An Extended Music Video

Rating: Null/10 (1 July 2003)

When watching "The Matrix: Reloaded", I couldn't help feeling I was watching an extended music video. A very lush, complex, beautiful music video, but still a video. I suppose that description is not totally accurate because Reloaded is overall a very good movie and well worth the price of admission.
Where as the first Matrix had a great story and some awesome effects, Reloaded piled on the visual effects and continued the story from the first movie without a lot of surprises. It would be hard to top the storyline from the original Matrix, and it appears the filmakers didn't attempt to do so, opting instead to develop the love story between Neo and Trinity and further explore Neo's development as "The One".
One thing did bother me about Reloaded: The ending was a bit of a disappointment that left me feeling the movie was little more than an episode. The final tagline "To Be Concluded" seemed an admission by the producers that that is what they either intended or settled for. Some sequels are successful in standing on their own and do so beautifully. See "Terminator 2". Some settle for the episodic ending. See "The Empire Strikes Back". and now The Matrix 2.
Still, maybe this is all in the plan. I can't wait for episode 3.