Oxygen, please!! Maybe a paper bag? It's been 2 hours since I've seen "The Matrix Reloaded" and I'm still out of breath!

Picking up where the first film ends, the story finds Neo, Morpheus and Trinity (Reeves, Fishburne and Moss, respectively) on their way to meet other members of their movement. They must do their best to stay one step ahead of the "agents," led by chief nemesis Agent Smith (Weaving). And while Neo has learned to perfect his powers as "the One," Agent Smith has a new trick up his sleeve as well. The result is being referred to as The Burly Brawl and it is one of the most incredible pieces of action I've ever seen put on film.

The entire film is like that. Among the new characters are freedom-fighter Niobe (Pinkett Smith) and a pair of ghostly twins, played by Adrian and Neil Rayment. And when I say ghostly I mean GHOSTLY! Other new cast members include Nona Gaye as Zee, Monica Belluci as Persephone and "OZ's" Harold Perrineau, Jr. as Link, the newest member of Morpheus' group. Returning to the series in her final screen role is Gloria Foster, who plays the Oracle. Sadly, Ms. Foster passed away last year due to complications from diabetes. The intensity in which these characters come to life are a major credit to the Wachowski brothers. What could have just been a standard action film becomes much more thanks to the emotional attachment we make with the various characters.

Under the direction of Master Yuen Wo Ping, the hand-to-hand battles are something to behold. With the original "Matrix" trick of "bullet time" photography showing up in everything from "Shrek" to beer commercials, the crew must have known that they would have to rise to the occasion. And rise they have. From an opening motorcycle stunt to the climatic fourteen minute plus car chase, the film will keep you on the edge of your seat. Even if you're not a credit watcher, stick around after they run for some great scenes from the upcoming "The Matrix Revolutions," which will be released in November. My only other recommendation would be for theatres to install those little masks that drop down when airplanes lose pressure to help you catch your breath.

On a scale of zero to four stars, I give "The Matrix Reloaded"  

Nolan Canova Oh my gawd, this was awful!!  Bedpan-shallow "philospophy", the dumb messiah theme carried over from the first movie, overweight Laurence Fishburne's weirdly detached performance, annoyingly busy and distracting CGI that added nothing to the story, really. Taken separately from the movie, however, the special effects are groundbreaking as is the stupendous fight choreography, and a pretty killer soundtrack. Balance this out against the most celebrated and talked-about scenes (Neo vs hundreds of agent Smiths, and the 15-minute car chase) being too cartoon-like too often to suspend disbelief that this is all CGI, therefore there's no real sense of danger or urgency, at least for me. The Wachowski brothers have certainly been innovators as far as promotion. You'd have to be living under a rock not to have heard of this movie or its sequels. That's sequels as in plural, since the final chapter is also being released later this year, a move I haven't seen since "Back to the Future" over 15 years ago ( a trailer for "Matrix: Revolutions" is included after the closing credits if you have the stomach to sit though all 20 minutes of them). To say nothing of video game and comics tie-ins. The most positive thing I can say is this is one of the few Keanu Reeves movies where he's likable (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Speed being the only other two I can remember), and Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith always cracks me up . The performance by Anthony Zerbe as The Councillor is superb, he's a real pro, and the surprisingly engaging performance by Helmut Bakaitis as The Architect (the God figure in the movie) is as close as it gets to "riveting". The most negative thing I can say is an earlier scene when the entire movie grinds to a complete stop to observe Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss having sex, in its agonizing entirety--to its climax (harhar), accompanied by some industrial-techno-goth music, couched in an MTV-video-gone-wild nightmare. I'm not kidding, I very nearly walked out at that point! The 4-star CGI (when not overtly video-game or cartoon-like), fight choreography, music and two or three good performances are not enough to recommend a film that is also saddled with poor writing (for the most part), a paper-thin and derivative premise and ridiculous over-dependence on MTV-style music video editing and the afore-mentioned computer generated effects. Ultimately, The Matrix Reloaded is really only good at being...well...The Matrix. The techno-goth fashion statements, industrial goth/metal music, Keanu dressed in his vampiric best occasionally spouting some computer-lingo-by-way-of-religious philosophy nonsense, and god knows the highly-copied and indispensable patented bullet-time slow-motion/freeze-frame effects, all accounted for. If the next movie spoofs itself as vigorously as this one did, the whole franchise will crash and burn. But I'm sure it will be a very lovely CGI crash and burn. "It's about choices. We're here because we choose to be here. But are we here because we're destined to be here? Are we here because we have to be here?" Give me a freakin' break.

Andy Lalino I managed to catch "The Matrix - Reloaded" Wednesday night during the special sneak preview...the film was quite a ride. It took some time for the movie to shift into high gear, but when it did, man, did it lock in! The fight between Neo and the multiple Smiths was easily worth the price of admission, and in my opinion was more thrilling than the "14 minute" car chase (even though you can tell when Neo was CG'd - he looked like a video game avatar). The Wachowski Bros. semi-successfully managed to create this computerized fantasyland (which I admit Star Wars and Lord of the Rings did better) for the characters to play fight in. I mean, Zion is a dump - is it really worth saving? As in "Speed", Keanu Reeves was actually likable, but it's hard to beat Carrie Ann Moss as Trinity. She's got the right stuff, a worthy successor to sci-fi/horror femme heroines such as Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver. With the "Matrix" movies and "Memento" on her resume, she's quickly becoming one of the coolest actresses ever. Let's hope she doesn't make a romantic comedy with Ewen McGregor to spoil the winning streak. Lawrence Fishburne's getting fat. It was great seeing Anthony Zerbe (who was very good) as Zion's Chancellor. Hugo Weaving was superb as Agent Smith - what a great mean-ass snarl! I enjoyed the nods to horror films, namely the odd albino twins who turned into silly-looking "ghosts" and a juicy film clip from Hammer's "Brides of Dracula" (I think that was the movie) playing on a big screen TV! On the minus side, the movie was talky (the "oracle" scene featuring a mole-covered pigeon-feeder was particularly grueling) and thrill-less for the first half hour. For a while there I wondered what I got myself into, but that feeling quickly subsided after the Neo/Smith melee. The human "Last Outpost" (like that, Nolan?) Zion makes the slums of Cambodia look like Beverly Hills. The residents hold a sweaty "rave" in a subterranean cavern right after they get news that they're going to die in a matter of days! Were I them, I think I'd consider picking up a weapon at that point, not do the Cha-Cha. As I said before, maybe the Zionists aren't worth saving...There does not seem to be an affinity between Neo/Trinity/Morpheus and the people of Zion, which leaves the viewer wondering if our heroes really do care about their cause. In Star Wars, you really got the feeling Luke believed in the Rebellion against the Empire. The fight scenes were of course incredible, but actually became tiresome after awhile. They did all this martial arts-type fighting, but it seems like they never seemed to knock anyone out/kill them, they just kept coming and coming. It would have been nice (and budget-wise, wiser) to shorten the fight scenes and give them some kind of conclusion. I mean, you already know Keaunu Reeves is gonna win. The famous 360 degree fighting effects don't seem as thrilling as they did during the first "Matrix", no doubt because you see them in every other TV commercial. All-in-all, M2R is a winner for the most part, and I am interested in seeing the 3rd installment. It is definitely one of the finer epic sci-fi/fantasy trilogies out there, comparable to LOTR, but not as reverent as the original 3 Star Wars films. I'm glad I got the chance to see it with a bunch of friends before it officially opened; I felt like it was 1983 seeing "Return of the Jedi" again. Fun stuff. TIP: Take the time to re-watch the original again before you see M2R...I wish I had done so.