A serious look at The Matrix Reloaded

[Guest Heel In Peril]

A review by Nick "Riot" Olson [email protected]

 

WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS. THIS IS ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY SEEN THE MOVIE.

 

When I saw the first Matrix, I thought it was an interesting story, and a fun movie, unfortunately held back with a plethora of poor acting. The Matrix: Reloaded has improved significantly on the acting front, but shifts the flaws to other areas. I see this movie, and I see all sorts of plot holes, missed opportunities, and unanswerable questions.

 

First of all, I must address what struck me as lazy fight choreography. I remember being struck when watching the first movie at how crisp everything looked. The strikes, while being far fetched, were believable. They followed through on their punches and kicks, making it look like they would hurt. In this movie, most punches clearly had no intention of connecting with the opponent. Neo’s fight with the Oracle’s guardian is overflowing with examples of these. Another flaw that is easily seen in this fight is the ‘non-block’. They must be thinking “Oh no, you brushed against my arm! You didn’t block with enough force to actually alter the force of my strike, but I should stop my arm anyway.” The fight with the Oracle’s guardian was pointless too, not doing anything to advance the plot, merely serving as an unnecessary tool to introduce the halls, and give even Neo enough evidence to figure out that the Oracle is a program. Couldn’t Neo be able to tell that just by looking at her with his “matrix vision” now anyway? I hate these cute little bits that are just stuck on with scotch tape for no reason. I mean that fight could be cut out, and skip straight to Neo walking up to the Oracle on that bench. There would be nothing lost for the plot. Some might say that then a great fight scene would have been lost. First of all, I just explained why I didn’t like that fight. Secondly, when you have a fight, it should actually count for something to advance the story. If there’s no reason for the fight, then I don’t care.

 

The Merovingian was a terrible character. He seemed to just be there to force feed us another round of water weight philosophy. I’ll get more into the philosophic problems later. When you boil away his long and pointless speech, which was mostly an excuse for a “matrix vision” shot of a woman’s crotch, then you see that he is a program, possibly a rogue hiding in the matrix, who wants power. For some reason, he also wants to kill Neo. If he kills Neo, and you believe the Architect, the matrix will collapse. That will destroy all of the Merovingian’s power. Why are the twins following what he says? Is the woman with him another program, or some seduced woman? When you think about it, none of it makes any sense. When you also consider how much screen time he consumed, he sticks out to me like a sore thumb of wasted time and effort for telling the story.

 

Following that, if the Merovingian is right in thinking that “The One” can be killed, then why not just kill every human who can wake up from the matrix? When Neo woke up in the first movie, a special drone came up to him, and was kind enough, rough though it was, to unhook him, and let him out. It had him by the throat during this process. If it wanted to kill him, it would have been a simple matter. I mean, if they wanted him to die, they could have just not flushed him even. Opportunities to kill the humans abound, so we just have to believe the Architect that this cycle is necessary for the continuing of the matrix. It all comes down to either you can kill “The One”, or you can’t. If you can’t, then why did they keep trying to kill him? If you can, why not just kill him when he wakes up?

 

On a related note, thinking about these things, it seems natural to ask why the sentinels didn’t bomb the Nebuchadnezzar at the end of the first movie like they do in the second. If they are able to take such a measure, why did they take the long route, and expose themselves to the EMP while carving through the ship’s hull? Neo had not yet been exposed as “The One”, so there would have been no discernable loss to them. Everyone else had been trying to kill Neo already anyway.

 

On the other side, if there is this cycle with “The One” emerging every so often, the hover ships must be hand me downs that the machines had never destroyed. From that, why would they bomb a hover ship if they need these things there for the humans to struggle with so they can keep up this cycle? That is, unless they intend to rebuild the hover ships for the humans. This all seems so odd, and all of it, in order to make sense, you have to think that the Architect is the only one who understands why this cycle is necessary, and none of the machines believe that it is. There is a chance of this being explained in the sequel, but so far it does not add up right at all.

 

As for the presentation of “The One” himself, Neo still has absolutely no color in his character. This really comes as no surprise given who is playing him. However, with the introduction of Link, who in my opinion is easily the most colorful and energetic character in the movie, it makes Keanu’s performance even more obviously one dimensional. This is a lingering problem from the first movie I suppose.

 

Speaking of “The One”, Neo’s powers are pathetic. He couldn’t even keep the doors open, or move fast enough to get through them, despite the fact that he outran an explosion later. In the first movie, the abilities of “The One” are described as being able to reshape the matrix as he sees fit. Somehow I got the impression that this entailed more than the powers of flight, and stopping bullets. He has a cute little force trick of pulling weapons to him, and a fun shot of him blocking a sword with his hand. He couldn’t even do that without bleeding. Why can’t he shoot laser beams out of his eyes, or reshape the surroundings to benefit him, or walk through walls for that matter? I would think that he could summon an impenetrable barrier to defend himself, or others. If he can pull a weapon to himself, why not toss the person he is fighting away in the same manner? Even Star Wars got that one right. His abilities seem really inconsistent too. He can move with incredible speed, and he can move things with his mind, but he can’t get through those doors in time before they close, nor can he mentally force them open. Maybe he can only move things with his mind that weigh less than 5 lbs? That’s really pathetic given the build up these abilities were given in the first movie.

 

The dance sequence was a pointless waste of time. Some might call it some “celebration of being human.” It strikes me that a more appropriate celebration of being human would be to focus on what makes us different from the machines. It always struck me that Zion would have large philosophy classes and such, because the exercise of thought was what made humans different from the machines. This is even more apparent considering that “choice” is the error in the matrix. Free will is what would always separate a human from a machine.

