Reloaded

Last night we went out to see Matrix Reloaded. Forty million dollars worth of freeway chase scene can't be wrong, can it? Well the film certainly has impact. It is brilliant entertainment. The constant switching between real-time and slow motion during the action scenes is very effective in reinforcing the blinding speed. Viewing all the fights in real-time would be overloading - causing a mental tune-out.
From a story point of view, I think they have turned Neo into a superman without leaving any kryptonite around. His only vulnerabilities are now the people he is close to. To me, this represents a simplification - a step down in target age group. Within the matrix I ceased to worry about Neo's personal safety. I hope the third movie doesn't continue the "arms race" mentality between Neo and anti-Neo.
It was refreshing to see a reasonable amount of time dedicated to the free-will/determinism problem. It was disappointing to see the anachronistic insertion of mythological creatures in the matrix. I could see the internal logic for doing so, but it still seemed to shift the paradigm. Instead of high-tech autonomous agents, purpose designed to eliminate the non-conformances, we have magical mutant creatures with some unexplained alliegence to a hedonistic, information power-monger. There was probably some deeper symbolism to this enemy, but in an action movie there is little time to be dedicated to it's exposition.