just vanilla (minor spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (2 June 2003)

was looking forward to this sequel very much - it left me entertained, but lacked the punch of the first. Many of the things the first had going for it were understandably lacking. Who can forget the feeling the first time you see a 360 shot of Trinity taking out those cops?! But now we've come to expect such things and we no longer are asking ourselves "What is the Matrix?" so we needed some large twist or event to really take us to a new level - and Reloaded failed to deliver.
I can't say I blame anybody - how do you top the first? But one needs to go into this movie expecting more story development/action and less in the way of new stuff (i.e., major plot twists or wonderful new special effects). That being said, it carried me along and I enjoyed the ride - most of the time - with a few notable exceptions.
For one, action is great (especially 360-Matrix action), but how long do you need to see Neo kicking the Agent Smiths' butts before it starts to get old? I mean, sure, there are like 80 of 'em, but still - you pretty much know how it's going to go and it takes FOREVER for Neo to figure out he just needs to jet.
Secondly, I understand that people out there enjoy the occasional sex scene thrown into a movie, but between the Neo/Trinity scene and the Temple/Meeting "dancing", I was just wondering when they were going to get on with the story. THEN, add to that the completely pointless scene involving the aphrodisiac/cake... it just felt like none of these scenes had any contribution to furthering the plot.
Thirdly, none of the above was helped by the fact that Keanu delivered his usual wooden dialogue. I couldn't contain a laugh at his (I'm paraphrasing), "I won't give up on you Trinity, I love you too damn much!" It's going to crack me up for years! I'm a math teacher and I could write better dialogue.
So, go for the good time, the action, the special effects - but don't expect anything groundbreaking.