Rating: 
Summary: The greek tragedy of the XXI century
Review: This series of films has many layers. I think the deepest one being a metaphor of life itself. Essentially the movie is about the struggles that we as human beings have to go through our life. In the beginning of our life (just as in the first movie) the obstacles that are imposed to us are not so bad and that's why there's only one Mr. Smith. As time goes by it gets more and more difficult to live, and there are more Mr. Smiths surrounding us. Eventually, if we get to old age there is only one battle to be fought which is with death. And this is the ultimate battle which cannot be won. Thus life is a lost battle. Although we know that some of us decide to still accept the terms of this battle (and this is what Neo decides to do). And why? There is no purpose in life, just causality (as we are told in the second movie). Nevertheless we accept the tragedy of our life and go on. There is more about this movie than can be written here, but it is enough to say this trilogy is worth every penny.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: Without a doubt, Matrix Reloaded is just simply the best movie right now. Following the big hit, The Matrix, Reloaded keeps people glued to their seats the entire movie. The fight scenes are just unbelievable, although a little unrealistic, but that is how it has to be. I am tired of people claiming that the fight scenes were too fake. Come on, it is Neo, THE ONE, of course it is going to be fake. He is fighting agents and computer programs, so of course it will be a little "out there". Matrix Reloaded keeps the viewers wondering because it is very confusing. There are so many twists in the movie that you never know what to expect. The ending was a perfect money-maker for the directors but upsetting for viewers. Everyone has to wait until The Matrix Revolutions comes out so they can finally find out what is going on. Very confusing but the best movie of the year. The Matrix had some great fight scenes, especially the all so famous gun scene (Neo and Trinity unload on a numerous amount of guards) but the Matrix Reloaded has a different kind of excitement. The freeway scene is all too interesting it just makes you want to watch it over and over. There is also another unbelievably long fight scene with Neo showing off his fancy new moves. A must see movie. But don't try to pick up by just watching this one. If you haven't seen the first Matrix, don't even try watching this one until you have. It is too confusing to try to get by just watching The Matrix Reloaded. If I could give this movie a rating higher than five stars, I would. Unfortuanetely we don't, so five will have to do. Be sure to catch this exciting movie so you are ready for the final one. Speaking of which, it comes out today, Wednesday, November 5.
Rating: 
Summary: Matrix, Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions...long winded....
Review: A truly long-winded diatribe against Virtual Reality game playing....waste of 9 hours of time....the special effects are spectacular, but because of them, the script is sacrificed. Very sad, especially for those who enjoy game-playing, too preachy to be worth anything. Save your bucks.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth it to see the reviews.
Review: Though MR wasn't very good, it was worth it to see hundreds of juvenile minds on Amazon.com insulting those who could recognize MR's sophomoric cause/effect/fate/choice/vomit philosophy for what it was. Advice to MR lovers: If you are going to insult those who thought MR was puerile you should at least do so with a level of grammar and spelling above the 4th grade level. It would be more impressive that way. I doubt that Kant or Neitzche would lose much sleep over their philosophy being challenged by that of MR and it's semi-literate partisans.
Rating:
Summary: This Movie Rocks!!!!
Review: I have yet to see this on dvd, but I did see this on an IMAX, and I must say, it was glorious. The first time I saw this, I was left with many questions, but now that I have seen it a second time, most of the questions were answered. I will admit that the whole rave/sex scene was overly long, but necessary.
I believe a lot of the people who disliked the movie most likely did not understand it. For instance, my friend asked me how Agent Smith took control of that one dude's brain (the one laying next to Neo when the movie ends). It's simple: when everyone enters The Matrix, they enter as thought patterns that are converted into computer code and vice versa. Thus, when Agent Smith exited The Matrix (With that dude's body), he exited as computer code that was then converted into thought patterns. Also, unlike most movies today, you have to actually listen and pay attention to what Neo and the Architect have to say to understand the plot. I won't get into that whole scene but I will say it's not that hard to understand, but it's a lot of info to take in at once. I'd say if you didn't understand this movie than you should see it again and I think you will have a much better of idea of what's going on. Also some say that the machines would not use humans for power, for there is much more efficient methods, but I think the machines also need to study the humans to evolve, for they cannot evolve naturally like humans do. I like the the way the Wachowsky brothers made this movie, for it makes you think and I think that they left some questions purposely so that you could come up to your own ideas for what happened. Oh and I don't have to mention the special effects. (...)
Rating: 
Summary: All special effects, no plot.
