Fantastic action rewards the patient.

Rating: Null/10 (9 June 2003)

Say you're at a heavyweight bout. Not just any bout mind you, but the fabled `Thrilla in Manila'. Ali and Frazier enter the ring. The crowd goes wild! Frazier warily eyes Ali. Ali taunts Frazier. The crowd holds its breath! The bell sounds and - Frazier and Ali spend the next half hour discussing French literary theory. Sure, eventually Frazier gets disgusted with Ali's neo-Freudian deconstructionist attitude and starts throwing punches but by that time the crowd's snoring. That, in a nutshell, is the experience of The Matrix Reloaded. This movie has stunts, fights and spectacular action to spare after you've sat through enough gaseous bloviating to float the Hindenburg.
In The Matrix we learned that Sentient Machines have enslaved the human race. Physically humans live in a cocoon hooked up to enormous electrical collectors. Mentally, however, they live within `The Matrix', a vast virtual reality designed to emulate 21st century earth. We followed the adventures of Neo as he finds he may be `The Chosen One' to lead the Human Race out of bondage. The Matrix Reloaded starts a short while after the events of the first movie. Machines have discovered the location of the free human city of Zion and are out to destroy it. Only Neo and his band of rebels offer any hope of salvation.
The leads do a decent job staying ahead of the special effects. Keanu Reeves' strong suit, looking vaguely puzzled by the world about him, works well for Neo the befuddled virtual messiah. Carrie-Anne Moss again is memorable as Trinity. Unfortunately, her character has devolved from the tough resistance leader of the first movie to being Neo's babe in this one. While Moss has her share of action scenes, Trinity's prime function now is to be saved by Neo. Laurence Fishburne's endlessly philosophical Morpheus handles the bulk of the movies speechifying. When not pontificating, Morpheus is given to looming stoically over Neo's shoulder. Only Fishburne's charisma keeps this leaden character from bringing the movie to a screeching halt. Hugo Weaving's dryly-humorous take on the evil Agent Smith gives his scenes some needed verve and Gloria Foster as the all-knowing Oracle perks up a potentially slow patch. The rest of the cast tends to be swallowed by the blood and thunder and the sprawling dull patches.
Once past the first half hour or so the action picks up dramatically. You are rewarded for your patience with fabulously impossible martial arts displays, spectacular action sequences and the mother of all chase scenes. These are the stuff of summer movie heaven. However, even as events start to hurtle along, Neo and his pals are wont to take lengthy breaks for their sit-down palavers.
It can't be stressed enough how much the endless nattering hurts The Matrix Reloaded. The speeches are so clumsily written that most of the actors have their tongues tripped up. Only Weaving and Foster manage to put an entertaining spin on them. The content - speculations on the nature of reality, free will, causality and the like - resemble the type of philosophical gibberish you'd hear around a half empty keg in the hospitality suite of a Star Trek convention. Don't get me wrong here. Most of The Matrix Reloaded is a heck of a lot of fun but you might want to wait for the DVD and the relief of a fast forward button.