 

This brings us to perhaps my biggest problem with the movie. Anyone who has taken a philosophy class is probably familiar with determination theory, which hypothesizes that free will is an illusion. The thinking behind that is that for every choice you are posed with, there is only one decision you can make, and that is the one you will make. That’s a rather loose way to explain it, but the point is this: This is clearly the way that a computer would think. A computer, when given the same parameters, would always make the same choice. This is why the characters were always going off on the meaning of choice, cause and effect, and destiny ad nauseum. This is what makes Smith look so much more interesting to me when he says he saw something that couldn’t happen with Neo dying and coming back to life. With a program to be faced with the reality of a contradiction, he seems to somehow have become more than he was before. Perhaps what ‘set him free’ was Neo inadvertently giving him free will, or at least the ability to accept the concept.

 

An offshoot of this point: if the machines and programs are so die hard in their belief of determinism, then why would they ever waste ammo? Why would they ever fire their guns if they can see that they can’t hit their target, or get a tactical advantage from doing so? I think of the twins firing automatic weapons at the car when I say this. They sprayed a lot of ammo their direction, but it profited them nothing. In fact, because they wasted ammo, they are at a loss because of this. They didn’t kill anyone in the car, which they should have been able to tell would happen, being programs and all, and they didn’t force the car into a position where they could kill someone. Given their abilities, this sort of discernment should be possible for them. I would expect that programs would be taking small controlled bursts to either kill one of their targets, or strike at certain strategic points. In this scene, it would be like shooting out the tires, or spraying the side to force them into an unfavorable traffic situation. They almost managed this when they pinned our intrepid heroes on the other side of an 18 wheeler. The problem there was that it didn’t really profit the programs any strategic advantage. Also, because they heroes have to escape this situation, they would be constantly surprising the programs by getting away, making a little evidence of free will and choice staring the programs in the face even if they don’t believe in it.

 

There is also the question of consistency. It was established in the first movie that powerful though the agents are, they must follow the rules of the system. They cannot do things like generate their own equipment. Where did they all get Desert Eagles from? Every time an agent is firing a gun, it’s one of those HUGE hand cannons. I might be able to buy into the cops having them when the agents took their bodies over, if police issue pistols weren’t Berettas, I believe. However, everyone the agents take over have these guns. This seems to include the truck drivers. Somehow .50 caliber pistols don’t strike me as the kind of gun that a trucker would carry.

 

Where the hell do the humans get their power from anyway? They have gigantic machinery keeping Zion going, but no mention of how that happens. Perhaps they are utilizing the core of the earth for heat power, because it is still warm. That doesn’t follow though, because if that is a power source, the machines should already have tapped it dry. Do they have some renewable source of energy? They apparently have some form of alternative source. I would think the machines would put forth significant effort to seize this power for themselves.

 

Another inconsistency is the way Neo brought Trinity back to life. He stuck his hand in her. Trinity’s mind would see that Neo stuck his hand in her, and it is her mind that makes the wound real. There’s no code for her body, whether or not it was shown in ‘code vision’. As far as Trinity is concerned, Neo drove his hand through her ribcage, and rooted around her internal organs. Instead, it seems to me he should have levitated the bullet out, or dissolved it entirely, used his hands as defibrillators, and wizarded himself up some bandages for her.

 

Morpheus seems to have gone from being a wise and insightful character, to being some blind fanatic at the altar of Neo. In the first movie he was a wise leader and a father figure to everyone around him. Since then he seems to have gone off the deep end, as though finding Neo has made everything inevitable for their success, and he doesn’t need to really think about it anymore. At this point, he seems to have surrendered his free will to the prophecy that the Oracle had told him. No free will anymore? What a paragon of virtue to be fighting for the cause of human survival, giving up what makes us unique and all.

 

The defensive measures around Zion seemed to make no sense to me. Why did they have armed guards for the hover ship docking bay? It has already been established that an EMP is the only effective weapon. All there was to it was fairly transparent excuse for some cool visual along the lines of the power loader from Aliens, adding to it a silly gun spinning thing. Kind of unfortunate that the humans spent so much of their time building those security suits. They might have been doing something useful with their time, like building more EMP blasters. Speaking of which, why didn’t they have unmanned EMP stations for a perimeter defense rather than relying on the ships? Seems like a simple measure to take. They could also have riddled Zion with EMP blasters that would make any attempt for the machines to invade futile. Actually, the first movie gave me the impression that there was such a system in place. That would explain why the agents would work so hard to get the access codes to the Zion mainframe computer. If they can invade at any time, then the mainframe is entirely inconsequential. Was that all some ruse to keep their cycle of “The One” going? Or, are the agents kept in the dark about what it is they are actually doing? Given what the Merovingian knows, it seems unlikely that the reality of the situation would be a mystery to any of the machines. In any case, this whole aspect of the movie almost seems to be the writers going out of their way to make the humans look really dumb.

