The Matrix Reloaded

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The Matrix Reloaded
Image:Matrix reloaded ver14.jpg Promotional film poster
Directed by	The Wachowski Brothers
Produced by	Joel Silver
Written by	The Wachowski Brothers
Starring	Keanu Reeves Laurence Fishburne Carrie-Anne Moss Hugo Weaving Daniel Bernhardt Monica Bellucci Jada Pinkett Smith
Distributed by	Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures
Release date(s)	May 15 2003
Running time	138 min.
Language	English
Budget	$150,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$738,599,701
Preceded by	The Matrix
Followed by	The Matrix Revolutions
IMDb profile

The Matrix Reloaded is the second installment of The Matrix series, written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers. It premiered on May 7, 2003, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, and went on general release by Warner Bros. in North American theaters on May 15, 2003, and around the world during the latter half of that month. The video game Enter the Matrix, which was released May 15, and a collection of nine animated shorts, the Animatrix, which was released on June 3, supported and expanded the storyline of the movie. The Matrix Revolutions, which completes the story, was released six months after Reloaded in November 2003.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 2.1 Sound Design 2.2 Soundtrack 3 Cast 4 Reception 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

Six months after the events of the first movie, Captain Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) of the Logos calls an emergency meeting of all Zion's Hovercraft Ship Fleet. She has successfully recovered the information left by Captain Thaddeus (in the Animatrix short film "Final Flight of the Osiris," recovered in the video game Enter The Matrix): 250,000 Sentinels are tunneling towards the underground city of Zion and will reach it in 72 hours. Commander Locke, the ranking military officer of Zion, orders all ships and their crews, including Neo, Trinity, Morpheus and new operator Link, to return to Zion to prepare for the onslaught of the machines. The Caduceus receives a message from the Oracle, and the Nebuchadnezzar, in defiance of Locke's order, ventures out to allow Neo to contact her. Meanwhile, one of the Caduceus crew members, Bane, encounters Agent Smith, who takes over Bane's body. Bane/Smith then leaves the Matrix via the hard line.

Returning to Zion, the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar attend a meeting in Zion's temple where Morpheus announces the news of the advancing machines to the people, but his positive attitude keeps them courageous. As a dance breaks out, Neo and Trinity have a night of passion, but Neo has recurring nightmares about Trinity being shot by an Agent during a gunfight down the side of a building. Neo recieves a message from the Oracle the next morning, and he soons meets her and her bodyguard Seraph. The Oracle explains that she is an exiled computer programme and instructs Neo to reach the Source, by finding the Keymaker, who is a prisoner in the home of the Frenchman programme, the Merovingian. As Neo goes to depart, Agent Smith appears despite his apparent death in the first film. He demonstrates his ability to clone himself using the people of the Matrix as hosts, prompting a spectacular battle between Neo and many clone of Smith.

Neo, Morpheus and Trinity visit the Merovingian and ask for the Keymaker, but the Frenchman refuses them. His wife, Persephone turns against him and leads the trio to the Keymaker. While Neo battles the Merovingian's skilled guards, Morpheus, Trinity and the Keymaker escape onto the nearby freeway with the ghostly Twin, Agents and the police in pursuit. Morpheus defeats the Twins by destroying their car, and then saves the Keymaker from an Agent. Both are then retrieved by a flying Neo. At a building, the crews of the Nebuchadnezzer and the Hammer (including Niobe) help the Keymaker and Neo to reach the source's door. However, the Smiths invade during the process and try to kill Neo, Morpheus and the Keymaker. The Keymaker manages to unlock the door to the source but is shot by the Smiths and dies.

Neo enters the source and meets a bearded man in a suit, the creator of the Matix, the Architect. The Architect reveals there have been multiple versions of the Matrix and with it, multiple versions of the One. After a long conversation, the Architect gives Neo the choice to save either Zion or Trinity - but one way will lead to the destruction of everyone in Zion and the Matrix. Neo practically explodes out of the building in an attempt to save Trinity from death as it was played out in his dreams. Trinity is shot by an Agent, dying in Neo's arms. Refusing to accept her death, Neo manages to revive her by starting her heart. In the Nebuchadnezzer, Neo explains his findings to the crew, revealing the prophecy of the One is fake and in twenty four hours, Zion will be destroyed. Sentinels approach and destroy the ship, leaving Morpheus stunned about all the revelations. Neo saves his friends from being destroyed by the Sentinels by using a new ability which causes the machines to self-destruct, but Neo suddenly falls unconscious. The crew are picked up by the Hammer. The film concludes with Neo lying in a medical room - with the possessed Bane lying opposite him...

