Here's the real deal...

Rating: 5/10 (31 May 2003)

First of all, I appreciate any art that makes the viewer want to think. That's one of the most stimulating things in movies... But whatever deep/intellectual psychobabble they crammed into this film was too much to even make out due to its jumbled nature, and the ideas that were actually presented in a clear and cohesive manner were nothing new; it's the kind of stuff I've been thinking about since I was 12 and have already reached all the "revelations" by 14...
Morpheus, the Architect, and the french guy in the middle all seem to have Thesauri up their asses because every line they pull out of there is chock full of words that you need an English degree from Dartmouth to understand. Sure, I can take out a dictionary and learn them, that's not hard to do. Sure, I can see the movie again and pause at every sentence just to process and think about the 7 ideas included and repeat the procedure for the next sentence. But that's not good filmmaking. You can make a great film that's entertaining but has no point, but you can't make a good film that's heavily thematic, but too jumbled to be entertaining. It's no wonder you find "Movies" in the "Entertainment" (rather than the "Science") section of the newspaper; a film must first entertain. Whether you do it with brainless slaughterfests or with a lecture by Stephen Hawking is irrelevant.
And that's where this sequel f***ed up. The hodgepodge of intellectual dialogue is discernible only when the movie is watched 600 times and the ideas are analyzed to shreds. And that's exactly what the Wachowski brothers are aiming for: a new wave of Matrix cult fans to peruse deep into the film and get excited every time they make another new connection. This, of course, was already done to death with the first film, in which Neo = The One, Morpheus = God of Dreams, Nebuchadnezzar = etc... Throwing in obvious religious and mythical references such as these may be "cool", but is hardly anything to base a movie on. And the twisting plotline only helps the film feel like scrambled eggs. But once again, the movie evokes interest only when reviewed a million times. Unfortunately, $8.50 was already too much for me to spend on it.
When you're confused while watching this movie, you may be tempted to wonder if Larry and Andy threw together an inkblot of a movie and left the interpretation up in the air for people to gaze at and see whatever it is they want. (Which is not a bad thing to do, but must provide some serious food for thought instead of empty fodder for cute little allegorical connections)
Another chief rule in film story: The audience has to give a damn about the characters. Who can honestly be concerned for the invicible and all-powerful Neo's welfare when there's 100 CGI Agent Smiths attacking a computized mockup of himself? The background beat makes virtually every fight sequence seem more like a peaceful and choreographed dance than a real and agonizing struggle. If Neo can kick anyone's ass, why waste 30 combined minutes of the film confirming what we already know?
The threat of Trinity dying was lame and unprovoking. Neo died in the last Matrix and came back to life seconds later. Same thing happened to Trinity. I assume it's Morpheus's turn in Revolutions. Just like in any typical war saga, it is only the minor and unimportant characters who ever die, and our knowledge of that heading into this film is barely shaken as it progresses.
I agree with those who hail the first Matrix as a smart classic. Though you can try and attribute its success to the intelligent plotline or deep messages, but first and foremost, it was just cool. You can't argue with that. It created its own universally recognized trademark, a lot like Batman or the Terminator, and that instantly struck a chord with audiences. And indeed, the dark shades/trenchcoat/guns look was instantly associated with the Matrix (How easily was it recognized in the Columbine incident?).

And yes, when I ventured to a Hot Topic shortly after the film opened, what did I see but a brand new array of black trenchcoats for sale, along with a display of new sunglasses? Face it, The Matrix is cool. People love the stylized image. And that was the first thing that contributed to the success of the orignal Matrix. Matrix 2 has a bit of these new images to offer (like the albino Rastafarians), but overall, shows us nothing else distinctive. Perhaps the film should've been titled "The Matrix: Regurgitated", as it reuses and intensifies old tactics but loses its creativeness and originality in the process.
Finally, one of the most painful things that a sequel can do to a viewer is to destroy their conceptions of the franchise's plotline. As we have previously seen, a successful and bright outlook at the end of MIB was completely trashed and destroyed in MIB2, creating its own unnessessarily harsh reality. A sequel should favorably continue and build on a story, rather than destroy or rearrange it with its own pitfall-like revelations.
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Miscellaneous: Morpeus's speech to the masses at Zion made him look less like the intelligent and sophisticated leader of the resistance in the first Matrix, and more like a hormonally-charged ape bellowing some patriotic mumbo-jumbo to his primate followers.
This, of course, was followed with a sex/rave scene that I didn't understand at all. "Oh s***, the machines are coming, we better f*** each other like animals so that we can repopulate the Earth when the machines blow Zion to hell!"? I figure this was thrown in for the horny teens (or maybe there just to secure the film an R rating so that the fans don't think the directors "wussed out" with a milder sequel, since there is little else in the movie that a PG-13 rating wouldn't easily cover). The crotch close-up of the woman at the restaurant was also pointless and arousing only to 13-year-olds...
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Watch the movie, but don't throw away theater ticket money... maybe go to a party where someone else has spent their money on renting the DVD and see for yourself why the second installment seems a bit flat.