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ost_uid0]Spoilers, but not too much more than has already been posted.
At this point I've seen it twice, and I think it's way better the second time. I must admit, the first time through much of the plot struck me as contrived and kinda cheesy. I was disappointed right up until the scene with the Archetect (spelling, anyone?) . But after seeing that scene, the whole movie makes a lot more sense and seems a lot less cheesified. In fact, after the second time I've decided it's quite brilliant, and I really wasn't expecting that. Not only did it have enormous potential apon conclusio (November, hurry up now), it was very good as a stand alone movie. If you think about it, everything after the climax can be considered exposition for Revolutions anyway, and most of the story before the climax wrapped itself up quite nicely. This is why I'm not even bothering to try an figure out the deal with Neo and the sentinels; it's really only a teaser for Revolutions anyway, and I don't claim to be able to predict the Wachowskis. It also took the basic theme of Matrix (love) and was able to elaborate and show that it was going somewhere, something which I think many critics of the movie who gave it bad reviews may not have picked up upon.
The main difference between Matrix and Reloaded just the general feel; Matrix was much more mysterious, an option that was obviously not available to Reloaded. As a result, Reloaded needed to obtain much more of it's effect through plot and epic, as opposed to concept and event. This makes Reloaded a very different movie, but IMO still a great movie. My only real beef is the fight music; they could've used better techno at least. I personally prefer Don Davis's score, but I can see how it'd be less appropriate in these circumstances.
Also, despite Reloaded's greatness, I still think it had nothing on the lobby scene. That scene will live forever.
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