InspectorColumbo

First of all I've read Herberts Dune saga and I loved the first book (the one the movie is about) and liked the rest.

Second there is a difference between the cinema version (137 min) and the TV version (190 min often referred also "special edition") which should also not be confused with the new version from 2000 (Frank Herbert's Dune). To keep it short the 137 version is great and the 190 min version sucks.

The TV version was split up to fill 2 evenings. For that they added about an hour of additional material not seen in the original version. While some of it is quite good like the prologue which went a little bit deeper into the Dune universe (Butlers Djihad) but most of it just destroys the atmosphere and the flow of the movie. On the technical side there is to note that the whole movie was Pan-Scanned which never is a good idea. Compared to the original version the quality really blows.

Now to the good one:

The movie is pretty much faithful to the book. There are things that were cut out from the book or it shows stuff that wasn't there, but what you see is CLEARLY Herbert's book which I thought is nearly impossible to translate into a (good) movie. It translates the "feel" of the book very well to the screen.

The most notable differences is that in the book Paul is at the age of 15 (at least at the beginning) while McLachlan more looks like 20 but I can live with that. The rest are minor things (like these sound modules) and some differences in continuity (the navigators needing the spice to well... navigate is revealed at the beginning).

The all actors give a solid performances. Notable are Kenneth McMillan (Baron Harkonnen) Patrick "Captain Picard" Steward (Gurney Halleck) and Sting as Feyd Rautha which really add to the movie.

The special effects range from crappy to good. The movie shines where it 's most important namely the sand worms which look fairly convincing. Personally I prefer (well done) miniature shots over those Episode 1/2 CGI effects which make especially environments look like plastic.

I think everybody who calls himself a Science-Fiction fan should have seen this movie which is a jewel under all those mediocre films that were spawned by Star Wars at that time. All the fans of the book should see it as what it is: A movie based on Dune. If you want the book word by word, don't watch the movie and read the book again.

Let me say first that I loved the first Matrix episode. The second one is not nearly as good as the first one but it got at least some memorable scenes. The third one at last is just crap. I think i never was so disappointed of a movie as I was after this one.

What made the first movie so good was the awesome combination of a clever storyline, revolutionary action sequences and a big fat load of style.

All of this points are missing now.

The storyline is just horrible. There are tons of questions left from the second movie (remember the architect? What he said is just ignored with a short line from the oracle...) and the characters they introduced just had no appearance here (Remember the Twins? Remember those "upgraded" Agents?) The movie is put together from a ultra long action sequence in the real world and the big finale fight and some death sequences (I'm pierced by 4 metal bars but I'm still able to talk 3 minutes... yeah... sure) and last and least some "I love you, love you too" sequences. Good news is that the conclusion DOES make sense.

The breathtaking action sequences just miss in this one. We have a overlong sequence of zion defending itself against a S**TLOAD of sentinels with a load of "Aliens" style robots. The problem is that if you didn't like the Neo vs. 300 Smiths sequence in reloaded because it looked computerish you will run out of the teathre screaming this time. Same goes for the final fight between Neo and Smith.

And the Style is just missing. Why? Because the movie plays mostly in the real world. Thousands of sentinels being shot down only to make place for another 5000 is nice in a 5 minute sequence but should not make all the content in a movie. If I want gunfights like that, I'd go and watch some Arnie movies. I want STYLE. Remember the dodge the bullets move?! Or the training sequence from the first one?? THIS had STYLE. A twenty minute shooting-like-mad sequence DOESNT.

And don't DARE to tell me that i don't like the movie because I "didn't see behind the scenes" and stuff like that. You can't save a bad movie with a complex story that will make all fanboys like "if you dont like it you are stupid".

Well anyways I'm sure that most of you guys will watch this movie anyways because its MATRIX (just as I did...). Fearz the powerz of the Hype :-)

I consider myself a great fan of the first Matrix Movie. So my expectations to the sequel were quite high. I was disappointed.

The Story in my opinion is trash. The first movie really got that special "kick" from the story. You got great action sequences, a good story, and some philosophical themes to think of.

Well to me it looks like the directors thought "well it worked so well the first time lets try it again" and packed a whole load of philosophical "stuff" and story elements into it. For me it just didn't work out. All the elements are not linked together and are highly confusing (especially the dialogue with the "Matrix Creator" ask 4 people about it and be sure that you will get 4 different explanations).

Well lets get to the highlight of this movie: The action sequences. They easily the best ones ever made. The often mentioned Neo-Smith sequence with "its computerish" look didn't really bother me. What is much worse in my eyes that those sequences mostly didn't make any sense. It's like Neo walks in a room and the first thing he does is beating up somebody. The fight sequences didn't evolve from the story, they were just there. Talking, fighting, talking, fighting, talking, fighting.

Finally if you loved Matrix you will watch Matrix Reloaded anyways. If you don't belong to that group think twice before you watch it.