Great video. As a guy who religiously loved the original Matrix and hated the sequels, I've revisited the sequels recently, in my thirties. Yes, they are unpolished compared to the first one, but I echo your sentiments it's a great piece of cinema that get's a bad rap. With that said, let me nitpick one thing about your analysis: @8:45 [I might sound harsh but forgive me, not a native speaker dunno how to put it milder in English] just because you didn't understand something doesn't mean it's unclear. Rama Kandra explained to Neo in the Train Station scene that all programs which lack their purpose must go back to The Source to be terminated. Smith in the first meeting in Reloaded says that Neo killing him in the original released him from this duty. Thus the way to kill Smith is to be assimilated by him while being wired to the Matrix from within The Source. That's why the journey he did to the machine city was necessary. He couldn't destroy Smith from any other place within the world. It all comes together nicely.

Agent Smith's laugh was on point actually. It emphazied the fact he no longer is a tool in Matrix, but he was liberated and completely out of control. So for me it's not cringing at all; rather a well played character moment.

I think the action NEEDS to be over the top, because it's action taking place where the laws of physics can be bend and broken.

Never understood why people hated the architect. He wasn't hard to understand and seemed exactly what I would expect a program made to build perfection to be.

One of my favorite parts is the absurd sounds that happen during the first fight with many Smiths. Hear me out, we just had the oracle say that when programs are operating correctly you wouldn't notice, it's only when something goes wrong that you notice. So the program was trying to figure out what sound works for seemingly human bodies that are thousands of times more durable than concrete when smashing into each other. So it mistakingly used a bowling ball hitting pins and a dominos sound. Given the context I choose to think it was possibly intended, but even if it wasn't it works in the story for me.

The best part in revolutions was right before the last fight. Smith: "Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you. You like what I've done with the place?" Neo: "It ends tonight." Smith: "I know it does, I've seen it. That's why the rest of me is just going to enjoy the show because we already know that I'm the one that beats you " Smith is a badass.

Also under-rated is Hugo Weaving's performance as Agent Smith, it's an absolute tour de force from one of our greatest living actors. Every time he says "Mr Anderson" I get chills.

Rewatched them this weekend after the trailer of the new Matrix came out. They actually aged really well. They seemed quite cohesive as a whole, and a good and logical conclusion to the 1st movie. Especially after the Star Wars debacle, it made me appreciate properly made movies much more.

Reloaded have the best action sequences I’ve ever seen… the whole highway is incredible and the sword fight is amazing…

The flaws of the sequels are so minuscule when compared to the sheer scope and ambition of these films. The Wachoski’s have not been matched when it comes to creating the greatest sci fi action of the 21st century.

I think Reloaded is a genuinely solid sequel. Revolutions has a number of narrative issues, but I didn’t hate it either.

The entire Chateau, then the freeway chase in Reloaded is really good. I often rewatch the movie just for those scenes alone. I agree that the Matrix sequels get unnecessary hate. While not as good as the first one, they definitely expand the universe of the Matrix. That Zion is a real, breathing place is something that people often overlook when talking about Reloaded. Pretty good job, man!

It’s funny how people can call most of the Fast and Furious movies great and still bash the Matrix sequels.

13:13 everyone says in any review that ive watched that the oracle informs neo hes not the one always gets it wrong. she literally tells him hes the one. the line goes "Sorry kid. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something."

the making of the freeway scene is just a good as the scene itself the fact that they built an actual 2km long freeway just for this scene was amazing

I've watched the sequels more times than the original movie; there is so much more to unpack in them, and, though it takes more work from the viewer, the reward is greater. It's hard for me not to think of the sequels as one movie, as the events in them take place back-to-back, and if I remember correctly the Wachowskis wanted to release them simultaneously.

