FIRST TIME WATCHING: The Matrix Reloaded

I truly do love The Matrix Reloaded, but the more time passes, the worse the cgi fight scenes gets lol. I really wish they'd kept it more practical like the fisrt one. With that being said, the Wachowski sisters really do have an eye for framing their fight scenes, The Chateau fight scene is just amazing and still one of my favorites to this day. Third one has a lot of pacing issues, and it isn't great, but good for closure. I say that as if their's not a 4th one but its best to act like it doesn't exist lol.

Anyone watching the matrix films should also watch the animatrix in between. It gives so much more to the whole story. TMKs did it the right way. I hope Nat will also take the right route by watching the Animatrix BEFORE Revolutions!

It's the third one that ties it all in. Please hurry to the next episode. Then you will be addicted to the Matrix nightmare as well

While I do love watching Nat react, sometimes It does get a bit exhausting after a while having her second guess almost every choice characters or the filmmakers make in a movie.

I am very tempted to rewatch this, since I always enjoy a "Nat tries to follow the lore" watchalong, plus it's been over twenty years since I last saw it and I am largely different from who I was two decades ago (as I would hope most people are if they're living life and growing), so... maybe I'll like it more this time? Not sure. I just remember my younger self thinking this broke a lot of the assumptions/implications of the first movie, or at least re-contextualized them in ways I wasn't a fan of at the time, but maybe it hits different now. (I don't think I'll rewatch the third, as everything I remember of that one was just annoying and with numerous WTF moments that are never explained. Unless they explained it in the most recent reboot, no pun intended. Edit: oh wait, I just remembered, one of the WTF moments is near the very end of this one. Meh, I'll watch this again anyway, why not.)

big Across the Spiderverse ending energy isn't it. As a pair of films Reloaded and Revolutions are better than when taken apart. unlike other leading sequels like empire and return of the jedi or infinity war and endgame which are both leading but end more satisfyingly if dourly.

I absolutely loved this Trilogy. I ate this shit up. I watched the Animatrix before this. I even went to a screening where they showed the short "Final Flight of the Osiris" before the film. I played the Enter The Matrix game to get more of Niobe's story, it has scenes filmed just for the game, which I'd recommend just watching a compilations if you're interested (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNlv11vqJSA). I watched all the behind the scenes, and read the comics. So much to let my young adult self absorb and to be enamored by. I did not like the 4th one at all. but that's a story for another time. You can totally just watch 3. As others have said, its not on the same level as the first one. But if you want to dive in and get more stories from the world, check out the Animatrix. Its not in 4k, so 1080p is the highest quality you can get, I believe. Its has many different art styles as well. My favorite short is "Beyond" by Kōji Morimoto. It might be fun for one of your Anime watch a longs here. It's about an hour and 40 minutes.

Seraph is a login screen.

+1 for Constantine

Loved your assessment of the movie. Very fair and I agreed with pretty much everything you said. And I'm saying that as someone who enjoyed the movie despite the obvious flaws.

The Matrix Resurrections is a deeply misunderstood film. You’re right that this story DOES totally cleanly wrap up at the end of the 3rd movie. The 4th film is a commentary on nostalgia and IP being co-opted by giant corporations as another means of control, control over the artist and their vision. It’s a movie that rebels against its own existence in a very clever way that people seemed to miss entirely. It’s a movie about itself and why it exists. Kinda like the south park movie.

sunglasses hide when actors blink while they fire guns. John Woo discovered that in his Hong Kong action films years ago.

Nat, you should watch The Animatrix. It's a series of short stories that will answer a lot of your questions and give some deeper insight into the whole Matrix universe.

GASP at the random Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma) cameo around the 1:37:00 mark omg

It’s a little messy compared to the first but I do love the big swings it takes at worldbuilding. The idea that Neo is not the first “One” and that this is just a regular situation that the machines allow to play out until a certain point in order to kull the population… wild Adding on to that, the mention from the Merovingian’s wife that some programs from earlier iterations of the Matrix were harder to kill, which is why she used SILVER bullets to kill that one dude. Implying that previous Matrix simulations existed where werewolves and vampires and other folklore creatures (albino ghosts?) mightve been a real thing? 😂 I love it Also some of my favourite fights! The group fight at the Merovingian’s, the Burly Brawl with all the Agent Smiths, and that highway chase scene!! All great stuff, the wachowski’s cooked… maybe overcooked at times, but they were cooking!!!!

