You have to *think* with this one *SPOILERS*

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2003)

***WARNING: SEVERAL SPOILERS***
To get your attention, I'll be talking about the point to the rave scene as well as the kissing scene with per.
I don't normally write comments but I don't think I've seen one review on here that has fairly analyzed the unspoken themes of this film.
The film is brilliant, but to see why you have to look beyond what is presented to you and read between the lines. This movie requires some actual literary analysis, something uncommon in most of Hollywood.
To illustrate, here is a defense of some of the most commonly criticized scenes. Before we begin, note that in the original movie the only AI we see in the matrix is the agents. A lot of work is put into setting up a contrast between the humans (full of emotion and other stereotypically human attributes) and the computers (cold and calculating) As this movie opens, the writers continue with this theme. The rave is there to emphasize the "humanity" of the humans. This is not the sort of thing you'd ever expect the robots to do (the mere thought of robots in a rave or making love is absurd).
Then, as the movie continues, we see the sharp contrast between the AI and the humans begin to get blurred. We're presented with the frenchman, who although a program, possesses some of the worst human qualities. Unlike the cold and calculating agents, here is an AI who falls victim to many human foils. He enjoys riches and luxury, and even likes messing with humans' minds (i.e. the girl he feeds the cake to.) We also note he has the keymaker in his possession (a man wanted by the agents and other robot authorities) so here we also see the unified front of the robots presented in the first film and the first part of this film begin to fall apart. The kissing scene shows that the AI can be just as petty and human as any of the humans. The "love" that per. wants to feel is one of the strongest human emotions in the book. The architect at the end even says something to the extent of 'you humans and your "love"'...little does he know other robots/AI/programs are victim to the same things.
The purpose of the man that Neo has to fight to see the oracle is also to help emphasize the different types of AI - He only has one job - to let people in to see the oracle. He's no more in control of his life than the machines in the basement of Zion. This contrasts well with the "strong AI" of the frenchman, for example.
If you were expecting a film that was similar to the original, you were disappointed. The brothers needed to make something that was able to interestingly expand on it to not have a trite sequel, and they did that very effectively.