Now that I’ve seen The Matrix Reloaded, here (as promised) are my impressions (oh—and though it makes me feel like a goofy, Aint-It-Cool-reading fanboy to say this: spoilers!):

• Justin Williams hits the nail on the head in his review: the scenes in Zion are every bit as lame as Adam Gopnik said they would be. Morpheus’s speech (“Hear me Zion!”) is so corny as to be cringe-worthy, while the big “rave in the cave” dance sequence is gratuitousness itself. For the most part, the Zion interlude provides prime material for the proverbial “cutting room floor.”


• Nearly everything after the Zion sequence is pure, unadulterated genius! I’m not being facetious here—I went to this movie with a very healthy amount of skepticism and came out a true believer. Even the much-ballyhooed philosophizing, which I was quite ready to snicker at, impressed me. Believe the hype: the Wachowski brothers have actually managed to make an action movie that vividly dramatizes some of mankind’s oldest philosophical questions (free will, systems of control, cause and effect, McLuhan-esque speculations about our symbiotic relationship with technology—they’re all in there). I would be particularly interested in reading a transcript of the “Architect” scene—there was so much being said there that I didn’t really have time to digest it all!


• I disagree with Jason Kottke’s assertion that the CG during the huge fight scene looks fake. I was looking pretty closely, and it seemed surprisingly natural to me. Kudos to John Gaeta and company!


• The 14-minute car chase alone is worth the price of admission. The twins are very bad-ass characters. ‘Nuff said.


• It’s pretty clear to me, based on Neo’s conversation with the counselor on the “engineering level,” Agent Smith’s sudden ability to influence events in the “real world,” and Neo’s newfound ability to stop sentinels, that Zion is just another level of the Matrix. I guess we’ll find out for sure in November.

[Sci-Fi Hi-Fi]