By Lisa Zlotnick
I distinctly remember writing the review for The Matrix Reloaded months
ago on Cinema Confidential and I must admit that most of what I said
before still stands true. For those of you who didn’t see my review on
Cinema Confidential months ago, I’ll be giving you a taste of my
thoughts back then and thoughts of the DVD special features that are included
in this feature.
Granted with the DVD comes a nice selection of special features that keep viewers
entertained but most of it is just a huge slap on their own backs saying “Wow,
we did it!” While the bar for this film is significantly high, previously
set by the first Matrix release, this sequel fails to live up to the
expectations set forth by the former.
The second film in the Matrix trilogy titled, The Matrix Reloaded brings
back Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne)
for another round of fighting the war with the machines. Neo assumes expert
control of his powers as Zion is at danger with the Machine Army. There are
only hours left before the destruction of the last human enclave but all of
Zion is emboldened by Morpheus’ statements that The One (Neo) will fulfill
the Oracle’s prophecy and end the war.
After the opening sequence we soon see the empire that Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus
call “home.” Zion is an extravagantly large cave-like structure
with hundreds of floors and people milling about. When I first saw this, I thought
“This isn’t Neo’s home.” A few months prior, Thomas
(Neo) Anderson struggled to face the truth and free his mind from the Matrix.
Now, his home is a Star Wars empire? They must have worked very fast
to construct this one.
Not long after the trio returns home, amidst an extensively elaborate erotica-techno
party, Morpheus preaches to all of those who inhabit Zion that Neo (the one)
will indeed stop the war. But where is “the one” during this speech?
That’s right – he and Trinity stepped away from the party for a
little action of their own. What does Hollywood say? Oh yes. Sex, action and
a great spectacle sells. Well here you go. In the first 20 minutes you have
a Hollywood blockbuster on your hands. It’s funny, but why are we watching
the civilians of Zion in a group orgy when their world is in danger?
One scene in particular that I enjoy watching over and over is the exceptionally
well-choreographed scene that places Neo in a playground with Agent Smith, Agent
Smith….oh, and Agent Smith. Soon, there are hundreds of Agent Smith’s
and Neo battles them all, flinging himself from corner to corner, defeating
anyone who challenges him. Even though I think this sequence is absolutely fabulous,
I don’t understand why he doesn’t just fly off from the beginning
of the fight. Did I forget to mention that our Neo is now Superman too?
Enough of the sarcasm, let’s move onto the special features that this
DVD has in store. The entire disc two is filled with some exciting and hysterical
special features. The first one is called “Preload.” Basically this
feature has Keanu Reeves saying that The Matrix films are the best work
in his creative life. All I can say to that is “whoa.” Carrie discusses
how intense Keanu was with the training for this film and in the funniest part
of this feature, we see Keanu latch out a few of his moves for the camera. He
was describing his fight with the multiple Agent Smiths and he whips out 20
moves in a row to show the interviewer an example whilst sitting down and fighting
no one. Watch out for him losing balance with his one leg high in the air. Poor
Keanu, he just looks like an idiot. Regardless of how funny Keanu looks, this
feature is certainly worth watching to take a look at sets, the fight choreography
and how they consider The Matrix to have risen the bar so high that there
is no bar. I dig this.
Next up is a feature called “Matrix Unfolds.” Joel Silver
opens this feature discussing how him and the Wachowski Brothers went to Japan
for a press junket in 1999 and met up with a few anime directors. This was the
beginning of the whole Animatrix project and the start of the images
for the video game.
“Freeway Chase” is an extensive look at the making of one of the
most incredible car chases I’ve ever seen. They say that this scene was
so easy to do because of its existence within the matrix. Therefore, it gives
them more leeway to do some more unbelievable stunts than if it were based in
a more realistic setting. Carrie talks about her motorcycle training and says
that she just didn’t want to die. They also discuss how they were supposed
to shoot the highway sequence in Akron, Ohio before they came to California
and built their own. This is a very informative feature and an exciting one
that takes you into the process of creating such a complicated and wildly choreographed
scene.
When it comes down to it, even though I wasn’t too thrilled with The
Matrix Reloaded, I feel that this DVD is definitely a staple for an avid
fan of the films. The special features are entertaining and even though Keanu
isn’t all that suave in the interviews, we still love seeing him play
a bad-ass on film. My final thoughts: Not as good as the first but definitely
worth a purchase.