Review: The original matrix was excellent, and so i expected great things of this, but the sad truth is, it's just a load of guys in coats jumping about. Pretty cool, but not a good film. The extra features do have a very funny mini film thingy featuring Justin timberlake (i hate his music, but this is funny) and the effects ARE cool, so I give this 2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: pointless and pretentious
Review: I loved the first Matrix movie. It was innovative and fresh; its characters were interesting and real--including the bad guys, such as Cypher (Joe Pantoliano); the special effects were top-notch; it had a plot. The Matrix is everything that Reloaded is not. The newly-introduced characters are paper-thin, and the only character development with our heroes Neo and Trinity is that they've gone to the next step in their relationship. The fight scenes are tedious, stiff, over-choreographed, and overdrawn--Neo vs. 100 Agent Smiths? Zzzzz. The CGI looks bad at times (such as the freeway scene, which is probably the most interesting part of the movie). The plot? What little there is, I think they stole from Ghostbusters--something to do with a Keymaster (no Gozer here, though). This was a very disappointing movie. The worst part of the success of the second and third installments in the Matrix series is that it will give the Wachowski brothers the go-ahead to make more pretentious, self-indulgent video-games disguised as movies.
Rating: 
Summary: A Few Things....
Review: First of all, this was basically a 5-star film to me. The 4 stars I have assigned in this review indicate my dissatisfaction with the lack of certain DVD features, and one other thing.
But before we get to that:
I'd like to address the many reviews on here in which the reviewer says that the movie "wasted two hours of their life" or something to that effect. Look, if the stakes are that high for you, DON'T WATCH MOVIES. I'm sick and tired of people acting like they've been physically assaulted if they didn't like a movie. In many cases these are the same people who repeatedly destroy relationships for the same reason - they didn't get exactly what they wanted, so that means the other person "wasted their time". Whatever.
The DVD lacks features it should have had. Early press indicated it would include deleted scenes...no such luck. No commentary at all, and no music-only track as in the first film. Not to mention useless Animatrix and Enter the Matrix previews that we have SEEN BEFORE and don't care about at this point, those bridges having been crossed already (maybe).
Here's the other problem I have with the movie. It's apparent that the W's have responded to complaints by ADD kids unable to follow the first film by COLOR-CODING this one. A stomach-churning green color-overlay effect has been applied to the Matrix scenes, so that it's painfully obvious when characters are in the Matrix and when they're not; by contrast, Zion and the "real world" are overly blue in color. Now, this is consistent with the Final Flight of the Osiris, which is why I feel marginally OK with it. But the green overlay is applied inconsistently! In the same sequence, some shots may be very green, while others seem to be colored more or less normally.
One wonders: will there eventually be another edition of this film in which the green color is toned down?
Rating:
Summary: A Clockwork Onion
Review: The beginning scene of 'The Matrix Reloaded' is a torrent of falling code: representational symbols trickling down from a higher 'source' to the innumerable mediaverse-enslaved masses below. Then the code shifts, spinning out like shards of random meme-generated illusion, and images emerge from the code: a nebula spreading out in full aeon-swirl glory; kanji-esque icons rotating in mechanical precision; and finally, the gears and numerical impression (04...05...06) of a desk-clock striking the midnight mark. The movie itself then unfolds before the viewer in a way quite similar to the fleeting seconds of this opening scrawl: the Matrix Reloaded is a clockwork onion, with more and more layers stripping away as one makes a (conscious) effort to penetrate the surface-glare of CGI, the onslaught of physics-mandated impossibility, the kitchen sink approach to spectacle... with the visual-triggers stripped away, all that remains are the basic questions of human existence: what is truth? What is freedom...and control? How does one fight oppression and fashion a better tomorrow? This movie is _deep_, and IMO has more 'testicular fortitude' than any mainstream offering from Hollywood since Fincher's necronerd epic 'Fight Club.' The story: the last human refuge, Zion, has grown too dangerous for the Matrix and its AI controllers, and an army of 250,000 sentinels have been sent to destroy the rebellious populace. As Zion prepares for war, Neo, ultra-hacker and supposed savior of mankind, searches inside the Matrix labyrinth for the clues he needs to stop the attack. Neo can fly, stop bullets, and even take on the replicating virus of his arch-nemesis Smith... but, without the knowledge of who he is and what the Matrix represents, even Neo, the post-modern superhero, is but a lost soul following crumbs in the woods; a tool utterly ignorant of his true purpose. This concept sits rather uncomfortably with the average archetype-programmed fan (hence the numerous negative reviews on this page), but the tagline for this installment of the franchise