The Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 American
science fiction filmScience fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
and the second installment in
The Matrix trilogyThe Matrix is a science fiction action franchise created by Andy and Larry Wachowski and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The series began with the 1999 film The Matrix and later spawned two sequels; The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both released in 2003, thus forming a trilogy...
, written and directed by the Wachowskis. It premiered on May 7, 2003, in
Westwood, Los Angeles, CaliforniaWestwood is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles .-History:...
, and went on general release by
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
in
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n theaters on May 15, 2003, and around the world during the latter half of that month. It was also screened out of competition at the
2003 Cannes Film FestivalThe 2003 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the American film Elephant by Gus Van Sant.-Jury:* Patrice Chéreau, President * Aishwarya Rai * Meg Ryan * Karin Viard...
. The video game
Enter the MatrixEnter the Matrix is the first video game based on The Matrix series of films. It was developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Atari and WB Interactive for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube game systems, and for the PC. It was published in Japan by Bandai...
, which was released on May 15, and a collection of nine animated shorts,
The Animatrixis a 2003 direct-to-video anthology film based on The Matrix trilogy. The film is a compilation of nine animated short films.-Production:Development of the Animatrix project began when the film series' writers and directors, the Wachowski brothers, were in Japan promoting the first Matrix film...
, which was released on June 3, supported and expanded the storyline of the movie.
The Matrix RevolutionsThe Matrix Revolutions is a 2003 American science fiction film and the third installment of The Matrix trilogy. The film was released six months following The Matrix Reloaded. The film was written and directed by the Wachowski brothers and released simultaneously in sixty countries on November 5,...
, which completes the story, was released six months after
Reloaded, in November 2003.
Plot
Six months after the events of the first movie,
MorpheusMorpheus is the name of a fictional character and the secondary protagonist of The Matrix Franchise. The Wachowski brothers were fans of Neil Gaiman and based the character of Morpheus on the title character from the comic book The Sandman, also adopting one of his most common pseudonyms,...
receives a message from Captain
NiobeNiobe is a fictional character in the video game Enter the Matrix and the two feature films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Niobe also appears in the MMORPG The Matrix Online...
of the
Logos calling an emergency meeting of all of
ZionZion is a fictional city in The Matrix films. It is the last human city on the planet Earth after a cataclysmic nuclear war between humankind and sentient Machines, which resulted in artificial lifeforms dominating the world.-History:...
's hovercraft. Zion has confirmed the last transmission of the
Osiris: an army of Sentinels is tunneling towards Zion and will reach it within 72 hours. Commander Lock, the ranking military officer of Zion, orders all ships to return to Zion to prepare for the onslaught. Morpheus asks a ship to remain in order to contact the Oracle, in defiance of Commander Lock's orders. The
Caduceus receives a message from the Oracle, and the
Nebuchadnezzar ventures out so
NeoThomas A. Anderson is a fictional character and the main protagonist in The Matrix franchise, as well as having a cameo in The Animatrix short film, Kid's Story. He was portrayed by Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Trilogy and The Animatrix. Andrew Bowen provided Neo's voice in The Matrix: Path of Neo...
can contact her. One of the
Caduceus crew, Bane, encounters
Agent SmithAgent Smith is the main antagonist of The Matrix film series and multimedia franchise, mainly played by actor Hugo Weaving and briefly by actor Ian Bliss in the films and voiced by Christopher Corey Smith in The Matrix: Path of Neo.In 2008, Agent Smith was selected by Empire Magazine as number 84...
, who takes over Bane's avatar. Smith then leaves the Matrix, gaining control of Bane's real body.
In Zion's temple, Morpheus announces the news of the advancing machines to the people. Neo receives a message from the Oracle and returns to the Matrix to meet her. After realizing that the Oracle is part of the Matrix, Neo asks how he can trust her; she replies that it is his decision. The Oracle explains that she is an exiled program and instructs Neo to reach the Source of the Matrix by finding the Keymaker, a prisoner in the home of the
MerovingianThe Merovingian, also known as the Frenchman, and called Merv by Trinity, is a fictional character in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, portrayed by Lambert Wilson in both films...
