''The Matrix Reloaded'' is a 2003 American
science-fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...
written and directed by
the Wachowskis
Lana Wachowski (born June 21, 1965, formerly known as Larry Wachowski) and Lilly Wachowski (born December 29, 1967, formerly known as Andy Wachowski) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans ...
. It is a sequel to ''
The Matrix
''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantolia ...
'' (1999) and the second installment in the
''Matrix'' film series. The film stars
Keanu Reeves,
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...
,
Carrie-Anne Moss
Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in ''The Matrix'' series (1999–present). She has starred in '' Memento'' (2000) for w ...
,
Hugo Weaving
Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is an English actor. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts ...
and
Gloria Foster
Gloria Foster (November 15, 1933 – September 29, 2001) was an American actress. She had acclaimed roles in plays ''In White America'' and '' Having Our Say,'' winning three Obie Awards during her career. Foster played the Oracle in ''The Matrix ...
who reprise their roles from the previous film, while
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (; née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show '' Red Table Talk'', for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award. ''Time'' name ...
was introduced in the cast.
The film premiered on May 7, 2003, in
Westwood, Los Angeles, California
Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south ...
, and had its
worldwide release by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
on May 15, 2003, including a screening out of competition at the
2003 Cannes Film Festival.
The
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
''
Enter the Matrix
''Enter the Matrix'' is a 2003 action-adventure video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or ...
'' and ''
The Animatrix
is a 2003 adult animated science-fiction anthology film produced by the Wachowskis. The film details through nine animated short films the backstory of ''The Matrix'' film series, including the original war between humanity and machines which l ...
'', a collection of short animations, supported and expanded the film's story.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, although most felt it inferior to the first film. It grossed $741.8 million worldwide, breaking ''
Terminator 2: Judgment Day''s record and becoming the
highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, until ''
Deadpool
Deadpool is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #98 (cover-dated Feb. 1991). Initially, Deadp ...
'' surpassed it in 2016. In addition, it was the
third-highest-grossing film of 2003, behind ''
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' and ''
Finding Nemo''.
A direct sequel titled ''
The Matrix Revolutions'' was released six months later in November 2003.
Plot
Six months after the events of ''
The Matrix
''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantolia ...
'',
Neo and
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
are now romantically involved.
Morpheus
Morpheus ('Fashioner', derived from the grc, μορφή meaning 'form, shape') is a god associated with sleep and dreams. In Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' he is the son of Somnus and appears in dreams in human form. From the Middle Ages, the name b ...
receives a message from Captain
Niobe
In Greek mythology, Niobe (; grc-gre, Νιόβη ) was a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione, the most frequently cited, or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa, the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas.
Her father was the r ...
of the ''Logos'' calling an emergency meeting of all ships of
Zion
Zion ( he, צִיּוֹן ''Ṣīyyōn'', LXX , also variously transliterated ''Sion'', ''Tzion'', ''Tsion'', ''Tsiyyon'') is a placename in the Hebrew Bible used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole (see Nam ...
. An army of Sentinels is tunneling towards Zion and will reach it within 72 hours.
Commander Lock orders all ships to return to Zion to prepare, but Morpheus asks one ship to remain to contact the
Oracle. Within the Matrix, the lone ship's crew is encountered by the former
Agent
Agent may refer to:
Espionage, investigation, and law
*, spies or intelligence officers
* Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another
** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...
Smith
Smith may refer to:
People
* Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals
* Smith (given name)
* Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland
** List of people wi ...
, who copies himself over the body of crew member
Bane
Bane may refer to:
Fictional characters
* Bane (DC Comics), an adversary of Batman
* Bane (''Harry Potter''), a centaur in the ''Harry Potter'' series
* Bane (''The Matrix''), a character in the ''Matrix'' film trilogy
* Bane the Druid, a Gu ...
and uses the phone line to leave the Matrix.
In Zion, Morpheus announces the news of the advancing machines. The ''Nebuchadnezzar'' leaves Zion and enters the Matrix, where Neo meets the Oracle's bodyguard
Seraph
A seraph (, "burning one"; plural seraphim ) is a type of celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Tradition places seraphim in the highest rank in Christ ...
, who leads him to her. The Oracle reveals that she is part of the Matrix and instructs Neo to reach its Source with the help of the
Keymaker. As the Oracle departs, Smith appears, telling Neo that after being defeated by him, he became a rogue program. He demonstrates his ability to clone himself over other inhabitants of the Matrix, including the new upgraded Agents. He tries to take over Neo's body but fails, prompting a battle between Neo and many copies of Smith. Neo defends himself, but is forced to retreat.
Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity visit the
Merovingian
The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...
, who is imprisoning the Keymaker. The Merovingian, a rogue program with his own agenda, refuses to let him go. His wife
Persephone
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...
