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'Reloaded' is a higher-caliber 'Matrix'

The Matrix Reloaded, with an arsenal of provocative ideas and mind-bending action, will leave fans eager for the third film in the trilogy.

If reality is whatever I want it to be, as the philosophy of The Matrix goes, then I want tomorrow to be Nov. 5. Waiting nearly six months to find out how this marvelous trilogy ends is too much to ask after seeing The Matrix Reloaded, an impressive achievement in mind-bending causes and special effects.

(Stick around through the end credits for a preview trailer for The Matrix Revolutions, filmed consecutively with Reloaded for a reported budget of $300-million.)

It's imperative that viewers unfamiliar with The Matrix see the original before tackling the sequel. Otherwise, it's like dropping into a physics class midterm without catching up on the textbook readings. Filmmakers Andy and Larry Wachowski don't have time for remediation with the expansion of themes and improvements on action they have up their sleeves.

The Wachowski brothers refuse to be interviewed about their trilogy. They don't want to explain the myth they're creating, preferring that moviegoers draw their own conclusions. There is something for almost everyone in the saga, although the series' surface appearance as merely more sci-fi fantasy could be a turnoff to viewers with more earthbound tastes.

Take it from someone who doesn't like Star Trek, blocks out the Sci-Fi Channel and doesn't believe The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a classic in the making: The Matrix series rocks.

For once (well, twice now) in the movies, eye-popping action isn't mindless. Characters doing extraordinary things are fascinating even when playing stony-cool. The plot isn't painted by numbers but abstractly proposed, with provocative ideas about freedom of choice, reckless technology and a new messiah. The issue of good vs. evil isn't simple, because the movies inspire deeper musings about which side is which. All are accomplished with visual flair - 360-degree motion capture and "bullet time" camera speed - that has become pop-culture iconography.

The Matrix Reloaded picks up a few years after computer programmer Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) has accepted his destiny as Neo, the chosen one to lead a revolt of humans against machines in an alternate, allegedly real, universe. Computers have installed the Matrix as a virtual reality scam of humans, who think they're living productive lives but are actually acting like Eveready batteries for the machines.

The first film introduced Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) as Neo's mentor and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) as a chic guerrilla commando. They told Neo about Zion, the last refuge for humans in the real world. The Matrix Reloaded spends much of the first hour depicting the surviving civilization that Neo is expected to protect.

Meanwhile, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) has been fired by the machines for blowing an assignment to kill Neo in the first film. Now he's a rogue with an ability to spontaneously clone himself, resulting in a brawl between Neo and nearly 100 Smiths, one of several action sequences destined to become classics. A highway car chase lasting nearly 15 minutes is another, along with a free-fall gunfight so thrilling that we're happy for the chance to see it twice in the Wachowskis' dreamy milieu.

The characters are still one-dimensional pawns for the Wachowskis' mind game, but the actors are so assured in their stunts and pulpish dialogue that image is often enough. In fact, it lends itself to smaller, choice moments, as when a vampish turncoat (Monica Bellucci) begs a kiss from Neo while Trinity stoically fumes on the sideline. Almost everyone wears dark sunglasses most of the time, restricting their facial expressiveness while unleashing a palpable sense of cool.

Reeves' laid-back presence is perfect for a character raised synthetically and warily learning his true nature. Fishburne gets more screen time in "human" form with the Zion sequences, adding necessary gravitas to a citizens rally erupting into a rave party. At times like that, the Wachowskis come perilously close to turning their franchise into a joke. On other occasions, somber discussions of fate skim the edge of impatience.

But the Wachowskis always know when to cut to the chase, or gunplay, or gravity-defying fight scenes, yet always with a more demanding purpose in mind than simply exciting our eyes and ears. We're watching an original myth in the making, a hero's quest that parallels our own search for identity in an increasingly impersonal world. Homer spun legends. Tolkien allegorized war and environmental protection. The Wachowskis are challenging our sense of reality.

Like all middle chapters, Reloaded has a plot that progresses without resolution. But consider the breakneck precision the Wachowskis employ in their cliffhanger climax, the cagey way they dangle the next crises before us, capped by a final shot begging to be seen again. Compare that with the bombastic abruptness of the first two Rings flicks. Reloaded is more like The Empire Strikes Back, the darkness before a dawn that, by all dramatic clues and the filmmakers' gift for surprises, may not materialize.

Grade: A

Directors: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Harry J. Lennix, Harold Perrineau Jr., Monica Bellucci, Nona Gaye, Randall Duk Kim, Adrian Rayment, Neil Rayment

Screenplay: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski

Rating: R; violence, sexual situations, profanity, brief nudity

Running time: 138 min.