Rating: 
Summary: Matrix Magnificent
Review: The 2nd chapter of the greatest meta-physical puzzle ever put on film. "See ya tomorrow." The first words that hint at the finale awaiting us. "Oh my God." Enter Trinity flying on a cycle to her fate. Beautifully filmed without flinching from its purpose. The Matrix scenes remain green tinged contrasted against the warm hues of Zion. Cool consumerism against fellowship. The quest of Neo and now Smith. Their strength grows but their balance remains. Simply the best effects on celluiod. Where LOTR the ring fails with its flat predictable imagery, Matrix challenges all directions of space. LOTR and the Two Towers all have deep endless backgrounds over and over like the old movie matte paintings. Flat boring predictable duds fill the LOTR imagery. That eyeball is so flat it looks like a flag caught in a breeze. It is without menace. Matrix flies up down and on an angle. Motorcycle jumps, flying with air drag, distance, black on black. It is so lush you could easily be seduced by the Matrix. We are humbled by the Brothers W.'s greatness. Thank you.....
Rating:
Summary: Vastly underrated!
Review: Anyone remember those Magic Eye posters that were all the rage a few years ago? On the surface, they were nothing more than a bunch of funny shapes on a piece of paper, but if you looked at the image in just the right way, a spectacular 3D image appeared. Those who couldn't see the pictures often gave up in disgust, some even claiming there really was nothing there -- that it was a joke. A relative few figured out how to see the images, either immediately or with practice. Those people got to see really wonderful things, but unfortunately had no way to explain it to others. THE MATRIX RELOADED is a lot like those 3D images, except, I believe, not quite so difficult to get! The film is filled with revelations and subversive developments, many of which churn just below the surface. Unlike blockbuster crowd-pleasing sequels which sell out their story for bigger effects (see TERMINATOR 2), RELOADED dares to make the viewer have to work to get at its deeper meaning. Dare I say it, but I believe RELOADED approaches 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY for sheer chutzpah in its method of storytelling. In RELOADED there are long, seemingly banal stretches of dialogue which try the viewers' patience at first, but which, on repeated viewings, reveal things essential to understanding the way the Matrix controls its inhabitants. An interesting point which people seem to mention endlessly is that the film seems to have no plot. What most of these critics fail to realize is that the movie acknowledges this! In a key scene, the Merovingian explains that our heroes have come to him without any real reason. They have been TOLD where to go. It is at this point where it becomes apparent that there are other sinister forces at work here, moving the characters around like pieces on a chessboard. It is quite possible that their fight is futile, and that fate has already predetermined the outcome of their struggle. This idea, that one can only succeed so much when others are in control, is where the genius of RELOADED lies. Cynics will be quick to scoff at this analysis of the film, noting that one will see beauty in anything if they stare at it too hard. This may be true in many cases, but in the case of THE MATRIX RELOADED, there really *is* a hidden code, and those who crack it are better off for having done so.
Rating: 
Summary: Typical sequel
Review: If you thought that the Star Wars sequels (or "prequils") were bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Matrix Reloaded is a very stupid and utterly pretentious waste of time. Hokey love stories, interminable kissing scenes, ridiculous plot changes, pointless effects. Pass it by. If the Trinity character was cool in Matrix I, she is tiresome and laughable in Reloaded. Morpheus is a blowhard. And Neo -- well, what a waste!
Rating: 
Summary: It seems like hating this movie is the cool thing right now
Review: Its really not a bad flick at all... the unfortunate thing is that it doesn't end. I've talked with alot of people who rip the movie to shreds and then go on to admit that they didn't even understand it. Very few people have put in the time to really think about what the Architect is even saying at the end of the movie. I think that the Worchowsky bros. wanted this movie to be something of a mystery with all the hints but none of the answers... I think they were hoping that people would think about it. I enjoyed it. I want to see the next one before I make any final conclusions about the movie though, since I feel like I've only seen half of it. But giving it one star is just ridiculous.... Even if you didn't like it as much as the first movie, you have to admit that its not THAT bad. It seems that these online opinions just invite people to charge in with superlatives though... Don't jump on the bandwagon.
Rating: 
Summary: Painful pacing.
Review: Having watched the first Matrix three times with my daughter, I was strongly encouraged to see Matrix Reloaded with her. Reviews were mixed, and MPAA also put an 'R' on this film, so we waited. After seeing the terrible editing job done to the televised version of the Matrix, I knew I wouldn't wait until she was 18. So I reviewed it myself, to see what the 'R' was about. In case you don't know, there's a five+ minute section about 25 minutes into the film that really should have been mostly left on the editing floor. Neo and Trinity having fully naked sex, and the Zion crowd, in parallel, wildly dancing themselves into a frenzy that, in some places, slips into an .... Aside from the Neo's premonition at the end of the scene of Trinity in a future battle, which we've already seen once, this whole section adds nothing to the film, but make it an 'R' movie. What really did not work for me was the pacing of the action sequences. Most reviews have already lamented this - it was way too much. The Smith fighting scene was fascinating, but to a point, and the film-makers just didn't know what "way too much" was. (Personally, I really enjoy Higo Weaving's fleshing out of this character, and his dialog scenes are among the best in the movie.) Consider the highway scene. Morpheus and Trinity, the warriors, trying to get away with Keymaker, the wise and crucial sage (who does not fight). The foes intent on stopping them, are agents, the twins, and of course the police. But Neo's temporarily out of the picture. Part of this is very intriguing, in that the agents and the twins have no dealings with each other. But the scene goes on far too long, and begins to feel like tag-team wrestling. However, like the first, there are intriguing insights into the nature of the Matrix and its inhabitants, and these insights make the adventure worthwhile...
