Rating: 
Summary: A Promising Continuation
Review: I had mixed feelings going in to see The Matrix Reloaded. Sequels are seldom as good as the original film, and when the original film is an instant classic like The Matrix, you can't help but wonder if the sequel will fail to live up to it's predecessor. The Matrix Reloaded doesn't let the viewers down. The movie does not rehash the beginning storyline or characters. If you have not seen The Matrix, it may not be easy to follow the plot. Reloaded is exactly what it is meant to be - part 2 of a trilogy. The action sequences in this movie are absolutely brilliant and far surpasses even the highest expectations that I had. I knew that the effects were going to be good--but what I saw literally took by breath away. You may have already heard of the scene in The Matrix Reloaded where Neo faces Agent Smith in all of his multiplicity. What you've heard is not hype - in fact it is one of the best actions scenes of all time. Smith may be free of his prime directive, but he is still a program essentially trapped within the Matrix forever. ...Or is he?
The chase between Trinity, Morpheus, and the Virus Twins for the Keymaker is another definite highlight, and makes me yearn for more. Thankfully, Revolutions will be released in theaters in November. I certainly hope I see those lovely Twins again in Revolutions. Overall, The Matrix Reloaded lives up to it's promise. It lacks the freshness of the original, but it carries the storyline forward and packs a powerful punch on it's own. We learn even more about the operation of the Matrix, encounter programs with minds and agendas of their own, and follow Neo deeper into the rabbit hole as he delves into his true purpose within the Matrix.
Rating:
Summary: The Movie no One Understood
Review: I've seen Matrix: Reloaded twice now and I'm convinced that a great many people simply didn't understand it. The first Matrix was great, but was understandably less intellectual than its sequel. I know that a lot of people have stated the reverse, but they have missed the point. The first Matrix gave us a premise that the second movie had to call into question. This is a sequel in a trilogy. The movie has to, by its nature as the second film, dash the answers presented in the first film and raise questions to be answered in the third. Matrix was self contained, allowing it to present all information and spell out the elementary philosophy in a manner that Reloaded cannot. Quite contrary to having less philosophical content than the first movie, the second begins asking questions of far more philosophical import. That being said, I loved this movie. The freeway chase was the most exciting chase seen I've seen. The albino twins were great to watch and Zion was truly impressive. I was instantly won over by Morpheus' new operator: Link. He acts as a kind of fellow viewer, pulling for Neo and the others along with the audience. Finally, the Neo flight scenes were visually stunning. No Superman movie will be able to compare with Neo's final flight in the movie. My advice is, if you haven't seen the movie yet, to go and watch it with no preconceptions. Don't worry about the special effects being better than the first movie. Don't wait for the "meaning" of the film to be laid bare at the end. Just watch it and actually listen while it begins a tale that will end in Matrix: Revelations. If you do this, you will enjoy the movie immensely.
Rating:
Summary: The Matrix Reloaded is the best sequel of this year!
Review: This movie opens brilliantly with Trinity driving off a rooftop on a motorcycle, then jumping off and crashing the motorcycle into a small security station blowing it up and ends with To Be Concluded. This is the best sequel that I have ever seen since "The Godfather Part II". The stunts and visuals are far better than the first one and this one is now an instant cult classic just like the first Matrix. Keanu Reeves returns as Neo, but in a far more better performance than the first one. Laurence Fishburne is excellent as Morpheus, in a much well made peformance that was as good as the first one but just a little bit better. Carrie-Anne Moss is great as Trinity, with a little more style to her performance than the first one. Hugo Weaving is brilliant as Agent Smith, the ruthless agent bend on stopping Neo's crusades. I think that this one is better because of how better the fight scenes are and how more advanced the visuals are than before. I recommend this movie because of how it pulls into its path of box-office and critical destruction.
Rating: 
Summary: What?
Review: It seems other people have ably described this film's soporific effects and confusing storylines, so I won't belabour the point. I liked exactly two seconds out of the three million hours that this film spools -- the wacky "Burly Brawl" sequence, and some other second. I give those seconds one star each. On another note, I wonder about all the referentiality. Sure, there's good old Baudrillard and Cornell West (referring to Cornell West); but did anyone else catch references to "MechWarrior" and to the old Sam Raimi movie "Crimewave"?
Rating:
Summary: What the hell is wrong with you people?
Review: ... Yes, there are some complicated ideas, questions, and details in this movie, but that is what makes Reloaded and the first Matrix great. You have to see them several times and absorb every word and image to truly appreciate it.
...
Rating:
Summary: What a bummer...
Review: I went to see the Matrix Reloaded last week and expected it to be slightly less good than the first instalment.
To my complete horror and dismay this movie was terrible.
The pacing is just plain awful : much too much actionscene following each other without pause (like watchin Speed fast-forwarded) and at the end you have about 20 minutes of exposition which doesn't clarify anything.
Also the special effects were a lot worse than most I have seen.
In almost al shots you could clearly tell you weren't watching the actors, but CGI-characters.
Final Fantasy had better acting in it !!
