I was expecting too much...*MINOR SPOILERS AND ONE MAJOR ONE*

Rating: 7/10 (23 May 2003)

The hype got to me. I was hoping for amazingly mind blowing action sequences (which I got) and an in-depth plot with well rounded characters (which I did not). I'm not saying I did not enjoy it, I did, it is a great experience watching it on the big-screen, so see it while you can.
Firstly the good things. Action, well, some amazing action this time around, whether it was real actors or not. Neo fighting 100 Smiths, Morpheous fighting an agent on top of a truck, albino twins who can turn into gas and martial arts weapons galore.
Smith (formally Agent Smith). My favourite character from the first film and he remains so. Brilliantly played by Hugo Weaving. The character retains his weirdness that was present in the first film, but now Weaving has more scope to make him weirder. As now, Smith is, thanks to Neo, no longer part of the system, he is more human. He's able to be more quirky and even more humourous than in the first installment.
Unfortunatly, that is where the list of good things ends for me. The rest were border line, and did not impress me too much.
The plot.....there's an army of machines coming and they have to defend themselves, and then....well, there isn't really an "and then". If there was, I was too busy waiting for more action. Which is where the problem of the plot seems to lie. It seems to be built around the action sequences instead of the action being built into the plot.
The scenes in Zion were....a bit slow, clunky. And the sex scene was completely out of place and seemed like a crappy music video.
I've never really been a fan of Keanu Reeves, his performance in the first film was uninspiring and that continues.
Morpheous is.....crazy.
*MAJOR SPOILER* Near the end....when Neo meets The Architect, who created the Matrix. Explains the true purpose of the one. And while I may have to see it again to fully understand what he says to Neo, I think I got the jist. And to me, it just seemed like a plot twist for the sake of a plot twist. The cliffhanger ending, which seems to be confusing people, I got, mainly because I was watching every move Smith made.

Anyway, I am slightly disappointed. But I guess that's the price paid for hype.
7/10