Better than the first (minor spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2003)

I just got back from the theater seeing it, and words can hardly express my complete AWE of the movie. I knew it would be something, but I was anticipating it to fall short of the original movie, lacking that mind-screwery that the first one had. Let me tell you: I was wrong. What it didn't have that the first Matrix had was the mystique of "What is the Matrix?" However, it kept alive the sister question and bumped it up a notch: "What is real?" The movie brings to light some new revelations and casts a shadow of doubt on what was previously believed or stated, much in how the X-Files the truth was constantly changing, and what was once considered fact was erased by some new revelation.
The movie brings back some old vlllains and creates some new ones. As the Oracle tells Neo, every story you've heard about vampires or angels or werewolves is simply the Matrix attempting to assimilate programs that aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. Enter the Twins, two pale virii with dreadlocks that can turn into wraith-like forms at will, the "ghosts" of the Matrix. Also, enter in a new generation of Agents within the Matrix, who, despite their supposed upgrades, are nothing more than storm-troopers beneath Neo's might. And of course, what would the Matrix be without Agent Sssmithhh? Now a rogue program running loose, he can duplicate himself at will, and in the most exciting scene of the movie (in which I nearly had a heart-attack from the adrenaline rush) 100 copies of himself fight Neo while the camera flies at speeds in excess of 2000 miles per hour.
This movie is very difficult to discuss without giving away too many spoilers, so I'll end my review with my two gripes regarding the movie:
1. There was a sex scene between Neo and Trinity which, while being decent for a sex scene, wasn't necessary at all to the plot of the film and was just thrown in to tantalize, and I felt it disrupted the flow of the film.
2. I can't believe I'm saying this, but there were too many FX shots. I mean, I agree, the world of the Matrix relies heavily on special effects, but it felt like they were throwing them in gratuitously. Do we really NEED to see every scene dissolve into code and reassemble into another scene? Fancy transitions are NOT always needed.
Past these two gripes, the movie was absolute perfection, and the twist at the end (how far do Neo's powers really extend?) left my jaw dropping and my mind counting the seconds to November 5th.