pmov

Forget any preconceptions you may have about the old Battlestar Galactica TV series from the late 1970s. In this ingenious adaptation of the original series, we have a few new fresh angles (Cylons, originally created by humans, have evolved into 11 separate human models of which there are many duplicates). As before, it's basically a chase story - following the destruction of 12 human colonies by the Cylons, what remains of the human race begins a search of the galaxies for the 13th colony: Earth.

Nothing about Battlestar Galactica is predicable. The sometimes labyrinthine plot takes a standard human race in peril format and builds in new levels of paranoia, several very complex story threads and sometimes almost Shakesperean character arcs. There is also several surprisingly effective and mysterious quasi-religious elements weaved into the whole thing which make Galactica fresh and completely unique.

Finely acted and produced, this series is consistently suspenseful and dramatically rewarding. Edward James Olmos brings gravitas to the role of Adama and Mary McDonnell is excellent as the new President of the human race. Watch out too for the marvellous James Callis who plays Gaius Baltar, a traitorous surviving genius as well as the various versions of the sixth Cylon (beautiful Tricia Helfer) who, especially in the version visible only to Gaius Baltar, is particularly enigmatic and complex.

This is seriously good television and I genuinely envy the first time viewer about to discover this fine production for the first time. Just watch the excellent pilot and prepare to become completely addicted.

There's one main reason for tuning in to this loud and bawdy version of the TV show 'Maverick' which originally ran from 1957 to 1962, and that's Jodie Foster. Heaven knows what she's doing in this typically confused confection helmed by veteran hack director Richard Donner but she's a godsend to the movie as a female shyster of dubious reputation, complete with batty eyes and dodgy southern accent ('most gentlemen enjoy my Southern'). There's absolutely no doubt Foster is a terrific actress. Oscars for 'The Accused' and 'The Silence Of The Lambs' as well as grounded performances in genre pieces such as 'Panic Room' are sufficient testimony to that fact. But we rarely see her doing comedy and, on the basis of this performance, she should lighten up more often. As with her dramatic performances, she has great instinct and fantastic timing. With more than a hint of Irene Dunne (another superb comedienne), it's a great pity she's not paired with someone who has better comic abilities than Mel Gibson.

This movie has the dubious honour of containing one of Gibson's worst performances. He's much better in dramatic roles ('Year Of Living Dangerously', 'Gallipoli') where he can't show off rather than the action-comedies that he seems to prefer. Unfortunately, he just can't resist these buddy pictures and the cronyism is complete with Richard Donner on board who panders to Gibson's worst instincts. Gibson mugs and apes his way through this and there's no one behind the camera trying to tone him down.

Donner is clueless. He seems to think that simply populating the cast with recognisable faces from other similar western TV series is inherently funny. Proof of his lack of subtlety is Danny Glover's embarrassing and completely unnecessary cameo. Double-take, followed by triple-take - apart from being totally humourless, I'm surprised we weren't treated to flashing subtitles saying: 'hey look, it's Danny Glover!'.

Luckily Gibson's scenes with Foster have a certain amount of frisson to them (as if Gibson momentarily seems to understand that he's dealing with a professional). Also, on the positive side, James Garner (the original Brett Maverick, fact fans) manages to get through it all without embarrassing himself (although he has one or two dodgy moments).

This is an undemanding enough waste-of-time if you can stomach Mel Gibson at his worst and a Director about whom David Thomson memorably said: 'Mr. Donner has made several of the most successful and least interesting films of his age. And one doubts it's over yet'.

MATRIX RELOADED is an acquired taste. Hollywood has programmed us now to expect our sequels to be bigger, faster, louder but this one starts off slow.

There's some interesting stuff involving an assault on a tower block and some upgraded Agents but then we're forced to suffer nearly 45 minutes of new age and pseudo-religious exposition that offers no real expansion of concepts already introduced in the original. This is topped by a badly mis-judged love scene between Neo and Trinity inter-cut with footage from what appears to be a huge underground rave which had the audience I saw the movie with laughing out loud! Not, I think, what most people were expecting.

Pulses start to quicken in a scene in which the Oracle reappears and Neo faces an army of Agent Smiths but this sequence, whilst technically ambitious, seems a little mechanical and lifeless (some of the CGI work here is a bit obvious). At this point I was yearning for the movie to start acting and feeling more like the original.

Thankfully, help is on hand with the introduction of a character called Merovingian and his duplicitous wife Persephone. An amusing and charmingly played scene in a restaurant could have been lifted straight out of the first movie being at once witty, frustratingly enigmatic and with that distinctive threatening undertone that characterised the early scenes in the original.

Things then shift up a gear with a well choreographed fight scene between Neo and Merovingian's henchmen followed by the most impressive thing in the movie: a balls-out freeway chase scene that has to rank amongst the most exciting and stunning action sequences ever put on film. This juggernaut of a sequence takes no prisoners. The Wachowski brothers really strut their stuff combining fantastic stunt-work, special effects and their own distinctive camera-style to devastating effect. It's worth the price of admission on it's own and is the sequence that stays with you when the movie is finished. It's timely arrival makes you realise the first movie was not a flash in the pan and you immediately forgive this sequel for it's ponderous start.

The rest of MATRIX RELOADED, whilst not without interest, never really recovers it's stride once the freeway chase is over (it feels like the movie has climaxed) and has the same problem of all middle parts of a trilogy: a sudden and abrupt end.

Purists will no doubt agree with me when I say no one does this stuff like the Wachowskis and this has their stunning visual style stamped all over it. Having now seen the film a few times, I can say it does stand up to repeated viewings but, once seen, it's that terrific middle section you wait for during subsequent viewings.

MATRIX RELOADED is definitely a much better film than the third part of the trilogy, MATRIX REVOLUTIONS. I was expecting REVOLUTIONS to mean revolutionary whereas it actually seems to mean revolving constantly whilst going nowhere. Unfortunately for this trilogy, MATRIX RELOADED is as good as it gets.