10 Best Fight Scenes In The Matrix Franchise
9. A Brawl In The Park - The Matrix Reloaded
There are two ways to look at the infamous "Neo vs A Hundred Smiths" fight sequence; the first is that it is an unnecessary, comically absurd orgy of CGI that plays like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.
The second way is to propose the elaborate idea that the whole sequence is a visual representation of what an antivirus software encountering and battling infectious malware would/could look like.
This idea is interesting on its own, and reinforces the argument that the entire Matrix series is an allegory for a computer becoming infected, being debugged and then inevitably reset to default factory settings...
But we're not here for that, so let's talk about the actual fighting in this scene.
Gravity-bending, dog-piling, pole-dancing and Smith-clubbing; this scene has it all. The stakes in this sequence are set early on when Smith attempts to copy himself into Neo, and the fear runs throughout the fight. The endless horde of Smiths is a heart-racing game of whack-a-mole for Neo, and while the ending is abrupt it does make for the most logical conclusion to an enemy that just won't stop coming.
What audiences are watching in this sequence is Neo pushed to the limits - more so than his earlier encounter with Seraph. The Smith that Neo fights is an evolved, unplugged one that fights with more tenacity and malice. It's the advanced Smith encountering the advanced Neo, and as dated as the CGI is, this sequence is still remembered as a Matrix classic.