Big let down

Rating: 5/10 (15 May 2003)

The Matrix Reloaded was a let down of huge proportions. Sure the special effects were there in force but they were so overdone. The entire film lacked the congealed feeling of the original and I am now convinced that it was a very bad idea for the second and third installments to be made at all. The first was an instant classic while the second was just....kind of weak.
The thing that ruined the whole movie was the Roman orgy based, hedonistic, sex fest rave scene that came completely out of nowhere. What exactly was the point of this being in the film? Perhaps to market some cheesy ass sell-out Paul Oakenfold tune while seeing women's nipples and their legs wrapped around guy's crotches? TASTELESS. Why does every depiction of a rave on camera have to embellish it to the point of it being unreal? Have these people ever been to a party/rave before? I also loved how everyone was in the best shape possible. All these monkey like males jumping up and down as high as they can go ripped to shreds with muscles. Where was the Zion gym? I didn't see it. Pathetic. I also couldn't understand why we had to take a Virtual Reality trip up some woman's vagina. I lost quite a bit of respect for the Wachowski brothers after seeing that.
I have to give some credit to the freeway scene. It was pretty spectacular. I really liked the ghosts and was puzzled as to why they weren't in the film more. The scene in the park on the playground was also decent. The CG was terrible at some points though and Neo didn't even look like himself in the face a few times. The scene in the French guy's mansion was awful too. What's with all the slow-mo in this installment? How many times do we need to see Morpheus and Trinity doing their Karate Kid airwalk? Neo's Superman abilities were milked to the extreme. Seeing him do that once was enough for me.
Overall this is a 3/5 for lack of innovation and inspiration and for not carrying the film to the level it should have been after waiting so long for its release. Oh yeah...and I needed a pillow for about the first 45 minutes.