Well, I didn't actually make it to another showing of Reloaded this weekend.
Not that they needed my nine bucks, as the box-office pretty much trounced everyone else (thanks to Anne for the boxofficemojo.com link).

Everyone I know has wanted to talk to me about this movie. I guess I'm the hometown "Keanu pundit" (tho I prefer "maven").

I love the conversations that start out "I hear it sucks."

Because then I get to argue why it doesn't and that "you're just an idiot".
That's always fun for me.

Because there is no 'suck' in this movie (except maybe in the ladies' room, heh). Sure, it's a little dense with ideas and maybe, just maybe it didn't live up to the hype (but does anything? ever?) and perhaps sometimes one can be a little distracted by the imagery and not be able to catch all the words but what's wrong with a film that makes you work a little bit?
And to those that complain that it was too hard to make sense of I have to remind that it's really just half a movie. A half of a movie that needs to be watched more than once or even twice. And that you need to pay attention, because every thing, every scene, every character has its purpose.
Granted, that in some cases the purpose might be to show off a little bit. I do think the burly brawl went on a smidge too long (and while I'm on the subject, while the virtual camera was impressive, certainly better than anything we have seen in motion pictures yet, I don't think we need to worry about virtual actors taking away jobs. Maybe it's because I'm so very tuned into Keanu's face and the way he moves that I didn't enjoy the effect as maybe I should have). But I don't agree that the Zion dance/ Neo and Trinity sex scene was gratuitous. I think they were very important to show the passion and love of human beings. To emphasize the flesh. I think that there was a lot to tell in this middle part of the story and it was done well with amazing attention to detail.
And it's in the details that you will find both the story and the genius that goes into telling it.

Like this....

"We have all seen many movies like Hackers which pass off ridiculous 3D animated eye-candy scenes as hacking. So I was shocked to find that Trinity does it properly in The Matrix Reloaded. She whips out Nmap version 2.54BETA25, uses it to find a vulnerable SSH server, and then proceeds to exploit it using the SSH1 CRC32 exploit from 2001. Shame on them for being vulnerable. "

It's that kind of fine touch for which I adore this movie, and those involved with it.

After the second viewing, I even felt myself start to complain that as a whole there was something I was not quite happy about. But then if I broke it down into individual scenes, I have to say that each one was perfect. I think the reason that the whole film seems "off" is because it's unresolved and only after we see the third film, and complete the cycle from birth to life to death will we really appreciate Reloaded.

And at that point you might as well put a big bowl of water at the Wachowski's feet, because we will all be their bitches.