kind of movie you feel you need to watch again to really "get" (read: bling, bling for the producers).

The main things that bothered me in the movie were:
-Neo's flying thing (seen at the end of the original Matrix) - It's cool, but too Superman-y for me
-Morpheus' prosthelitizing in Zion - far too cheesy
-The Architect's speech - most reviewers felt this was the high point of the movie (except for one Australian dude) but I though it was pretentious and purposely overcomplicated
-An overall plot concern that I won't mention here because it'll give away too much.


Despite some bad reviews, and the fact that my fried Sarah fell asleep in the movie, I would highly recommend seing Matrix Relaoded. You probably won't like it as much as the first once, but you're really missing out if you don't see it. I'll probably see it again and It'll be on my DVD shelf when it's released. Oh, and if you're looking for another movie to see, go to X-Men 2. Man, this summer is sweet to us geeks.