Terrible

Rating: 3/10 (17 May 2003)

Let me preface this by saying that I was a fan of the first Matrix movie. The special effects blew my mind, and the philosophical content of the story was compelling. All told, there had never been an action film quite like it, and I was more than willing to endure the headache of seeing a blockbuster movie the day it came out.
Wow, was I ever disappointed.
For anyone who said this was an exciting movie: were you watching the same film I was??? Rarely has anything less exciting been imprinted onto celuloid. After about 90 minutes, I was checking my watch every five.
Firstly, the plot is incredibly half baked, and the philisophical content of Reloaded was lame. The first Matrix film was an allegory for contemporary existence, in which we struggle for individual identity and real freedom, as opposed to the mere illusion of the same. With Reloaded, they flip-flop and, instead of addressing the control our social orders have on us, there's a thoroughly uninteresting discussion of predeterminism. The "ending" (if you can call it that) flip-flops a second time, but not in any way that gives you much hope for the third installment.
Secondly, the effects in this movie were NOT that special. The CGI was heavy-handed, all of those slow-mo, speed up effects were enormously overused, and everything has the feeling of "look what we can do." It's as if the directors got together and said, "Okay let's make a movie in which most of the scenes tell the story, and then we'll just throw some perfunctory scenes in for the special effects geeks out there." Arguably, the Lord of the Rings series blows out of the water anything in Reloaded. We're talking superior by an order of magnitude.
In sum, Matrix Reloaded was a mind-boggling waste of my time and money. Why not stay home, actually spend time with your children, make love to your romantic counterpart, walk your dog, listen to your favorite album, or watch the NBA playoffs instead?
3/10