Misunderstood, Overcriticized and not the mindless action movie many wanted..

Rating: Null/10 (21 November 2003)

Well I think everyone saw this coming. That is.. the wave of criticism and the fierce arguments which have followed. You create a film as revolutionary as The Matrix and then decide to make it a trilogy.. it's inevitable that people will then say 'It's nothing compared to the first one!' and make various other arguments against the following films. It's happened before.. it'll no doubt happen again in the future. But let's look past this blindness for a moment and actually take a look at the film. Not much point explaining the plot, others have done that in great deal, I'd just like to make a few comparisons.. and then take the movie as a whole.

1) Matrix vs Reloaded - Action
The Matrix had some of the most stunning action scenes we've seen to date in any movie.. but what people seem to have missed is the fact that Reloaded does too. Neo vs Agent Smith was an excellent scene in the first film.. Neo vs 50 Agent Smiths is just something else... You won't find this sort of thing in any other film.. certainly not that I know of. Reloaded does a great job of taking the kung-fu fight scenes of the first film to a whole new level. Bullet time is fortunately not over-used and tactically placed to give that 'Woah.....' feel whenever it does rear it's little head. Reloaded also sees Neo doing away with firearms and using a variety of different close combat weapons, which is great to see, since The Matrix films does this with such style and finesse. I'd argue that every combat scene just has that extra bit of gloss and polish over the original film and it's all done on a bigger scale. People need to realise that where the first film was focussed on the fortunes of a few.. Reloaded gives a much grander perspective to the conflict and is perhaps, a little more difficult to follow as a result.
2) Matrix vs Reloaded - Plot
Reloaded is simply a deeper film in plot terms.. hands down. There really is absolutely no argument against this. The Matrix's plot was not quite as original as many make out it out to be. It was just another cyber-punk style sci-fi thriller with machines taking over the world and enslaving man-kind. Reloaded expands on this and adds a whole new philosophical (some would argue pretentious) level to the series. It introduces the idea of programs with unique personalities and agendas.. an overall Architect of the Matrix (who I must say acts the part incredibly well) and drops a few bombshells along the way. It requires a bit of thought.. and you really need to watch it a few times to truly appreciate it's virtues.
Does that make it better than The Matrix? No.. probably not. The Matrix was a whole different animal.. something we had never seen before. You can't really improve on that, or the feeling you get from watching it. I think the writers realized this and instead of trying to beat it... changed it's nature instead. Many people didn't like that change.. understandable to a certain degree. But I urge you to see this film with an open mind. In my opinion it's far superior to the third film but doesn't quite capture the essense of the first. That doesn't make it bad... it makes it different.
Overall Rating : 8/10