I think the nostalgic rush of “man, this could be real!” that puts this trilogy in an invincible bubble for me. I wonder if the fourth movie will add anything to the storyline or will it simply be a simple “look what we can do with better CGI!”. Another important detail that people often overlook is the inspiration for ‘The Matrix’, that being the book “Simulacra and Simulation”. In the first movie, Neo takes a minidisc out of a hollowed-out copy of the book. All of the actors were contractually obligated to read the book in order to get a better understanding of the theology and theoretical ideology behind the story. In the book, written in 1981, author Jean Baudrillard explores the idea that modern symbology has overwritten our perceptions of reality. He also delves into how culture and media are both influenced through and spread the symbols that define our perceptions. He also gets into simultaneous and shared existences, the perversion of what reality is, and the steps that we take to reach such a “simulated” existence. Honestly, I don’t see a lot of people understanding everything he discusses (I didn’t get it all either), but there is a thread there that binds these movies. The first represents an “awakening”, in which people are literally awakened from a simulation. They discover the truth and rebel against both their captors and the system they’ve been imprisoned in. The second shows how dire and desperate those who’ve been freed are. They cower in caves and prepare for any eventuality. The third clashes all opposing forces together. Even the system itself has been infected by the birth of “the one”. It wraps up by ending a war that was one-sided in reality, but the opposite was true in the simulated reality; the machines sought aid to save a system in which humans so desperately wanted to escape from. In the end, we are only given a promise; we never see the freedom being given and all that it entails. It also doesn’t answer the question of survival for either side. Long story short; I enjoyed the theology of ‘The Matrix’ just as much as the symbology and symbolism that it portrayed through the camera lens

Over the years I have come to appreciate The Matrix Revolutions more. At first I was underwhelmed by the ending but I now interpret it as a Yin and Yang idea. Both Neo and Smith were the opposite sides of the forces and needed to each other to exist, hence why Smith couldn't beat Neo in The Matrix Reloaded. By letting himself be taken over by Smith, Neo destroys the balance and therefore destroys Smith.

I don't know. The laughing Mr. Smith shot is propably one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Daniel, thanks for making this video. I have been a huge fan of the sequels since I saw them in the theaters, and have revisited them every couple of years since then. I defend them to all detractors, and it's nice to see videos like yours finally coming around to help implore people to give them another watch. Personally, I have always seen the Matrix Trilogy as a modern myth. The characters may be one-dimensional, and the plot may be simplistic and little more than a series of monologues strung together...but that's kind of how the great myths are. I feel compelled to clarify something, though: Your comments about the end of the final Smith fight revealed that you didn't (at least when you made this video) quite catch what was going on. Neo didn't blow up Smith like he did in the first film. Neo was plugged into the Source during that fight; When Smith assimilated him, Smith inadvertently allowed himself to be plugged into the Source, thereby giving the machines a chance to erase his code. (It's still a little murky, to be sure. I've never quite settled on whether Smith died because the Machines destroyed him, or if it was simply because he had fulfilled his purpose. Ultimately, a distinction without a difference. And maybe it could be both at the same time.) You're right that the films were all about choice. And I believe that the final moments between Smith and Neo reveal the underlying truth that we do have choice, but also will only choose what we were always going to choose. Neo in fact says both "because I choose to" and "it was inevitable" in virtually the same breath. Either way, great analysis. Glad you're a fan. Keep up the good work!

When Neo says “Because I choose too” is one of my favorite movie moments. Because until smith asked I never really questioned neo’s motivation. So when smith asked I found myself asking the same thing. So when neo responded it blew my teenage mind

I'm sure I'm in the minority now that even a film praising Reloaded is saying the Architect scene is overwritten, but I think it's PERFECT to have the architect's character communicate the way it does. The overuse of latin and all the pretension illustrates what the architect IS, which is a vast artificial intelligence that realistically would not sound very human at all even if it's using our language. And I feel the same way about Smith laughing. Agent Smith SHOULD be unnerving and barely acting in a way that reminds us of a normal human.

If these two films were combined into a three hour epic, I think it could have done more for me. OR - put some of the Animatrix backstory into the third part for some context.

The Matrix Reloaded= My favorite all time Action\Kung fu movie

I think the issue is pacing and story momentum. The sequels are probably better than most people will realise or be willing to repeat view to realise. However, the sequels are composed of solid chunks of either action, dense philosophical dialogue, deliberate emphasising of 'style', etc. It saps all the engaging involvement out of the sequels. And there are some serious misteps too. The TV-like cliff hanger of 'Reloaded' and the flat Smith poplulated Matrix at the end of 'Revolutions' are two that are hard to accept. I don't like the sequels, but I do admit that there is a lot of hard-work, ambition and talent involved. It's like a recipe that needs adjusting. Unfortunately they just didn't have enough time to get them right and admittedly the pressure on the makers was enormous.

