Satisfying Things, #1 in a Series

[annathepiper]

Okay, so I was a big spazz yesterday and forgot to touch bases with mamishka about going to see Matrix Reloaded today along with spazzkat and solarbird, but we touched bases later about that and that's all good. As for the movie itself...

A lot of folks seem to really not like it. I've heard tell of assorted folks on my Friends list who were quite disappointed, and I've been seeing posts on various mailing lists I'm on from people who have called it quite stupid. Me, I wasn't blown away by it to the extent that I was the first one--but I think that the people who have been equating this to a Highlander II level sequel are being way too harsh. I wasn't blown away, but I did definitely enjoy watching this flick.

The stuff I didn't like, first of all:

• The theater had the sound up way too loud, so it gave both me and Dar headaches. But that was the fault of the theater, not the movie.
  
  
• The fight scenes, while most excellently choreographed, were all too long. I would have liked less fight, more story. This is pretty much the short form of various other niggling things I had about the movie, which were...
  
  
• I would have liked to see the notion of the Oracle's true nature dealt with at least a bit before Neo just blurted it right out.
  
  
• I would have liked to see a bit solider explanation of why Smith came back other than the whole "well, SOMETHING HAPPENED".
  
  
• The dance sequence in Zion was too long.
  
  
• Paul turned to me in the middle of the scene where Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity were listening to the French Asshole spouting off, and asked, "Why don't they just shoot him?" I was with Paul on that. I was having a hard time buying why the three of them were just sitting there letting this prat rattle on at them, and saying... nothing. Just taking it. Yawn.
  
  
• I would have thought that at some point Neo might, just MIGHT have stopped and gone, "Wait a minute... predecessors?" when the French Asshole was rattling on about them.
  

Now, all this said, the stuff I liked:

• I liked the concept of the dance sequence, and the rousing speech Morpheus gave before it, but the length was a bit long.
  
  
• I did actually also like what was revealed about the Oracle. Plus, the Oracle is still quite neat.
  
  
• The fight scenes were VERY excellently choreographed.
  
  
• Lots of Smiths. I actually did like that. ;) Even though Hugo Weaving is pretty much imprinted in my brain as Agent Smith until the DAY HE DIES, even when I watch Lord of the Rings, that's a good role for him to be typecast in my brain as. I liked the creepy way he was copying himself, and am suitably creeped out by the implications of him being able to download himself into humans.
  
  
• I liked Link, and I liked the continuity tie-in to Tank and Dozer, though I could have sworn that Tank actually lived in the previous movie. But apparently I was mistaken.
  
  
• It's a bird, it's a plane, it's SUPERNEO!
  
  
• I liked seeing Zion, and the control room was REALLY cool.
  
  
• Although her appearance was brief, I REALLY liked seeing the actress who's been playing Jasmine on Angel and who was Zoe on Firefly. WAY COOL.
  
  
• Dar was first to observe and I agree with her that there's this Battlestar-Galactica-esque feel to the Zion council and their contingent of ship captains. ;)
  
  
• "Something's changed. I can feel them." And then, WHAM. I actually went "YES!" when Neo did that.
  
  
• The revelation of the Architect. Interesting food for thought.
  
  
• The trailer for the final movie, at the end of the credits. And the Legion of Smiths shown in that trailer. ;)
  

All in all... definitely worth a matinee price, and I think since I'd been getting in the reactions of others beforehand and had adjusted my expectations accordingly, I wasn't disappointed. Though I think I actively enjoyed X2 more. Oh well!

Comments

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

The theater had the sound up way too loud, so it gave both me and Dar headaches. But that was the fault of the theater, not the movie.

I actually have to carry earplugs in my bag for attending movies, it's gotten so bad. Of course we do tend to sit right up front, so closer to the speakers, but it has been a few years since I've been able to stand watching a movie without 'em.

Re:

[annathepiper]

We try to aim for the middle of a theater, if possible. If I'm in a theater where they have both standard seating and stadium, I like to be in either the stadium seats or the very back of the standard ones; that's about where I am for at the Cinerama. We saw the flick at Pacific Place this time, and when we got there most of the stadium seats were already taken. So were the ideal spots towards the back of the standards, so we wound up a little farther forward than we otherwise might have liked.