If "The Matrix" was espresso, "Matrix Reloaded" is decaf

Rating: 2/10 (15 May 2003)

Having just rewatched the "Matrix" last week, I had high hopes for "Matrix Reloaded." Sadly, Reloaded feels more like a mishmash than a merging of genres. More importantly, it's not very *fun*.
Whereas Matrix 1 focused on Neo's awakening, the first half hour of the movie concerns itself with the mythical Zion -- the city of lost humans we heard about, but did not see, in "The Matrix". Zion is much better imagined than seen; it looks like a poor Star Wars copy. We are introduced to a parade of folks, setting us up for Matrix III, including the weirdest cameo of the year: African-American studies professor Cornell West as a Zion magistrate.
After meeting scores of folks, we (thankfully) end up back in the matrix where Neo can fly, Trinity has learned to manipulate gravity, and fight scenes look, for better and worse, straight from a video game. Of the matrix is the most interesting compelling part of these movies -- it's the very reason that our heros can do this cool stuff -- and there's plenty of interesting eye candy. However, even some of the rules of the world are bent in the interest of "plot" and sadly, the characters lives, wills, and humanity ultimately mean less to the outcome of the film than how they can *manipulate* the computer code.
What I loved about "The Matrix" is that it was shocking, provocative, and challenging. "Reloaded" is composed of too many ideas warmed-over -- after every fight sequence a new character is introduced to explain the MEANING of some aspect of the movie. It's like the filmmakers made up characters to act as Cliff Notes in case the audience missed the point they were trying so hard to make. Not that I have anything against MEANING, rather I prefer, like Neo in "The Matrix," to discover it myself.