Rating: 
Summary: Many levels of reality-check
Review: The nature of reality, the nature of time, the nature of choice, the nature of fate, the nature of free will, the nature of prophecy, the nature of a messiah, the nature of a Superior Force in the Universe.... all are questioned in this film, as they so often are anyway in my own head, about our own reality... so I loved it. Interesting and interconnected issues emerge. The power and nature of love... for those who aren't interested in a bit more deep thinking, fear not - the action, the setting, the effects, the comic-book feel and the relationship between Neo and Trinity amply fill the time in the cinema seat. It's thrilling from start to finish and it has plenty of comedy moments - and don't forget to wait till the credits have finished for a preview of the Matrix Revolution. If you've ever read about the Bible codes or near-death experiences, you'll get the chills while watching this, I assure you. Watch out for George Dubya Bush, he makes an extremely fleeting 'appearance' at a very pertinent moment in the script. Subliminal, man. Keanu Reeves excels in this film, looking deeply sexy in every moment onscreen... which doesn't hurt one little bit!PS - in Hebrew, 'thought' also means 'computer'. Something for you to ponder.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible is what should be said about The Matrix Reloaded
Review: I just had the opportunity to see The Matrix Reloaded for the second time and I tell you this, the Wachowski brothers have done it. I am a big fan of this trilogy and it is by far the best trilogy out of them all. I've seen (and bought) all of the Star Wars movies and I must say, if you compare the chosen one in that series to "The One" in the Matrix, there is no comparison. The Wachowski brothers have managed to do something even better than George Lucas or Bryan Singer and that's tell a decent story and evolve your primary characters appropriately. Anakin was an impulsive, hard-headed, pain. Neo has accepted his position as "The One" and he is using his powers and status to try and save the human race. Yes, I already know how the other trilogy is going to turn out and that really is the boring part of Star Wars. As far as the X-Men, this series has been a comic book since the sixties and the Stryker storyline was in a comic series just a few short years ago. The Matrix is fresh, original and full of action, story, character development, and style. My hats off to the Wachowski brothers for their triumph. Thanks for bringing something new, fresh, and action packed to an other wise boring set of summers. Two more things, when is the DVD coming and why aren't there more Matrix related materials available? There is a tremendous amount of X-Men and Star Wars stuff out.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome movie, but definitely a "setup" movie
Review: Special effects? Awesome!!
The fight scenes? Awesome!
Plot? A little light, but still awesome!
Agent Smith? Awesome!
The end of the movie with...Not so awesome.
Rating: 
Summary: Forget it Matrix fans, Lord of the Rings still rules.
Review: What a load of garbage. Sure, there were a few select minutes of truly oustanding sfx, kungfu, stuntwork, and bits of good Hugo Weaving moments, but that's about it. Why did the action scenes seem to go on so long? My guess is that the non-action "plot" and interaction scenes looked so bad that the "editing" done was to showcase the action as long as possible and hope kung-fu choreographer Yeun-Wo Ping(Drunken Master, Crouching Tiger) could pull it off for the whole movie. But it ends up looking and feeling more like a conference exhibition of computer sfx than a sequel to the groundbreaking first Matrix. There is no tension or anything dramatic to engage the audience at all except to watch stunts. X-Men 2 is the only other sequel to follow Lord of the Rings: TTT in continuing the excellence of the original this past year. The hope and anticipation that the Matrix "series" would supplant LOTR has now died. The LOTR trilogy IS the movie phenomenon for the next 25 years and has beat this reloaded-rehashed contender.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Revolutions
Review: The original Matrix was interesting because of the introduction of the concept of the computers controlling things and because of seeing Neo learn about that and becoming trained. The sequel just jumped right in with violent fight scene after violent fight scene. The special effects were good. The plot was twisted and difficult to follow. I tried to make sense of the multiple philosophical speeches and finally decided this movie was just confusing.
Rating:
Summary: Matrix Reloaded - The Cultural Influences
Review: While watching the Matrix R, several thoughts came to mind. Its Superman, no... its Bruce lee, no, wait - Its a computer hacker! Wait, I can't believe it, its all of them combined! In that sense, while many philosophical ideas were covered in a complex mesh that seemed more existential from its lack of coherency - the movie is very classic at its core - a classic geek movie with geek sensabilities. All the philosophy is not core to the movie's premise - though they are very serious ideas indeed. I can certainly see the justification of the ritual dancing - it is a presentation of the the differences between humans and machine. The lovemaking scene, where the two end up in the fetal position, present another aspect of the differences - machines don't have emotion and machines cannot give birth. Was it a good device to portray those ideas? Probably not as much so, since that sort of scene is a bit cliche. I could go on and on, but basically Matrix is a remake of older classics and cyberpunk film and anime (for more western sensabilities); and a action flick. Separately the two thematic layers are successful - combined into a single presentation? I'm not quite as certain, still a film to own.
