Here's why the reviews are so mixed!

Rating: Null/10 (2 June 2003)

OK, First, I am a HUGE Matrix fan. When the first one came out, I didn't think I wanted to see it from the previews. Then after my first viewing, I was blown away. It was the most unique story and mind-boggling action I had seen in years. I watch it frequently, and still love every minute of it...why, because it's so smooth. The story is great, the action unique and fantastic and the acting (minus the Keanu dullness we've come to expect) are exceptional.
I have waited patiently for the next installment... and finally it arrives. I'm there opening day. But wait, this is not the same style movie. What happened?
Suddenly Neo, who at the end of Matrix 1 can defeat Agents without working up a sweat is back to the basics. In Reloaded, he's having to fight way too long and having little effect. Why? Because Agent Smith is also free? Gee, I thought he was dead? Where is he plugged in?
The story is confusing, to say the least. In the first, the Matrix, we thought, had been conquerred by Neo, for he was THE ONE! Trinty showed us that. But here it exists again, and nothing has really changed.
The other mortals, in the first Matrix, were easily killed by agents, so easily that their only choice was to RUN! Now, Morpheus and Trinty can hold their own with any of them, even the Albino Drealock Twins.
And now we learn, through some overly extended dialog that repeats itself madly, that this is not the first Matrix and Neo is not the first anomoly.
It's no wonder we're all confused.
Also, just as a mention... the scenes of Zion are corny and stupid. If I were there, I'd be like Joe Patiolano in the first movie and say "Put me back in!"
The problem is this... in order for the Wachowski Brothers to step this up a notch, they had to smack us with all they could in the way of action. So they spent $30 million dollars building a freeway for a unique but long chase scene. Then they hit us with a Agent Smith barrage that took 45 days to shoot. They spent their time and the $127 million dollar budget on creating the next generation of action sequences... but they ran out of money and time to fully develop the script.
So we wound up with a long, confusing movie filled with dialog tripe, ghastly views of the paradise of Zion, and incredible, but long action sequences. I give Kudos to the cinematographer for the ingenuity of some of these as they truly break new ground. But action alone can't make a movie.
But unless the 3rd installment is written by a master, we're going to hate parts 2 and 3 in the long run. It's going to take a miracle to put this story back on track to complete a great trilogy. My guess is, that it won't happen. We'll get more action, a happy ending, and another billion dollar franchise. But I think we'd all be better off leaving the Matrix 1 as a stand alone feature. I fear, that for the sake of the buck, they've taken a nice piece of work and drawn it out into a long messy trilogy just for the money. I'm hoping that's not the case, that by some miracle the script can pull this all back together, but I fear that just can't happen. Being a free lance writer, I can't even begin to think of how to patch this mess up.
I did enjoy Reloaded, but only for the 2+ hour escape. It was eye candy, but too long in too many places. And the story just doesn't work. The plot has as many holes as Neo stopped bullets. And no amount of patching can make this one hold water again. But one can always hope...and as a final solution, put the original back in the DVD player.