When The Matrix hit it was an unknown quantity that quickly became a word-of-mouth sensation that managed to, by the end of the year, sway many jaded Phantom Menace fans to its universe and the promise of more to come.  I saw Reloaded at a midnight screening and the sheer amount of black leather in that audience could have upholstered Guam.  They walked in super pumped, borderline riotous.  They walked out  arguing, some defending the film some already off the bandwagon.

Reloaded is a divisive film and that’s not without cause.  Whereas the psychobabble in the first Matrix was cool, the psychobabble in Reloaded was some of the densest dialogue ever spoken by man.  In particular the scene between Neo and The Architect ( awesomely lampooned below by Will Ferrell at the MTV Movie Awards that year).

I like Reloaded overall (Revolutions we’ll get to next week), but it’s not so much a film – complete and polished – as it is a series of set pieces, some of which are insanely cool.  The Burly Brawl when it happened was incredible but time hasn’t been kind to it and it looks painfully dated today. 

The fight at the Chateau is incredible and it was a toss-up between that and this extended highway madness.  I hope these two videos cover as much of it as possible.  From my mind it’s one continuous scene from when Morpheus and Trinity hit the street in the car until he kills the Ghosts (so underused).  

What people might not know is that in order to film this, they actually build over a mile of freeway and overpasses out in the desert to choreograph this madness.  Below is a picture from the air of how massive that set was.  Enjoy my favorite scene from Matrix 2 and we’ll be back here to, brace yourselves, handle Revolutions, next week.