The two sequels were absolutely equal in grandiosity with the first movie. A complete total success as a trilogy. People who didn't appreciate the sequels are the reason grey's anatomy has 17 seasons.

100% agree. I’ve been a fan of them since 2003 and think they’ve aged tremendously well.

I’ve loved The Matrix Trilogy since my first watch and I appreciate your video essay about it. I think that people hate what they don’t understand and the sequels are good as the original for me. The philosophy complexity and the wonderful cinematography of the Wachowski sisters were top notch at that time and I don’t think that the pacing is the problem. The major issue in my opinion was the high expectations from the audience. The directors didn’t want to do a Matrix 2.0, they wanted to deconstruct the original because all the Matrix philosophy is based on choices and doubts as humans beings. All the 3 movies are like the 3 acts of a film: the first movie is the beginning, the second is the conflict and the spannung, the third is the resolution. The Wachowskis filmography is full of transformations and revolutions, they’re transgender and so they’ve transformed themselves with the pure art of Cinema. They are also fan of comics and anime, so the style of all the three Matrix movies were constructed by their love for this kind of media and people in 2003 just hated it. Now they all watch so many trash anime and superhero movies...the irony! I think that all the dialogues aren’t pretentous but only simple and perfectly matched for each character like the Merovingian and the Architect, it isn’t so difficult to comprehend. All the Zion characters are also functional for their roles and the exploration of the Zion society in all of his pro and cons like the Machine World, is an incredible value added that shows all the grey areas of each side in the machine-human war. In conclusion, I don’t see so many flaws like you because I think that the Matrix Trilogy is a whole epic and philosophical story full of pathos divided in 3 parts. However, I liked your video because now I can see more people understand more this “trash” sequels and also all of you have good points in analyzing this films. No one has the absolute truth about anything, also The Oracle and Agent Smith ;) Thanks man for your attention and have a nice day :D PS: I also recommend to see all the Wachowskis movies to comprehend more their vision and flawless cinematography

I always thought that the scene with the Architect was really good. The Architect talks the way I would imagine a program like him would, down to everyone else…after all he designs and implements The Matrix.

Matrix sequels were both way more profound that the first movie but since most people are stupid they didn't get it and got mad, is basically how it went.

I never realized that people didn’t like the sequels

Neo was jacked in to the machine city. When he let Smith assimilate him, the machines were able to delete him. It's presented somewhat vaguely, but that was the "deal" between Neo and the machines the whole time.

I love the Matrix sequels. I also love the Star Wars Prequels.

After 20 years of watching & understanding these movies, I've truly gained an appreciation for the interesting themes.

9:08 because Neo carried the code to reset the matrix as "the one", therefore using him as a vessel was like using a usb drive with a formatting program already installed onto it, any other USB drives that doesn't have that program pre-installed is useless to achieve the goal of formatting Smith.

Morpheus' scenes in Reloaded are fucking awesome. I rewatched the movie last week and totally forgot how much I love Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, he's so cool and badass. I liked Reloaded after this last rewatch, but I have yet to rewatch Revolutions before Resurrected comes out.

Revolutions was never meant to add anything new. It can't be considered a flaw. It's just supposed to be the finale of the plot points introduced in Reloaded. It would like criticizing the last hour of the Dark Knight because it didn't add anything new. Think about it this way: you just spent 2 hours listening to world building exposition and philosophy. Watching Reloaded and Revolutions back to back, and you'll see why the last chapter had to be balls to walls action. The minds of the audience needed a break from all the philosophizing.

Very good video, definately have to agree. Watched the whole trilogy for the first time in 10 years and was blown away with how much I enjoyed them!

Excellent analysis. I'm revisiting these with my kids now and wasn't sure what I'd find now in my early 40's. I remembered the first one as being brilliant, obviously. But after seeing Reloaded I remember wondering if I was an idiot since I seemed to be the only of my friends that enjoyed it. Sure, there were some parts that dragged and it could never be better than the original, but I had a great time with it and it had action scenes that absolutely rivaled the first. As for Revolutions...woof. I didn't remember anything good about it. After the rewatch has now been complete I'm happy to say that I still find Reloaded a GREAT sequel. The 30 minute high action stretch towards the end of the movie is as engaging as anything from that time period. Revolutions, however, I still don't find very redeeming outside of the points you bring up. I'm hoping that the upcoming new film can be as redeeming for it as Rocky Balboa was for Rocky V. Again, excellent analysis and thank you! Know that you aren't alone in this battle. Keep up the good fight!

