"Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you."

Rating: 7/10 (18 January 2007)

May 15, 2003, the whole world waited. May 16, 2003, the majority cried.
All I can say is, what happened? After the success of the first film, Warner Bros had a winner. Mothers spoke in witty tongue. Fathers debated with their sons whether the chicken came before the egg, and geeks decided that sunglasses were much cooler than a glare screen. What did the Wachowski Bros. do to screw up their sequel? "The machines are digging", Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith) says at the start of the movie. That's right, in 72 hours, the machines will reach the human city of Zion and war will break out. Neo, as The One, must find his purpose in this upcoming event, as well as taking on an unwelcome threat in the form of an agent from the previous film. Sound good on paper? Wait until you see the execution.
The acting was more wooden than sombre, and dialog not as sharp or witty: it's either stupid, or so ridiculous that not even the most literate could understand it.
It seems as though the introduction of new characters has halted the progression of other ones. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is now The One. That's it. End of story - his character has hit the end of the line. His relationship with Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss) is so unbelievable its funny, and Morpheus is more of the same, which is not a bad thing. Oh yeah, most of them can fight agents one-on-one now. "Hmm... upgraded?". I think not.
Hugo Weaving as Smith is undeniably good (and adds a much needed creepiness), and Lambert Wilson and Monica Bellucci are great as The Merovingian and Persephone respectively, even if they really do nothing to advance the plot.
It seems the Wachowskis have forgotten about how to tell a story, and rather tried to wow us with their updated versions of werewolves, vampires and ghosts of the Matrix, as well as impressing us with their dazzling effects.
Yes, they didn't forget their action sequences. Neo fighting three agents at a time (righteous!), Neo fighting hundred agents a time (um...), to Neo fighting henchmen with medieval weapons (eh?). They are all bigger and better than anything ever seen, but ultimately are pointless. The saving grace is the freeway sequence, which is one of the best out there.
As you can tell, I'm disappointed. I loved The Matrix, but the Wachowski Brothers somehow stuffed their unstuffable franchise up. Unless you really are interested in the lore of The Matrix, or want to skip to the action scenes, you may give this one a miss.