is, after all, "free your mind." The spectacle: The first movie of this trilogy revolutionized special effects with its seamless "bullet-time" approach and won an Oscar for the effort. Subsequently, these effects were copied and replicated to the point of parody: another notch on Baudrillard's walking-staff. The visual effects team at ESC knew they had to go above and beyond, and boy did they ever, inventing a new technology dubbed "virtual camera" that, unfortunately, this DVD sheds very little light upon. I suppose they don't want Bulletproof Monk 2 copying them so rapidly...or, more likely, they are saving the big documentaries for the inevitable box set. Let us take the much-maligned Smith fight for example. People complain that it was "too long" and "too fake"...and upon the first viewing, I would be inclined to agree. But multiple viewings have unveiled the CGI illusion and showed me the true nature of this fight, what is being presented: 1) a representation of a virus attacking the immune system...or a computer program. 2) a long, rather impressive martial arts display for Keanu Reeves, a man veering on the 40 year mark 3) the jaw-dropping technical feat of *not cutting away* once Neo gains the pole-this, virtual technology at its astounding inception, it makes me shake and tremble as to the implications of how this technology can be used in the future. And finally 4) a sly wink to an entire generation of video-game weaned youth, with the lone hero battling endless hordes of computer-generated enemies, and even slipping into a CGI caricature (deliberate? I think so) when the Matrix itself has difficulty processing The One's chaos-generating existence. The philosophy: Granted, the circular, seemingly redundant dialogue; the geyser of questions asked and answers undelivered; and the five-minute meta-speak speech at the climax: the Matrix Reloaded tests the current mental climate of its mass audience, and the reaction from some quarters has been quite loud, incredibly reactionary, and sadly ignorant. A five-minute search on Google will reveal, to the curious and open-minded, the religious significance of the names and imagery; the full meaning behind the Architect's impressive (and condescending) summation; even the intent behind the "rave" scene (why is it that the on-screen sex is condemned as "unnecessary" - this, the primal expression of human love! - while the violence is damned as not "violent" enough?). But a five-minute search is apparently too much trouble for some. Their loss. Some other random things I liked: 1) Smith's bible-referencing license plate on the Audi-quite appropriate, given the speculation of Revolutions. The crows at the courtyard are a nice touch, as well.
2) The fact that the martial arts sequences utilize misdirection/redirection of energy instead of brute force and blood-splaying.
3) The Merovingian. Besides the implicative import of his name, Lambert Wilson gives an astonishing performance as the ultra-debauched Pluto figure, and he offsets Neo's ignorance and Morpheus' rigid drive nicely.
4) The Freeway chase: even after watching it six + times, it still gets the juices flowing.
5) The deliberate manipulation of the camera to add layers of subtext to conversations: watch Neo and Smith's first verbal tête-à-tête carefully. It took me four or five times to understand the (brilliant) usage...
6) The total-cheese Neo/Trinity moment. It shouldn't work, but the contrast of meta-speak/mass-destruction with the cliché makes me shed tears of joy. I love this movie! *sniff*
7) The choreography. As a martial artist, I found the fights to be more involving and interesting the more I watched them; they are easily the most complicated sequences in a mainstream movie since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
8) How elements from Matrix 1 corresponded with Reloaded: the Architect screens, the spoon-boy's five other spoons (on the ground, in M1), the "twist", several of the speeches. I write this review a day before traveling to the theater for the conclusion to this sci-fi epic. I know I won't be disappointed: all I expect are what the _creator's_ intended. Given the intelligence and verve of Reloaded, I know it will be more than enough.
Rating:
Summary: Expensive Junk
Review: Although a rating of one star would seem unnaturally harsh for a movie that had so much skill and money thrown at it, I can not help but consider it harshly, as I was forced to sit through it. Keep in mind that the DvD (I mean the widescreen. Don't even waste your cash with that completely undetailed and unsatisfactory fullscreen version.) has crystelline picture and sound, but the special features are unsatisfactory. It seems more like a single disc collection to me. None of "The Matrix" DvDs have been to exceptional. They're probably going to release a "Super-Mega-Ultra-Uber-Awesome-Collectors-Special Limited Editon Trilogy set that costs as much as India. But it won't be worth buying, because it will have this hunk of garbage in it. The MTV thing is funny, but I couldn't stand to watch it again. It's not that fantastic. I haven't watched the car chase documentary or the making of the video-game thing, but the other documentary/featurettes were mildly amusing. The film is bad, the picture/sound is exceptional, and the special features are quite sub-par. Don't waste your money. By the new Indiana Jones collection. It's awesome.
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