[edit] Production

The Matrix Reloaded was largely filmed at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, concurrently with filming of the sequel Revolutions. The freeway chase scene was filmed at the decommissioned Naval Air Station Alameda in Alameda, California. Producers constructed a 1.5-mile freeway on the old runways just for the movie. Portions of the chase were also filmed in Oakland, California, and the tunnel shown briefly is the Webster Tube connecting Oakland and Alameda. Some post-production editing was done in old aircraft hangars on the base as well. Although two Ford Taurus, one Dodge Ram and one Dodge Stratus are briefly seen, every other vehicle in the chase scene is a General Motors brand. The film is noted for its use of a Cadillac CTS, a Cadillac Escalade EXT, and several Chevrolet Impala and Chevrolet Caprice police cars. Additional vehicles include the Oldsmobile Intrigue, Oldsmobile Aurora, a Chevrolet Tahoe and also an Audi A8.

The city of Akron was willing to give full access to Route 59, the stretch of freeway known as the "Innerbelt", for filming of the freeway chase when it was under consideration. However, producers decided against this as "the time to reset all the cars in their start position would take too long".^[1] MythBusters would later reuse the Alameda location in order to explore the effects of a head-on collision between two semi trucks.

97% of the materials from the sets of the movie were recycled. For example, tons of wood were sent to Mexico to build low-income housing.^[2]

[edit] Sound Design

Sound editing on the Matrix Trilogy was completed by Danetracks in West Hollywood, CA.

[edit] Soundtrack

See also: The Matrix Reloaded: The Album

Don Davis, composer on The Matrix, returned to score Reloaded. For many of the pivotal action sequences, such as the "Burly Brawl", he collaborated with Juno Reactor. Some of the collaborative cues by Davis and Juno Reactor are extensions of material by Juno Reactor; for example, a version of "Komit" featuring Davis' strings is used during a flying sequence, and "Burly Brawl" is essentially a combination of Davis' unused "Multiple Replication" and Juno Reactor's "Masters of the Universe". One of the collaborations, "Mona Lisa Overdrive", is titled in reference to the cyberpunk novel of the same name by William Gibson, a major influence on the directors. Leitmotifs established in The Matrix return, and some used in Revolutions are established.

As with its predecessor, many tracks by external musicians are featured in the movie, its closing credits, and the soundtrack album, some of which were written for the movie. Many of the musicians featured (for example Rob Zombie, Rage Against the Machine and Marilyn Manson) had also appeared on the soundtrack for The Matrix. Rob Dougan contributed again, licensing the instrumental version of his eponymous "Furious Angels", as well as being commissioned to provide an original track, ultimately scoring the battle in the Merovingian's chateau. "Another Kind of Blues" by electronic artist Fluke was used during the rave scene.

Also, the key of the theme heard at the beginning of every Matrix film ascends by one semitone with each movie. In The Matrix, the music starts in the key of E, The Matrix Reloaded in F and The Matrix Revolutions in the key of F-sharp.

Linkin Park contributed their instrumental song "Session" to the film as well, though it did not appear during the actual runtime.

[edit] Cast

• Keanu Reeves as Neo
• Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus
• Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity
• Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith
• Gloria Foster as The Oracle
• Helmut Bakaitis as The Architect
• Lambert Wilson as The Merovingian
• Monica Bellucci as Persephone
• Adrian Rayment as Twin #2
• Neil Rayment as Twin #1
• Daniel Bernhardt as Agent Johnson
• Sing Ngai as Seraph (as Collin Chou)
• Nona Gaye as Zee
• Anthony Zerbe as Councillor Hamann
• Roy Jones Jr. as Captain Ballard
• David A. Kilde as Agent Jackson
• Randall Duk Kim as The Keymaker
• Harry J. Lennix as Commander Lock
• Matt McColm as Agent Thompson
• Harold Perrineau Jr. as Link
• Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe
• Cornel West as Councillor West
• Bernard White as Rama-Kandra
• Anthony Wong as Ghost

Cornel West, a professor at Princeton, makes a special appearance in the Zion "council" scene. Another notable cameo is boxing great Roy Jones Jr., who appears in the opening scene with a number of other ship's captains, right before Smith makes his appearance. Zee was originally to be played by Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in the summer of 2001.

