MATRIX: RELOADED & READY TO ROCK

Spoiler Alert: If you have not seen the 'Matrix: Reloaded' and do not wish to know the plot, do not read further.

There have been lots of mixed reviews of Matrix II. Some say it is not upto the expectations and has too much action and very less "philosophical" twist to it.

I really liked this matrix, and while the first half was not exactly to par with the original movie, the second half was phenomenal. The single question of how did Neo kill the sentinals in real life is all you need to make you spend hours analysing what happened. I'm sorry, but the movie's special effects were amazing, Neo's flight scenes were amazing (excellent CGI).

It takes the idea of matrix to a whole new level. And when the architect comes into picture and tells Neo that he himself is a program in the Matrix and he has made his choices... and that all he has to do was to understand the choices that he made. That was really phenomenal... makes you wonder whether the same applies to our real life. That the choices have already been made and we are just understanding them as we go on.

The details of Choreography and the amazing Zion city, and the many loose ends to tie up (The Spoon, the kid, ...) makes me want to see Revolutions asap.

it's deeper than it appears the first time you watch it. It is easy to get so caught up in the fight scenes that you miss a lot of the stuff going on from the plot standpoint. And there is a lot of it.

I will say the only thing that did bother me was the length of the dance / sex scene, as well as the blonde in the restaurant. The first was just too long, and the second just completely pulled me out of the movie.

Also, and this will sound trite, but I have a feeling that this movie will stand much better once you put it together with the third one. They filmed this as one long movie and then cut it in half, so it is going to feel a bit incomplete at the end.

The following questions linger in my mind as I left the theater...

How did Neo stop the sentinels in real life? How and to what extent did Agent Smith infiltrate real life? What is going to happen to the Matrix since Neo did not go back into The Source and bring the Matrix back into balance like the Ones before him?

The scene with the councilor was a little contrived but pivotal -- we are dependent on machines but feel okay about it because we could turn them off (but won't). Is the world of the Matrix, where humankind's physical needs are taken care off (at the expense of being plugged into the Matrix) really that much worse? Is it that much different from the way humankind created sentient machines and subjugated them in the time before the Machine Wars?

The mythology of The Matrix is fascinating. Reloaded left me with a lot to think about.

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