Oh, one other thing.

I finally saw Matrix 2 last night. I give Reloaded more credit than others might. It had just as much action as the last movie if not more, and way cooler graphics. They had many a scene that rivaled even the hotel lobby scene from the first Matrix. I thought the most exhilarating part was the highway scenes and I also liked the when Neo had to fight all those Smiths' in the street park. That scene when he used the tetherball pole was really neat, a lot like the time when I watched my pal Ed practice his Wushu at the Mezz @ Mac. In fact I think it was probably the same routine, as they were taken from the stuff that Jet Li does.

Many people gave this movie a good review but felt disappointed with it. Some people probably thought it was a little boring, because Reloaded circled around a love story between Neo and Trinity. There was a LOT more character development this time around, and there was sex. There was no sex in the first movie -- well, it was more subtle the first time.

Another thing that made the action slightly less exciting was that we all knew Neo was "the one", and thus the audience was never as captivated by his fight scenes, because we all knew he was going to win. I doubt that anyone in the audience felt like he was going to even get hurt, unlike his fight scene with Smith in the subway station in the first movie, where we were all holding our breath hoping he wouldn't get killed.

Finally because this movie was a sequel with third on its way, it was a lot like the Two Towers of LOTR. LOTR2 was also an awesome movie. But, it left a lot of loose ends untied, just like Reloaded. Reloaded even ended with a light cliffhanger, making it even more frustrating. Also, LOTR2 was less disappointing because I already know what's going to happen, having already read the book.

I wonder if the movie would have made sense if you hadn't seen the first. Probably not.