Retrospective Film Review

The Matrix Reloaded (2003) • 18 Years Later

Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus continue to lead the revolt against the machines that have mankind plugged into a computer simulation of reality.

It was inevitable The Wachowskis would be asked to make a sequel to The Matrix (1999). That sleeper hit grossed $463M and wowed audiences with its smart sci-fi concepts and cutting-edge VFX. What was surprising was being told they’d be working on two sequels, shot back-to-back in order to make the combined $300M budget go further. Warner Bros. was hardly going to say no more from the money-spinning Matrix universe, so gave the Wachowskis carte blanche to do whatever they wanted. In retrospect, it’s a shame the studio’s trust was more like blind faith.

Filming again took place in Sydney, Australia, at the Fox Studios, from March 2001 to August 2002 — with the exception of the freeway chase and so-called ‘Burly Brawl’, which were shot at the decommissioned Naval Air Station Alameda in California, USA. The production even built a 1.5-mile stretch of freeway to shoot Reloaded’ s…