, seeking revenge on her husband for his infidelity, leads the trio to the Keymaker. Morpheus, Trinity, and the Keymaker flee while Neo holds off the Merovingian's henchmen. Morpheus and Trinity try to escape with the Keymaker, pursued by several Agents and the Merovingian's chief henchmen,
the Twins. After a long chase, Trinity escapes, Morpheus defeats the Twins, and Neo saves Morpheus and the Keymaker from Agent Johnson.
The crews of the ''Nebuchadnezzar'', ''Vigilant'', and ''Logos'' help the Keymaker and Neo reach the Source. The ''Logos'' crew must destroy a power plant and the ''Vigilant'' crew must disable a back-up power station to bypass a security system, which will allow Neo to enter the Source. Haunted by a vision of Trinity's death, he asks her to remain on the ''Nebuchadnezzar''. The ''Logos'' is successful, but the ''Vigilant'' is destroyed by a Sentinel. Trinity replaces the ''Vigilant'' crew and completes their mission. Agent Thompson corners her and they fight. As Neo, Morpheus, and the Keymaker try to reach the Source, The Smiths ambush them. The Keymaker is killed after unlocking the door to the Source for Neo.
Neo meets a program called the
Architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, the creator of the Matrix, who explains that as the One, Neo is himself an intentional part of the design of the Matrix, which is now in its sixth iteration. Neo is meant to stop the Matrix's fatal system crash that naturally recurs due to the concept of human choice within it. As with the five previous Ones, Neo has a choice: either reboot the Matrix from the Source and pick a handful of survivors to repopulate the soon-to-be-destroyed Zion, as his predecessors all did, or go to save the imperiled Trinity, causing the Matrix to crash and killing everyone in it. Neo chooses the latter, prompting a dismissive response from the Architect.
Neo's vision of Trinity comes true as she is shot by Agent Thompson while falling off a building. Before she hits the ground, Neo arrives and catches her. He then removes the bullet from her chest and restarts her heart. They return to the real world, where Sentinels attack them. The ''Nebuchadnezzar'' is destroyed, but the crew escape. As the Sentinels catch up to them, Neo realizes he is able to sense the machines in the real world, and telepathically destroys them but falls into a coma from the effort. The crew are picked up by another ship, the ''Hammer''. Its captain reveals that other ships defending Zion were wiped out by the machines after someone prematurely activated an
EMP. Only one survivor was found: the Smith-possessed Bane.
Cast
Zee was originally played by
Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash on August 25, 2001, before filming was complete, requiring her scenes to be reshot with Nona Gaye.
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen.
After three years o ...
was offered the role of Seraph, but turned it down as he did not want his martial arts moves digitally recorded.
Production
Filming
''The Matrix Reloaded'' was largely filmed at
Fox Studios
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
in
Australia. Filming began on March 1, 2001 and ended on August 21, 2002, concurrently with the filming of the sequel, ''
Revolutions
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
''. The
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
chase and "Burly Brawl" scenes were filmed at the decommissioned
Naval Air Station Alameda
Naval Air Station Alameda (NAS Alameda) was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.
NAS Alameda had two runways: 13–31 measuring and 07-25 measuring . Two helicopter pads and a control tower were ...
in
Alameda, California
Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...
. 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, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, 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. The city of
Akron, Ohio
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...
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".
General Motors was hired to donate over 300 cars to be used during production, destroying them for the sake of creating art. ''
MythBusters'' 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. It took 27 days to film the Burly Brawl sequence, which was combined with
motion capture and
CGI.
This would become one of the most expensive action scenes, costing $40 million to make.
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
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
to build
low-income housing
Subsidized housing is government sponsored economic assistance aimed towards alleviating housing costs and expenses for impoverished people with low to moderate incomes. In the United States, subsidized housing is often called "affordable housi ...
.
Visual effects
Following the success of the previous film, the Wachowskis came up with extremely difficult action sequences, such as the Burly Brawl, a scene in which Neo had to fight 100 Agent Smiths. To develop technologies for the film, Warner Bros. launched ESC Entertainment.
The ESC team tried to figure out how to bring the Wachowskis' vision to the screen, but because bullet time required arrays of carefully aligned cameras and months of planning, even for a brief scene featuring two or three actors, a scene like the Burly Brawl seemed almost impossible as envisioned and could take years to composite. Eventually
John Gaeta
John C. Gaeta (born 1965) is a designer and inventor best known for his work on the ''Matrix'' film trilogy, where he advanced methods and formats known as Bullet Time.
Career
John Gaeta was born in New York City and grew up in Shoreham, Long ...
realized that the technology he and his crew had developed for ''The Matrix''s
bullet time was no longer sufficient and concluded they needed a
virtual camera
A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...
