Matrix Reloaded: Filled With Wonder

Most of the time, I watch films with a certain mind-set which is wholly dependent on what the film is in its essence. For instance, I went into X2:X-Men United as a fanboy and enjoyed it. With any Filipino melodrama, I prepare myself for the histrionics and the formal Tagalog and emerge quite satisfied. Then there's those Merchant Ivory films where my system is conditioned to European accents and lengthy conversations over tea, fulfilling myself with its feast of character studies.

Matrix Reloaded is a high-action, effects-strewn, surround-sound summer flick and, knowing that, I trudged into the Greenhills Theater Mall with the gang last Saturday and allowed myself to take in whatever the film had to give. Major passive stance right here. And my verdict is: a great movie. Not as entertaining as X2, but a great movie nonetheless.

Yes, the acting was BAD, the script was BAD, the editing was BAD... there were a good number of thorns in the Wachowski brothers' hypereality sequel to earn it a slot in the worst films list of 2003. But I loved the action overdose (though the choreography could've used a bit more complexity), I loved the new characters (particularly Monica Bellucci's Persephone, Lambert Wilson's Merovingian, and Randall Duk Kim's The Keymaker), I loved Neo's 'superhero' effects, and I honestly loved the Architect's pseudo-philosophical exposition for its sheer gall and poise.

I won't, in detail, judge this film as a Film (with stress on the capital F), because I didn't expect a film masterpiece, or at least a passable one for that matter. I won't even compare this to the first film because I intend to take this film on its own. I wouldn't want to watch it again, but given its positioning as a summer flick, I was entertained and the 120 buckers were well spent.

The trailer for Matrix Revelations, the third part of the Matrix Trilogy, didn't do much for me, though.

So to summarize my review of Matrix Reloaded, I will say this. A great kick-ass whirlwind-action popcorn flick, but it's a movie filled with wonder... you wonder what the fuck was that.

My Rating: 7 out of 10





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