worse than the best is at least entertaining (spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (15 May 2003)

i left the theater disappointed yet i am now eager to see it again and for revolutions to come out. though i realized what i really want is to see it on DVD so i can skip through the numerous parts of this move that could easily have been left out: the girl wanting to kiss neo; the keymaster (or at least his name!); zion(!); the woman and the cake; numerous silly speeches; the tiringly predictable "love triangle" involving morpheus and the tedious exploration of link's home life. (where IS tank anyway? i really liked tank! they talked about him like he was dead, but i dont remember him dying in the first movie!)
after coming home from seeing the movie on opening night, it occurred to me that NOW is the time to watch the first one. i just finished looking through it. every scene perfectly chiseled. every line filled with brilliance and meaning. every shot simplistically breathtaking. every effect a unique work of genius.
the matrix II had almost nothing new in it. it continued the "revolution" and the powers of neo. it had the same extravagant action scenes, lots of kung fu and tons of bullettime. yet, TONS of bullettime, some of it computer generated (what a rip off). the bullettime in the first film was used to illustrate the difference in thinking speed between its participants. in this movie, it's just eye candy. no real point, no real artistry.
this movie is trying to be the first matrix by copying it, but in doing so it misses the original completely. the original was a movie whose very essence was something unique and original. the effects were new. gap commercials not withstanding, bullet time had never been done before, let alone given a purpose and a meaning. the story was new. never before had a world of such frightening reality been given such a life. the action was new. we really saw reeves, fishburne and weaving kung fu fighting each other! every scene was beautifully artistic. the shot over the building as the rain pours down it before neo meets morpheus. the spiral pan around the staircase. the slow-motion fire. the circle of exploding glass as trinity is pulled from the exploding copter. and there was genius in that movie too. the action all worked.
nothing was extraneous. unlike matrix II, the final action of the original all works. neo goes in because he believes himself unimportant yet capable of saving morpheus. they get through the lobby. they get up the elevator and seal off the building by destroying the bottom floor. they get to the roof, steal a helicopter, get morpheus into it, crash land the copter and get out. it's very complex, very artistic, very exciting and full of action, but beyond that it flows.
i did not find much of any of this in the second film. the action did not flow. the effects were rarely new, let alone meaningful. the plot had a few shining moments, but far less than the original. the scene with the architect was wonderful. the screens showing the fractality of his choices and the explanation of the matrix as yet another level of control was brilliant. i loved the ending too. not that lame shot of the "bad guy" we never really got to dislike, but that neo stops .... and realizes it still doesnt "feel right" ..... now THAT's the matrix i wanted to see all along and had to wait two hours for.
some of it is very predictable, too. when morpheus and the *shudder* keymaster (why not keyMAKER???) are trapped ontop the truck as it's about to be demolished, i thought, 'oh god, if neo saves them "in the nick of time", im going to be very disappointed' .... i was very disappointed. the whole love triangle with morpheus was entirely predictable. trinity saving the day and shutting down the power JUST before that backdoor opened was entirely predictable. it saddened me to find myself outthinking the matrix II most of the time when the original did such a wonderful job of outthinking ME even after the tenth time watching it! (it took me nearly that many viewings to notice the subtlety when neo is being taking into custody by the agents that they are moving in slowmo while the extras in the background are moving normal speed. so subtle and so perfect i barely noticed it.)
and that's why im going to see it again. i'll suffer through the tiring, predictable and occasionally laughable moments of the film in the hope that there is something more there than i saw this first time, just like with the last. i know there was more to understand in some of the fast-talking philosophical dialogue that i was able to pull out and i sure wouldn't mind seeing the thousand-smith fight scene or trinity driving against the traffic again! until then, im gonna watch the original again.