This evening I will be going to see The Matrix Reloaded. I have no doubt I will enjoy it (at least as much as, say, X2), even though my opinion of the movie has already been irrepairably influenced by the (mostly negative) advance reviews I’ve read. Timothy Shey, for example, pointed out Adam Gopnik’s review in The New Yorker, which, in a tone of unremitting snark, demolishes the decade’s most anticipated film. So great is Gopnik’s antipathy that, even while praising the first movie, he can’t resist a savage (and hilarious) dig at the franchise’s star:

Even Keanu Reeves, bless him, played his part with a stolidity that made him the only possible hero of the film, so slow in his reactions that he seemed perfect for virtual reality, his expressions changing with the finger-drumming time lag of a digital image loading online.

Ouch! And that’s an example of when he’s trying to be charitable! My favorite part of the article is his description of Zion in the new film:

Like every good-guy citadel in every science-fiction movie ever made, Zion is peopled by stern-jawed uniformed men who say things like “And what if you’re wrong, God damn it, what then?” and “Are you doubting my command, Captain?” and by short-haired and surprisingly powerful women whose eyes moisten but don’t overflow as they watch the men prepare to go off to war. Everybody wears earth tones and burlap and silk, and there are craggy perches from which speeches can be made while the courageous citizens hold torches. (The stuccoed, soft-contour interiors of Zion look like the most interesting fusion restaurant in Santa Fe.)

I can certainly appreciate Gopnik’s sentiment, which, I would argue, is mostly a reaction to the ridiculous amounts of hype attending the movie’s release. Furthermore, as someone who has always been a little miffed at the widespread perception that the original Matrix was a wildly original, deeply philosophical work, I can understand his need to point out the Wachowski brothers’ debt to Philip K. Dick or William Gibson or the medieval Cathars. However, I think it is important not to lose sight of the fact that this is just a movie, and, most likely, a very fun one at that (14 minute chase scene? Hell yeah!). The press (and, honestly, the filmmakers themselves) may have made the mistake of taking the whole thing too seriously, but I fully intend to enjoy myself by recognizing the movie for what it is: an action movie with philosophical overtones—not the other way around.

I’ll let you know how it goes…

[Sci-Fi Hi-Fi]