Maybe the Next One Will Be Better

Rating: 6/10 (2 June 2003)

An hour of film stretched to 2 hours and 18 minutes.
It seems the Brothers Wachowski took a look at the "cool" parts of The Matrix and tried to figure out how to make it cooler, without acknowledging what made The Matrix unique. The stop-action action scenes were cool, so Reloaded features two interminably long action scenes that got rather tiresome. The hacker stuff was cool, so how about a Freudian monologue about Neo's true purpose from the matrix's architect? Add to that an out of place sex scene and Neo's unexplained power in the real world, and you've got a mess. A very long mess.
If they shortened the action scenes, moved the architect's monologue up in the film, and then had Neo struggle with the concept of free will, Reloaded could have been much better. As is, I can only recommend it if you intend to see Revolutions.