a multi-tasked story that sometimes gets tongue-tied in it's attempt to convey the twists and turns

Rating: 7/10 (18 May 2003)

It's reloaded and upgraded as the underground city if Zion prepares to defend itself against an attack by 25,000 octopus-like probes. Now it's up to the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar (Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus; Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity; Harold Perrineau as Link; and, of course, Keanu Reeves as Neo, the chosen one) to save these remnants of humanity. But this is but one of the many plots in a multi-tasked story that sometimes gets tongue-tied in it's attempt to convey the twists and turns, much of which I can't tell you about without spoiling the film. I can tell you that the Matrix program is experiencing too many rogue programs as attempts are made to reboot the system. We also learn more about the Orifice (I mean Oracle) that changes some of what we learned in the first film. Most importantly, the filmmakers did manage to outdo themselves with action scenes and fighting affects that kept me mesmerized with their eye-popping choreography. Even the one-line tongue-in-cheek humor worked every time. I really enjoyed the first Matrix and did enjoy the second. The only thing that bugged me was the verbose attempts to explain what was going on, leaving me asking `What did he say?' much too much. If you liked the first film, you must see the second, but if you never saw the first, you must rent and watch it before you attempt the second or you will not know what the hell is going on. Finally, don't leave during the final credits (as most of my audience did) or you will miss a preview of the third film when the credits complete.