"Intended" Sequels Have a Place, Somewhere

Rating: 6/10 (16 March 2019)

If you asked 17 year old me to review this movie objectively, you'd have probably gotten the faded, half-coherent ramblings of a fan-boy. The hype was real and the clout the Wachowski's garnered from the first film in the series can't be denied, but having watched Releoaded at least a dozen times since my youth, I can honestly say neither the visuals nor the dialogue hold up very well. The first film is timeless, whereas Reloaded now, it seems, was untimely. The CG just wasn't quite there yet, and mixing it with practical effects just turns what was a cheap wine into vinegar.
This movie is not without merit. The dialogue, while somewhat incoherent and obtuse at times, can be engaging when it's not completely expository. The practical action sequences are proficient, and the highway chase, with its mix of practical and CG, works well. That said, seeing Neo fight hand-to-hand with faceless minion with sword #5 can become laborious, when seemingly nothing is at stake.
Neo and Trinity have about as much chemistry as a Betty Crocker oven from the late 80's, while the erotic scenes have about as much taste as a cake from said oven. There's something missing, and leaving these scenes out would have done wonders for expediting the story.
The first film in the trilogy should and could have been left as a stand alone, but once Hollywood smells money, taste can and usually does go out the window. The "have your thesaurus ready" dialogue attempts to be exclusive, while in actuality it alienates not only the most interested and seasoned vocabularies, but also those for whom one ergo is too much.
Decent sequel, decent movie, but falls short in spite of a larger budget and more lofty special effects.