Those who were expecting "The Matrix Reloaded" to be the "Empire Strikes Back" of this particular movie trilogy are doomed to disappointment.
With its abundance of digitally enhanced — or in some case, fully rendered — action scenes and cardboard characterizations, as well as its lack of comprehensible storytelling, this sci-fi sequel is more like the equivalent of "Attack of the Clones."
Actually, that may be overly harsh, since this film's mind-blowing fight sequences are better than anything George Lucas has managed in two "Star Wars" prequels.
"Matrix Reloaded" is hampered by the same problems that afflicted the first "Matrix" film — too much new-age mumbo-jumbo that's not nearly as deep as it pretends to be, and too little humor.
In this second installment, Thomas "Neo" Anderson (Keanu Reeves) has finally accepted the prophecy that he may be "The One," a man with the power and determination to help mankind free itself from its machine oppressors.
He finds himself in Zion, the sole remaining refuge for "freed" humans, along with his mentor, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), and his lady love, Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss). Unfortunately, there are thousands of Sentinels trying to tunnel their way into the city.
Obviously, there's a certain level of desperation to their efforts. So thanks to another prophecy, Neo finds himself in search of the "key master," through whom he hopes to get the remaining answers he seeks.
Meanwhile, it turns out that Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) has gained the ability to duplicate himself. And he's got a score to settle with Neo.
At times, the action here seems a little too choreographed for its own good. But admittedly, that's a minor thing, considering how stunning some of it is — particularly the 10-minute sequence pitting Neo against an army of Agent Smiths.
The Wachowski brothers also do an effective job of utilizing Reeves' limited acting range, although you may wish there were more of Fishburne.
Fans will want to stick it out through the end credits, by the way — there's a teaser for the third movie, "The Matrix Revolutions," which opens Nov. 5.
"The Matrix Reloaded" is rated R for strong sci-fi violence (including martial-arts combat, gunplay, vehicular mayhem, weapons fighting and violence against women), scattered use of strong profanity and some crude sexual talk, brief gore, simulated sex, brief partial male nudity and brief drug content (use of epinephrine). Running time: 138 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com