Reloaded and Revolutions combined are the years most disappointig films

Rating: 5/10 (24 November 2003)

My Rating: ** out of ****.
I have decided to update a few reviews that I do not think are good. This is one of those reviews I felt was bad. Matrix Reloaded was the first big disappointment of the year and Revolutions only disappointed more.
When The first Matrix came out it was cool. Only hints of that coolness are still in Reloaded. I will admit The Matrix was not 100% original. But The Wachowski's did the best they could and gave us cool and likable characters, a memorable villain, fantastic action and special effects, and to top it off they gave the movie an energy that alot of sci-fi films in the 90s(with the exception of one or two) lacked. When The Matrix debuted in 1999 it was a huge success and became instantly popular. If the film had any pretentions they were kept to a minimum. The same cannot be said about its sequels.
The Matrix Reloaded consistently looks good. The Special Effects are great. Reloaded has the atmosphere that the first Matrix had. Although it looks a notch below what the first film looked. It is kind of odd because the first Matrix budget was 63 million and this one's is 127 million.
The acting is not as good here. Keanu Reeves really does not appear much in the film. A lot of people would say thats good but you dont identify with him much here. When he occassionally says dialogue, he is very stiff. Laurence Fishburnes character has become boring but its not all his fault. Carrie Anne Moss still has her presence as Trinity. Hugo Weaving is excellent (again) as Agent Smith. There are some new annoying characters, such as the one who plays Link (irritating). The twins seemed like interesting villains but there not in here much. Monica Bellucci is wasted here, there really seems to be no point for her here.
Reloaded offers some impressive action sequences. The fight scenes are all good. The fight scene with Neo versus 100 Agent Smith's was outstanding. The car scene that everyone loves is not bad but I found it overlong. If it was cut down a bit, it would have been excellent.
Reloaded's main problem is that it is pretentious. The dialogue that is spoken here is pretentious and near the end of the movie it is unbearable. There are also some pointless scenes. The Zion dancing shirt scene was dumb and pointless. The talking was awful as mentioned.
Overall, Reloaded does have good points but the bad significantly outweighs them.