A cool movie, but much less captivating than the first...

Rating: Null/10 (26 May 2003)

*SOME SPOILERS AHEAD* I tried not to have too high expectations for Reloaded, but that was barely possible with all the hype. So after watching it, I was indeed somewhat disappointed.
Don't get me wrong, the movie IS cool, and I do recommend it, but compared to part 1 it's just a bleak shadow, especially story-wise. The original Matrix was a very fluid story that never bored or ceased to amaze one. The WOW-factor would certainly be gone with the second one, and I had accepted that in advance, but the story of Reloaded is not much more than a sequence of too long fight scenes and too long talk scenes. (The boring Zion party video clip thing springs too mind here...) Some fight scenes are there just for the sake of the fighting. The story itself... well... was not exciting enough, except for the Architect's explanation though. Very 'deep'. For this alone, you need to watch the movie twice (as several other posters pointed out). Unfortunately you have to sit through the dull parts for a seconds time as well. Finally, as for the announced 'mother of all cliff hangers', it didn't especially make me want to watch Revolutions more. Could have been much better.
Conclusion: 'sequels are almost always worse than their predecessors' proves to be true once more. Let's hope Revolutions is somewhat more enthralling than Reloaded. If I give The Matrix 9 out of 10, I'd give Reloaded 7. A cool movie, but much less captivating than the first...