Don't believe the hpye

Rating: 6/10 (22 May 2003)

SOME MINOR SPOILERS
The weight of expectation was bound to crush this eagerly anticipated sequel to 1999's best film. With this in mind, I entered the cinema determined to form an opinion based only on the product on display. Despite my best endeavours, this proved to be an impossibility, not least because of the power which parts one and three of the trilogy exert over this awkward middle child. The Matrix Reloaded spends too much of its time alternately trying to out-do the neural kinetics of the first film and also pave the way for the third instalment. The result is a confusingly unbalanced film in which weighty dialogue and mind-bending action both detract from the narrative arc of the film rather than supporting it.
The beginning of the film is curiously sedentary, dwelling too long on the return to Zion and the new threat from the machines. The first act culminates in an interminable MTV-style music video, in which we cut between Neo and Trinity spooning and the whole of Zion dancing. To my mind, both of these scenes were entirely superfluous to the plot.
Once it gets going, the film is full of good ideas. Reflections on the subtle dynamic between man and machine, the existence of discarded programs such as the Oracle and the Twins within the Matrix, the return of Mr Smith(s), and the pay off at the end when Neo learns (some of) the truth are all the sort of material I was hoping for. However, none of these concepts is given time to breathe as the film barrels relentlessly towards part 3. In the course of the film we're introduced to about a dozen new characters who are never given the opportunity to assume a third dimension.

The much-hyped action sequences make for an impressive visual spectacle, but I left the theatre more numbed than exhilarated as the Wachowskis try time and again to raise the bar set by the first film. The sheer scale of the enterprise - a hundred Agent Smiths, a multi-million dollar car chase - puts the viewer at one remove from the action on the screen.
Matrix affectionados must now endure a 6-month hiatus before the release of Revolutions. Only following the release of the concluding part of the trilogy will it be possible to assess whether Reloaded was a cleverly composed set-up for greater things to come or a blip on an otherwise downward trajectory.
Nevertheless, I would recommend it to anyone who liked the Matrix. There are enough good points to keep you in your seat for the duration, especially when the action focuses on Messrs Reeves and Weaving, both of whom reprise their roles with aplomb. But don't be surprised to leave the theatre ultimately frustrated by a film which tries but fails to juggle imperatives imposed by its predecessor and its sequel.
3 stars out of 5