Reloaded Revisited

They may have been subpar movies (at best), but the two sequels to The Matrix still had good soundtracks like their progenitor. La-La Land Records, producer of so many great limited edition soundtracks, has recently acknowledged this by releasing a 2-CD version of the soundtrack to The Matrix Reloaded.

The score for all three films in the series was composed primarily by Don Davis. I say primarily, because the liner notes of this new soundtrack album revealed a great deal of information to me about the score that I didn't know. The Wachowskis wanted a big dose of techno sound infused into the mix, and they turned to a sprinkling of other artists to provide it. In addition to the more traditional, symphonic film music provided by Davis, the soundtrack includes a pair of techno tracks by Rob Dougan and one by Fluke (used for specific sequences in the film).

They also employed an act named Juno Reactor to work directly with Don Davis. The two most significant action sequences of the film (the "Neo vs. hundreds of Agent Smiths" fight and the big freeway chase) were scored by Davis and Juno Reactor working together, trading their compositions back and forth. The liner notes feel a bit ambiguous to me on just how easy and welcome a partnership this was. I find it suggestive that the album includes alternate takes for some of the techno tracks that were composed solely by Davis using only the orchestra. On the other hand, the freeway chase track ("Mona Lisa Overdrive") is the most exhilarating track on the album, and I've found myself listening to all ten minutes of it again and again ever since I bought the album.

Davis develops and expands the themes he introduced in the first Matrix film throughout this score. And even if he hadn't done so, this might still be a desirable album for the simple reason that he really caught lightning in a bottle the first time around. The film's powerful anthem, trading proud chords back and forth between different brass instruments, is just as iconic and instantly recognizable as the raining green ASCII characters it accompanies on screen. In this sequel, Davis expands more heavily to a choir to represent the expanding powers of Neo (and Agent Smith), explores interesting techniques for differentiating the real world from the simulated world, and more.

Yeah, the movie kinda sucked. (Though not nearly as much as the third movie that followed.) But I've really enjoyed the soundtrack. There is a bit of dead weight at the heart of each disc. (Do I really need both vocal and instrumental versions of the source music played in the Merovingian's restaurant? Do I in fact need either?) Still, the good stuff on this soundtrack is really good. Overall, I'd give it a B+.