Self-righteous, hyped, and overrated, but in the end, an average flick

Rating: 5/10 (12 July 2003)

This film fails to top the original, and that film did not particularly impress me in the first place. This second attempt at a fusion of fighting and philosophy ends up being a confusing blend of pseudo-intellectualism, blatant and stupid symbols, and aesthetic but unsatisfying action. The plot itself is somewhat directionless, meandering from place to place in search of action and "answers" without really finding anything. This is not aided by the acting; at the start of the film, upon seeing Neo, a friend humorously and correctly predicted that Keanu Reeves would keep the same expression the entire movie. Morpheus' lines are worse than in the original, and Lawrence Fishburne does a worse job with them. The failed attempts at presenting a meaningful look at the dichotomy between man and machine are brought out in the early scenes, making the first half of the movie not only slow but pointless. Enter Councilor Hamann looking like the Wizard of Oz to waste ten minutes with such insights as "Some machines are bad; others are good." The irony is his own realization that for all his speaking he made no point; unfortunately, this insight was lost on those who could have removed the pointless scene from the movie.
While the supporting characters are somewhat acceptable, the Architect takes the cake as one of the worst characters I've seen onscreen. Purporting to be the knowledgeable authority with answers to Neo's questions, he simply presents a line of inconsequential jargon that leaves the audience universally dumbfounded. For a large majority of the people to whom I spoke, they simply didn't understand what he is saying, so beset is it with laughable stabs at intelligent vocabulary. For another group, however, his message is easily understandable, but to these the character appears even more ridiculous, for they realize how utterly devoid of meaning is everything he says. Transforming even the simplest idea into a forty-second oration of crap, the Architect manages to use more words more incorrectly than I have ever heard in a major motion picture. His odious presence in the film is surely one of its greatest handicaps, since he is central to Neo's mission (and thus the plot). His speeches, as well as many others in this poor, confused film speak volumes of the problems with popularity. It is almost as if the masses saw the first Matrix, said, "Wow, that's deep!" The Wachowski brothers then looked at each other, shrugged, and said, "Why not deeper?" and dove into a whole world of convoluted casuistry.
That said, the cinematography, score, and action are all acceptable-for an action movie. If one enters expecting not true cinema, but rather some special effects more or less rammed down one's throat, it is somewhat bearable. In the end, the film is rather average. However, while most average films are not above poking fun at themselves, The Matrix remains self-righteous for its duration, and in taking itself so seriously it proceeds to do itself more harm than good. Go in to see some expensive CG which is in some parts actually worse than the effects of the first (Neo looks like a pixel-y video game character in many of the scenes) and you may or may not be entertained. [5/10]