 

Why was the rogue Smith the one that was instrumental in the success of the machine raid on Zion? The description that was given of the events leads me to believe that the machine invasion would have failed if Smith had not sabotaged it by prematurely detonating an EMP through the body he possessed. The machines should not have any reliance on Smith anymore. He is a rogue with no connection to their main collective anymore. This is clearly the case since he has removed his earpiece. This was shown in the first movie to be their connection with each other. If he doesn’t have that, he is no longer accepted, or recognized by his brethren. The only option left for him is to be one of those programs hiding out inside the matrix. Another point that may be debatable, but why, or how would Smith have agents present his earpiece to Neo with a message. It may have been Smith himself giving it, I couldn’t quite tell, but either way it brings up another question. Neo comes up, gets handed the earpiece, and says agents are here. If Neo could feel the agents, that is one thing. However, the way it was presented, it leads the viewer to think that Neo deduced that the agents were there because of the earpiece. Either way, something doesn’t add up right. Either Neo said something stupid, or the rogue program Smith is still chummy with the other agents. This doesn’t make sense either since Smith did attack an agent later, and if Smith was the one to give the earpiece, then why did the agents that showed up so soon after ignore him? Later they seem much more focused on controlling rogue programs when they are chasing the Keymaker. Character inconsistency like this with a crown jewel of a character like Smith is a terrible sin. He is the kind of character that a viewer will wrack their brain to try to figure out. I hope the sequel explains these aspects to Smith while keeping him consistent, rather than making him some mysterious force in the movie. That would be a terrible example of poor writing taking out a wonderful character.

 

I actually very much liked the idea of rogue programs hiding in the matrix. The problem here is that they didn’t run with it. This idea opens up almost limitless character possibilities, and can be used to advance the plot in any number of ways. Too bad they just mentioned it as a minor way to introduce the twins who did nothing for the plot. All they are there for is to add to one fight. I will recognize the creativity in their character design though, especially with Morpheus quickly realizing their weakness and shooting one in the head, forcing him to phase out, letting Trinity escape. Unfortunately, even with what is shown, not everything is explored. The agents are completely focused on the Keymaker. They seem to think that a rogue program in the matrix is a higher priority than rebel humans. Why? This is something that would be nice if they went into in the sequel, but I don’t expect that they will.

 

The Keymaker himself also struck me as a wonderful character with some real creativity behind his concept. His little trick to sneak behind Smith in the halls was something that took me by surprise (something that doesn’t happen too much in movies for me). Unfortunately, this character is presented as a one dimensional plot device that might as well have been a bit of the scenery rather than fleshing him out and making him something the audience could sink their teeth into. Once again, here is a character that spatters on about destiny, and the whole determinism thing, rather than making a unique contribution that the concept behind him is capable of.

 

When I look at this, what seems to me to be a wealth of untapped storytelling potential, I can only get frustrated. Wonderful character concepts are glossed over and ignored in favor of a fight sequence, and a boring monologue about cause and effect. Characters that could be quickly shown to be fully three dimensional characters with complex motivations are left to appear as half dimensional plot devices that even then you only scratch at the surface of their character. I look at it, and in my own little perfect world, I would completely eliminate the Merovingian, and make it the twins alone who were holding the Keymaker. The twins could have been a yin and yang sort, with one being a “good” side, and the other being a “bad” side. With them being twins, you can never tell which is which. On top of that, you could splash a little food for thought on this, making them a little like Two Face from Batman by having them decide things by chance of a coin flip, or any other such measure. The interesting element to this is the question: is there really any such thing as random chance for a computer? Can they actually believe in the concept of ‘random’? If they don’t, are they rigging every one of these? Or, can random even exist in the matrix? This is admittedly just some fanboy fantasy booking, but that would be so much more interesting than that agonizing monologue from the Merovingian.

 

I think Smith was easily the highlight of the movie, acting very insane, and I think his duplication trick is rather creative. The looks on his face(s) after the dog pile on Neo were also quite amusing. Also, his speech about purpose was perhaps the best delivered set of lines in the movie. I would have enjoyed seeing more of Smith, and explore his post whatever-the-hell-Neo-did-to-him character growth. His actions since becoming a rogue seem very strange, and in need of explaining. This could be explained in the following movie, but some clues in this installment would have been appreciated. One could say that he is following his “purpose” in opposing Neo, just doing whatever he can to fight the humans. Given that he destroyed another agent, and I don’t think that would have fit with his previously existing “purpose”, I don’t quite buy that. His speech seems to me to be more like him desperately trying to justify his existence, putting forth a flailing effort to make sense of what is happening to him. If given more than a fast little glimpse it could have been really fascinating. Although, no matter how interesting it might have been, it didn’t deserve something along the lines of the speech the Merovingian gave. I really hope that Smith is given a lot of time in the next movie, fully exploring his growth and new found complexity.

 

In case you couldn’t tell, I really hate The Merovingian.

 

All in all I look at this movie, and don’t hate it, or particularly like it. I am frustrated. The people in the entertainment industry are supposed to be the wonderfully artistic and creative people. If that is the case, then I should not be able to look at a movie like this, one that presents itself to be something you can think about, something more than the “turn your brain off and enjoy the explosions” blockbuster action movie, and see so many plot holes and missed opportunities. There should be better food for thought than a boring series of lectures that limit themselves to an argument that anyone who really knows anything about philosophy already knows inside out. For me, it was just frustrating.

 

One last thought. Why not cows? http://pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=20030512

 

[End]

 

I personally agree with most of Riot's points in his review of The Matrix Reloaded, however it hasn't resulted in me being nearly as outraged with the film as much as some others here (and elsewhere) have already stated. Yes, a part of me is a little saddened that it proved to have as many plotholes as it did, but its effect on my overall experience watching the movie is negligible probably considering my experience being let down by today's wrestling storylines and even watching some of today's movies too.

 

Do you see his points? Do you agree/disagree? Discuss.

