The middle of the story

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2003)

I had to avoid a lot of trailers and interviews on TV before seeing this so I could go in not knowing what to expect. The first one was such a great viewing experience in the cinema that the second installment was a must-see in the cinema as well.
Being two and a quarter hours into the story line, 'The Matrix Reloaded' loses the coolness factor the first one had of exploring the paranoid fantasy (that you yourself may have entertained) of everything we experience just being a computer simulation.
The story seemed to be told on a slightly different level than the first, going more into the destiny of neo and the humans vs machines battle rather than telling an on-the-surface account like the first one did. This wrecks the consistency a little bit, but I didn't consider that to be a problem here.
The Matrix Reloaded answers some questions (and raises more); We get to see Zion, Neo's increasing powers, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) getting a lot more interesting and dangerous, and the part the matrix itself plays in the destiny of the man-machine confrontation.
I thought there was too much time spent on highly choreographed fight scenes (making them look more like an elaborate dance than a spontaneous fight) early on, towards the end of the film there was a considerable quickening of the storytelling pace as if to make up for lost time.
It's not perfect, but all in all the Matrix reloaded is another kick-ass viewing experience, and takes it's place in what will be one of the great sci-fi trilogies.