Ruins the Shine of the Original

Rating: 1/10 (27 June 2004)

To be honest, the summary says it all.
The original Matrix really puts Lawrence Fishburne at the helm, as the captain who holds true to his beliefs even when the source of those is not so certain. While derivative of many other sources, the movie is far more enjoyable than I expected, and left us with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction without actually putting an end to it all.
Which is why I feel sick about The Matrix: Reloaded.
The highway battle scene is long, drawn out and predictable. Morpheus' speech to Zion with the subsequent rave is hollow and without feeling. There's no *heart* to this movie, which is essentially what the Matrix original was all about.
Instead of an intelligent film with excellent build up to well-planned action sequences, we get a confused plot with bullets and bullet-time thrown together in hopes of distracting us from the fact that we don't know what's going on. The Neo/Trinity sex scene is a blatant attempt to do just that, and has no bearing on the plot whatsoever.
(Not to mention that it shows all the wrong things in that scene, but that's just me as a dude talking.)
The grit and goth-techno-punk style of the first film is lost as the techno side takes over and we are left with an unfeeling, unimaginative (looks are not everything, kiddos) film.
Go watch the first Matrix, and just suffice it to say that Neo frees the people. It's better to consider it that way than where the Wachowski brothers take it.