Neo’s flame vision and his ability to control machines in the ‘real world’ is because that world isn’t real either. It’s another level of control. And we see Neo breaking out of it in the last scene.

Neo was plugged into the Source. This was the reason why The Machines were able to delete/remove Smith from the The Matrix.

Bro, great vid, i can belive you only have 4 k views, it deserves way more

For a 15 minutes video you explain this very well. If all sequels were this "bad" then I'd want sequels of every movie. Although, to me instead of a trilogy they still could have done a single movie using both sequels. Sure that would have left less space for those epic action scenes, but there's also a lot of filler in between. For instance the long dance and Neo-Trinity love scene after Morpheus' speech, I'm not sure who it was for but I didn't need a music video right at the beginning. Actually the whole first part of the movie is skippable. And a lot of what happens in the third movie already more or less happened during the second one, with the same characters returning. One movie in the virtual world then one in the real world would have made more sense, they didn't need to force a trilogy imo. Still pretty great movies indeed.

5:49 This is the most phenomenal explanation EVER. If you do Mathematical Models you can understand what the Architect is talking about, remember: "Math is the Mother of all Sciences" ... "Math is the Language of the Universe".

The three productions are great. They are on my small list of movies that I like to watch many times.

Personally, I always thought Reloaded was superb, and Revolutions was okay. I never really understood why people bashed Reloaded so much.

I don't mind the wonky CGI at all during the Neo vs Smith clones fight because it makes sense storywise. He is now a virus, and he already has slightly impacted the Matrix. During the final fight with Neo in Revolutions, it's raining hard, implying that Smith is causing the Matrix to unravel.

Wow I was hooked on listening to you talk about the matrix. I happen to enjoy both seaqule and I see your points in this video. This video has put new mind now when I watch the movies again. Keep up the great movie analysis

People forget 2 and 3 came out months apart from eachother. The scaling of the story and how much content jammed Into like 4 or 5 hours was incredible when it came out imo. There is something very special about the first tho.

agent smiths laugh is my favourite part of the film, totally on point, and I'll doe before you can convince me otherwise.

I hope my wording makes sense: Okay, so we all know that the Smith that Neo fights at the end of Revolutions is the asymalated Oracle. What everyone seems to miss is that when Smith is standing over Neo, telling he's foreseen that event and then says "Every begining has and end, Neo" (and Smith seems surprised by these, as they were his words) ... is The Oracle showing Neo that even if Smith does asymalte him, he'll still be Neo from within (and thereby have more power to destroy Smith that way, because once he was in one Smith, he was in all of them, and that's when the machines fed him with the extra juice needed for him to complete his mission).

It is said at some point that when a program malfunctions or is no longer useful they are sent back to the source to be deleted. One of the theories I've heard is that by reaching The Machine City and connecting to the Matrix from there, Neo was able to "bring" Smith to the source. I think it makes sense because we get hints that Smith retains the memories of whoever he assimilated (he tells The Oracle something only Sati knew, then he tells Neo something only The Oracle knew). So, at first it looks as if Smith was going to beat Neo to death, but Neo says something like: "You were always right Smith, it was inevitable", but he's clearly not giving up, which confuses Smith and frightens him, so he tries to assimilate Neo to understand what the hell is going on, and that connects him to the source. The theme being thrown around was do we have a choice, or are things predetermined, and what The Oracle tells Neo was that he already made a choice, he just had to understand it, which is, like, the two things at once. And in the beginning of that fight Neo says he's there because he chose to, and at the end he says it was inevitable. My understanding is that you can't choose what you do, because the choices you make are always a byproduct of who you are. BUT you can understand who you are, and that makes the choices you were always going to make conscious choices. That's why The Oracle says 'Know thyself', and 'you can't see past the choices you don't understand'. There's a video from the channel Just Write who explains the rest better than I could.

