Reloaded or Overloaded?
New Matrix is Too Stretched Out

When The Matrix arrived in 1999, I was blown away. So, it comes as little surprise that I was eagerly anticipating the new sequel The Matrix Reloaded. As a science fiction geek and a film buff, this is as close as nirvana gets without evoking the names Lucas, Spielberg or Jackson. As is often the case, however, the story failed to live up to the hype. Don't get me wrong, I loved Reloaded. I'll like it even better when it's finished.

For those of who don't know, Reloaded is only the first of two sequels to The Matrix appearing in theaters this year. The third installment in the series, The Matrix Revolutions, will be in theaters November 5th. Because the two movies were filmed simultaneously, the stories are one long extension of the original film. Unfortunately, the middle film (Reloaded) suffers from every possible problem that the middle story of a trilogy can have.

When last we left Neo (Keanu Reeves) and the human resistance, Neo had come to fully realize his potential as "The One" who could overcome the Matrix and manipulate that computer-generated reality as only a good hacker could. The film ended with portents that things were going to be different, that Neo would have dominion over the Matrix.

As Reloaded begins, however, things are not all right. The ships of Zion (humanity's last outpost in the real world) is preparing for attack. There is a leadership struggle over Zion's military between Commander Lock and Morpheus. And to make matters worse, Neo is having prophetic dreams of a disaster within the Matrix. To figure out what these dreams mean and to fulfill his destiny, Neo begins a new journey of discovery within the dangerous realm of the Matrix.

While the meat of Reloaded is quite intriguing, there is too much flash and blink. The directors must have decided that audiences were more interested in fight scenes than philosophy, so they turned up the notch on the special effects and created extended, drawn out fight scenes that blur the line between reality and computer animation. I should emphasize the phrase "drawn out," because two of the fight scenes seem to drag on forever. While seeing Neo battle a multitude of Agents Smith is fantastic, it becomes routine -- even boring -- after several minutes.

Likewise, the much discussed "orgy" scene is really little more than an extended rave. A cavern full of half-naked bodies grind to the pounding rhythm of some intense music as the people of Zion celebrate their existence, intercut with scenes of Neo and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) have sex in their apartment. While the scene was visually compelling (with the exception of Keanu's butt - I could have lived without that), the scene just drags on and on and on.

I thought maybe I was getting too old for this, that perhaps I had lost the energy that made action movies so appealing to me in my youth. But a straw poll of friends and co-workers, ages 20-40, seemed to show unanimous agreement: The Matrix Reloaded, while an interesting film, dragged on too long. Perhaps if they had shortened some of the fight scenes they could have made one sequel instead of two.

After seeing the movie, I told a friend that Reloaded was a good first-half of a film. I will undoubtedly appreciate it on another level once I have seen The Matrix Revolutions. That said, the next movie had better get here soon.

MY RATING: 7 out of 10.

RATED: R
RUN TIME: 138 min.