For the first 5 minutes of the movie I thought I was watching an intro for Max Payne 2!! On the plus-side : the 20 minute exposition by the Architect at the end of the movie does rais some interesting questions, which will probably be answered in the thirst installment.
I will not go into the question themselves as they may spoil your interpretation of this movie. So to summarize : good/interesting concept completely bogged down by an excess of action and CGI.
Rating:
Summary: Great coat, so-so movie
Review: The best thing about the Matrix Reloaded was Neo's "priest" coat. Loved it. It should have its own credit. That aside, I was pretty disappointed that the great Zion only seemed to be this big underground nightclub full of scantily dressed twenty-somethings getting it on. I had hoped, given all of the philosophical angst and biblical allusions in the first movie, that the trio of heroes was fighting for more than the right to party all night whenever the heck they felt like it. I did like Agent Smith; he was wonderful, as usual. Love a bad guy that makes you smile. But what was up with that Marovingian (sp?) dude? He could have used some heavy editing. He did not measure up as a villian when put up against Agent Smith's portrayal in either flick. They should have given more to Smith to do and less to that guy. And Fishburne was unusually stiff and ponderous. He looked like he was "doing" Fishburne "doing" Morpheus. Carrie-Ann Ross seems to have been relegated to the "girlfriend the hero [...]Like we didn't see that ending coming! And speaking of ends, I did appreciate the opportunity to see Keanu Reeve's, but really, I think they spent too much time on the sex stuff and not enough on the story building stuff. I mean, I like a love scene as much as the next person, but I actually looked at my watch while these two (and countless others, apparently, in Zion's all night party scene) where supposed to be making mad, passionate love. Oh, that's deadly. [...] The cliffhanger was intriguing, and I'm sure I'll go see the third film just to find out what happened, but I hope the directors think harder about the "why's" of the Matrix and less about the "how's" of the technology then they did with this film. When it all gets down to it, "it's not the economy, [...]; it's the story!" [...]
Rating: 
Summary: The innovation of the first movie is gone
Review: In the beginning when we are introduced to Zion I was getting increasingly disapointed with the film thinking "oh, no, this is a clunker." Some of these scenes got me super uneasy and bored and was a bad way to start the film. The great enigmatic Zion looks like just another cliche rock town from a million bad Sci-Fi movies and TV shows. At least you get a "Jedi Council" scene with a Queen and everything. There is plenty here to make this appealing for your Star Treck/Wars fan who likes what they are familiar with. In this movie the main characters grow older. Morpheus, no longer the soft-spoken philosophical figure of the first film is now making bad motivational speeches and doing handstands off of trucks. The great leader is now having petty triangles and ego squables like he is in a bad soap opera. Neo and Trinity have resorted to faking each other that they are in love but are just in it for the booty. Agent Smith was so good in the first one that they had to bring more of him, a lot more of him in this one. And now he is becoming very important, maybe a little too important, because when you have a good thing going you might as well cash in on it. Where the first Matrix was trimmed and succint to razor sharp precisness making for a fluent and elegant film this one drags so slowly with elongated special effect scenes, bad soap acting and grade school philosophising. The freeway chase scene may be considered taking a classic cliche of cinema history and putting it into overdrive. But I did find it funny that the cars and trucks just kept on going on their way despite all the accidents around them. A realistic traffic jam would not be as exciting though and we are in the "Matrix." But what made the first Matrix more interesting is that it is the world we are in right now where the laws of physics hold exept for in brief moments when people are aware of it. It asked the question what is reality but now that question is no longer important. And there goes the whole "philosophy" of the film.
I am not sure if the possibility of much better film could have been cut out of this or not. But maybe all that boring soap opera on Zion will make better sence in the next film. Unfortunately, I could care less for these characters in Zion and look forward to them getting anhilated and may watch the next movie just to see Zion get destroyed so they can rebuild a less boring place.
Rating:
Summary: Not that the DVD is out yet but . . . .
Review: This movie was on par with the original on all levels. In some it actually surpasses the original. I've read tons of critics reviews, and fan reviews, etc. What I would have to ask all of them was what they were all expecting to get out of it? What they thought they were going to get? Many people thought of it as a sequel. Well, not really---only if Empire Strikes Back is a sequel. It's part of a whole--the whole story. Without taking up pages here, the film continues with questions of destiny, control, freedom, and at the grandest level there are nods to how we today are co-existing with the rest of the planet. I'm not sure where people expected the story to go but the way in which we viewed it. I am not intending to say that those who did not love it--just didn't get it---I believe that if you are interested in the material, the literature that the film is based from than you got more out of it as a viewer. The third and final part will answer many of people's questions and problems with the second part. I hope may of you who questioned the second part allow yourselves a chance to see the thrid picture.
Rating:
Summary: Rocks but get good seats.
Review: This installment of the Matrix trilogy is well paced and definitely thrilling. There are several new concepts in this sequel that are not simply rehashes of the first movie. The great Neo action scenes however come at the expense of seeing what the rest of the cast can do and thus you leave feeling entertained, but like you could have had more.
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