Worth repeated showings

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2003)

My first impression during the first part of the movie was "where is the non-stop action?". Instead we are given about a half an hour of exposition. New characters, the city of Zion, grumblings about Morpheus, life with the wife and kids. I guess the Wachowski's felt it was necessary to flesh out the world that was first introduced in the first Matrix. I am also sure that part 3 will be all about Zion and the characters we have just met. So keep it in your back pocket.
Once the action begins, it carries you through most of the movie. It FELT like the movie began to drag everytime a philosophical discussion began. Being a philosophy nut myself, I would've been ok with it, except the discussion was drawn out too long and sometimes was somewhat incomprehensible "Some things change, some things do not" (what?). But I feel confident that I will eventually be able to figure it out watching it again. So that is what I came out of this movie thinking. I will probably like it better the second time, now that I have overcome my anticipations and can settle in and accept what the movie has to offer. Nevertheless, the philosophy could have been simplified and trimmed down to keep the dialogue scenes from dragging as much as they seemed to.
So enjoy the terrific special effects, TRY to understand the dialogue, and then watch it again to really comprehend it all.
I give it a 6 out of 10.