. The Keymaker makes keys that can open hidden portals. As the Oracle departs, Smith appears, telling Neo that after being defeated, he knew he was supposed to return to the Source to be deleted, but refused, and is now a rogue program. He demonstrates his ability to clone himself using other people in the Matrix, including other agents, as hosts. He then tries to absorb Neo as a host, but fails, prompting a battle between Neo and Smith's clones. Neo manages to hold his own, but is forced to retreat from the increasingly overwhelming numbers.
Neo, Morpheus and Trinity visit the Merovingian and ask for the Keymaker, but the Merovingian refuses. His wife
PersephoneIn the movies The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Persephone is the wife of The Merovingian. She seems bored with her existence in the Matrix, and is disaffected by her husband ....
, tired of her husband's attitude, betrays him and leads the trio to the Keymaker, allowing one of the Merovingian's henchmen to escape to tell her husband. The Merovingian soon arrives and, while Morpheus, Trinity and the Keymaker escape, Neo fights the Merovingian's supernatural servants. Morpheus and Trinity are trying to escape with the Keymaker on the highway, facing several Agents and
The TwinsThe Twins are fictional characters in the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded. They are the henchmen of the Merovingian who can become translucent and move through solid objects....
. Ultimately, the Twins are killed, and Neo flies in to save Morpheus and the Keymaker.
Zion's remaining ships prepare to battle the machines. Within the Matrix, the crews of the
Nebuchadnezzar,
Vigilant and
Logos help the Keymaker and Neo reach the door to the Source. The crew of the
Logos must
destroy a power plantEnter the Matrix is the first video game based on The Matrix series of films. It was developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Atari and WB Interactive for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube game systems, and for the PC. It was published in Japan by Bandai...
in order to prevent a security system from being triggered by the Keymaker's keys, and the crew of the
Vigilant must destroy a back-up power station. The
Logos is successful, while the
Vigilant is bombed by a Sentinel, killing everyone on board. Although Neo requested that Trinity remain on the
Nebuchadnezzar, she enters the Matrix to replace the
Vigilant crew, and she destroys the backup station. However, her escape is compromised by an agent, and they fight. As Neo, Morpheus and the Keymaker reach the Source through a hallway of shortcuts to other doors in the Matrix, the Smiths appear and try to kill them. The Keymaker unlocks the door to the Source, allowing Neo and Morpheus to escape the Smiths, but the Keymaker is killed.
Neo meets a program called the
ArchitectThe Architect is a fictional character in the last two films of the Matrix trilogy, created by the Wachowski brothers. The character is played by Helmut Bakaitis. He also makes an appearance in the MMORPG The Matrix Online.-Constructing the First Matrices:...
, the Matrix's creator. In the complex conversation that follows, the Architect explains that Neo is part of the design of the Matrix; there were multiple previous versions of the Matrix and the One. Unless Neo returns to the Source to reboot the Matrix, it will fail, killing everyone connected to it. Zion's destruction would then be mankind's extinction, and the machines would survive on some lesser energy source. Neo learns of Trinity's situation and chooses to save her instead, as Trinity falls out of a window and is shot by the Agent she is fighting. Neo catches her, but Trinity dies. Unwilling to let her go, Neo uses his powers to remove the bullet and restart her heart.
In the real world, the
Nebuchadnezzer is destroyed by Sentinels, and Neo displays a new ability to disable the machines, but collapses and falls into a coma from the effort. The crew are picked up by another ship,
The Hammer, where its captain Roland reveals the remaining hovercrafts were wiped out by the machines after someone activated an EMP too early, with Bane as the only survivor.
Cast
- Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
as NeoThomas A. Anderson is a fictional character and the main protagonist in The Matrix franchise, as well as having a cameo in The Animatrix short film, Kid's Story. He was portrayed by Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Trilogy and The Animatrix. Andrew Bowen provided Neo's voice in The Matrix: Path of Neo...
- Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
as MorpheusMorpheus is the name of a fictional character and the secondary protagonist of The Matrix Franchise. The Wachowski brothers were fans of Neil Gaiman and based the character of Morpheus on the title character from the comic book The Sandman, also adopting one of his most common pseudonyms,...
- Carrie-Anne Moss
as TrinityTrinity is a fictional character and Neo's love interest in The Matrix universe, played by Carrie-Anne Moss in the films. In the gameplay segments of Path of Neo, she is voiced by Jennifer Hale...
