Still Reloading

Professor Yin has a few good posts on "The Matrix" (also here) and "Reloaded." He seems primarily concerned with technical and plot questions, and he has a lot of good ones. But hey, it's sci-fi, I'm obviously willing to give it some serious "suspension of disbelief." The films are certainly more fun that way.

Professor Yin also points to this collection of essays about the first film and various strands of philosophy. Just FYI.

Tom Tomorrow jumps smartly on the Matrix bandwagon with his latest comic: The Republican Matrix:

What should we do today, fellas? Any damn thing we want, George.

(Calling all Democrats: Find your freaking Neo, and do it fast. Which reminds me of something L. said about "Reloaded" —what Neo and everyone else in Zion need to realize is that they have more power than they think, if only they would assert it. This could not be more true for the Dems.)

And don't miss Salon's review of "Reloaded"—it's definitely one of the better reviews of the film. It suggests another reason many people are disappointed in "Reloaded":

It's a sadder, wiser, more grown-up movie than its predecessor. It was made, one might almost say, for a sadder, wiser, more grown-up world.

Yeah, or it may just be a cool kung-fu movie. But then, what is Cornel West doing there?

Reached by telephone in his office in Princeton, Dr. West said that he and the Wachowski brothers had come together in "acknowledging the full-fledged and complex humanity of black people, which is a relatively new idea in Hollywood given pervasive racist stereotypes." And, indeed, "The Matrix Reloaded" gives prominent roles and screen time to African-American stars like Laurence Fishburne and Jada Pinkett Smith. A more tantalizing connection seems to be Dr. West's notion of the jazz freedom fighter that concludes his book "Race Matters." He writes: "I use the term `jazz' here not so much as a term for a musical art form as for a mode of being in the world, an improvisational mode of protean, fluid and flexible dispositions toward reality suspicious of `either/or viewpoints.' "

This seems to jibe with the direction that Neo, the character played by Mr. Reeves, is taking, as he discovers that the world of the Matrix is not operating by fixed rules but is something more permeable and uncertain. Dr. West also pointed out that "the second Matrix movie actually critiques the idea of the first. It's suspicious of salvation narratives. It's deeply anti-dogmatic. The critics haven't figured that out yet, but the scholars will get to it."

Hmmm, really? Oh, and one more thing from Dr. West:

He has some advice for the audiences going to see the movie: "You've got to look beneath the special effects."  

See, I'm just following doctor's orders. ;-)

Posted May 19, 2003 10:14 PM | ai movies