The Matrix O'erloaded

(Please note: plot discussed in close detail)

I never thought the original "Matrix" was the hottest thing since
pancakes; this sequel isn't much better, only the flaws are clearer
to see. Reeves, Fishburne and Carrie Ann Moss don't have the
flexibility and the Wachowski brothers' camera doesn't have the
fluidity to keep up with Yuen Woo Ping's fight choreography; the
stylistic tics--that 'bullet time' effect and the slow motion--are
merely that; stylistic tics (and now tiresomely familiar from
overuse). When Hong Kong action filmmakers use slow motion, it's to
make a difficult bit of motion easier to follow, and, above all, to
give the action a rhythm--action, pause; action pause. When the
Wachowskis do it, it's often to preen: "Look ma! No wires!" The
brothers use mainly two kinds of camera angles in an action
sequence: sideways and from above. Filmmakers like John Woo, Tsui
Hark, even Yuen himself (who's an accomplished action filmmaker--
"Drunken Master," "Iron Monkey") can teach these two a thing or two
about shooting fight scenes properly.

Beyond that, there's all the talk. Fishburne has his share of long
speeches, same with someone called The Architect. Gloria Foster was
amusing the first time she appeared, as a dowdy old lady; now that
we know she's a dowdy lady with special powers, the charm's gone.

At least Fishburne has presence; same with Hugo Weaving as Agent
Smith (perhaps the funniest moment in the picture for me was when
Reeves went 'Superman' on all those Agent Smiths, leaving them
staring malignantly at each other, making you wonder what they'd do
next--fight each other, or maybe play a kick-ass version of
badminton?).

Zion needed more introducing; same with all these new characters.
The charm of the original Matrix--what little it had, anyway--was
the conceit that Reeves was an ordinary geek trapped in a dreary,
ordinary world, and that this was actually a hideous fantasy foisted
on him (and the rest of us) by some vast, evil intelligence; maybe
I'm less than enchanted since Philip Dick has been giving us endless
variations of the same paranoid nightmare (but more intense, more
inventive) since the '60s. Now that they introduce the new reality
of the future, it has no emotional heft to it; Zion looks like an
endless dance club in a giant cavern, only you don't see any
drugs.

That's it, except for this one scene late in the film, where the
gorgeous Monica Belluci (wasted, as is the rest of the cast) demands
that Reeves give her some of what she believes he's been giving
Carrie Ann-Moss. Now that got a laugh out of me, because the key to
Reeves' attraction, I believe, what makes him sexy at all, isn't his
passion, but his passivity. What made him cool in the climax of the
first "Matrix" was that he achieved a new level of passivity, a
chance to be uber Zen and super cool. The Wachowski's have to cut
to a closeup of the lips and some loud romantic music to indicate
that anything sexy was going on.

Oh, and the scene where Reeves tries to revive Ann-Moss looked
amusingly like a digitized version of one of those 'psychic surgery'
sessions Filipino faith healers pull on gullible foreigners.