Maybe Neo don’t really have a choice. Because when you look at it... Neo choose to save Trinity instead of Zion in the ending of Reloaded, but in the ending of Revolution, Trinity died anyway and Neo saved the Zion after.

Didn’t the oracle tell Neo before she was assimilated that smith was his negative his opposite, it was The code trying to rewrite itself because the architect told us that neo is the anomaly. Which is why he makes that choice in the second one he can either go to the matrix and the machines attack Zion or return his code to the source.

13:50 I don't think the problem was that no one thought "choice" was a major theme of the movie. Everyone knew it. The problem was how it was overused in not so subtle way in the movie which is also evident from the clips you show here. Everyone was like "we know already!"

Awesome video. I really like Reloaded. The Architect's dialogue is actually very layered... but you basically have to pause after every line to interpret it. So yeah, a bit heavy.

IIRC, Reloaded and Revolutions were considered at one point by the Wachowskis to be made as the 3rd chapter of the trilogy, with the second movie being a prequel about the rise of the machines (which eventually became a part of the Animatrix anthology). Concerns from studio executives about making a movie without the original cast lead to the proposed 3rd movie to be made as a 2 parter.

Interesting perspective. You're the only I've heard discuss Reloaded and not mention the Chateau fight scene. Also when you start in on Revolutions, you mention how disturbed you were behind Smith laughing. If I'd just gained the ability to see the future, I'd be laughing like Mark Hamill's Joker. The flame vision is how Neo sees machines and programs. It's how he sees Seraph in the tea shop, how he sees Smith in the real world and how he sees the machine city

Just finished watching Reloded and Revolutions for the first time in prep for the new movie. i never gave them the chance as a kid [despite not being old enough on release] due to the two movies coming out in the same year. For some reason i wrote them off as fake or something similar. Revolutions was way more convoluted but it was a wild ride i enjoyed.

Always hear people say that Neo should just blow up the Smith again like he did in the first movie. Why would he do that when doing it the first time is what made Smith become so powerful? Definetly didn't work as planned so dunno why he'd retry that particular move

I recall during the behind the scenes that Reloaded and Revolutions where filmed together with final cuts a month apart. I forget who said it but they stated that both movies could be considered one 4 hour movie.

Channels name: Eybrow Cinema, in preview thumbnail, Agent Smith's eyebrows are dancing. Good stuff.

After Resurrections...this video aged particularly well! Anyway, I think the Wachowsky never wante to make a sequel, of any type, but Warner was doing it with or without them, so...they tried. You had the Animatrix which was fantastic, and then the sequel (Reloaded and Revolutions were shot back to back, so they are closer to one big movie split in two parts than two separate movies), which expanded the lore A LOT, with a lot of interesting concepts, and then the twist about the one just being another form of control...sadly, the Wachowsky presented all these really good concepts, but they didnt know how to resolve them, by the end of Revolutions, they were just remaking the ending of the first movie; Neo is fighting Smith to save the world, because he is basically Jesus. Except this time the fight was lame, and came out after 2 hours of the Wachowsky basically doing a movie about mechas fighting flying robots. Reloaded aged surprisingly well (unlike Revolutions, the action sequences are spectacular), and Revolutions...well, it was a movie (btw, why was Morpheus barely in that movie?)

I think the biggest problem with Matrix 3 is the fact that it’s thought of AS Matrix 3, it’s really just Matrix Reloaded part II. I think if you watch 2&3 together it’s much more problem free because it really is just one long 3rd act.

I think you missed a critical point. When the architect was talking to Neo he mentions why the one is the one. He has a piece of the source code and that's what allows him to do whatever he wants in the matrix. The oracle also has a piece. So I think that was needed to purge virus Smith. The piece of the source is what also gives Neo the abilities he has outside the matrix as well.

It still surprises me to this day that Reloaded is so often viewed as the 'better' sequel while Revolutions is the 'worst' one...growing up as a pre-teen and teenager with the trilogy...I always felt the 2nd film was the one that needlessly over-complicated the story and focused too much on side-plots, while the 3rd film was the one that re-focused and re-centered the storytelling to give it a proper conclusion. Also...for me, Neo vs Smith at the end of the 3rd film is one of the all-time great one v one fight sequences....I was 12 when I saw that movie and that battle, for the fate of the world, was the peak of hype for me.