Rating:
Summary: 2 Much
Review: I loved "The Matrix", really I think of it as the Star Wars of the next generation, the movie that changed how movies are made. "Matrix Reloaded" on the other hand follows the standard sequel logic of not doing a whole lot new but instead just giving us MORE, MORE, MORE! of the same. This film is too long, with too many extended (and pointless) kung fu battles. I think my biggest problem is that while the first movie had a good story set in the real world, "Reloaded" has the plot of a video game in a fantasy world. First Neo must travel through a backdoor in the system to meet the Oracle, then (after a much too long battle with the evil ex-Agent Smith) go find the Keymaker, and then take the Keymaker to the Source. Where's my joystick? The only redeeming thing about the movie, and the only thing that will make me rent the conclusion in the future, is that the end is really good. Neo's place in the Grand Scheme comes as a surprise and the choice he has to make between love and responsibility adds a little drama to a story sorely lacking it. There's enough at the end to make me want to see the next one, but not by much. If all you want are explosions and long, pointless action sequences, then you'll love this movie. If, however, you're like me and want a good story to go with it, then this flick is not for you. In the end, "Reloaded" is another in a long list of sequels that don't live up to the original and gives me cause not to look forward to the many other sequels coming out this year and next.
Rating:
Summary: MATRIX-RETARDED !
Review: I thought this movie was like a run on sentance, to much and no meaning, was boring compared to the first one! to much time with fight scenes and the worse part was the ending, you have to watch this one to know how it ends, I guess this is how they sell a movie they make that they know might not be a hit to the public, so they have a back up the ending one. Well, I hate being led on. But anyway, im sure some people will like it, but in my opinion I could have watched just about anything else and would have been entertained..
Rating:
Summary: Even Worse Because the Original Rocked
Review: Junk. Pure junk. Absolute junk. Worthless, puerile junk. Did I mention that this film is junk? Let me reiterate, it's junk. Don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much
Review: The difference between the original "Matrix" and this movie is like the difference between a highly conditioned athlete performing at the peak of competition versus an overmuscled beach boy flexing his oiled up pecs and abs on Venice Beach. In short, this movie, while impressive to look at, is simply too much. The action, special effects, and fight scenes are little more than the cinematic version of showing off; unlike in the first movie where these elements were essential to the story, here they were added mainly for their own sake. Neo, for example, is now so powerful he can fight of an entire army of Agents while hardly breaking a sweat, so what was meant to be a dramatic fight scene ends up being almost a comic farce as our new Superman flings the "Smiths" around at will. And, just like Superman, Neo can now fly, as we see in the conclusion to an over-the-top freeway chase scene where he zooms in at the last second to rescue old chum Morpheus from a crashing truck. And that, right there, is much of the problem with this movie. If Neo can now routinely perform superhuman feats, where's the dramatic tension, the sense of risk? Even the climactic ending scene comes off as contrived, it's the old Superman dilemma of "Do I save Lois Lane, or save the world?" As in the first film, there's plenty of philosophizing, but unlike the first, in this film it seems heavy handed and overdone. In the first, there was the sense that we had a sci-fi movie with genuinely deep thoughts at its core, in this one there's more the sense that the filmmakers wanted to show off their "Deep Thoughts", with the end result being not unlike the aforementioned beach boy showing off his glistening mental muscles. In short, they're trying too hard to impress, and it shows. Morpheus now sounds as much pompous as profound, and the Oracle has lost most of her magic as we find out she's just another computer program. But the final letdown is the scene the whole movie had been building up to, the "confrontation" between Neo and the Architect, a figure who, we are to believe, is no less than the "God" of the Matrix. Well, with Neo as "The One", we'd expect quite a duel between the two, yet the meeting between the two falls flat, as if the filmmakers, having invested so much energy into all the stunts, fights, chases, and SFX leading up to this scene, had simply run out of ideas for a way to make this supposedly climactic match up genuinely enthralling. In truth, the whole scene felt anticlimactic, after two hours of buildup, the end result had me thinking "This is it?" OK, to be fair, this is merely the second installment in the Matrix trilogy, so it's entirely possible that the final version, due out in less than two weeks as I write this, will redeem this effort in much the way many Star Wars fans hope Episode III redeems the Prequel trilogy. And, also to be fair, the movie itself is really quite good. It's just that, after creating one of the greatest movies of all time with the original "Matrix", fans were entitled to expect nothing less than a "Godfather Part II" or "The Empire Strikes Back" from these guys. And they didn't get it. Judged relative to the first Matrix: 5/10
Judged purely on its own terms: 8/10
Rating:
Summary: Here's a quick rundown of the film:
Review: They fight, they go somewhere computer generated, they fight, they go into the matrix, they fight, they go somewhere else in the matrix, they fight...and on and on. Everything that was good from the first film is taken to the highest degree and played over and over and over. By the end I could care less that there is a sequel coming out later. It's a waste of time and money to get/rent. At least I don't have to spend money on the next film!
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