- Hugo Weaving
Hugo Wallace Weaving is a Nigerian born, English-Australian film actor and voice artist. He is best known for his roles as Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy, Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, "V" in V for Vendetta, and performances in numerous Australian character dramas.-Early...
as SmithAgent Smith is the main antagonist of The Matrix film series and multimedia franchise, mainly played by actor Hugo Weaving and briefly by actor Ian Bliss in the films and voiced by Christopher Corey Smith in The Matrix: Path of Neo.In 2008, Agent Smith was selected by Empire Magazine as number 84...
- Harold Perrineau as Link
- Randall Duk Kim
Randall Duk Kim is a Korean-American stage, television and film actor. Kim was also the artistic director and mainstay lead actor at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, which he founded with Anne Occhiogrosso and Charles Bright...
as The KeymakerThe Keymaker is a fictional character in The Matrix film series portrayed by Korean-American actor Randall Duk Kim. The Keymaker is one of the sentient programs, rogue to the System. It carves shortcut keys used by every program in the Matrix...
- Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured...
as NiobeNiobe is a fictional character in the video game Enter the Matrix and the two feature films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Niobe also appears in the MMORPG The Matrix Online...
- Gloria Foster
Gloria Foster was an American actress, most known for her stage performances portraying an array of African-American characters, including her acclaimed roles in plays In White America and Having Our Say, winning three Obie Awards during her career.In films, she was perhaps best known as The...
as The OracleThe Oracle is a fictional character portrayed by Gloria Foster and Mary Alice within the Matrix series of films created by the Wachowski brothers...
- Helmut Bakaitis
Helmut Bakaitis is an Australian director, actor and screenwriter.Bakaitis was born in Lauban, Silesia, Germany to Lithuanian parents...
as The ArchitectThe Architect is a fictional character in the last two films of the Matrix trilogy, created by the Wachowski brothers. The character is played by Helmut Bakaitis. He also makes an appearance in the MMORPG The Matrix Online.-Constructing the First Matrices:...
- Lambert Wilson
Lambert Wilson is a French actor. He is internationally known for his portrayal of The Merovingian in The Matrix He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of Georges Wilson, who was an actor, theatrical manager and director of the Theatre National de Paris.Wilson screen tested for The...
as The MerovingianThe Merovingian, also known as the Frenchman, and called Merv by Trinity, is a fictional character in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, portrayed by Lambert Wilson in both films...
- Monica Bellucci
Monica Anna Maria Bellucci is an Italian actress and fashion model.-Early life:Bellucci was born in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy as the only child of Luigi Bellucci, who was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East Pakistan...
as PersephoneIn the movies The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Persephone is the wife of The Merovingian. She seems bored with her existence in the Matrix, and is disaffected by her husband ....
- Neil and Adrian Rayment as Twins
The Twins are fictional characters in the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded. They are the henchmen of the Merovingian who can become translucent and move through solid objects....
- Daniel Bernhardt as Agent Johnson
- Leigh Whannell
Leigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.-Life and career:...
as Axel
- Collin Chou
Collin Chou , sometimes credited as Ngai Sing, is a Taiwanese actor and martial artist based in Hong Kong known in the United States for his portrayal of Seraph in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions as well as the Enter the Matrix video game...
as SeraphSeraph is the name of a fictional character in the science-fiction Matrix universe. He is portrayed as the personification of a sophisticated challenge-handshake authentication protocol which guards the Oracle....
- Nona Gaye
Nona Marvisa Gaye is an American singer, former fashion model, and screen actress. The daughter of soul music legend Marvin Gaye and granddaughter of jazz great Slim Gaillard, she began her career as a vocalist in the early 1990s...
as Zee
- Gina Torres
Gina Torres is an American television and movie actress. She is known for her roles in science fiction and fantasy. She has appeared in many television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys , Xena: Warrior Princess , the short-lived Cleopatra 2525, as well as Alias , Firefly Gina...
as Cas
- Anthony Zerbe
Anthony Jared Zerbe is an American stage, film and Emmy-winning television actor. Notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; Milton Krest in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill;...
as Councillor Hamann
- Roy Jones, Jr. as Captain Ballard
- David A. Kilde as Agent Jackson
- Matt McColm
Matt McColm is an American actor and stuntman, and former model. He has modeled for Ralph Lauren early in his career. As an actor, he is best known for portraying Johnny Domino, the lead character in the 1997-1999 television series Night Man and Agent Thompson, the agent who kills Trinity at the...
