A Phenomenal Sequel That Never Fails to Disappoint

Rating: 4/10 (16 May 2003)

First let me make it clear that I loved the original Matrix. It's opening should be watched by every film student as to how to hook an audience. The Reloaded version tried to pull out all the stops, f/x and philosophy. As a piece of pure film making it is in a class of its own. As a movie I would watch multiple times it falls short. Why? Well, the story gets bogged down in its own circuitous philosophy. What is real and what is memorex was dealt with nicely by French Philosopher Rene Descartes. I think therefore I am. Also the Socratic dialog wears thin after about thirty seconds. You can't continue dialog when nobody makes a statement. Frankly, the whole movie reminded me of a Salvador Dali painting. Interesting, but you wouldn't want to hang it over your bed. Keeanu Reeves minimalist star turn gets boring, when he isn't beating the snot out of Mr. Smith clones. The freeway sequence makes Steve McQueen's Bullitt look like a game of paddy cake, but there's so much mingling of real and CGI that anybody with a lick of intelligence knows you're looking at an impossible sequence. It all reminds me of the age old show business legend about the actor who believes the stories fed to the papers by his own press agent. As I left the theater, I think my own misgivings were summed up by a woman who asked her partner, "It was an incredible movie, but what was it about?" Her partner responded, "If you have to ask the question then you will never know the answer." I think they should both chill out on a smoothie and have a good night's sleep. The rating is overblown by the fans. I give it a 6 on a scale of ten. It will make a lot of money, but in the end it was merely sound and fury signifying nothing.