Not as good as the first Matrix, sorry.

Rating: 6/10 (4 August 2003)

* WARNING SPOILERS*
I absolutely loved the first matrix. It had brilliant action sequences, good casting and most importantly an intelligent plot.
So needless to say I was thoroughly looking forward to Matrix reloaded. But after seeing it I was quite disappointed. I don't mean to say it's a bad movie but it doesn't meet the standard set by the first one.
Problem 1. Zion: the beginning part of the movie taking place in Zion is extremely boring. I get the religious undertone and purpose but the scene were Morpheus preaches to the crowd is just bad acting and awkward. I don't mind the steamy scene between Neo and Trinity that many have criticised. It shows their more human passion, which is not evident in the Matrix.However, on the whole some of the scenes in zion are directed and acted as if they belonged to a soap opera. At this point I started to wonder what has gone wrong in the script writing phase. Problem 2. This brings me to the next big issue in Matrix reloaded.The dialogue.At times its just awful. Reloaded touches on some deep themes but the way they are explored in conversations is below par and far from stimulating. Problem 3. At times you can clearly see that the action sequences aren't real e.g. Neo versus the agent Smiths , some moments in the first car chase scene and when Neo exhibits his new superman impression (did anyone else think that was funny?). Problem 4. The ending!!!!to be continued?!Seems like the directors ran out of ideas!
But there are few memorable scenes that really do save this from being trash. The cause and consequence speech by Merivingi is pure brilliance in an overall too serious movie. Monica Bellucci does a great performance as well. After the weak beginning there is a lot happening and new characters are introduced to keep the audience interested. The general tone of the matrix is also kept pretty much intact in Reloaded.
I was so confused after seeing it once, not knowing whether it was any good or not that I had to go see it again. It has a lot of problems but if you liked the first one you'll probably at least be entertained during this one.Hopefully the third will be a vast improvement!
6/10