Started as a let-down, ended as a mind-job

Rating: 8/10 (15 May 2003)

I went in on Wednesday night having read a couple reviews that dissed the storyline. I must say that the first 45 minutes of this movie were almost completely uneccessary. Of course there's the conversation with the Oracle that starts to bring in some REALLY cool ideas, but the movie never really delivers on them. Many of Neo's higher "powers" that we witnessed after his resurrection are either gone or maybe he just doesn't enjoy them as much as kung fu. I was honestly expecting him to walk through walls or at least something other than punch, kick, punch, block, block, spin, throw, fly away.
The second half, however, was absolutely amazing. When Neo confronts the Architect, the information revealed was both suprising and yet somehow I felt like I had already known everything that was being revealed to me. The end of the movie gives the viewer a much fuller and different understanding of the Matrix than the original movie and it also expands the concept of the Matrix beyond what I had expected. It is less mystical and more like Smiths description right before the lobby scene in the original. I REALLY like the direction that they took Hugo Weaving's character, Smith.

You will see things in this movie that you probably weren't suspecting, although I'd rather not write a spoiler here. I'll just say that the line between the real world and the Matrix gets fuzzier toward the end.
One last thing: we were promised literally for years that not only would the special effects in this film raise the bar, they would totally shatter it. I'm gonna be honest and say that while the effects in this movie will not be copied to the extent that the original "bullet-time" shots were, they were not nearly as impressive as the hype indicated from Joel Silver and the gang.
All in all it is definitely a worthy sequel, if not only for the last 20 minutes of the film. I WILL be seeing it again.