[edit] Reception

Reloaded earned an estimated $42.5 million on its Thursday opening day in the United States, a new record surpassing the one set in May 2002 by Spider-Man, which took in $39.4 million on its first day. The movie earned $91.8 million over its first Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, establishing it as the second-best opening weekend ever after Spider-Man's 2002 (inflation unadjusted) record of $114.8 million in ticket sales during its three-day opening weekend. Reloaded garnered the biggest (inflation unadjusted) debut ever for an R-rated film (The Passion of the Christ is a close second at $83.8 million, and 300 came in third with $70.9 million). Although the film exceeded box office records during its first week, it fell the number two spot on the box-office totals the following week when it was beat by the Jim Carrey movie Bruce Almighty. The film earned $281 million in the US and $738 million worldwide.[1] It is currently the 27th highest grossing film, and is one of the highest grossing rated-R features of all time.

The Matrix Reloaded had a positive critical reception in most of the media, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 74%.

Criticisms and acclaim, on record, are at times similar to those leveled at the movie's predecessor.^[3]

Positive comments included commendation for the quality and intensity of its action sequences^[4][5] and intelligence.^[6] Some critics have exceptional praise for it, saying that "its character development and writing...is so crisp it crackles on the screen" and have said that "Matrix Reloaded re-establishes the genre and even raises the bar a notch or two" above the first movie, The Matrix.^[7]

Negative comments included the sentiment that the plot was alienating,^[8][9] with some critics taking the view that the focus on the action came at the cost of the movie's human element.^[10][11] Some also said that the dialogue focus on exposition scenes^[12] worked against the film. Although it was well-known that the plot of Reloaded would be resolved in Revolutions, the many unresolved subplots and the cliffhanger ending were criticised by some.^[13]

The film was banned in Egypt because of the violent content and because it put into question issues about human creation "linked to the three monotheistic religions that we respect and which we believe in".^[14] Egyptian media claimed it promoted Zionism since it talks about Zion and the dark forces that wish to destroy it. However, it was later allowed to be shown in theatres and was later released on DVD and VHS.^{[citation needed]}

The Matrix Reloaded also made $145 million USD in DVD sales in October 2003.

[edit] See also

• Simulated reality

• The Matrix Revolutions

• The Matrix

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Matrix Reloaded Official Website
• The Matrix Reloaded at the Internet Movie Database
• The Matrix Reloaded at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Many Meanings of The Matrix, Larry Wachowski in a dialogue with Ken Wilber.
• The Matrix Reloaded Explained - a comparative-literature-style exegesis of selected parts of Matrix Reloaded.
• Newsweek: The Matrix Makers - A look behind the scenes at the Matrix sequels.
• The Matrix Reloaded October 27, 2001 draft script by Andy & Larry Wachowski
• Joanne Morra and Marquard Smith The Matrix: Morpheus in Exile

Preceded by "X2: X-Men United"

List of Box Office #1 Movies May 18 2003

Succeeded by "Bruce Almighty"

v • d • e The Matrix series
The Matrix • The Matrix Reloaded • The Matrix Revolutions
The Animatrix:	Final Flight of the Osiris • The Second Renaissance • Kid's Story • Program • World Record • Beyond • A Detective Story • Matriculated
Soundtracks:	The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture • The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score • The Matrix Reloaded: The Album • The Animatrix: The Album • The Matrix Revolutions: Music from the Motion Picture • Enter the Matrix: Original Soundtrack from the Videogame • The Matrix: Path of Neo - Music from the Video Game
Video games:	Enter the Matrix • The Matrix Online • The Matrix: Path of Neo
Characters:	Neo • Trinity • Morpheus • Agent Smith • Agents • Oracle • Architect • Niobe • Merovingian • Persephone • Sati • Seraph • Twins • Deus Ex Machina • Minor human characters • Programs and machines
Locations:	The Matrix universe • Mega City • Club Hel • Mobil Ave. • Zero One (Machine City) • Zion • New Zion • Ships from The Matrix series
Cast and crew:	Wachowski Brothers • Keanu Reeves • Laurence Fishburne • Carrie-Anne Moss • Hugo Weaving • Jada Pinkett Smith • Owen Paterson • John Gaeta • Geof Darrow • Steve Skroce
Other topics:	The Matrix Comics • Matrix digital rain • The Matrix character names • The Matrix Revisited • The Zion Archive • The Ultimate Matrix Collection • Matrix cell phone • Bluepill • Redpill
Related topics:	Bullet time • Cyberpunk • Digitalism • The Hero's Journey  • Martial arts film • Simulated reality • Virtual reality • The Official Matrix Exhibit • Cadillac CTS

cs:Matrix Reloaded

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