Very disappointing.

Rating: 5/10 (2 June 2003)

I was very disappointed with this sequel to the excellent Matrix, the surprise hit of 1999. That film had a great combination of great action scenes and genuinely intelligent plot and ideas with some depth. The only way I can describe Reloaded is that it looks like and has all the emotional attraction of watching the Wachowski brothers playing the most impressive video game in the world, but refusing to let any but the most obssesive of Matrix fans into their world. What I mean by this is that the philosophy/mythology side of this is so pompous and incomprehensible that you don't particularly know and therefore care what's happening onscreen. Yes the fight scenes, though often repeated with little basic variation, are visually impressive, but in an overtly "wow check out the new CGI" way. However they rarely forward the story. I have a feeling that it could've been so much better with a smaller sfx budget, that way we could've had a few amazing set-pieces that would've had to forward the story and maybe a bit more attention to the script. There are some good new characters introduced such as the Twins ,Merovingian, Keymaker, the stunning Monica Bellucci as Persephone but these aren't given time for any real development. Maybe Revolutions can redeem the trilogy later in the year, I hope so!
Verdict: If you're expecting an intelligent, intelligible sequel you will be disappointed, which is a great shame as the potential for an amazing trilogy was present. If you just want to see a rollercoaster of spectacle after spectacle, but couldn't care less about the dialogue, plot or characters, or you know the mythology inside out and can work out what's going on you'll probably love it, and fair enough.