JUST got back from seeing Matrix 2…

My opinion of the movie.... vastly overrated. I guess some will disagree, and that’s okay, but I didn’t think much of M2. To make it even worse, I was caught up in the hype to. I was 100% positive M2 was going to be the best sci-fi movie of this year and perhaps ever… man did I set myself up for disappointment.

My problem with the movie was that it was just way over the top. The fight scenes, while expensive, weren' t as jaw dropping as the first one. I love a good fight scene. Enjoy a great fight scene even better. But the fight scenes for M2 (while I' ll admit, had cool moments) just came off as bland and unnecessary.

Perhaps not all of them, but I could have done without half the fights in the movie, especially the end of the park fight between Neo and Agent Smith. There was just way too much CG near the end. It totally drew me out of the movie because of it. And in general, all the fights contained a little bit too much CG and not enough significance. Some audiences will come just for special effects, but I came for the storyline… again, I was disappointed.

It' s not that the story was bad; it' s the exact opposite. The story about the Matrix is really good. When they’re talking about the history of the Matrix and the consequences of choice, I was very intrigued and interested. Unfortunately it only seems to make up such a small part of M2. Aside from the last scene with the Architect and that one French guy (I can’t remember his name), none of the story really stands out in my eyes. The relationship between Neo and Trinity was way overdone (especially that softcore sex scene) and didn' t need to take up so much screen time. It was pretty well established in the first they were a couple, I would have liked the plot to advance a little bit beyond that.

Secondly, where' s the character development? Aside from Link (and the returning cast who were already developed), character development in M2 was just about nonexistent. Besides the French Guy, no one else seemed all to flesh out. Just Neo and Trinity getting it on. Everyone else was just kind of… blah.

And of course everyone will talk about the symbolic meanings in M2. But in my opinion, symbolic meaning doesn' t mean as much if the movie isn' t good, and that was my problem with M2. It strove for a lot of philosophy, but because of the overall quality of the movie I can' t help but to feel that it didn' t accomplish its goal. I' m not thinking about the philosophical meanings, I' m sitting here nitpicking instead. If they movie accomplished it’s goal of drawing me into the movie I would think more about the philosophical meanings. But since it didn’t, I don’t.

M2 was well below what I thought of the first Matrix. I must say, I didn' t *dislike* M2. I' ll go see it again. But I can' t help but to feel it could have been a lot better. And in my opinion, X-Men 2 is still the better summer blockbuster.

*****P.S. For those who don’t know, at the end of the credits there’s a preview for Matrix 3. So stay until the end of the very long credits!*****