It has been nearly two years since the fabulous Mrs. Smith has graced audiences with her presence on Hollywood’s silver screen. This month, Jada shows audiences that the wait is over, starring in the highly anticipated film The Matrix: Reloaded.
In the film, Jada plays the tough as nails Captain Niobe whose sheer tenacity, and strength adds to her being one of the most crucial new characters involved in the Zion Resistance. “Niobe is captain of the Logos,” mentions the actress “which is the smallest and fastest Hovercraft in the rebel fleet.” For all you die hard Matrix fans in this particular installment of the film you will find that “choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without” and the name of the game is to save the city of Zion. As a refresher in 1999, The Matrix was unleashed worldwide as an epic story exploring themes of free will, alienation, the cost of ignorance and the price of knowledge. Now in this second part of the film, new characters such as Jada’s Captain Niobe, make the story all the more alluring. Much like Jada, Niobe is a personality of great courage and intelligence whose relation to the Zion Resistance is relative to the choices she makes for her fellow crew members. “Niobe doesn’t believe in anything but herself,” states Jada of her character. “She’s extremely arrogant in that once she’s got her mind set on something, you’re not gonna change it,” adds the star. Originally shot as a single film to be told in two parts (The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions) the film is one of the most tantalizing visual benchmarks of action filmmaking to date. Needless to say, it tops the first one. Infused with furious action sequences, the film allows audiences to see a very different side of Jada. In her brutal yet elegant presentation of Captain Niobe, Jada proves that she is a full-fledged contender within mainstream films. Whether she knows it or not, she is not only breaking new ground in the mainstream realm, but is quickly becoming a power player in revolutionizing entertainment as w know it. Through this character, black actors worldwide will be living vicariously through her work. In short, the woman is making history. Thinking back to her career pre-A Different world, the vivacious actress states “I always knew this was for me, A Different World was a stepping stone, so when I look at my life today, I say ‘ok you’re on point – you gotta keep it moving’.” In getting involved with Reloaded, Jada mentioned that she had the opportunity to meet the Wachowski Brothers (writers/directors of the film) after the first installment of The Matrix. To her pleasant surprise, they had written a character tailored for her in Reloaded, Revolutions and the video game. “Matrix for me is the dream project,” says the actress. “The Wachowski Brothers shows a woman’s strength and vulnerability – they are the first white men that have a concept of what being a true woman is about,” added Jada. In short, these filmmakers managed to capture the beauty, power and strength of a woman- moreover a black woman with her character. In the film, Captain Niobe, as you may have guessed is the only black female character who possess the power to make choices that historically only men in films have been allowed to make. Niobe was one of the two undeniably powerful female characters within the film – the other was Trinity (played by Carrie-Ann Moss) and one of three powerful black characters in the core cast, Captain’s Morpheus and Lock are the others (played by Laurence Fishburne and Harry Lennix respectively). One of the biggest challenges incurred by the actress, was being away from familiar surroundings on location in Austrailia for several months – not to mention the death of a young woman who reminded Jada of herself at the beginning of her career. “I was very troubled when I learned of Aaliyah’s death,” says Jada. “She was so revved to go – she was such a bright light, it was really refreshing to have that young, energetic energy” further adds the screen siren. Jada was taken aback by Aaliyah’s, not only as admirer of her work, but moreover as a mother. “To me knowing that energy that I’d seen was gone – and being a mother I felt myself trying to understand what her family was going through, she had it all and in an instant she was gone.” Aaliyah was later replaced by on the rise

About the Author

Angee Fielder is an Arts and Lifestyle journalist whose work has appeared in several notable entertainment publications. Fielder was the co-author of the 2001 Black Film Report, and is currently working on her first book, "The Untitled Biography of Stanley Kramer". She is the Executive Producer of the Fox Searchlab/8th Wonder Film "P3" and currently resides in Los Angeles, Ca.