[Garth 0]

I try not to over analyze movies to much. I enjoyed the Matrix: Reloaded very much. and took it for what it was worth, i don't mind people complaining about plotholes etc, but would prefer it if people waited until they had seen The Matrix: Revolutions in November before passing a judgement on these things.

 

But reading that article has made me think, how it could of been better, byt complaining is not going to alter the movie and hopefull when we get to November we will all be plesently suprised.

[Guest DrTom]

He raises some good points, yes. But having seen the movie twice now, I can definitely say that I like it and think it's quite good. It's not on the same level as the first one, but it doesn't miss by much. A lot of the questions he raises will (hopefully) be answered in the third installment. Reloaded definitely left things hanging for Revolutions, which is part of what the second movie in a trilogy is supposed to accomplish.

[Guest Cover of Darkness]

I'm glad this guy managed to get a serious look at The Matrix Reloaded. I guess I was too busy alternating between closing my eyes and making shadow puppets at the movie like everyone else. I'm glad some brave souls can really LOOK at movies and help the rest of us poor bastards out.

[Guest Spicy McHaggis]

Why was the rogue Smith the one that was instrumental in the success of the machine raid on Zion? The description that was given of the events leads me to believe that the machine invasion would have failed if Smith had not sabotaged it by prematurely detonating an EMP through the body he possessed. The machines should not have any reliance on Smith anymore. He is a rogue with no connection to their main collective anymore. This is clearly the case since he has removed his earpiece. This was shown in the first movie to be their connection with each other. If he doesn’t have that, he is no longer accepted, or recognized by his brethren. The only option left for him is to be one of those programs hiding out inside the matrix. Another point that may be debatable, but why, or how would Smith have agents present his earpiece to Neo with a message. It may have been Smith himself giving it, I couldn’t quite tell, but either way it brings up another question. Neo comes up, gets handed the earpiece, and says agents are here. If Neo could feel the agents, that is one thing. However, the way it was presented, it leads the viewer to think that Neo deduced that the agents were there because of the earpiece. Either way, something doesn’t add up right. Either Neo said something stupid, or the rogue program Smith is still chummy with the other agents. This doesn’t make sense either since Smith did attack an agent later, and if Smith was the one to give the earpiece, then why did the agents that showed up so soon after ignore him? Later they seem much more focused on controlling rogue programs when they are chasing the Keymaker. Character inconsistency like this with a crown jewel of a character like Smith is a terrible sin. He is the kind of character that a viewer will wrack their brain to try to figure out. I hope the sequel explains these aspects to Smith while keeping him consistent, rather than making him some mysterious force in the movie. That would be a terrible example of poor writing taking out a wonderful character.

 

This is a glaring mistake. It was not Smith that sabotaged the counter attack, it was another agent.

[Guest Urine Sane]

This is a glaring mistake. It was not Smith that sabotaged the counter attack, it was another agent.

 

It was Smith in Bane's body.

[Guest Spicy McHaggis]

really?

 

My fault then. I could've sworn it wasn't Smith.

[Guest cabbageboy]

I'm glad that someone else is pointing out the half baked philosophical BS that was all over Reloaded. Between Merovingian's lame speech, the Oracle's boring conversation with Neo, and other dreary scenes I was getting a headache.

 

Also a good point with Morpheus. In the first movie he is the MAN, the sensei, the teacher, the dude. In Reloaded he is reduced to being a ship captain in a tedious love triangle, and all of the stuff he believes in is thrown back in his face. That is called character assassination.

[Guest Marshall]

I agree with that comic strip. Cows would provide more enrgy than humans and they wouldn't rebel. That has really put things in propective for me. The matrix seems kinda stupid after readin that strip.

[Guest SP-1]

I skimmed the article once I saw it's obvious bias against the film. If The Matrix story was basing itself around a single philosophy or belief system, I could see picking it apart. But considering it's a hodge podge of different things put together for the purposes of this story, I fail to see the validity in trying to take it all apart.

 

People trying to judge the story as a whole without recieving the proper answers that can only be provided by REVOLUTIONS is perposterous to me. It's like getting up and walking out in the middle of a story that's being told as soon as the storyteller raises the initial questions integral to the story itself.

 

I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the questions it has raised so far, but I refuse to pass judgement until November, after I have had ample time to digest REVOLUTIONS and apply it to the previous two films.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

I agree with that comic strip. Cows would provide more enrgy than humans and they wouldn't rebel. That has really put things in propective for me. The matrix seems kinda stupid after readin that strip.

All the cows are dead you schmuck. What happens when the sun is blacked out? All the plants die. What do cows eat? PLANTS!

[Guest the pinjockey]

"On a related note, thinking about these things, it seems natural to ask why the sentinels didn’t bomb the Nebuchadnezzar at the end of the first movie like they do in the second. "

 

Well, the Architect says that neo's fate is to return to the source. Neo was the one, hadn't reached the source yet so they don't want him dead.

 

"He couldn’t even keep the doors open, or move fast enough to get through them, despite the fact that he outran an explosion later. "

 

Wait, you mean later on, when he had a better grasp of his powers he could do more? The shock of it all.

 

 

"If Neo could feel the agents, that is one thing. However, the way it was presented, it leads the viewer to think that Neo deduced that the agents were there because of the earpiece. "

 

Let's see, before Smith gives the earpiece to the doorman Neo is looking around sensing something and knew something was up. When he is given Smith's earpiece he realizes that someone is here, he assumes Smith is an agent still (not having the conversation with him and realizing there are upgrades yet). So Smith=Agent so he says agents are here it just happens to be that other one's find him.

