Was smiling when I wasn't cringing

Rating: 5/10 (30 May 2003)

Loved the energy and look... builds on Matrix part one. Great fights, with superb effects and some nice humor. Trinity is great -- she comes close to stealing the movie. And Persephone... wow (I'm told you can see more of her in Irreversible).
But there were a couple (okay 4 or 5) times when I wondered what the h*ll the Wachowski brothers were thinking... or maybe _IF_ they were thinking. Those few scenes aside, I liked it. Lots better than George Lucas' last few disastrous efforts.
Warning for those who haven't seen the movie, I'm discussing some details now. If you don't want to know, stop reading...
1. Morpheus' speech and the rave dance in the "temple" of Zion. Simply stupid, and even mushier than the final scene of Star Wars Ep. 4. Yuck.
2. The whole bit about "understanding your choices"... is this some kind of moral message? Nope. It's cr*p.
3. The lame crotch-zoom in the restaurant with Msr. Merovingian. Grow up. Or maybe that was there for all the 13-year-olds who snuck in...
4. The entire scene with the Architect (who reminded me of Col. Sanders, by the way). Wasn't this gobbledy-gook from both a technical & spiritual perspective?
All that being said, it's not a waste of time to see. Hope they don't make the same kind of mistakes in part 3!