The Matrix fundamentally altered how movies are made, how audiences consider films, and how audiences even look at the world around them... and every Matrix fan knows it.
There is no shortage of articles, video blogs, or documentaries about all the things the original Matrix did for the film industry and the world. This is especially true of the technical aspects, such as the creation of 'Bullet Time". In all likelihood, the upcoming fourth Matrix film, which brings back Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss' beloved characters will do the same. After all, it's been nearly two decades since the last film.
But what's often overlooked is the impact of the second and third films. This is mostly due to the fact that they were broadly disliked by critics and split the fanbase due to having consulted stories that sometimes conflicted with the philosophy and messaging of the groundbreaking first movie. Story critiques aside, the 2003 sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, did something that no other film had done before. And it's something that unequivocally changed the industry...
A Practical Location Wasn't Going To Cut It For The Film's Biggest Action Sequence
While there are some little-known facts about the making of the first Matrix, there does seem to be a greater understanding of the way the Wachowski sisters pulled off one of the biggest cinematic achievements of all time. This can't be said for The Matrix Reloaded. And yet, the sci-fi action flick absolutely changed the way that Hollywood makes chase sequences.
One of the many secrets behind the making of The Matrix Trilogy is that the Wachowski's and Warner Brothers actually built a highway in order to film Reloaded's biggest chase sequence.
Seriously, the chase sequence is intense, lengthy, and features multiple main characters in an over-the-top action piece.
The highway is constructed on Alameda Island in California and done so as it became clear to the production that it would just be too costly and dangerous to rent out space on an existing highway to film the sequence. That's right, it was cheaper to actually build a humungous portion of the highway than to film on an existing one.
If you think about it, it sort of makes sense due to the fact that there's less control on an existing highway. Cameras can only be put in certain places, you can't do too much damage to existing structures, and then there's the fact that you'd be inconveniencing thousands of real people commuting every day.
But the biggest reason the production decided to make a practical highway was due to the fact that resetting all the cars would be a nightmare. At the end of each take, everything has to go back to where it was in order to do another one. For a chase sequence on a highway that involves hundreds of cars and Trinity's motorcycle, this meant that all the cars had to be driven backward at the same time to get to their starting points. Not to mention the fact that the ones that get damaged had to get fixed and/or replaced.
On a fake highway, they could build exits for the cars so that they could drive out and in normally back to their starting position.
How This Sequence Changed Hollywood
Believe it or not, this had never been done in the history of cinema. Car chase scenes had either been done on smaller road sets or on real highways where the limits of filmmaking were more noticeable. But that wasn't the case with Matrix Reloaded.
According to The Independent, building a fake highway on an airstrip at a decommissioned Naval Air Station cost the production a whopping $2.5 million. The entire highway stretched a mile and a half and included off-ramps, 6 lanes, and a 19-foot wall made from plywood that was designed to look like concrete barriers.
This was the very first highway ever made in the history of filmmaking... which is pretty amazing given the fact that countless great car chase sequences have existed for decades prior; the one in Blues Brothers and The French Connection just to name a few.
While roads have been created in practical movie sets before, a full highway had never been achieved before. To this day, the set in The Matrix Reloaded is one of the most comprehensive, expensive, and humungous in film history.
In recent years, filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino have created their own impressive street sets, but few have come close to what the Wachowskis achieved in Matrix Reloaded.
Compared to some of the more CGI-heavy physical sets in The Matrix movies, the highway chase contains some of the most impressive stunts. A lot of this has to do with the fact that the filmmakers could control every element of the set and they could do some of the big action moments for real. This includes the Agent jumping on the hood of a car and denting it as well as Trinity zig-zagging through traffic.
Without a doubt, the groundbreaking set contributed to the excitement and wow factor of the otherwise undervalued Matrix sequel.