Ho Hum !

Rating: 5/10 (27 May 2003)

Firstly, let me start by stating that I loved The Matrix. When it hit the screens back in 1999 I thought it was one of the most original Sci-Fi films I'd seen in many years. Visually, and stylistically, stunning. With guns and explosions, and the ultimate conspiracy theory - that the World that we live in was not real - that reality was a lie. Fast forward 4 years and along comes the ( belated ) sequel. At least somebody had the decency not to call it The Matrix II, so thank you for small mercies. Now, I have to be honest, when I saw the previews I wasn't overly confident that it would live upto the expectations of the original ( but then again, don't we feel that way about most sequels ? That in some way they'll dirty the name of the first film ?? Take a glance towards the Star Wars saga for proof of that ). However, I went to the cinema with an open mind. After all, it was my money and my time I was spending, and I wanted to have a good time.
Oh dear !!
I guess somebody must have told the W brothers that what the cinema going public wanted from a Matrix follow up was heaps more fighting, a 30 minute car chase and lashings of bullet time style FX - only more so, in an 'aren't we clever - look what we can do' kind of way. Granted the FX were very impressive, and were generally used to good ( ahem ) effect in each of the ( overly long ) set pieces. The fight with the numerous Agent Smiths was a highlight in my opinion, well for the first 3 or 4 minutes, then it just kept going on, and on, and on, and ... well you get the picture. Ditto the car chase. In fact ditto everything.
The plot, which was strangely simple and yet so convoluted - like a bus journey between two towns, 5 miles apart, that takes in so many diversions you end up travelling for 10 times that distance - was nothing more than a paper thin device to link one elaborate stunt sequence to the next. But most of all, and perhaps most disappointingly, I just didn't care. It would have mattered not a jot who died, who lived, what happened to who. As a vehicle for ground breaking FX it was fine ( although I do have to add that though the FX were very good, they didn't have the grand scale of the recent LOTR films ). An MTV film, for an MTV audience.
But a good film ? No, and certainly not a worthy sequel.
One more thing to note - At the end of the film the directors had the chance to spring a real surprise on the audience. To hit them with a real ' I wasn't expecting that' moment. And for a minute I was thinking that at last they'd had the balls to do something really different.
And then they bottled it.
If you've seen the movie you'll know what I mean.

5/10