as Agent Thompson
- Harry J. Lennix as Commander Lock
- Cornel West
Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, author, critic, actor, civil rights activist and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America....
as Councillor West
- Steve Bastoni
Steve Bastoni is an Italian Australian actor. He is best known for his role in Police Rescue as Constable Yannis 'Angel' Angelopoulos and as Steve Parker in Neighbours.-Television:...
as Captain Soren
- Bernard White as Rama-Kandra
- Anthony Wong
Anthony Wong is an Australian actor. His most well known role is that of Ghost from The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, a role which was greatly expanded in the video game Enter the Matrix, in which he starred alongside Jada Pinkett Smith as the lead...
as Ghost
- Ian Bliss
Ian Bliss is an Australian actor, best known for his role as Bane in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, for which he was chosen by the Wachowski Brothers because of his accurate impersonation of Hugo Weaving , and also his partial resemblance to Weaving...
as Bane
- Michael Budd as Zion Controller
Zee was originally to be played by
AaliyahAaliyah Dana Haughton , who performed under the mononym Aaliyah , was an American R&B recording artist, actress and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of 10, she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside...
, who died in a plane crash on August 25, 2001, before filming was complete.
Production
The Matrix Reloaded was largely filmed at
Fox StudiosFox Studios Australia is a major movie studio located in Sydney, Australia, occupying the site of the former Sydney Showground at Moore Park...
in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, concurrently with filming of the sequel,
RevolutionsThe Matrix Revolutions is a 2003 American science fiction film and the third installment of The Matrix trilogy. The film was released six months following The Matrix Reloaded. The film was written and directed by the Wachowski brothers and released simultaneously in sixty countries on November 5,...
. The freeway chase and "Burly Brawl" scenes were filmed at the decommissioned
Naval Air Station AlamedaNaval Air Station Alameda was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.NAS Alameda had two runways: 07-25 and 13-31...
in
Alameda, CaliforniaAlameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...
. The producers constructed a 1.5-mile freeway on the old runways specifically for the film. Some portions of the chase were also filmed in
Oakland, CaliforniaOakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, and the tunnel shown briefly is the Webster Tube, which connects Oakland and Alameda. Some post-production editing was also done in old aircraft hangars on the base as well.
The city of
Akron, OhioAkron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
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".
MythBustersMythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
would later reuse the Alameda location in order to explore the effects of a head-on collision between two semi trucks, and to perform various other experiments.
Around 97% of the materials from the sets of the film were recycled after production was completed; for example, tons of wood were sent to
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
to build low-income housing.
Some scenes from the film
BarakaBaraka is a 1992 non-narrative film directed by Ron Fricke. The title Baraka is a word that means blessing in a multitude of languages....
by
Ron FrickeRon Fricke is an American film director and cinematographer, considered to be a master of time-lapse photography and large format cinematography. He was the director of photography for Koyaanisqatsi and directed the purely cinematic non-verbal non-narrative feature Baraka . He designed and used...
were selected to represent the real world shown by the wallmonitors in the
Architect'sThe Architect is a fictional character in the last two films of the Matrix trilogy, created by the Wachowski brothers. The character is played by Helmut Bakaitis. He also makes an appearance in the MMORPG The Matrix Online.-Constructing the First Matrices:...
room.
Sound design
Sound editing on the Matrix Trilogy was completed by Danetracks in West Hollywood, California.
Music
Don DavisDonald Romain Davis is an American film score composer, conductor, and orchestrator. Best known for his work on The Matrix, he has worked on a variety of films, from horror to comedy.- Early life :...
, who composed the music for
The Matrix, returned to score
Reloaded. For many of the pivotal action sequences, such as the "Burly Brawl", he collaborated with
Juno ReactorJuno Reactor is a musical and performing act known for the cinematic fusion of electronic, orchestral, and global music. Central to the project is Ben Watkins and his collaborations with a constantly changing ensemble of musicians from across the world, including percussionist Mabi Thobejane from...
. 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 a piece similar to Juno Reactor's "Masters of the Universe". One of the collaborations, "Mona Lisa Overdrive", is titled in reference to the
cyberpunkCyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
novel of the same nameMona Lisa Overdrive is a cyberpunk novel by William Gibson published in 1988 and the final novel of the Sprawl trilogy, following Neuromancer and Count Zero. It takes place eight years after the events of Count Zero and is set, as were its predecessors, in The Sprawl...
by
William GibsonWilliam Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
, a major influence on the directors.
