One of the best sequels ever!

Rating: 9/10 (14 May 2003)

After paying the 9 dollars for the special sneak preview ticket and waiting in line for over an hour, I have to say that this movie was so worth it. Furthermore, it relieved my fears that it might not have lived up to its extraordinary predecessor since it was, afterall, a hard act to follow, but Matrix: Reloaded follows through very very nicely.
First off, the action. Mother of mercy, there are some spectacular fight scenes! They will have you picking your jaw off of the ground one minute, laughing another, and becoming awe struck once again. There are three in particular: a high speed car chase that redefines any other car chase ever made, a well choreographed fight in and around two staircases featuring some cool medieval weapons and of course, my favorite, the 'Burly Brawl' as the filmmakers call it; Neo fighting 100 Agent Smiths hand to hand. Awesome to say the least...or should I say, "Woah..."?
Then there are the speeches, which I found to be very interesting. Reloaded gives you the same occasional lines that totally screw with your mind in the best way possible and of course, a lot of explanation into the realm of The Matrix. There, in fact, is a lot of talk, probably a full hour's worth total if you listened, back to back, all of the verbose speeches given by Morpheus and company...I found these parts very interesting, but, I can see how others may find them boring. There are so many loose ends left untied, it literally makes your mouth water in anticipation of the grand finale, Revolutions.
Keep in mind, this, like many trilogies, is the middle trilogy that continues the first one, but leaves more loose ends to be tied. There will be a lot of story thrown at you in the 2 and a half hour time frame, so you have to pay attention. I will definitely see this movie again in the weeks ahead just to get a clearer perspective of all of the twists and turns shown in the movie because they run aplenty. This one wasn't better than the first one, it was different. The first one, though in my opinion, is still a better movie overall, it dealt with the birth and awakening of Neo. This one deals with the life of the post-death Neo coping with his new responsibilities and searching everywhere to find his purpose...it is a ravenous desire, and it takes Neo to the edges of The Matrix and back. It has a slightly different look and feel to it, which I thought was a great way to keep the mind blowing special effects from the first one away from becoming a 'been there, done that'-athon. I, personally loved it.
The Matrix was one of the few movies I have ever given a 10, and rightfully so. It was a breath of fresh air that literally came out of nowhere, and hooked an entire generation of people to a new breed of movie. Reloaded is a worthy sequel that does its predecessor justice, and even far surpasses it on some areas. To me though, what it lacked was the impending feeling of desperation and mystery that the first movie wore on its sleeves. Like I said though, this is afterall, a totally different movie, and even if it followed the original's formula to a 'T' it would have been very boring and too predictable. The story is a tad confusing at parts, but so was the first one, and also on that note, I would like to say I've learned my lesson a long time ago, to not judge a confusing movie without watching it at least twice. Based on my first impression, though, this movie rocks. It is an incredible summer thrill ride that is a worth successor to the 1999 hit. 9/10 stars.