Except for action scenes, full of cliches and mindless dialogue.

Rating: 5/10 (13 August 2003)

My friend who happens to look like Peter Jackson claimed that Matrix Reloaded was not only better than, the once-in-a-childhood film, Lord of the Rings, but also a deeper film. I refused to see it on principle but the advertisements, my friends, and envy dragged me in. The film was enjoyable because the actions scenes were novel, Keanu Reeves acts on his highest plateau, and there was an understanding of technology which is amiss in most current science fiction films (presently thinking of the Hulk). My problem and it should be of any aware filmgoer is that we're getting ripped off - and enjoy it. The fun for me is to see where the filmakers derived each scene of the movie. It was almost as if the filmakers spent all their time contriving unbelievable action scenes and then cut and pasting a story around it. The romance of the movie was EXACTLY the same one in the movie TOUCH, a bad comedy, redeemed by Tom Arnold, directed by the Texi Driver Paul Schrader. I don't want (and can't) reveal the story to you but here are a list of movies that are overtly mentioned in this film: Touch, Hip-Hop music videos and the epic crane shot from Intolerance, Superman, Star Wars (the entire saga but I'm sure we're not going to see ewoks), Vanilla Sky, Toy Story 2 (the old toy repairman), Intolerance, Minority Report, Finding Nemo, and Terminator. I wish the directors would hand the reins of directorship to someone that can tell a story and focus on what they do best choreograph action scenes. They are no James Cameron, but only a shade of him. Kind of like what Megadeth is to Metallica.