Date: 2008-11-02 11:52:02 Created: null
Okay, solid thoughts first. I enjoyed the film, it was up to my expectations. And it's so refreshing to see an action film where cars don't blow up after being breathed on, or even after crashing into something. My expectations were that it wouldn't beat the first film though, I wasn't hoping for instant salvation. When I consider the fact that the first film wasn't made with sequels in immediate mind I think the Wachowskis did a great job finding things and themes to pick up on without it feeling forced. I wrote after seeing the first film that I didn't want a sequel to come along and ruin things, and it's a testament to the quality of Reloaded that I don't feel it has in any way.
You also have to keep in mind this is a middle film in a trilogy. I knew there would be a cliffhanger at the end, and some people had told me it was a truly mean one. I think these people were pretty wrong though. There were moments that the film could have ended that would really have made mean cliffhangers, the place it finished now I actually found suitable and decent.
And besides, the wait for the last one isn't all that long ...
Some guy behind me (who didn't know or didn't care to stay and watch the teaser after the credits by the way), said he thought it wasn't close to the first one, and that he thought the effects weren't up to par either. I understand his point, even if I don't really agree with it, because I've been thinking similar things from a different direction. I've been watching trailers for Hulk and Matrix Reloaded and felt they look really, really good without being blown away. The thing, as I see it, isn't that CGI looks bad, it's that it's looking too good and can do too much. My thought is that when you know something is totally done using CGI the effect itself can't wow you the same way anymore. Seeing Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne fight in the first film got a real edge when you knew that it was really them doing it, that they'd been trained for months and so on. Seeing Neo and 100 agent Smiths fight and knowing they're all CGI with motion capture from hard working sunt people (not to take any shine away from those people of course!) just looks cool, but it's not as amazing anymore.
Perhaps it was a mistake to read about how the effects were done before seeing them the first time :-) ...
Right, if you've seen the film already and want my wild ideas for the sequel, you can move on to the speculations sub page. If you haven't seen the film, enter at own risk, and don't say I didn't warn you ...