Open Your Mind, Discard Your Expectations, and Get Ready for a Thrill

Rating: 10/10 (23 June 2016)

Given three years and an overall level of expectations that was impossible to rise to, The Matrix Reloaded was certainly going to fail in the eyes of those who wanted what they wanted, how they wanted. I think some people wanted Superman in the digital world. When you got a quasi-Jesus savior character instead, I think some people were disappointed.
Leaving The Matrix, you have the declaration by Neo that he's going to be causing the computer world some serious problems, by revealing to the people stuck in the Matrix that they are indeed, stuck in the Matrix. It's at this point that the expectations begin, and it's also at this point that all the trouble begins.
Neo doesn't actually show the people stuck in the Matrix that they are stuck in the Matrix as we open Reloaded. It was, perhaps, a mistake on the part of the Wachowskis to plant that idea in our heads from the get-go. Kind of like the end of Terminator, Sarah Conner headed off to meet her destiny, which, as far as we knew, was a drab, desolate, post-apocalyptic nightmare just waiting for her to give birth in.
Imagine our surprise when we are greeted, at the opening of Terminator 2, after the initial introduction to said world, only to find out that yes indeed, we're going back to the Present Day, before Judgment Day, to once again play around with the idea of breaking an already-written future.
The Matrix Reloaded did not do any of that. Our first scene shows Trinity, similar to the opening scene of the first Matrix. When she's done battling agents and jumping out of a window which leads her no options but to fall to her death, it is revealed as a dream. Neo is not in the Matrix showing everyone the truth. He's inside the Nebuchadnezzar, waking from a nightmare.
The story seems detached from the end of the first movie, leaving anyone with any expectations probably a little confused and disoriented. Like watching The Phantom Menace, your first thought is: What?? But if you can surrender your expectations and try to see the movie for what it is, if you can forgive mistakes that were made three full years before the sequel was even put on screen, if you can try to look at Reloaded for what it is Yeah, you'll probably still be disappointed.
The Wachowskis are my favorite directors, but I have to admit, their Achilles Heel is their desire to cram in as many of their ideas as they can all in to one package. It's an overflow of ambition that sometimes leaves people dumbfounded, especially if you want a linear plot that leads from Point A to B to C For these artists, it's more like A leads to A-1 then A-2 and A-3 before you get to B, and that can be a little frustrating if you try too hard to take it all in at once.
It reminds me of Inception. And I have the same advice for this movie as I do for that one: don't.
Let the flow, the feel, and the overall atmosphere of the movie do its work for you. Don't sweat the small details so much. Try to just sit back and enjoy the ride. You'll get what they are trying to say, even the Architect at the end, even if you don't understand every little nuance of every single word he says. It doesn't matter so much. Catch it the second time you watch the movie. Or the third.
I still admit that Inception's timing in the final act still has me swinging. Dream level four inside of three, with the time shift multiplied by ten, and then the whole Limbo thing, blah blah blah. Gives me a headache. Still watched the movie. Still got the idea. Still loved it.
And I still loved this. Took me a couple of times to really get it all, (especially the damn Architect and his speech) but it was worth it. Surrender your expectations, relax when your head can't quite figure out exactly what's going on, and just try to go along for the ride.
Because it's one hell of a ride. I loved it. Maybe you can, too.