[Guest Heel In Peril]

I skimmed the article once I saw it's obvious bias against the film.  If The Matrix story was basing itself around a single philosophy or belief system, I could see picking it apart.  But considering it's a hodge podge of different things put together for the purposes of this story, I fail to see the validity in trying to take it all apart.

 

People trying to judge the story as a whole without recieving the proper answers that can only be provided by REVOLUTIONS is perposterous to me.  It's like getting up and walking out in the middle of a story that's being told as soon as the storyteller raises the initial questions integral to the story itself.

 

I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the questions it has raised so far, but I refuse to pass judgement until November, after I have had ample time to digest REVOLUTIONS and apply it to the previous two films.

I think Riot only meant to express his frustrations in an intelligent manner. I didn't get the impression that he "picked it apart" with the purpose of denouncing it. In my opinion, he had plenty of strong points about the inconsistencies in the story and annoying bits they could've changed for its own benefit and ours (i.e.: The Twins, The Merovingian, Morpheus). I don't think a movie should have to depend on its sequel in order to merely make the first make sense, or in this case, the third make sense of the second. It's one thing if the sequel explains some mysteries about its predecessor, but it shouldn't have to make up for the mistakes birthed in it. He stated himself that he hopes the third installment clarifies some of these things for us, but he doubts it. And even though I still greatly enjoyed the movie for what it was, I agree. I hope I'm wrong. I doubt it. But I hope I'm wrong.

[Guest TheMadmanGreg]

Riot's right. True, some of his points can be argued, but that doesn't make them any less valid. Plus, he's right. I think I said that already. ... ... ... I really hate this movie.

[Guest Riots bloodlust]

All the cows are dead you schmuck. What happens when the sun is blacked out? All the plants die. What do cows eat? PLANTS!

Certianly these mighty machines could have disposed of the humans and gotton hold of enough cows to sustain themselves before the mass extinction.

[Guest SP-1]

I've not seen any of these inconsistencies sitting in the theater myself. If anything, I've seen the mythology of The Matrix expanded and questioned at the same time as we try to make sense of what's going on at Neo's pace. If we had all the answers and no questions when the credits roll for RELOADED, what use is there to even make REVOLUTIONS? It's like expecting Vader's redemption before the credits roll for EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and being pissed off that it ends with Luke getting the robo-hand. Or expecting Marty to go back in time and rescue Doc from 1885 before the credits roll for BACK TO THE FUTURE II and being pissed off that it ends in the timeframe that Marty escaped from in the first film.

 

All this bitching and moaning about supposed plot holes before the entire plot is finished out strikes me as stupid and little more than impatience. I'd be pissed off if they blew everything in some cheesy twenty minute battle at the end of RELOADED with no build and an incomplete picture of everything that's going on.

[Guest Heel In Peril]

I've not seen any of these inconsistencies sitting in the theater myself.  If anything, I've seen the mythology of The Matrix expanded and questioned at the same time as we try to make sense of what's going on at Neo's pace.  If we had all the answers and no questions when the credits roll for RELOADED, what use is there to even make REVOLUTIONS?  It's like expecting Vader's redemption before the credits roll for EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and being pissed off that it ends with Luke getting the robo-hand.  Or expecting Marty to go back in time and rescue Doc from 1885 before the credits roll for BACK TO THE FUTURE II and being pissed off that it ends in the timeframe that Marty escaped from in the first film.

 

All this bitching and moaning about supposed plot holes before the entire plot is finished out strikes me as stupid and little more than impatience.  I'd be pissed off if they blew everything in some cheesy twenty minute battle at the end of RELOADED with no build and an incomplete picture of everything that's going on.

There's a fine line between mystery and inconsistency. I think Reloaded mostly had the former, but a good deal of the latter as well. Whether or not some people out there didn't like all the "talking" or cliffhanger-ing details of the film is neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned. However I do agree with a lot of the things that Nick Olson pointed out. I emplore you to change my mind, SP. Follow me:

 

1. The "non-block". Zero follow-through in a majority of the fight sequences. Flat out making it less believable. Granted it's a movie, but come on. Indiana Jones anyone?

 

2. The fight with the oracle's bodyguard having no reason for existing. Sure it was a good fight and he claimed that he was protecting the oracle. But it's an equally good point that the fight scene itself wasn't necessary and time could've been put into something else instead, such as---

 

3. ---Philosophy classes or anything in Zion to show how the human mind can be worlds different from being a machine/computer, among other reasons? Yes, I hope I'm wrong and they shut my mouth by doing something similar in the third movie. But it could've at least been hinted here during the stay at Zion. I don't think that would've ruined any mysteries going into Revolutions.

 

4. I too didn't care for the Merovingian. I didn't hate him immediately or anything as I felt he was necessary to further drill into any braindead viewers in the room the theme of the film, "imperfect" human mentality vs the machine's "perfect" mentality, choice vs "causality". But after reading Riot's alternative to the Merovingian with the twins instead, I really wish they would've done that.

 

5. Either you can kill The One or you can't. Either do it or stop trying. They had chances and they didn't. For instance, the machine's claw around Neo's neck in the cropfield as well as the missed opportunity or bombing the Nebuchanezzar(sp?) at the end of the first. Why all the chasing and kill attempts from every direction if they could've done it already? And make no mistake, Smith definitely meant to kill Neo in the first one.

