Please, parents, don’t take your baby with you to see a rated-R film. Not only is it not content appropriate for them, but it’s hard to stop them from crying, as well. If I wanted to sit through a session of infants screaming at the top of their lungs—I would’ve gone down to my local nursery. In G-rated films, this should be expected. I encourage you to take your children to the movie theatres, but going to sold-out shows full of violence and sexuality with them, is another. Listening to a baby cry through The Matrix Reloaded was not a treat. Maybe the reason why I liked the action sequences so much is because the loud noises coming out of the surrounding speakers drained out the baby’s vocal ability. What’s even worse is that the mother refused to leave. I realize that this paragraph will bring much hate mail into my inbox, but I would really like to get my point across. I do feel sympathetic for the person who had to take this extremely annoying baby to the theatre with them, but that’s not to say that I wasn’t annoyed. We all cried as babies, once. Fortunately, most of our parents didn’t take us to R-rated films, then.

     Now, onto blabbering about the movie. Despite the many tears coming out of the little monster sitting just ten yards in front of me, I was able to thoroughly enjoy The Matrix Reloaded. The special effects are some of the best I’ve ever seen in my life, and will most likely, take the Academy Award. Some of the chase and fight scenes are so intricate, they took longer to film than an entire normal movie’s full production. There are several disadvantages to these, however. Their pacing is off, they often run ten minutes too long, and most of the stunts in them are absolutely pointless. But, hey, what would this type of film be without the three characteristics that I’ve stated above? Some films, like this one, are absolute misfires, but they work. They work well. I saw the grim X2: X-Men United just a day before The Matrix Reloaded, and being able to compare the two films helped introduce a new perspective on action movies to me. All of these years, I have been praying for some intelligent action to come a long. X2 was exactly this. But it was boring. The Matrix Reloaded is completely unintelligent, but it’s interesting. By comparison, I was able to find that, while viewing an action movie, it’s a heck of a lot easier to roll with the punches and except all of the campy cheesiness that it has to offer. I did just this in The Matrix Reloaded, and enjoyed myself while watching it.

     The Matrix Reloaded, unlike other films in the genre (and its predecessor), is able to stabilize all of the elements that make it the movie that it is. It has a perfect blend of insight, visuals, romance, and campy material. There is little to no intelligence in the script, but the cleverly worded dialogue is enough to make any of the mindless young-adults watching it, think that it was written and directed by Albert Einstein. This is also amusing to watch if you understand the simplicity of what the characters are trying to express, behind all of the Watchowski Brothers crazy phrasing. What those two men can do with some stupid material is miraculously fun. The Matrix Reloaded is a much better movie that the 1999 original. The visuals, which I have already discussed, are some of my favorites of the year—just to let you know. While I am not a fan of the most popular action sequence (a high-speed freeway chase/fight scene), in which ground-breaking special effects are used, I can clearly respect and enjoy it for what its worth. What’s funny is that behind all of the action and technical achievements, comes romance, which is delightfully entertaining. The characters Neo and Trinity’s relationship is written excellently. This feature provides a comic relief, as well as some steamy scenes, which help us wind down from the previous segments of non-stop action. (Note: Parents, you might object to your kids seeing the sex scene between Neo and Trinity. The original Matrix was appropriate for most everyone, but Reloaded is definitely more explicit-content bearing.)

     Through and through, I’m only trying to make one point, and one point alone. The Matrix Reloaded is a revolutionizing beautiful, crazily entertaining, and comically entertaining blast into the world of summer blockbusters. This is full-fledged bash. On rare occasion, movies pass by as quick as a Honda Accord with Nas attachments (I guess I’m actually psyched for 2 Fast 2 Furious), and The Matrix Reloaded is one of them. For the whole duration of two hours and eighteen minutes, I was engaged in every bit and piece of cinematic goodness this film had to offer. If there is one, clean-cut suggestion I may make, it’s that you go and buy some tickets for The Matrix Reloaded immediately. It is one of the biggest knockouts audiences will ever witness, onscreen, in the history of cinema. How long it will take to find a movie that is more visually stunning that this is unknown. It may come in only a few short months, though, when The Matrix Revolutions releases. I can’t wait!

-Danny, Bucket Reviews