I waited 4 Years for THIS?

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2003)

OK, I have read some of the other reviews online, and I have been disappointed by the incredible lack of people to see beyond the hype and the special effects. So here goes, this is the first review I have ever done online, but I just couldn't let my opinions go unheard on this one. I went into the Matrix Reloaded with the highest level of expectations. I remember coming out of the movie theater after the first Matrix and beating the crap out of my buddies for hours. I also remember getting bored sitting around the house and saying to my friends "Hey, lets go see the Matrix again!" Unfortunately, that is not the case with this movie. I was disappointed in this film. The first movie was original and definately gave people something to think about. This movie had the feeling of "It's all been done before." The fight scenes, while spectacular, seemed like more of a showcase for the newest special effects excapades that I am sure we will see in every movie for the next three years. The scenes in Zion, again a spectacular looking set, could have been cut down by a good 30 minutes without losing any of the integrity of the film. OK, there may be some spoilers in here, so avert your eyes if you don't want to find out something that might ruin the movie for you. I am going to try and do it without spoiling anything, but, oh well, here goes. The sex scene between Trinity and Neo was completely worthless. They could have cut that entire thing out and not had a problem. Also, what the hell happened to Tank? They didn't even explain where he went. The guy was alive at the end of the first movie. Maybe he read the script and decided he didn't want to do this one... There is a major plot twist/developement towards the end of the movie that should have been done in the first 20 minutes, then they could have used the rest of the film to develop what the humans would do next. Also, the bullet time and slow motion sequences were quite overdone in this movie. Every time someone jumps, there is a slow mo camera doing circles around them. While this was great in the first film, I think maybe they stuck with the tried and true method a little too much in this one. The acting is right in line with the Star Wars movies, not great. However, in the Star Wars movies, there was enough sparkle to outshine the mediocre acting. In this movie, there is too much sparkle. The twins are a cool concept, but the Merovigian, or however you spell his name, was a jackass. There were parts of the movie that were very enjoyable. The car chase scene that has been hyped to no end actually delivered in my eyes. The twins, as I said, were awesome. But this movie could have been shaved down to 30 minutes and still had the same effect. There is a scene in the engineering section of Zion where the counsellor is talking about making a point... I wish he would have. Take that scene out, and there goes 15 minutes of worthless dialogue. On the whole, I would say see this movie just because it does tie some things up. When Morpheous talks about the first "One" in the original Matrix, we finally find out what the hell he was talking about. I just hope that the third movie can deliver where this one didn't. I will always be a fan of the Matrix movies, but I think I just expected too much from this one, and the makers couldn't quite live up to what I wanted... Oh well, go see X2, that is a sequel that does live up to the hype, and it was done sooo much better than this one. I give this movie a 6 out of 10