 

6. Armed guards with guns in Zion's docking bay. EMP's are said to be their only affective weapon against the machines.

 

7. Link's personality shining brighter than Neo's do to acting abilities.

 

8. Neo's convenient power limitations. He flies in the very beginning of the movie like he'd done it a thousand times before. Then he uses "the force" to bring sai's to his hands. Has "Matrix vision" and all that code changing ability stuff that he used to "destroy" Smith in the first one. However he can't keep a door open or even get to one of them fast enough to stop it from closing. Minutes later he's outspeeding an explosion. Did he have flu symptoms or something? Was he getting dizzy from all the fighting? I doubt any explanation can make up for that. Not that it was so "terrible". But it ought to be brought up among intelligent folk, I think.

 

9. Agents come equiped with Desert Eagles yet they "must obey the rules of the system."

 

10. The lack of depth in some rogue programs including the Keymaker and the twins. Perhaps they'll do something deeper with the twins in the third ::crosses fingers:: but the Keymaker is done now. Shame.

 

I am personally not looking for all or any of the answers in Reloaded. I would've just prefered some better questions. Help me understand why I shouldn't care about these things. Yes, there's a third coming soon which I will still see regardless. But look at these particular points. Am I wrong for being disturbed by this on some level? Why?

[Guest Riots bloodlust]

Perhaps in the future a point of view should be concretely stated. For this movie I went into it hoping for something entertaining. The previous movie left me with some nice little unanswered and thought provoking questions, some fun and well put together fight sequences, and unfortunately some really crappy acting. The quality of acting, being a somewhat subjective metric, may only be my problem, but I still found it sub par. Hopefully, with many of the poor actors not in this one, that would no longer be a problem. As I saw the movie, I saw it draging on, beating the same point into the ground, introducing characters I didn't like, reducing the qualities of characters I did like, making me like them less, many sequences that did not advance the overall plot, and most frustratingly, a plethora of missed storytelling opportunity. These are issues that have nothing to do with a possible answer in the sequel that are internally inconsistant that bother me. I do not like to sit down at a movie that presents itself as a thinking man's action movie, but starts to crack when thought about in earnest.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

All the cows are dead you schmuck. What happens when the sun is blacked out? All the plants die. What do cows eat? PLANTS!

Certianly these mighty machines could have disposed of the humans and gotton hold of enough cows to sustain themselves before the mass extinction.

Uhhh, no. They were too busy trying to come up with a viable food source and at the same time STOP THE HUMAN REBELLION AGAINST THEM to collect fucking cows. Even if they did it would be some time before there could be enough cows to produce the same amount of energy that the many humans they had captured did.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

HiP, you picked a lot of really strange things to criticize. There are a lot of flaws in the movie, but I'm not really sure why these were problems.

 

3. ---Philosophy classes or anything in Zion to show how the human mind can be worlds different from being a machine/computer, among other reasons?

 

Uh, do you really need this? A human is a human. I don't really think you need to establish something that's really already implied by one of the central conceits of the film and a general human perception of the fact that one is one, the other is not.

 

Either you can kill The One or you can't. Either do it or stop trying.

 

I don't think even the machines are entirely sure about that. You mention the potential for bombing the ship at the end of the first movie, but it seemed like the sentinels hadn't even been equipped with the bombs until this big massive assault. ::shrug:: I don't think the machines are perfect and I wouldn't expect them to act that way. Kind of a big point of the movie, actually.

 

Armed guards with guns in Zion's docking bay. EMP's are said to be their only affective weapon against the machines.

 

Guns still kill people. There's 200,000 people in Zion. I'm sure a few of them are going to be less-than-model citizens.

 

7. Link's personality shining brighter than Neo's do to acting abilities.

 

Keanu Reeves is a pretty crappy actor. We knew that from the get-go. I think having a solid supporting cast is one of the few things that keeps him up in these movies, and so I wouldn't see having a good character actor like Harold Perrineau as part of the cast.

 

However he can't keep a door open or even get to one of them fast enough to stop it from closing. Minutes later he's outspeeding an explosion. Did he have flu symptoms or something? Was he getting dizzy from all the fighting? I doubt any explanation can make up for that. Not that it was so "terrible". But it ought to be brought up among intelligent folk, I think.

 

I think a lot of this was about concentration or focus. I don't think Neo's perfectly competent in his abilities yet, but more importantly, I don't think he was expecting some of the roadblocks he hit. When the Merovingian escapes his little club after the Gratuitous Weapons fight, the door closes, and Neo ends up opening it out onto a mountain range. Methinks he just didn't expect he'd have any greater obstacle than opening a door and keeping running.

 

Agents come equiped with Desert Eagles yet they "must obey the rules of the system."

 

I don't follow.

 

I certainly don't think this is a perfect movie--it's pretty good at best, in my estimation---but I'm always surprised at the things that people point out when looking for flaws.

[Guest Powerplay]

1. The "non-block". Zero follow-through in a majority of the fight sequences. Flat out making it less believable. Granted it's a movie, but come on. Indiana Jones anyone?

I agree here.

 

2. The fight with the oracle's bodyguard having no reason for existing. Sure it was a good fight and he claimed that he was protecting the oracle. But it's an equally good point that the fight scene itself wasn't necessary and time could've been put into something else instead, such as---

 

He had to see if Neo was really "The One", and the only way he could really test that is if he could fight like "The One". The scene was only like 5 minutes long anyways, so I doubt that you could have gotten---

 

3. ---Philosophy classes or anything in Zion to show how the human mind can be worlds different from being a machine/computer, among other reasons? Yes, I hope I'm wrong and they shut my mouth by doing something similar in the third movie. But it could've at least been hinted here during the stay at Zion. I don't think that would've ruined any mysteries going into Revolutions.

