The Matrix Reloaded Coverage

	The Matrix Reloaded: Reloaded Part I by David Poland There is a range of possible ways to read Reloaded and it is probably that parts of each of them have some validity. But unlike any other trilogy of this impact, the die had been cast long before the second film in the series arrived in theaters. We are not trying to figure out how the Wachowkis will “get themselves out of this story hole.” We are guessing at what they already have in the can. The Matrix Reloaded: Reloaded Part II by David Poland Could it be that Neo’s mind is back in the Matrix, self-substantiating his mind back into the Matrix, the same way The Kid self-substantiated himself out of the Matrix? Is he now, like Smith, in both realms at the same time? Has Neo stumbled into a way to get in and out of the Matrix without a hard-wired telephone? The Larry Wachowski Decision by David Poland I have been chewing over a very personal story about a very private person who is involved in a very public business and a very successful movie franchise. To paraphrase a person who is better than I, these are the moments that define us. Unfortunately, these are the moments that define the business of entertainment journalism overall. What Would Neo Do? by David Poland Why would Neo fight Agent Smith? Why would he fight any agent? Why would he do anything other than destroy them and fly away from fights? I, for one, find this question to be somewhat bizarre. Why didn't Gandalf get the dragon to give him and everyone else a lift to Mt. Doom and avoid this insanely long trip? Why doesn't James Bond call in an air strike when he finds the bad guy's lair? Why would anyone attempt a crime with Superman in Metropolis? The Weekend Report by Leonard Klady The true test for The Matrix Reloaded will come seven days hence. Largely clobbered by the critics, it could well prove the old adage about “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” The appreciably better received X2: X-Men United has experienced 50% plus drops since its debut and comparable or worse response for Matrix, Part 2 would only underline the new picture’s constricted appeal to a young male audience. It could well encounter stiffer than initially expected competition with next weekend’s bow of the Jim Carrey opus Bruce Almighty. The New Yorker & The Matrix Reloaded ... byDavid Poland Why is this particular review so offensive to me? Because it contains so many of the elements that are currently driving film criticism into the grave. It comes from a high-profile media outlet with a long history of quality. It is written by someone who can really rock a keyboard. It is far more interested in scoring cleverness points than in actually considering its issue with the movie in question. And it is mostly about things other than the movie itself. Because You Didn't Ask ... by Patricia Vidal *What Is The Lovetrix?* I have decided that Down With Love is The Matrix for ladies. It is The Lovetrix. It is not reality. There are fabulous clothes that almost nobody can get away with wearing in the real world. It is filled with men and women living out the romantic notions of our mothers and father who were born into earlier versions of The Lovetrix. Where else but in The Lovetrix could you the sell the idea of women having sex like men? I don’t know about y’all, but 30 seconds of foreplay and a 2 second orgasm is not my idea of a perfect world

	The Blow by Blow by David Poland Spoiler Warning! I’m just going to jump from moment to moment from beginning to the end, pointing out what I think might be significant. The Character Arcs by David Poland Spoiler Warning! Major arcs for Trinity, The Oracle, Agent Smith and Morpheus.

	David Poland Remember that moment in the original Matrix when Neo, newly re-birthed from The Matrix to the Real World, sits in that barber chair and a big, thick, sharp cable is jammed into the port of the back of his neck, clicking in with the clankiest of mechanical sounds? Remember how that made you flinch, like someone was sticking that thing in your neck? The Matrix Reloaded puts you right in that chair. Only this time, you are not given the distance that you were in the first film. Reloaded plugs you right in and shoves you into the leap program. Leonard Klady The Christ-like parable is served up straight with dialogue so dry one can hear the sand in the actor’s mouths. It is a humorless, plodding trek punctuated by several set pieces that are viscerally spectacular but oddly flat. In one, the surreal Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) has somehow managed to clone himself hundreds of times and pits his army against Neo who dispatches dozens of his nemesis until he can take no more and flies away. In this instance only the choreography has punch. Ray Pride But me, I've taken too many blue pills: I have to stop reading reviews of Reloaded. As I dodged the Abbott and Costello-meets-Gertrude Stein Zen-isms of the Wachowski's dialogue, I remembered something the superb Canadian poet (and Greek studies scholar) Anne Carson wrote. "The Greek word 'eros' denotes 'want,' 'lack,' 'desire for that which is missing.' The lover wants what he does not have. It is by definition impossible for him to have what he wants if, as soon as it is had, it is no longer wanting." She quickly adds, "This is more than wordplay." Thus the eros of reviewing The Matrix Reloaded: you can't imagine what you haven't imagined being what someone else has imagined that might make you imagine... and so on up to the sky.