OK, I've just returned from Matrix: Reloaded. No spoilers, but I must say the following.
One. DJ Paul Okenfold sucks ass. Wait, who's he? you ask. You will know him by his mind-numbing, intrusively bad film score, which attempts to be analog retro and ends up spawning thoughts like: I'd really like to enjoy this massively chaotic freeway-chase/fight/big explosion scene but I can't because that FUCKING DRUM MACHINE IS DESTROYING MY BRAIN.
Two. Watch for the part in the multi-monitored climactic scene where the Wachowski brothers compare Bush to Hitler (Bush briefly shows up on the right side of the video wall, shortly after Adolph and his flag-carrying minions show up on the left side). Ooo. So daring. Ahh.
Look, spare me, OK, Andy? Larry! Pay attention! Stick to CGI fight scenes, cut down on the pseudophilosophical bullshit speeches made by characters with bad French accents, and realize that--as science fiction goes--this whole premise is tired, tired, tired. Sort of like Sheryl Crowe's music, or Tim Robbins' acting.
So basically, Wachowskis, all you've got going for you is your looks. And I've played Serious Sam (both encounters), so fifty CGI Agent Smiths pouring into a courtyard doesn't impress me. Don't think that putting a copy of Simulacra and Simulations in a movie makes you deep; it doesn't. As my freshman poetry teacher once told me, don't out-clever yourselves.
That is all.
Amen, brother. If you're going to try on philosophy in a sci-fi movie, you'd better be passable at it. I kept wishing they'd shut up and get on with the story, which also left me underwhelmed. Eye-candy can only get you so far, even when it's as pretty as Keanu and Carrie-Ann.
Posted by: Valencia | May 19, 2003 04:44 PM