Amazing action upholds an underachieving story

Rating: 8/10 (15 May 2003)

I'm a huge matrix fan; my expectations for this movie were extremely high, given the quality of directing by the Wachowski brothers. Bound, the directors first movie, was a breathtaking movie with an incredible storyline. The original Matrix managed to sustain an excellent story while boasting spectacular special effects in an awesome sci-fi thriller. And then there were three...
Without the mystery and intrigue of the original (beginning with the fanfare that asked "what is the matrix?") the original needed something to captivate the audience once again. In an attempt to replicate the originals success in this area, The Matrix: Reloaded attempts to grab us with Neo's dream/prophecy of his love, Trinity, dying to an agent. This is a decent nail-biter but nothing special, and the movie fails to gain much momentum with a total action/storyline imbalance.
The action in this movie is incredible, and there's LOTS of it. This is countered poorly with uninspired scenes outside the matrix, mainly inside a dreadfully boring Zion, the last human city. The love scene, the dreams, the partying and the propaganda going on inside Zion feel out of place. The pacing does not build up momentum and the ups and downs of the movie are sporatic, leaving the audience with tidbits of a great scenes that feel independent and out of place.
The revelation as to the reason of the one and why he exists is ingenious and one of the best scenes in the film, but without the proper building blocks prior to it leaves this crucial piece of the story alone in the dark. Trinity's rescue is almost identical to Neo's and reminds me of the second Death Star in 'Return of the Jedi'. In the final minutes of the movie, both the unexplained and the predictable coincide to leave us with a pathetic anti-climax that feels like we've reached the middle of the movie.
And, from a broader perspective, that's exactly what it is. The final two films are, in reality, one movie cut into two, which is a shame because the storyline feels underdeveloped. Had both been together this movie could surely have been salvaged and turned out quite well. But as a standalone movie it leaves us with several memorable scenes as well as some incredible fighting scenes- like pieces of a puzzle not properly put into place.
In the end, we can only enjoy the groundbreaking action, wonder what could have been and hope the final movie in the Matrix trilogy can salvage a potentially Indiana Jones like series.
7/10