A real disappointment, particularly compared to the original

Rating: 5/10 (3 May 2006)

Coming after a truly revolutionary film, this can only be classed as a letdown. The opening 45 minutes are truly sleep-inducing, and the fight scenes go on far too long and are generally pointless. The set piece on the freeway adds some much needed impetus but all is lost with the stupidly confusing and pretentious scene with the architect.
Agent Smith is played excellently by Hugo weaving, with real menace and style, but loses valuable credibility when Neo fights off hundreds of Smith's in an impressive, but ultimately tedious sequence. Keanu Reeves gives a masterclass in wooden acting which comes as a shame as I thought he was impressive in the original. Upon closer inspection of reloaded, I don't think his facial expressions change once.
the biggest problem with reloaded is the real anti-climax of it all, not only within the film, but the film itself. I was really looking forward to this film in 2003, but it disappointed me then as it does now. Throughout the film you wait for something to happen, and when it does it is not only underwhelming but you know what happens already due to Neo's dreams. Unfortunately this film sets the tone for Revolutions, a slight improvement, but the damage to the potentially awesome trilogy has already been inflicted by Reloaded.