Rating: 
Summary: matrix: real bloated
Review: A good storyline that is faithful to(and picks up from) the last movie. However,the movie is overstuffed with un-necessary, elongated scenes. The First hour will leave you restless in your chair. The fight and action sequences were spectacular, far out shining the previous movie. Yet they have the same problem. You can only watch Reeves beat up the same foe so many times, befor asking yourself: If he's such a superman, why not just kill this guy and move on? This over-extendedness is present thru the entire movie, until you reach the blunt end. An ending that leaves you thinking exactly what many audience members are shouting out: "oh, come on!?". Yes, you did just sit thru all of that, for this ending. Let's hope this November's conclusion makes up for it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Matrix Kaput
Review:
This movie is so bad, it almost drags down the first Matrix. I wonder how the directors/writers could have gone so wrong in storytelling. Only Highlander Two is a worse sequel, and I can't even count Highlander Two because it's so bad it's good.
What's wrong with this movie? Everything. Considering what the Wachowskis have shown us they can do in Bound and The Matrix, I can only chalk up the failure of Reloaded to the 'you can't edit me cuz I'm awesome' syndrome that afflicts so many succesful artists.
1 - Trinity's appeal from the first movie was the fact that she kicked complete and total ass. In the sequel she's relegated to the role of 'the chick who gets in the way.'
2 - The story never gets a good flow. In the first Matrix, they set up the world, then the action starts. Morpheus is captured, and against all odds a trio of heroes with Neo at its core saves the day, and Neo undergoes unbelievable change. That's great - there's only four serious players (Trin, Morph, Neo, Smith), one plot (is he the One) and one conflict - save Morpheus and fight the Matrix, as represented by Smith. In Reloaded there are 13 new major characters to introduce. There are six or seven plot conflicts for you to focus on. The audience never has a chance to get interested in any one thing. Except for the FX, which were cool. But no amount of FX and action will ever hold your interest if they're not backing up a solid story. This movie was like a supermodel with no backbone.
3 - In every serious encounter, Neo saves the day. You quickly realize that no matter how bad it gets Neo will fly in and kick butt. This is boring.
4 - The Matrix was a philosophical movie. Reloaded is a movie that teaches you about philosophy. The Merovingian's speech about choice was lifted straight from a college textbook. The first one was an action movie that made you think, because they didn't spell anything out. It's the whole show vs. tell philosophy to storytelling. If you want someone to think an idea or philosophy in a story is cool you show them how it's cool, not tell them.
5 - The whole 'cut a story in two parts' idea is a bad one. If Warner Brothers had released Revolutions in three weeks instead of six months, it would have worked better. As it is, many people who saw the movie's ending were disappointed, and didn't even understand what happened. For example, a line of dialogue at the end confused many viewers into thinking Zion was destroyed, not just a mission of ships.
6 - Neo's powers are worthless. At the end of The Matrix, Neo was basically God. He could simply unzip an agent, because he could manipulate the code with his mind. In the second movie, he's relegated back to karate and kung fu. And he never taught any of his friends how to see past the reality of the Matrix?
7 - Boring fights. The fights were choreographed in this movie even better than the first, but they were boring. There was no visceral impact. In the first one you had Morpheus breaking toilets with his head and Smith kicking Neo so hard into concrete walls that it broke the concrete. The fights in this one are like watching your kid brother play Tekken. The fights also lost their punch because you really weren't concerned about anyone dying, you knew Neo would save them.
The first time I saw this movie, I was really excited. I think I was still excited from the first Matrix, four years ago. But upon repeat viewings I have to admit that this is a bad movie. So many characters, too many plot conflicts, too many easy saves by our hero, and overall too shallow. It's a very pretty movie, cool action, but if the first one's as deep as an ocean, this movie's a kiddy pool.
-- JJ Timmins
Rating:
Summary: MUCH BETTER THAN THE FIRST!!!
Review: NO The Matrix isn't the smartest film ever, and yes the special effects are cheezy, but there is more to a movie than just that. I frankly thought this was more indept and for the most part it is great, but the love scene between Neo and Trinity is the most random thing in the history of movies. It has nothing to do with the scene before or after it, it is just there.
Rating:
Summary: Not even one star...
Review: Now let me start out by saying that the original Matrix rates as one of the great films of ALL TIME (in my humble opinion). For it was a film that offered everything. Great action, irony, humor, special effects, visual imagery, symbolism, drama, religious underpinnings, and most importantly philosophy. In my mind it is one of a very rare few truly inspired and unique films. A film like no other.
I wasn't expecting a film of similar quality when I entered the theater. I was more than prepared to be treated to a great action packed effects laden thrill ride. Kind of the way Aliens delivered in comparison to the original Alien. That would have been fine with me if the film had succeeded. Save for the opening scene with Trinity going out a window, which I thought was beyond excellent and visually stunning, the film is a total bore. Excepting the appearance of the incomparable Monica Berlucci. You wanna talk about predictable. Please. The fight scenes were pointless and entirely too long. And way too many of them. In the original Neo was just learning to conquer and doubting his ability all the way. Do I wanna see Muhammad Ali beat up a kindergarten kid? What's the point. The writing was juvenile. Because of that I can't really fault the actors (although i'd like to) The story was really contrived and labored. Perhaps the filmmakers just had too much on their plate to create 2 films in just a matter of months. Whatever the reason this one just doesn't cut it. And I can't really envision Part 3 being any better than Part 2. What a shame.
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