(in other words, a
simulation
A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...
of a camera). Having before used real photographs of buildings as texture for 3D models in ''The Matrix'', the team started digitizing all data, such as scenes, characters' motions, or even the reflectivity of Neo's
cassock. The
reflectivity
The reflectance of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in Reflection (physics), reflecting radiant energy. It is the fraction of incident electromagnetic power that is reflected at the boundary. Reflectance is a component of the respon ...
of objects needs to be
captured and simulated adequately and
Paul Debevec Paul Ernest Debevec is a researcher in computer graphics at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies. He is best known for his work in finding, capturing and synthesizing the bidirectional scattering distribution ...
et al. captured the reflectance of the
human face
The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...
and Borshukov's work was strongly based on the findings of Debevec et al. They developed "Universal Capture", a process which samples and stores facial details and expressions at high resolution, then capture expressions from Reeves and Weaving using
dense capture and
multi-camera setup
The multiple-camera setup, multiple-camera mode of production, multi-camera or simply multicam is a method of filmmaking and video production. Several cameras—either film or professional video cameras—are employed on the set and simultaneous ...
(similar to the bullet time rig)
photogrammetric
Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant ima ...
capture
technique called
optical flow
Optical flow or optic flow is the pattern of apparent motion of objects, surfaces, and edges in a visual scene caused by the relative motion between an observer and a scene. Optical flow can also be defined as the distribution of apparent veloci ...
.
The algorithm for Universal Capture was written by George Borshukov, visual effects lead at ESC, who had also created the photo-realistic buildings for the visual effects in ''The Matrix''. With this collected wealth of data and the right algorithms, they finally were able to create
virtual cinematography
Virtual cinematography is the set of cinematographic techniques performed in a computer graphics environment. It includes a wide variety of subjects like photographing real objects, often with stereo or multi-camera setup, for the purpose of rec ...
in which characters, locations, and events can all be created digitally and viewed through virtual cameras, eliminating the restrictions of real cameras, years of compositing data, and replacing the use of still camera arrays or, in some scenes, cameras altogether. The ESC team rendered the final effects using the program
Mental Ray.
Music
Don Davis, who composed for ''The Matrix'', returned to score ''Reloaded''. For many of the pivotal action sequences, such as the "Burly Brawl", he collaborated with
Juno Reactor
Juno Reactor is a multi-national musical and performing group, primarily based in Brighton, UK. Known for their cinematic fusion of electronic, global influences, and orchestral symphonic approach, collaborating with composer Don Davis and compo ...
. 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
''Mona Lisa Overdrive'' is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson, published in 1988. It is the final novel of the cyberpunk Sprawl trilogy, following ''Neuromancer'' and ''Count Zero'', taking place eight years after ...
", is titled in reference to the
cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...
novel of the same name by
William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, hi ...
, a major influence on the directors.
Leitmotifs 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 Zombie,
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commer ...
and
Marilyn Manson, had also appeared on the soundtrack for ''The Matrix''.
Rob Dougan
Robert Don Hunter Dougan () is an Australian composer, known for his genre-blending music. Mixing elements of orchestral music, trip hop, and bluesy vocals, his work is tangentially relatable to electronic music. He is known primarily for his ...
also re-contributed, licensing the instrumental version of "
Furious Angels", 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" by electronic artist
Fluke — listed on the soundtrack as "Zion" — was used during the rave scene.
Linkin Park contributed their instrumental song "Session" to the film as well, although it did not appear during the course of the film.
P.O.D. composed a song called "
Sleeping Awake", with a
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
which focused heavily on Neo, as well as many images that were part of the film. Both songs played during the film's credits.
It was originally planned for the electronic band
Röyksopp
Röyksopp (), a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø formed in 1998. The duo consists of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland.
Berge and Brundtland were introduced to each other through a mutual friend in Tromsø, Norway. They enjoy ...
to create the soundtrack, but this offer was turned down.
Reception
Box office
''The Matrix Reloaded'' earned an estimated $5 million during Wednesday night previews in the United States and Canada. It grossed $37.5 million on its Thursday opening day from 3,603 theaters, which was the second-highest opening day after ''
Spider-Man''s $39.4 million. The film earned $91.7 million during its opening weekend and $134.3 million in its first four days, including the previews. This made it not only the second-highest opening weekend of all time, but also the biggest opening weekend for any
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
film, beating ''
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a 1997 fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the '' Harry Potter'' series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers ...
''. For six years, the film would hold the record for having the largest number of screenings for an R-rated film until the opening of ''
Watchmen
''Watchmen'' is an American comic book maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-vo ...
'' in March 2009. ''The Matrix Reloaded'' also surpassed ''
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' to have the highest Thursday opening.
It would hold this record for two years until it was taken by ''
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' in 2005. Additionally, the film had the highest opening weekend for an R-rated film, overturning the previous record held by ''
Hannibal''.
