MATRIX RELOADED, THE - DVD review

"The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead." --Albert Einstein

If you liked the 1999 feature film "The Matrix," you'll probably like the second in the "Matrix" series, 2003's "The Matrix Reloaded." It's more of the same, plus even more nonsense.

Indeed, you might even like "Reloaded" better, as it contains a few new explanatory riffs on a story that left more than a few people a bit confused the first time around. If, on the other hand, you didn't care for the original movie and found it merely a load of sci-fi foolishness, special effects, and fight scenes, I doubt you're going to think very highly of "Reloaded." If anything, "Reloaded" has an even higher quotient of pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo, more elaborate special effects, a much bigger cast, and fight sequences galore.

As you remember, in the first installment we learned that most life on Earth as we know it is an illusion, a gigantic computer matrix of phony realities that we think we're experiencing, while we're really plugged into tiny cell pods controlled by machines. "Reloaded" starts out several months after the first movie left off, the machines are marching against the last remaining human city, Zion, and our hero Neo (Keanu Reeves) is the one great hope of Mankind. Fortunately, Neo is beginning to understand his powers and vision a little better now than in the first film, and he is more capable than ever of taking care of himself and his new world.

While I've never fully appreciated Reeves as an actor (except in "The Devil's Advocate" where he played the perfect innocent foil to Al Pacino's devil), Reeves does fine here as the ex-computer nerd turned mystic hero. I don't believe he ever changes his expression in the film, but the film never changes its tone, either, so I suppose it all works out. Also back are Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, not so mysterious this time around but just as strong a presence; Carrie-Ann Moss as Trinity, whose role and involvement with Neo have been expanded thanks to their popularity in the previous installment; Hugo Weaving as the evil Agent Smith, this time there being more of him (literally) than ever; and Gloria Foster as the Oracle.

New to "Reloaded" are Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe, a Captain of the resistance fighters; Harold Perrineau as Link, an operator on Morpheus's ship; Harry J. Lennix as Commander Lock, a military leader of the resistance; Anthony Zerbe as Councillor Hamann, a political leader of the resistance; and Helmut Bakaitis as the Architect, the creator, the godlike father of the Matrix. Even world-champion boxer Roy Jones, Jr., shows up as a grim-faced good guy, Ballard, who, ironically, does no actual fighting.

New as well is the script's exploration of free will, choice, versus fate, destiny, that is pursued to some small extent in the story. Perhaps this fascinating subject matter will be extended in the final segment of the trilogy, I don't know, but the way it's handled here only leaves things muddled. New, too, is the notion that in order to defeat the machines, Neo must reach "the Source," and to do so he must go through the "Keymaker." Shades of "Ghostbusters." And probably the silliest scene in the film is one where the fate of the world hangs on a single kiss! There's never an editor around when you need one.

But it's the visual appearance and action in "The Matrix" films that audiences find most compelling, and it's here that the Wachowski brothers, writers and directors of the series Andy and Larry, top themselves. Yes, there are more twists and turns to the plot to follow and fascinate and mystify, but there are more visually stunning sets, more impressive CGI, and more spectacularly impressive fight sequences than before as well. Of course, none of it seems as fresh or imaginative as it did in "The Matrix" because then it was all so new and inventive. Our having seen such things done again and again in other movies since has taken some of the edge off the flying stunts and the slow-motion special effects.

But you're still bound to find some things of interest. Probably of most regard will be the infamous freeway scene, one of those ultimate car chases that go on forever and destroy about 800 vehicles in the process. It's pretty exciting no matter how familiar it may seem. Indeed, the whole of "Reloaded" seems more like a fantasy video game than a sci-fi flick, but it's so remarkably well done, most people won't even notice.

I can't say I liked "The Matrix Reloaded" as much as I did "X2: X-Men United," the big sci-fi/action thriller that opened around the same time as "Reloaded," possibly because I didn't find Keanu Reeves as persuasive a lead character in "Reloaded" as I did Hugh Jackman in "X2." Nor did I find the same sense of high spirits and good-natured humor in "Reloaded" that I found in the more obviously comic-book inspired "X2."

Finally, there's the overlong duration (138 minutes) of "Reloaded," the relentless pacing of its fight scenes, the constantly grim tone, and the inevitable degree of frustration and disappointment a person must feel knowing that "Reloaded" will have to be continued in a third part. The continuation is a pall that hangs over the whole picture.

