Mediocre sequel.

Rating: 6/10 (6 December 2003)

I enjoyed the first "Matrix." It had a good, fresh concept with interesting characters, unexpected twists and turns in the plot, downright excellent action scenes, and of course, state-of-the art special effects. It's not something that'll get on my best movies list, but it's pretty good.
"The Matrix Reloaded" is merely a little above average. It's got significantly better action and effects, but the plot just isn't as good as the original's.
"Reloaded" starts at what seems to be a few years after the original. We find that all this time, the cast has been fighting a war against the machines that operate the Matrix. It's actually been going on for over a hundred years. However, some events have been forming that lead Morpheus, the leader of the group, to believe that the events of some prophecy that foretells that the war will soon end are unfolding. Meanwhile, Agent Smith, who Neo destroyed in "the Matrix," has returned. Seems his death resulted in his removal from the Matrix, but because he didn't want that, he's been reinstated as an ex-Agent without a purpose. He now has the ability to turn normal people into clones of himself through touch. To give himself purpose again, he must satisfy the machines by getting rid of Neo. And Neo is now having terrible visions of the future in his dreams that the Oracle confirms to be true.
The special effects and downright astounding. Armed with a far larger budget than the original had, "Reloaded" truly goes for broke. The hyper-fast and slow-motion action scenes, production designs, and CGI are some of the best ever.
The acting is pretty good. But no one really stands out. That you can definitely believe that they're all the characters they're playing is all you need to say.
Come to think of it, the only real problem lies in the plot. First and foremost, the return of Agent Smith. I had bad feelings about the movie the moment I saw this in the trailer. But what I'd pictured was nowhere near as bad as what I saw. The excuse the bring him is pretty weak. Because he didn't want to no longer exist? How is that relevent? How does he get this new ability to turn people into copies of himself? Fortunately, Smith doesn't get too much screen time and therefore doesn't hurt the movie as much as he should.
The rest of the plot ain't bad at all. But what makes the film mediocre to me is that there's just too much. There's at least three things going on that could be movies on their own. As a result, the movie is hurt badly; you can only do so much with so many subplots in two hours. So while all of them are good concepts except the return of Smith fiasco, they by necessity are not furthered enough.
Which is too bad. In my book, "Reloaded" would probably be great with less subplots (and making sure the Smith "resurrection" was eliminated from the final script). Of course, it also ties directly into "Revolutions." I myself have never seen it and won't until it's released on DVD, but since none of "Reloaded's" plot points were ever resolved, I doubt if it rose above being "Matrix Reloaded Part Two" in quality as well as story.