Reloaded Review
The Wachowskis’ latest theatrical addition to the Matrix mythos proves one thing: you gotta have heart.
Reloaded, part 2 of an always-intended trilogy—so the directors say—does an exceptional job of changing our perceptions of what this fictional world is about but falls completely flat in making us care about what’s next.
What worked in part 1 was the audacity of the plot, the mind-bending scenarios, and the marriage of philosophy and Hollywood action. It was elegant, in a way, because the scope was simpler. We lived through the plot from our own perspective: someone unsure of the world we’re presented with, the true purpose of which is fully revealed to us by the story’s end. As Neo understood, we understood. It wasn’t that we were enthralled by Neo’s character but by the empathy that we felt since we were also in the same unknowing state, and that the mystery was so enormous.
Part 2, on the other hand, is designed to show us we only scratched the surface. But it is so densely packed with plot points and is explained at such a frantic pace, that we don’t have time to absorb it all. Even if that is the intent of the Wachowskis, to make us feel unable to take it all in as Neo does, the scenes lack the urgency of the moment to connect us with our protagonist and the driving pressure that makes him perform his tasks before he knows what their purpose are. These piviotal scenes are all products of cryptic and lengthy exposition to Neo from other characters.
On the other hand, we’re introduced to more new characters than we can take in: Lock, Niobe, Soren, Councillor Hamman, the Merovingian, Persephone, the Twins, the Architect… Many of these characters only appear to give Neo a speech and then disappear. Some of them are only there to grimace a little.
More frustrating is the realization that they have left some of these missing elements within The Animatrix and the video game, Enter the Matrix, which incorporates footage straight from the movie’s principal photography. It’s as if they deliberately wanted to make an incomplete movie so that the viewers would buy the home-video products.
Purpose naturally is the central theme in part 2, and leads to many major revelations for the characters and the audience. Very little of this happens on a human level, however. And so while we watch this chess game unfold, we can’t help but be aware that they are all literally pieces in a larger endgame for the directors and the Big Story.
Intellectually, Reloaded raises more questions as it answers others and succeeds in completely reinventing itself, leaving you either in awe of the depth of research done, or bruised about the head from all the heavy symbolism being hammered onto you. The question is: will you care?