 

--- this. But not to say I wouldn't have liked this, but saying you could have done this is maybe 4 minutes? No. Personally this would have been a far more welcome replacement to the 8-10 minute "rave in the cave" scene which could have been cut down BIG TIME or even out altogether.

 

4. I too didn't care for the Merovingian. I didn't hate him immediately or anything as I felt he was necessary to further drill into any braindead viewers in the room the theme of the film, "imperfect" human mentality vs the machine's "perfect" mentality, choice vs "causality". But after reading Riot's alternative to the Merovingian with the twins instead, I really wish they would've done that.

 

I thought he was neat, but the twins idea expressed above would have rocked far far more. The twins were great characters that made you want to watch them. I doubt they'll get in the third movie, but they were simply great ideas.

 

5. Either you can kill The One or you can't. Either do it or stop trying. They had chances and they didn't. For instance, the machine's claw around Neo's neck in the cropfield as well as the missed opportunity or bombing the Nebuchanezzar(sp?) at the end of the first. Why all the chasing and kill attempts from every direction if they could've done it already? And make no mistake, Smith definitely meant to kill Neo in the first one.

 

Well, they obviously tried to kill him before it was too late with the Virus (The Mirror, remember?)... The Machine's Claw was just to take out the plug and send him down the drain and (Presumably) leave him to die. Bombing the Nebuchanezzar at the end of the first? They did that in the second, and it seemed like a new technique since they didn't understand why the Sentinels were staying just out of EMP range.

 

6. Armed guards with guns in Zion's docking bay. EMP's are said to be their only affective weapon against the machines.

 

Well, this IS a plot hole. In the Final Flight of the Osiris, the ship had guns and were blazing off as much as possible as they ran. I'm guessing, though, that they could be considered last ditch weapons when you've already been caught and you can only run away. They were sorta effective, but not nearly as effective as the EMP. But for Zion it's kinda understandable. I mean, it probably isn't massively effective, but it works as a last ditch defense.

 

7. Link's personality shining brighter than Neo's do to acting abilities.

 

Well, it's Reeves. He wasn't that bad... *Shrugs*

 

8. Neo's convenient power limitations. He flies in the very beginning of the movie like he'd done it a thousand times before. Then he uses "the force" to bring sai's to his hands. Has "Matrix vision" and all that code changing ability stuff that he used to "destroy" Smith in the first one. However he can't keep a door open or even get to one of them fast enough to stop it from closing. Minutes later he's outspeeding an explosion. Did he have flu symptoms or something? Was he getting dizzy from all the fighting? I doubt any explanation can make up for that. Not that it was so "terrible". But it ought to be brought up among intelligent folk, I think.

 

Remember, Neo is only human. He hasn't had these powers for 20+ years, and obviously his old way of thinking for most situations shows through. He hasn't developed instinctual usage of his real potential all the time, I guess. Only when he needs it (I.E. Fighting and such). You can talk about all the "He should be molding the matrix to all this different stuff" but remember, he's still new to his powers and he probably doesn't always think of using them in every situation. But whatever. It's just depends on how much you think he's mastered his powers and how familiar he is with all of them.

 

9. Agents come equiped with Desert Eagles yet they "must obey the rules of the system."

 

Their "Agency" hands out Desert Eagles, then. If you saw a federal agent wearing all black mysteriously pulling up at a crime scene, would you want to question where he got his weapon? Special issue as well. I don't see the real problem here besides nitpicking.

 

10. The lack of depth in some rogue programs including the Keymaker and the twins. Perhaps they'll do something deeper with the twins in the third ::crosses fingers:: but the Keymaker is done now. Shame.

 

I totally agree. There is so much I would have liked to see from those three and it really disappointed me that they were used in such a "Bit part" type way.

[Guest TheMadmanGreg]

All the cows are dead you schmuck. What happens when the sun is blacked out? All the plants die. What do cows eat? PLANTS!

Certianly these mighty machines could have disposed of the humans and gotton hold of enough cows to sustain themselves before the mass extinction.

Uhhh, no. They were too busy trying to come up with a viable food source and at the same time STOP THE HUMAN REBELLION AGAINST THEM to collect fucking cows. Even if they did it would be some time before there could be enough cows to produce the same amount of energy that the many humans they had captured did.

So, I just want to be sure I got this straight. The cows all died because the plants all die, and cows eat plants... but people eat plants and cows. So... did all the cows die but the chickens conveniently lived for another 2-3 years? I mean, if the machines were able to harvest humans before they started dying, you'd think they'd have been able to grab a couple cows, a few monkeys, or at least three or four dogs.

 

Also, what you're saying here is that the machines were so busy putting down the human rebellion that they didn't have time to harvest cows. This is inconsistent, as they apparently had PLENTY of time to harvest humans while putting down the human rebellion. They were even able to screw up the Matrix TWICE and lose most of their humans TWICE, all the while putting down the human rebellion, and they still did it.

 

So, you can still believe that the cows were all dead, but don't go around acting like everyone else is an idiot for not believing it too. Just because you suspended your own disbelief doesn't mean anybody else has to.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

All the cows are dead you schmuck. What happens when the sun is blacked out? All the plants die. What do cows eat? PLANTS!

