More than you think

Rating: Null/10 (18 May 2003)

I have seen the MAtrix Reloaded twice now, and let me just say that there is way more plot in this movie than it gets credit for. First off, there is a ton of action which doesn't necessarily take away from the plot it just distracts a little. However, that is not to say the the action isn't good, and I do believe it for the most part to be necessary. I believe this to be the reason that people think the plot is weak. But, if one pays close attention, he/she will see that the story is riddled with plot developments throughout.
One thing that is a new development and crucial to this story (and probably the third part too) is how agent Smith finds a way out of the matrix. What happens is...(at this point, if you haven't seen the movie you may wish to stop reading) agent Smith has found a way to copy himself. So he uses this ability to copy himself to a human that is just about to exit the matrix. He copies himself, and then picks up the telephone and exits the matrix, thus giving himself a consciousness outside the matrix and another way to foil the humans. He later becomes responsible for setting off an EMP before all of the Zion's ships are in place for their "counter-attack" and thus downing five ships right away. However, he is not killed in the attack by the machines, which leaves copious doors open for the third movie.
Another interesting development related to this, and probably overlooked quite often is the new relationship between Neo and Agent Smith. Agent Smith tells the audience that something strange took place when Neo killed him. He is now set free. In my opinion this means that he can now freely operate aside from the machines. He is not compelled to follow machine orders. He has already disobeyed the machines once that he tells us about, by not returning to the mainframe for deletion. But, what is interesting out of all of this, is what I believe, Agent Smith and Neo have now become. It has to do with the manner that Neo killed Smith. In the first movie Neo, in order to kill Smith, jumped inside his body and in effect blew him up. This actually may have caused some kind of small joining of the two. That is, some of Smith rubbed off onto Neo, and some of Neo rubbed off onto Smith. This would explain how Smith is now "set free", and how Neo can stop the sentinels at the end. Let me explain. If some of Smith had rubbed off onto Neo this would give Neo an inlet to communicate with the machines. It isn't a strong line of communication, but it is nevertheless a way that Neo can see into the machine world. This is touched on briefly earlier in the movie when the Oracle tells Neo that he has the sight. What she means is that now he can see what is going to happen in the matrix just like the rest of the machines. But more obvious is when Neo, Morpheus, Link and Trinity are trying to escape the sentinels at the very end of the movie, and Neo says "wait, there is something different". It would seem that Neo can sense something about the "squidies". What happens next appears to be some kind of witchcraft fairytale type trick, but what it may actually be is Neo's machine part "communicating" and shutting them down. I can't say for sure obviously, but my point is there is much more plot development than one would think by just watching it.
In closing, let me suggest just listening to the dialogue, forget the action (which is hard to do, I admit) for just one viewing and really listen to the dialogue. We learn a great deal about how the machines operate and also a great of how the humans may or may not actually defeat them. Just don't watch it and walk away saying, "great action, but weak plot". If you do, you have missed the whole point of the movie, and you're an idiot.