Fun little trivia. Hugo Weaving didn’t know he was losing his hair until he saw the Smith doubles they had were all the extras had their hairlines shaved to match his and he noticed how far back it looked from that perspective. If you watch behind the scenes you can see it dawn on him in almost real time. He took it like a champ though.

I finally understand the poll now, Nat set it up so she'd get Oldboy, not realizing many of us wanted her to finish the Matrix trilogy, so she just chose Oldboy for next week. Hehe.

Yeah the philosophy got a little heady and heavy handed in this one. The multiple Agent Smith fight in the middle hasn’t aged well technologically. But I did like the ghosts and the freeway chase/fight scene. The final 3rd act was pretty darn good too. I liked Revolutions but it’s definitely the weakest, discounting Resurrection. The Animatrix was hit and miss with me. I’m picky about my animation though. LOL

If you want more Keanu action movies after the Matrix series you should check out Constantine based loosely on the DC Vertigo comics. He plays an exorcist trying to buy his way into Heaven to save his own soul. Like I said it’s a loose adaptation of one of the comics best storylines but it gets the basic core of the character pretty well mostly just changing the details (making him American not English). This is also my sneaky way to potentially get around to suggesting the 13 episode Constantine TV series which is more faithful (also the actor who plays Link is a main character in that show to bring it back to the Matrix) and The Sandman TV series which has Female Constantine as a reoccurring character. All are great. Though the TV series version was the best and I’m not just saying that because I met the actor at a Con this summer and he was the nicest guy.

When I was younger I thought this movie was soooo cool. Nowadays, I will admit that the first one is better. It's interesting to see someone else's perspective: - Initially, you seemed to think that finding the real Agent Smith was the objective. I don't think my thoughts ever went in that direction. - You implied that the Merovingian cheated on Persephone with the cake lady. I never made that connection. I thought it was with some off-screen woman. Of course, the movie doesn't conclusively say, but maybe it is trying to suggest that. - You seemed surprised that the Merovingian didn't participate in the fight. Again, not something that ever occurred to me. In my mind, he's the type of guy who tells others what to do without doing much himself. - When Neo left the architect's room, you expected the entire Matrix to crash. That surprised me. I don't think I ever very much believed what the architect claimed, even the first time I watched the movie. I hope we'll see a reaction to Revolutions, too.

If you thought this one was weaker than the first, just wait for the third.

I feel like because of how good The Matrix was, these two sequels get a bum rap on how good and entertaining they actually are. They definitely reached slightly beyond their grasp with some of the VFX - they were just a few years early to be able to completely pull off the biggest set pieces in the fights. As well as the calls to watch The Animatrix, I'd suggest you look up the MTV Movie Awards parody with Sean William Scott and Will Ferrell, it is brilliant, would love a short extra reaction to that! I hope we don't have to wait five years for you to react to Revolutions. You can 100% skip Resurrections - that film is actually awful.

For giggles, you should watch the 2003 MTV Movie Awards skit with Will Farrell spliced in as the Architect with the movie.. Sean William Scott and Justin Timberlake were hosting that year.

Must say, I wasn't expecting a Matrix Reloaded reaction today. Haha, I'll have to watch this a bit later this evening, have a good weekend Nat and Nat employees.

I absolutely recommend watching The Animatrix. A good number of the shorts are set in between the first two films. And while they aren't mandatory, I do feel they explore some of the thematic ideas presented in the films in more detail. Also, two shorts show in detail the rise of machine kind and the fall of humanity.

if you need more random sci-fi in your life how about Sunshine or Gattaca?

Hear me out… watch and react to The Animatrix. It’s an anthology of short anime films all taking place in the matrix.

Woohoo. Can’t hardly wait to get back to watch this one.

Happy Feature Friday Nat. The fact that I haven't watched this movie since I saw it in the cinema speaks volumes. I remember coming out of it disappointed. It's a giant jumbled mess of a movie, something that the Wachowskis are good at, and got even better at 😅 The motorcycle chase is amazing from what I recall. I'll wait for the YT edit on this one ha ha 😊

Weaker than the first film, yes, but with some of the most impressive action set pieces in Hollywood history. Looking forward to revisiting this for the hundredth time with your reaction.

Yeah the sequels are definitely weaker than the original but they have their charm and this one has some great fighting scenes (and some very weak ones) + that amazing highway chase! And not to forget: "Do we proceed? Yes, he's still only human" is just a banger line