Great action, incomprehensible dialogue

Rating: 6/10 (18 May 2003)

I thought that "Memento" and "The Usual Suspects" were difficult movies to wrap one's mind around. "Matrix Reloaded" has outdone those fine movies in spades.
Here's how the movie seemed to me: action sequence followed by 10-minute diatribe, followed by cooler action sequence, followed by 10-minute diatribe. Repeat several times.
I completely understood the original "Matrix" by the time my first viewing of that film was over. But I think I'll have to see this one another ten times before I have any idea what the Wachowskis were trying to say.
All my friends thought this movie was great. I left the theater with mixed feelings. While scenes like the freeway chase had my heart pumping, I felt like taking a nap during the ridiculous speeches by Morpheus, the Oracle, the French snob, and The Architect. While The Architect's high-falooting vocabulary did not contain any words unknown to me, his message was completely incomprehensible to me. And there is absolutely no way that anyone who does not have a very strong grasp of the English language could have understood anything he said.
So call me stupid.
*** WARNING: SPOLIERS ***

I really thought the Wachowskis were trying to stuff too much story and philosophy into one film. I mean, I felt like I would have had to have read a 500-page tome beforehand to have understood the film.
Let's look at all of the concurrent storylines -- the issue of rogue programs (like Agent Smith, who appears to have evolved into some sort of computer virus, though, of course, they never explain this in such understandable terms). The revelation that Morpheus is not the captain of a lone ship, but one of many, some of which do not believe as he believes. The issue of self-programming programs (the French jackass (Agent Smith seems to have no idea how he evolved)). The matter of secret countermeasures (the Oracle). The unexplained appearance of twin vampires (though I don't believe the movie actually explained that they were vampires in an explicit manner). Then there was the marvelously-complex rant by The Architect. Neo is the sixth Neo, Neo has been designed purposefully as a tool for... well, whatever in the blue hell that dude was raving about.
I mean, seriously, anyone who completely understood this movie, my hat is off to you. I found the dialogue pretentious, overbearing, sanctimonious, and at times frivolous. And I also thought that the Wachowskis must have purposefully been trying to confuse people, because the script was so damn obtuse.
Having said that, the fight scenes were very cool. But so were the ones in the original "Matrix." And, IMHO, nothing in "Matrix Reloaded" was as original or cool as the "marble hallway" fight sequence towards the end of the original.
May I say that I thought the ending was ridiculous? I mean, they try to pull of a cliffhanger ending by having Neo in a coma at the end of this flick, then after credits are finally over, you see the teaser for the third installment, which shows Neo just fine. What is that?
Well, I guess most people didn't sit through the ridiculous 10-minute-long credit roll. I bet 98% of people left right when the credits began. And I was p***ed to have sit through what had to be over one thousand credits in order to view a crappy 90-second teaser.
BTW, if you like the fight scenes in the Matrix series, check out the movie "Equilibrium", which exhibits a fighting style much more groundbreaking and exciting than that in Matrix. In my opinion, the "gun-kata" style of "Equilibrium" would make for a terrific match against Neo. Neo has to slow apparent time down to avoid bullets. The Grammaton Clerics don't need to slow time down to avoid them. Plus, it is a fantastic film that was made (amazingly, to look at it) for like 1/15th of the budget of Matrix 2.
So there is my criticism of "Matrix Reloaded" as well my plug for "Equilibrium" (no I do not work for any media company). It's a good movie but don't wait in line for an hour to see it. I know I kind of wished for my $7 and hour of waiting in line back.