Certianly these mighty machines could have disposed of the humans and gotton hold of enough cows to sustain themselves before the mass extinction.

Uhhh, no. They were too busy trying to come up with a viable food source and at the same time STOP THE HUMAN REBELLION AGAINST THEM to collect fucking cows. Even if they did it would be some time before there could be enough cows to produce the same amount of energy that the many humans they had captured did.

So, I just want to be sure I got this straight. The cows all died because the plants all die, and cows eat plants... but people eat plants and cows. So... did all the cows die but the chickens conveniently lived for another 2-3 years? I mean, if the machines were able to harvest humans before they started dying, you'd think they'd have been able to grab a couple cows, a few monkeys, or at least three or four dogs.

 

Also, what you're saying here is that the machines were so busy putting down the human rebellion that they didn't have time to harvest cows. This is inconsistent, as they apparently had PLENTY of time to harvest humans while putting down the human rebellion. They were even able to screw up the Matrix TWICE and lose most of their humans TWICE, all the while putting down the human rebellion, and they still did it.

 

So, you can still believe that the cows were all dead, but don't go around acting like everyone else is an idiot for not believing it too. Just because you suspended your own disbelief doesn't mean anybody else has to.

I assume the humans ate dead humans and goop. That's what they were fed in The Matrix. Cows arn't going to start eating dead cows. Oh and the machines could fix the Matrix more quickly then solve the dilemma of how to harness body ehat for energy. Why? Because they already had a semi-perfect system in place. It just needed slight modifications.

[Guest Powerplay]

All the cows are dead you schmuck. What happens when the sun is blacked out? All the plants die. What do cows eat? PLANTS!

Certianly these mighty machines could have disposed of the humans and gotton hold of enough cows to sustain themselves before the mass extinction.

Uhhh, no. They were too busy trying to come up with a viable food source and at the same time STOP THE HUMAN REBELLION AGAINST THEM to collect fucking cows. Even if they did it would be some time before there could be enough cows to produce the same amount of energy that the many humans they had captured did.

So, I just want to be sure I got this straight. The cows all died because the plants all die, and cows eat plants... but people eat plants and cows. So... did all the cows die but the chickens conveniently lived for another 2-3 years? I mean, if the machines were able to harvest humans before they started dying, you'd think they'd have been able to grab a couple cows, a few monkeys, or at least three or four dogs.

 

Also, what you're saying here is that the machines were so busy putting down the human rebellion that they didn't have time to harvest cows. This is inconsistent, as they apparently had PLENTY of time to harvest humans while putting down the human rebellion. They were even able to screw up the Matrix TWICE and lose most of their humans TWICE, all the while putting down the human rebellion, and they still did it.

 

So, you can still believe that the cows were all dead, but don't go around acting like everyone else is an idiot for not believing it too. Just because you suspended your own disbelief doesn't mean anybody else has to.

The problem with this is that the Matrix is a PUNISHMENT. It's a punishment for human-kind forsaking the machines that did their work and then attacking them instead of peaceful coexistance with them. They are punishing them by controlling their lives as they toil away making more power for them unwittingly, just like the humans did with the first robots. If you didn't catch that, then sorry for you.

[Guest TheMadmanGreg]

I'll believe that the Matrix was meant to be a punishment for the humans. At least that's within the realm of believability. It seems to me if they used cows, it'd be easier... but I can understand how the new AI might not be too familiar with the feelings of contempt and revenge, and wants to punish all mankind.

 

The cow extinction theory, however, is still retarded.

[Guest Riots bloodlust]

The matrix is not punishment. If it were, there would not have been any attempt to make the first itteration perfect, where all humans could be happy.

[Guest Mik at Cornell]

The matrix is not punishment. If it were, there would not have been any attempt to make the first itteration perfect, where all humans could be happy.

By making the Matrix perfect, they did not mean for all humans to be happy. They mean it to be perfect in the sense that it is a perfect computer program with no flaws.

 

The Matrix is a punishment.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

The matrix is not punishment. If it were, there would not have been any attempt to make the first itteration perfect, where all humans could be happy.

In many ways the first Matrix was even worse then the second. It still forced the humans into SLAVERY and put them into a situation where they had no control over their lives, but were instead imprisioned in a prison the give the Machines power, but in the first one even the prison was fake.

 

Riot, do you like the James Bond films? Why or why not?

[Guest Riots bloodlust]

Agent Smith himself said the goal was for everyone to be happy, and that is why it failed, because the humans wouldn't accept it.

 

There are so many James Bond movies, it's hard for anyone to dislike them all. My personal favorite of the ones I have seen is From Russia With Love. That one struck me as having the most spy like intrigue with a concept I could sink my teeth into.

[Guest SP-1]

Heel, most of your points are awful nit-picky and could still be expanded upon in REVOLUTIONS. The fight with Oracle's guardian may have something later on, we don't know. Even if it doesn't, it appeared to me that the Guardian was merely testing Neo to see if he was really who he was supposed to be. Oracle is supposed to be in the third so we may see her Guardian again.

 

As for Neo and the door, as other have said he's still acclimating himself to his powers. Kung-Fu, machine operation skills, textbook knowledge of things, these can be uploaded to his brain. But nobody understands The One and it's something nobody can just upload to him. He's still figuring things out on his own. And he couldn't have expected the door to lead somewhere else once it's closed until the last second. The door closed just as he got to it, so the transition would have happened microseconds before he threw it open again.

 

Most everything else you mentioned is nit-picking and has room to be explained later on.