The One Is Simply An Anomaly.

Interesting quote there, from tonights fare, The Matrix: Reloaded. Note, stop reading here if you really really don't want to spoil it for yourself. I'm not going to say anything that spoils plot elements, but some people are paranoid.

So this is the middle one in the trilogy, which unfortunately means there are some slow parts. They have to do a lot of explaining, and there's a lot of technical sci fi terminology, especially during the last half hour or so, which leads to a ho hum ending of this portion. Note, there are some really, really cool action scenes. Of course, you saw portions of just about all of them in the preview. They strived to top the lobby scene from the original, and unfortunately failed. But given that was one of the cooler scenes of all time, that's not altogether surprising. If fighting martial arts style is your thing, you'll certainly get your fill. If car chases are your thing, there's an excellent one lodged in the middle. If you're really into sci-fi mumbo jumbo and pondering life's questions about who we are and why we're here, you'll probably rate this one very highly. Unfortunately my personal favorite action scene is almost directly after the opening credits. Also seen in one of the previews, it's one damn cool explosion. Very much like X2 in that respect, after the open few minutes I was thinking "oh yeah baby" which was later replaced with "well thank you for explaining the origin of the matrix could you go back to kicking some ass now." Who knows, maybe I was in the mood to be simple minded tonight. Then again the original was an action flick staple, and you expect at least an equal caliber in return. I was hoping to see increased usage and innovation in the technology so heavily used in the first, and while they do use a bunch, it just makes it seem even less realistic to me. Running up a wall backflipping and kicking some guy in the face three times before you land is pretty nifty, but doing a superman impersonation and leaping cities in a single bound, well, that's just a bit less realistic. Not that any of it is realistic logically, but some is even less, you know?

Hm think that's enough babbling. We'll give the sequel 4 M's out of 7, after the original earned 5. The other night I decided to watch Clerks, due to the fact my company wanted a comedy, and I'd heard it was hilarious. As usual, I was disappointed. There were a couple scenes that were downright funny. There were a couple scenes where I found myself more interested in the posters on my wall, and found myself not paying attention to paragraphs full of dialogue. I probably didn't miss much. And it's black and white, which sort of adds to the dullness. We'll go with 2.5 M's here, because I usually say 3 is the level that it's at least worth renting if you're bored, but this isn't really one I'd spend money on.

Blew out one of the air pockets on my running shoe, quite annoying. Going to have to get them replaced, which costs money. Gr.