Danny ChaiDunno if I should start with responses to stuff or just go on my own. I’ll do the second I guess. So yeah, this entry may or may not have spoilers.
So, reason #1 I loved the Matrix: the fighting scenes. I dunno, that’s the Jackie Chan fan in me. I love good fighting / action sequences, kung fu ones in particular.
Anyway, no one’s said anything really about the fighting scenes, or at least nothing good, and whatever, that’s their opinion, but as for me, I loved it all. Maybe they had too many? Too much of a good thing? Or maybe even though they’re good the impact pales in light of the first movie since the first was so groundbreaking? Maybe like for Dave the other stuff was getting in the way? I’m not sure.
But I dunno, every single fight sequence I thought was incredible. Incredibly well choreographed and well shot. It was almost poetic. I realized from watching Jackie Chan’s bio film that filming a good fight scene is really difficult. You need good choreography, good people doing it, good shots, and good editing. And they all go together, like, you need to choreograph the scenes in light of how it’s going to be edited.
I have not liked the staging of a single fight scene in Jackie Chan’s U.S. productions. Not his pseudo ones like Accidental Spy, but stuff like Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon. Just, Brett Ratner and whoever don’t know how to shoot and edit his fight scenes well. Whatever, they’re OK, but they don’t have the impact of the Hong Kong ones.
Reloaded got all of it right for me. Incredible choreography, and filmed in a way that showed it well. Like I loved that sequence with the Merovingian’s henchmen, the one that’s in the trailer. That one slow mo part is beauty – no wasted movement, no one just standing around, everyone’s moving, doing something incredible, it makes sense, and it’s beautiful. That’s a great fight scene.
Or the one against the many Agent Smiths. Again, no one’s just standing around, constant movement, wonderfully timed and executed. I guess the virtual camerawork got the most attention, but it’s coupled with seriously amazing choreography.
Or the fight with the Seraph. Just a simple one on one fight with little touches in there. Seriously, that’s a great fight scene. I dunno, I guess I’m alone on this, or maybe it’s that I like fight scenes so much, but every single fight scene brought a huge smile to my face. I thought it was really well done.
I also liked how they pulled a Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon thing and had Neo use different weapons. The pole, the swords. Again, something I appreciated.
So yeah, I like fight scenes, and Reloaded had more and better ones than maybe any movie ever made so I loved that part. But again, I feel like I’m alone on this. I’d like to know what Wong thought. But whatever, regardless, I loved it. My claim is, if you just concentrated on the fight sequences, you’d see how amazing they were. I dunno.