Once upon a time, some cool brothers had a really cool idea for a cool movie. The cool brothers took their cool idea and created a cool cinematic experience. They used special effects and violence only to help the plot along, rather than base the movie on the special effects as is typical in Hollywood. Their film told an interesting story and left us with some not-so-creative ideas to think about. It was a high quality creation with good writing and decent acting. The Matrix was an interesting movie.
It made buckets and buckets of money.
Not being happy with their new found riches, fame, and glory, the cool brothers decided that they needed to turn their movie into a trilogy. What a stupid mistake that was.
Matrix: Reloaded is a dull, uninteresting movie with more action and special effects than plot or character development. Although I had fun paying my $15 for over priced popcorn, three hours of gratuitious violence, bad music and just plain stupid dialog, I would rather have spent that money on four drinks at a bar. The movie seems to have been built around the special effects this time. The plot is complicated, but clunky and really only serves as an excuse for more violence. The writing for this movie makes the characters seem dumber than before, and the way Keanu Reeves acts really drives the point home.
It was a fun movie to watch, but there was no real content. The producers and directors Hollywood-ized a really interesting movie and turned it into a trilogy that really doesn't need to exist.
Update: I've been told that all three scripts were written at the same time, and that this movie is really just suffering from middle-child syndrom. Makes sense, but I wish they had put more effort into making it as good as the first one, and had a better sound track.