#49 — The Matrix Reloaded
This is another entry in my countdown of the 49 1/2 most essential action movies. You can read the first part here, where I talked about Death Wish 3
Hey, have you guys seen these Matrices? That’s what I would have called this one, “The Matrices”, the Aliens to The Matrix’ Alien. The people in charge decided to call it “Reloaded”, which implies a lack of ideas and might make you question its potency for delivering classic action cinema, but I think they did a lot more than just fire a bunch of extra bullets from the same gun.
Reloaded is as odd a blockbuster as it is expensive, and it’s very comfortable with that. When idiosyncrasy is your greatest strength, it takes time for people to get on your wavelength. I guess that’s why it’s hard for me to talk about this movie objectively. My impulse is to chuckle at many of the quirks perceived as flaws, but I also find them to be part of the charm — like getting sweaty at Club Zion or the philosophy lectures before a kung fu fight.
I admit there are times it can be hard to stay engaged. Characters will speak in fortune cookie riddles. Someone will ask “why do I enjoy this pizza when the crust is so awful?” and then the other person will say “don’t you already know? I believe you came here to tell me exactly why the crust is awful, and what you’re going to do to fix it”. Man, what are you even talking about? Is this the spoon thing again, or do I have to get those USB plugs in my head to understand?
But then an action scene will unfold, and kinda redeem all the lengthy conversations by having this weird synergy with them. For example, Agent Smith will appear and show off all his new Pentiums, in the form of extra Smiths, and then philosophy and technology collide in a benchmark test of the human soul, but it’s a lot more exciting than I explained it (because of the kung fu). I bet the Dell dude loved this movie. He understands what I’m talking about.
Speaking of fights, that Chateau sequence is probably one of my favorite action scenes of the last 20 years, combining delicate, weapons-based fight choreography from Yuen Woo-ping (do yourself a favor and check his film credits) with equally ornate set design. I really like fighting games, like Tekken, so setting an action scene in compelling environments always scores extra points for me. The walls of this particular arena are adorned with battle-axes, broadswords, and pole-arms to be wielded throughout the fight. Even Netpune’s trident gets thrown in the mix, while Wuxia Superman flips around curved staircases beating up eurotrash henchman with grace and style. It’s such a weird combination of elements, but it works through stellar craft and conviction of ideas. Then they go big (BIG big), transitioning into an extended freeway chase that is among the most ambitious of the decade. There’s so much packed into this sequence that you might have forgotten some of it, but it’s got shootouts, back-seat car fights, kung fu fights on top of moving vehicles, motorcycles, and my personal favorite — samurai sword vs Cadillac Escalade.
Reloaded ends in true ‘dark middle chapter’ fashion, with a worldview shattering verbal confrontation with “The Architect”, a loss of hope for the heroes, and the words “TO BE CONCLUDED”. I think now that we’ve had almost 20 years to get all the jokes and parodies out of our system, it’s okay to just admit that a man in teashades and a gator skin trench coat slicing open a sport utility vehicle like Zatoichi, and then shooting the fuel tank until the digi-ghost albino twin drivers explode in a fireball is one of the coolest things you can put in a movie. There’s almost nothing in mainstream American cinema like The Matrices, and I consider it my 49th most essential action movie.
