More 'Empire Strikes Back' than 'The Two Towers'.

Rating: Null/10 (18 June 2003)

I saw this movie time 1. It washed over me and its two-tone look did not pack the razzle dazzle of X2 or Spider-man. I saw this time 2 and I realised the problem. Reloaded and Revolutions (the latter unseen) feel like one movie chopped in half. Expectation is its bane. Never in the Wachow-bros' media history (two quotations so far) have they claimed to be publishing a religious or philosophical gospel for the techno age in The Matrix trilogy. Critics and cultics have done all the talking for them, no doubt to the writers' regret.
The ingenious thing about Reloaded is that the two brothers have not retreated further into the boundaries that they set up in the first one. Instead they have burst from them and at the two-thirds mark in the saga we are again wondering where the hell the next part will take us; in a good way. Their biggest achievement is making the audience member both wonder about the ongoing tale and care enough to find out. I always knew it lacked the kiddie appeal to beat Attack of the Clones in america, I was wrong about overseas but in the quality court it is the winner. Clones bores at numerous points and in the end offers no reward, Reloaded leaves many threads to be tied off in Revolutions. Agent Smith, Bane, and the grim future for Zion (the free humans) which seems unavoidable. And they tease the crap out of us with 'The Kid' who features in The Animatrix. What the hell is his story?
The Animatrix comes highly recomended if you've seen this movie. But it wont spoil much if you havn't. Either way it expands the universe for you and gives answers that you may have been waiting on. But whatever the verdict on Reloaded, I guaruntee you its not what you expect. The Zion party is the simplest way of demonstrating the human spirit's worth even in the most dismal of circumstances.
They have kept the sophistication of Part 1 and start to answer the question posed that may not have occurred to you before-hand. If Neo has all these fantasic abilities within the Matrix, what good does it do him in the real world? The oracle returns breifly to again direct him on his path. There is more fights as anyone with eyes would know but to my disappointment the Agent Smith battle royal comes early in the movie and alas they had nothing up their sleave to raise the bar in the climax. There are some novelty's that they tease us with like Vampires and Werewolves but those confrontations come in the second act and dont really get much air.
I'm now primed for 'Finding Nemo' and Joel Silver (Matrix Producer) may have to eat his words; ("nobody can compete with us") Until Nemo came along though he appeared dead right. But you can quote me on this, The Hulk and Terminator 3 will not be competing in the $270 millions range which the summer gold medal will call for. They will be lucky to beat X2.
If you liked the first Matrix enough to be strung along for another 5 months or so then Reloaded will do you good. Still, I will own the trilogy on DVD come summer next year. Moderate your expectation and wonder before watching 'the new matrix movie' what they can thrill you with and what would be incongruous to part I. Great stuff! Go see!