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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2206 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 1, 2026

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Hot take incoming: I think The Matrix Reloaded is vastly underrated. Although nearly three years after posting that comment, I still haven't gotten around to watching Revolutions.

I would agree, and quite a bit of the issues are editing more than anything.

One thing the first film thrives on is efficiency. Most sequences are short, aside from two major action set pieces. The highway chase/fight in Revolutions AND the burly brawl are too long, and aren't really serving the story in the way the subway fight does in the first one.

Lot of fun ideas at play though. The films at least had somewhere to go after the sequel hook from the first.

I saw Reloaded three times in theatres. The action sequences were just sublime for that era.

2003 also had The Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean, 28 Days Later, Kill Bill, Master and Commander, and X2 (which I also went to see three times).

Nobody hates Reloaded because of the action scenes (well, except for the highway scene that takes forever). We hate it for the shitty writing which takes a dump all over the original.

(well, except for the highway scene that takes forever).

Eh, this feels like a later conclusion. None of my friends complained about it at the time. It was actually quite popular.

After the third, I think a lot of good will and rose tinting was stripped off.

It had some really cool scenes. It's much better than the third film.

I think both Matrix sequels are vastly underrated. Leaving out the weirdness that the Wachowski brothers put in because they were all into gay sex clubs, the movies are cut from the same cloth as the first movie. Also, Monica Bellucci.

Also, Monica Bellucci.

If the music video for "Love Don't Cost a Thing" by J-Lo hadn't awakened my budding sexuality, Bellucci's dress in Reloaded would have done.

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