Even worse than I originally thought

Rating: 6/10 (3 January 2004)

I'm a fan of the franchise, and I've seen RELOADED three times now (only NOW am I starting to understand exactly what the Architect is saying in his "ergo/vis-a-vis" diatribe), but I have to say: RELOADED gets progressively worse with each viewing. If you really want to know how bad this sequel is, go back and see the first movie again. The first one and RELOADED don't compare, in terms of coherence as a movie. I pity the poor guy who sees RELOADED without watching the first one (there must be like 2 or 3 people left that have actually done this.).
Yeah, the fight scene is good, and the chase scene is without equal. Yeah, sequels cannot be as good as the original. But after the fulfilling first film, I was expecting more than a music video. The [fake] philosophizing that flowed incredibly in the first movie gets diluted, dumbed-down, and forced in this one. The stuff that the Oracle says isn't slick anymore ("Werewolves"?? C'mon). It's as if all the supporting actors simply mimic each other's (and mostly Morpheus') deep thoughts. And there are *seriously* corny lines that shouldn't have gotten past the quality inspectors-- all at key points of action, all of which accentuate Keanu's wooden acting.
The original movie has "replay value" and still remains good. This one I really, REALLY wanted to like, but it's getting dated already. Lucas might have tried it and flushed Star Wars down the drain with the prequels (As of this writing, I can't imagine how Episode III could possibly salvage the series.), but the Wachowskis can't try to sneak a franchise this smart/pseudo-intellectual with poor plot/dialogue development.