Matrix Reaktywacja

In my day, I grossly underestimated the film, or rather overestimated it. I searched within it for more than a perfect post-cultural encyclopedia, richly overwhelmed with meanings and inspirations, narcissistic in its visual beauty. That was a mistake. The Matrix Reloaded can only be enjoyed if you accept it in this lightly coated yet childishly honest position. Years later, I saw a film that seemed to contain within it all the beauty (narrative, thought, visual) of all the magnificent epic works of fantasy. It's a real imaginative charge, unbridled by any self-criticism, guided only by a love of pop culture as a whole, and also by an excellent idea that turns the first film into a fairy-tale coloring book. Reloaded is a more mature but no less stimulating experience. What was encoded in Star Wars for generations before that, the Wachowskis offer in the cinematic language of the new millennium. I sincerely feel sorry for those who do not appreciate it – the most conspiratorial feeling of a person who feels at home in a green world. (25.01.2004)

The rating applies to the entire trilogy. Regardless of whether the Wachowskis had planned only one film or the entire saga, the resulting triptych is incredibly complex and brilliant. Even though Reloaded has several parts that pissed me off (the beginning in Sion, the way the characters figure out what to do next, Neo as cool Superman), the shift from the first part is so radical that the quality bar didn’t drop too much. Technically, it’s just as awesome, but content-wise it’s somewhere else. How you’ll relate to Reloaded it’s entirely up to you, either you will accept that shift or you won’t, and the film says that very subtly several times – have you you decided – now it’s only up to understand that decision. (22.08.2010)

Reloaded is a completely different film than the first Matrix. It seems as if it wasn’t even made by the Wachowskis, but rather by James Cameron in cooperation with Paul W.S. Anderson. Cameron is brought to mind by the bombastic set design in Zion, Anderson by some of the excessively digitalized visual effects (Neo’s face during the fight with the Smiths is a bad joke). The content is for nothing – whereas the previous film’s dialogue got its charm from the interesting idea of a parallel world, the dialogue here just messes around with words in a pseudo-intellectual way. The fistfights combined with the exotic techno soundtrack are very elegant and all the action on the highway is fantastic. And the nice costumes and detached humor (Frenchman Lambert Wilson and his vaginoscopy) are also pleasing. Beyond that, however, The Matrix Reloaded is just a synthetic formalistic diversion and fashion bubble. (20.05.2003)

I remember the second Matrix film as something that disappointed me, because part of the promotion was, among other things, a strong targeting of Monica Bellucci, who really can't be the main reason to see Matrix Reloaded. However, in retrospect, it is not that much worse than the first film. It's just that the party time at the beginning still seems so inorganic. Especially considering how Neo and Trinity's relationship is written like it was out of a fairy tale. (05.07.2020)

Once in a while, I watch Reloaded because it still has its power even after two decades, but it always lacks something and I can never describe exactly what it is. Maybe it's the magic of something new or a certain innocence that works in the first film even after multiple viewings. The biggest problem lies in the connection with the dark and overcomplicated Revolutions, which, at least as I perceive it, only shares a bond between the main duo and the action side. There are unfinished ideas, precise actions (often just to have some action present), clumsy dialogues, aging tricks, or overdramatic and now truly stupid insertion with the Merovingian. Surprisingly, even after all this time, I still insist on what I said about the film back in 2003. If the second and third parts were one whole, if unnecessary philosophy and excessive fighting with machines were omitted, or if the path to the source had ended as it should have, it could have been a cohesive, more optimistic, and overall better story. 70% (13.07.2005)