LeitmotifA leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
s established in
The Matrix return - such as the Matrix main theme, Neo and Trinity's love theme, the Sentinel's theme, Neo's flying theme, and a more frequent use of the four-note Agent Smith theme - and others 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 film. Many of the musicians featured, for example
Rob ZombieRob Zombie is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.Zombie has also established a career as a film director, creating the...
,
Rage Against the MachineRage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
and
Marilyn MansonMarilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...
, had also appeared on the soundtrack for
The Matrix.
Rob DouganRob Dougan, also known as Rob D , is a genre-blending music composer. Mixing elements of orchestral music, trip hop, and bluesy vocals, his work is tangentially relatable to electronic music. He was known primarily for his breakthrough 1995 single "Clubbed to Death ", further popularised by 1999's...
also re-contributed, licensing the instrumental version of "
Furious AngelsFurious Angels is the debut album by Rob Dougan, released in June 2002 in the United Kingdom and in July 2003 in the United States and Europe...
", as well as being commissioned to provide an original track, ultimately scoring the battle in the Merovingian's chateau. A remixed version of "
Slap It"Slap It" is a single by the English electronic music band Fluke. This song is partially responsible for Fluke's reputation in the mainstream as it was featured on the soundtrack for The Matrix Reloaded under the name "Zion". It was subsequently included on the Puppy album as "Another Kind of Blues"...
" by electronic artist
FlukeFluke are an English electronic music group formed in the late 1980s by Mike Bryant, Jon Fugler and Mike Tournier with Julian Nugent as the band's manager...
- listed on the soundtrack as "Zion" - was used during the rave scene.
Linkin ParkLinkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
contributed their instrumental song "Session" to the film as well, although it did not appear during the course of the film.
P.O.D.Payable on Death is an American Christian metal band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. Their Christian faith is an important part of their music.They have released seven studio albums and...
composed a song called "
Sleeping Awake"Sleeping Awake" is the lead single by P.O.D. from The Matrix Reloaded: The Album. The film soundtrack was released on May 6, 2003 by Warner Bros. Records/Maverick Records with the single itself available May 26...
", with a
music videoA music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
which focused heavily on Neo, as well as many images that were part of the film. Both songs appeared during films's subtitles.
Box office
The film earned an estimated $5 million during Wednesday night previews in
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
The Matrix Reloaded grossed $37,508,303 on its Thursday opening day in North America from 3,603 theaters, which was the second highest opening day after Spider Man's $39.4 millon and highest for a Thursday. It earned an additional $91,774,413 from its Friday to Sunday run while in 3,603 theaters. which was the second highest at the time after Spider Man's $114.8 million. Although the film exceeded box office records during its first week, it fell to the number two spot on the box-office totals the following week, when it was beaten by
Jim CarreyJames Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
's
Bruce AlmightyBruce Almighty is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk. It stars Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck TV reporter who complains to God that He isn't doing His job correctly, and is then offered the chance to try...
. Ultimately, the film grossed $281.5 million in the US, and $742.1 million worldwide.
Critical response
Reloaded had mostly positive critical reception, with a
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
approval rating of 73%. The film's average critic score on Metacritic is 63/100. However,
Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
named it as one of "The 25 Worst Sequels Ever Made".
Some positive comments from critics included commendation for the quality and intensity of its action sequences, and its intelligence. Tony Toscano of Talking Pictures had high praise for the film, saying that "its character development and writing...is so crisp it crackles on the screen" and that "
Matrix Reloaded re-establishes the genre and even raises the bar a notch or two" above the first film,
The Matrix.
On the other hand, negative comments included the sentiment that the plot was alienating, with some critics regarding the focus on the action as a detriment to the film's human elements. Some critics thought that the number of scenes with expository dialog worked against the film, and the many unresolved subplots, as well as the cliffhanger ending, were also criticized.
Other release
The film was initially banned in
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, 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". The Egyptian media claimed the film promoted
ZionismZionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, as it talks about Zion and the dark forces that wish to destroy it. However, it was eventually allowed to be shown in theatres, and was later released on
VHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.