With a total gross of $146.9 million, ''The Matrix Reloaded'' held the record for having the biggest six-day opening until 2004, when it was surpassed by ''
Spider-Man 2
''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the ...
''.
The film held the number one spot during its opening weekend, taking the position from ''
X2''.
This would be handed to ''
Bruce Almighty'', which would be later dethroned by ''
Finding Nemo''. The opening weekend represented roughly 60% of that weekend's box-office tally, but some box-office prognosticators noted it fell short of lofty expectations set by some in the industry. ''The Matrix Reloaded'' and ''Finding Nemo'' both teamed up with ''Bruce Almighty'', ''X2'' and ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'' to become the first five films to make $200 million at the box office in a single summer season. This was also the fourth R-rated film to cross that mark, just after ''
Beverly Hills Cop
''Beverly Hills Cop'' is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr., and starring Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit cop ...
'', ''
Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' and ''
Saving Private Ryan
''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war, especially its depicti ...
''. It would remain as the year's top-grossing film until ''Finding Nemo'' overtook it in July.
Internationally, ''The Matrix Reloaded'' opened in 13 territories, including Australia and France, and grossed $37.5 million in its first week.
It expanded to most international territories (62) the following weekend, except Japan and India, and became the first movie to earn more than $100 million outside the U.S. in one weekend, taking its overseas total to $176 million and worldwide total to $385 million.
Grossing over $113.2 million, the film scored the highest international opening weekend, breaking the previous record held by ''
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers''. In Japan, it had the biggest opening of any film in the country, earning $11.5 million and smashing the previous record held by ''
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, d ...
''. There were other opening records in Russia and South Korea. The Japan and South Korea opening records were both given to ''
Spider-Man 3'' in 2007. The film ultimately grossed $281.6 million in the US, and $739.4 million worldwide, becoming the
third-highest-grossing film of 2003, after ''Finding Nemo'' and ''
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''.
It would have the highest domestic gross for an R-rated film until it was taken by ''
The Passion of the Christ
''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary ...
'' the next year. For over a decade, ''The Matrix Reloaded'' held the record for being the highest-grossing R-rated film worldwide before ''
Deadpool
Deadpool is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #98 (cover-dated Feb. 1991). Initially, Deadp ...
'' took it 13 years later. The film sold an estimated 46,695,900 tickets in North America. Following re-releases, the worldwide gross of the film is $741.8 million.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 74% based on 246 reviews, and an average score of 6.80/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Though its heady themes are a departure from its predecessor, ''The Matrix Reloaded'' is a worthy sequel packed with popcorn-friendly thrills." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
the film has a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score 62 out of 100 based on 40 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, a grade down from the "A−" earned by the previous film.
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''.
Roger Ebert of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...
'' also commended the film, giving it three and a half stars out of four. He described it as "an immensely skillful sci-fi adventure, combining the usual elements: heroes and villains, special effects and stunts, chases and explosions, romance and oratory" and praised the fact that "it develops its world with more detail than the first movie was able to afford, gives us our first glimpse of the underground human city of Zion, burrows closer to the heart of the secret of the Matrix, and promotes its hero, Neo, from confused draftee to a Christ figure in training." He also compared the choreography of the "Burly Brawl" fight to that of
Yuen Woo-ping in the 2000 film ''
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'', and called the scene "one of the three great set pieces in the movie" (along with Morpheus' announcement to the people of Zion and the freeway chase).
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 dialogue worked against the film, and the many unresolved subplots, as well as the
cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...
ending, were also criticized. Other criticisms included the film's perceived lack of pacing. ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' named it as one of "The 25 Worst Sequels Ever Made".
Awards
Censorship
The film was initially banned in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
because of the violent content and because it put into question issues about human creation, "which are related to the three divine religions."
Home media
''The Matrix Reloaded'' was released on
VHS and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on October 14, 2003. On the first day release, the DVD release sold over 4 million units. A
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
release followed on September 7, 2010. ''The Matrix Reloaded'' was released as a part of ''The Matrix Trilogy'' on
4K UHD Blu-ray
Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players, though a traditional Blu- ...
on October 30, 2018.
See also
*
Simulated reality
*
List of films featuring powered exoskeletons
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matrix Reloaded
2000s action thriller films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
2003 martial arts films
2003 science fiction action films
2003 films
2003 science fiction films
American action thriller films
American science fiction action films
American science fiction thriller films
American sequel films
Cyberpunk films
Drone films
Films about mathematics
Films about rebellions
Films about telepresence
Films directed by The Wachowskis
Films produced by Joel Silver
Films scored by Don Davis (composer)
Films shot in California
Films shot in Sydney
Films with screenplays by The Wachowskis
2000s French-language films
Gun fu films
Kung fu films
Martial arts science fiction films
Resurrection in film
Warner Bros. films
Silver Pictures films
The Matrix (franchise) films
Village Roadshow Pictures films
Films about computer hacking