Good, not great

Rating: 5/10 (16 May 2003)

The Matrix Reloaded is what a summer blockbuster should be. Is it loud? Check. Plenty of special and visual effects? Double Check. Plenty of action? Check. Is it a great movie? No. But I enjoyed myself, never the less. I did not really like the beginning though. For some reason, it felt kind of forced, sparatic, it didnt work well at all. But as the movie went on, so did my approval rating. Some more editing would have been nice though, what I mean is that the fight scenes are to long. Like where Neo Battles five billion Agent Smith's in the courtyard, it was a great fight sequence, jaw dropping, and the stunts with the pole worked great, but it was too long, it started to get to the point that I was like, okay it can end anytime now. In my opinion it should have ended right before Smith said "more". This is no one time thing though, just about every fight last's a little bit to long. The freeway chase on the other hand, was long, but just about perfect. Jaw dropping from beginning to end. Even with the fight sequences running to long, they were impressive and fun to watch, I couldnt help but tell myself, okay, this is the best fight scene, only to be bested by the next one, ending up with the freeway chase being the best action scene in the movie. The dialogue and acting is okay, sometimes too long, and tries too hard to be all inspiring and mind bending and make you think, something a little too forced in this movie yet totally opposite in the first. My last complaint is the special effects, yes they are great, incredible and jaw dropping. But, wheres all the new stuff? Wheres all of the hyped up stuff that 'can never be copied like the stuff from the orignal was'? Sure, theres some new stuff, and the bullet time and slow mo effects are ten times better than they were in the original, but I saw nothing that jaw dropping or incredibly revolutionary like in te first one. But, aside from all these complaints, and I know, there are alot, I enjoyed this film, the cliffhanger was a cliffhanger, the effects were great effects (though nothing terribly new or completely revolutionary). The kung fu was great, the gun scenes were just as good, the storyline was great too. Though I had some complaints about the dialogue, it was okay as well. In the end, the story flies high (though not as much as the original) the special effects were amazing (but not as original as they were in the original) and the acting was worse that in the original (which wasnt that great to begin with). Though I was hoping to see what I saw in the original, in other words, things I had never seen nor been on screen before, considering how hyped this movie was, it lived up to it more than other hyped up movies, like the terrible Episode II. In the end, it may not be exactly what I expected, I had fun. *** out of ***** Low 8/10