Yet there is still much to enjoy about "Reloaded" in its daring appearance, its mind-boggling premise, its nonstop action, and its general feeling of wonder. "Reloaded" is fun stuff for sci-fi/fantasy buffs, well made and entertaining even if it tends to become more than a little static along the way with all its similarly constructed battle scenes. My recommendation: Don't even try to figure any of it out. Just look, listen, and enjoy.

Video:
For a film so dark as this one is, the colors and definition are very good, indeed. The dominant colors are shades of green, so don't expect the most realistic hues. But with an almost grain-free background and almost no sign of other digital artifacts, the picture comes off very well. The only minor annoyances are some small moiré effects now and again, which can slightly distract one's eye. But it's nothing, really. The screen displays a wide anamorphic image measuring a ratio of about 2.17:1, which in itself is a pleasure to the senses because it's able to encompass so much action. The smooth, clear picture appears to be about as close to the original print as one hope for. Let me assure you that nobody will be disappointed with the video.

Audio:
The audio is more subtle than the video, but in its way it's more dramatic and rewarding, too. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sonics naturally provide the frequency range, bass, dynamic response, and front-channel stereo spread a person would anticipate in a modern, special-effects laden, science-fiction extravaganza. But it's in the surround channels that the movie excels, carefully placing ambient and background noises all around us, sometimes hardly noticeable except subliminally or subconsciously, to make the overall environment more vivid and lifelike. I loved the crowd noises, the footsteps, the breathing, the creaks and moans of the machinery, as well as the more obvious musical score and action-scene accompaniment.

Extras:
As you would expect of a big summer blockbuster, Warner Brothers' DVD set contains an abundance of bonus materials spread out over two discs; although, to be fair, there probably isn't a lot on the second disc of extras that one might want to view more than once, and for some reason there is no audio commentary to accompany the movie. This latter omission may come as a relief to those people who always feel guilty not listening to it. Also, the main menus open up immediately upon start-up, and they are simple and easy to navigate, with little or no waiting around for extraneous graphics to unfold. The straightforward menus are a welcome throwback to simpler times. Anyway, disc one contains the widescreen presentation of the film, its Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, thirty-five scene selections, and a widescreen theatrical trailer. Spoken languages are in English and French, with subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.

Disc two is where the documentaries are located. The first is "Preload," a twenty-two minute, behind-the-scenes production overview with the cast and crew explaining their part in the filmmaking. Next is "The Matrix Unfolds," a five-minute look at the influence of "The Matrix" across movies, games, anime, and the Internet. After that is "The Freeway Chase," a thirty-minute dissection of the making of the freeway sequence from storyboards to models to actual shooting. It's probably more than you ever wanted to know about the intimate details of filmmaking, but it's informational at the very least. Then, there's "Get Me an Exit," nine minutes on the commercial advertising inspired by "The Matrix," like the Samsung phone used in the movie; followed by "Enter the Matrix," twenty-eight minutes on the making of the video action game; and a four-minute promotional trailer for "Animatrix," the feature that combined CG animation and Japanese anime. Lastly, there's the cutest bit in the extras department, "The MTV Movie Awards Reloaded," nine minutes of fun and parody. The discs come packaged in a slim-line keep case with a handy chapter insert.

Parting Thoughts:
In closing, let me go on a tangent. If science has taught us anything, it's that nothing is for certain and everything is possible. The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know. Even mathematics and physics fly out the window when it comes to the quantum level of existence, the most elemental level of everything. There we find that a particle can move from one place to another with no time interval having occurred, or that a particle can be in two different places simultaneously! Einstein referred to these phenomena as "spooky action" and resisted having anything to do with them. In the last thirty years we've come to recognize that about ninety percent of the total mass of the universe is unmeasurable; we can't see it, touch it, smell it, hear it, but we know it exists: Dark Matter. In the last few years we've come to recognize that most of the total energy of the universe is unmeasurable as well: Dark Energy. Moreover, the latest explorations into string theory suggest that all matter--atoms, electrons, quarks, the whole shebang--is made up of vibrating loops of energy, and that curled up within these loops or groups of loops are quite probably dozens or more unimagined other dimensions, far more dimensions than our mere four dimensions of height, width, depth, and time.

Life is filled with marvelous uncertainty, and movies like "The Matrix" and "The Matrix Reloaded," far-out and bizarre as they may seem, are probably nothing compared to the genuine magic and mystery of the real world. Until we learn more, savor these films and the mixed blessing of wondering if we might just be living in a dream. Or maybe not; only the next installment, "Matrix Revolutions," promises to reveal all.