Horrific Disappointment

Rating: 4/10 (10 January 2004)

After the first movie, I was expecting gold from the next two. What I got, in my opinion, was dross. While this movie had very pretty fight scenes, going places no one else had been, like the first movie, it spent more time reveling in gratuitous moments than it did developing the aura and story of the world. The love scene intercut with the dancing, would have been beautiful had it been shorter, but cut in the full length bordered on pornographic. The schoolyard fight with the Smith Clones was spectacular, yes, but this movie was not based around a fighting competition with artistic points. There was an actual war going on. When Neo figured out that he couldn't win, which the audience did very early on, he should have taken off like he ended up doing later anyway. There were better uses to which he could put his energy. And the car chase made me sick to my stomach to watch on the big screen. It was also too long.
I do give the writers and director some points for the art. There is still a lot of things to be said with what was introduced in the movie. The twins for example were interesting, and the war converging on Zion lent an underlying urgency to the movie. Even the age old do I save the world, or do I save the one I love battle was well played. But as with many miracles of the scientific world, just because you can do something, that doesn't mean you should.
I see a lot of movies in theater, and own still more. Rest assured, this will not enter my collection, nor will I see in theaters or purchase Revolutions. I won't spend any more money on this franchise, and I won't be sullying the original by trying to add this to it.