Shame the Wachowskis had to ruin a perfectly good series

Rating: Null/10 (10 May 2005)

Double review - Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions
I might as well warn you now, this may turn into a rant about sequels so if you are interested in a review I can give it to you now. It's shocking. Don't see it. And if possible avoid the second film too, unless it's too late.
Sequels have in some respect been the bane of my film-watching life. Whenever I see Babe, The Lion King, The Matrix or even Raiders of the Lost Ark I am dumbfounded by the lack of imagination or thought that went into these money-making flops. There are some sequels that aren't truly awful - just slightly - because the original film was so bad anyway. I'm thinking of Superbabies or whatever it was called. The worst sort of sequel is the bad sequel to a classic film. The Matrix was a classic sci-fi and raised several interesting philosophical questions. It left some open ends which is good because it lets your imagination take you someplace without having to have extra facts shoved down your throat. The second two films were either confused or they just ignored the philosophy. And on the action scene they weren't particularly good either. The second film's fight scenes were impressive but overlong and belief was completely suspended, which didn't happen in the first film. The car chase was, again, impressive for a time, but it was overlong and all hype about the best car chase ever were by no means justified - that honour goes to Ronin in my opinion. The third film was just ridiculous. They cut out the questions, they cut out the martial arts - what's left? CGI and guns. In the final scenes Neo and Agent Smith(s) have a large fight that seems to last for 20 minutes - it probably does but I wouldn't want to sit through it again - and it consists of the two parties slamming into each other repeatedly and bouncing off each other like Teletubbies. It is interminable. The storyline makes no sense and doesn't keep you engaged.
The second film does have some redeeming features, for example I enjoyed the Agent Smiths fight. I would be prepared to give this a 4 out of 10 and the third film a 2 out of 10. However I'll give them each one out of ten because they completely ruined the first film for me. It's not fair and it's not objective. All I can say is, if you don't like sequels in general these definitely aren't for you. Stick to the brilliance of the first film. And if you do have a soft spot for sequels you still won't enjoy these films. And your brain should be dissected. I will never understand the relatively high rating that this gets compared to a masterwork like Speed 2 or the Power Rangers series.