Matrix Reloaded (2003)

As with all good sequels, the publicity blaze is always more interesting than the resulting product. Nevertheless, a solid film, pretty much offering more of the same to fans of the first film. What�s new? The special effects ARE fantastic but enough has already been written about them to stretch from here to Zion and back. In terms of character development, Neo is now some kind of superhero with super fighting skills but essentially, it�s still Keanu playing Keanu. Trinity is still fairly bland and seems to get in the way a lot (in good heroine tradition). A bit of background on Morpheus. Also, loads of new characters. The anonymous twins that seem to be all over the posters appear in the film for about fifteen minutes and it�s never really explained who they are or what their purpose is. It�s like a designer came up with some sketches, thought �now THEY would look cool bowling it down the freeway trying to kill people� but forgot to tell the writers to come up with any semblance of plot. There�s a new crew member (Link) who is almost certainly going to die because he uttered the words �don�t worry baby, I�ll make it back� and a love interest for Morpheus, plus many others to numerous to mention. None of them however seem to be particularly well developed and I for one didn�t find myself caring whether they lived or died. As for the plot, it�s a tad tenuous and is basically there to facilitate the aforementioned cool special effects. The already famous fight scene with the army of Agent Smiths is probably the action high point but doesn�t have much to do with the actual plot � that of the machines� threat to Zion. The explanation given to Neo at the end may be unsatisfactory for some but there are others who�ll probably jump up and down saying �yes, I knew that, I saw that coming�. Luckily there were none of them in the cinema when I was there. Anyway, enough negativity. If you liked the first one and are generally a fan of the action/sci-fi genre then you�ll love it, enough said. In fact you probably saw it on the first day of release. Good. Hope you enjoyed it.