Zion works better as an abstract concept that's referred to rather than shown. Or at the very least, far too much of the sequels was spent in Zion with uninteresting sidestories and politics (i.e., Zion was poorly executed). Much of that screentime would've been far more interesting exploring the concepts of ghosts and vampires in the matrix and/or some clever storytelling involving the Merovingian. I can see how making a film largely about Zion sounds like a great idea on paper, but the way that aspect of it came out just dragged the movie down. A lot of the stuff in The Animatrix was far more interesting, and I always felt like "The Matrix 2" should've been a prequel anyway.

Both the Matrix sequels and Star wars prequels, are movies which I hated due to it being popular to hate, until I started to form my own opinions, and started to like them.

Seeing this in 2021 after watching the Trailer for the new Matrix. I really enjoyed your analysis and I'm happy I kept this tab of your video open. Cheers

Neo is the one, Smith is his opposite so when Smith plugged into Neo they canceled each other out. In other words, the opposite of the remainder (Smith) canceled the remainder (Neo), like 1-1 and so the equation of the matrix became balanced.

The dialogue is not overwritten. It is perfect. Why would the architect dumb down the explanation to not just Neo but to the audience, as well? The Merovingian's dialogue is supposed to be pretentious. That's what makes his character flesh, if you will. The last two flicks solidly the trilogy, as a whole. These are just my thoughts on the subject. Peace

it's almost... as if the architect realized due to his previous failures that humans needed a hope/struggle to believe the matrix was real so they wouldn't try to escape. When the architect tells neo this, neo begins to realize that the matrix is within a matrix. Hence why he can stop squids and see the golden code of the machines/the fiery code of smith.

I will forever contend that Reloaded, while not on the same level of the original (a really simple story elevated by killer worldbuilding), is still a great movie in almost every respect. Revolutions definitely has problems, but I think a lot of the problems hurt the movie more when you try to think of it as a standalone story, when in reality, it works a lot better when regarded as The Matrix Reloaded part 2. I think there's a reason they bith came out in 2003. The directors had a big story in mind but couldn't get away with putting a 4-5 hour movie in theaters, so it was split into two movies. I never had a problem with the corny elements like Smith laughing or or some of the lines of dialog. Embrace the absurd and over-the-top anime influence.

I'd rather watch the Matrix Sequels over the Cinematic Universe crap that comes out today.

Reloaded is great because it tears down the prophecy and rephrames what the central conflict actually ends up being. Plus all the great action. Revolutions is about resolution and more action, and won't blow your mind like the first two did.

To me the bashing of these movies is just an attempt to be the cool contrarian. We all enjoyed them when we say them in theaters but then after a few years some kids start acting like they are trash for no reason. The matrix sequels are the first time I ever noticed this trend of people going out of their way to bash movies, but I've seen similar things happen recently to things like Avatar, and more recently Christopher Nolan movies like Inception and the Dark Knight. Its like if a film is too popular it will inevitably become cool to pretend like its absolute garbage. You can usually separate this from actually bad movies because the criticisms tend to all be word for word the same and usually use language that you know for a fact your friend has never used before. And in most of the cases the criticism seems to be one of two things; either nitpicking an extremely minor detail and pretending that one thing outweighs or is representative of the whole movie, or the criticism is completely made up and has little to do with the movie. An example of the first would be in say Prometheus, my contrarian friend always says its a completely trash movie but the only reason he ever gives is that "scientists wouldn't act like that". Its a minor plot contrivance to get the movie going and would be completely overlooked in 99% of movies but for some reason because it became popular to hate that movie everyone latches on to it like its the worst written script ever. An example of the latter would be people calling Avatar a crap movie because it has some vague similarities to Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas. Never mind the fact that the film has nothing in common with those plots other than it involves a native people, but thats virtually the only criticism I have ever heard of it. From a technical standpoint it was amazing and it kept you glued to the screed the whole time. But again, it became popular to hate so this vague connection the plot has to a couple other movies that were made 20+ years earlier means its complete garbage. I've given up on trying to argue with people who want to hate on movies for the sake of hating them. Its a weird internet thing where people place their entire identity into this persona of knowing everything and most peoples egos cant handle admitting they were being stupid. If idiots want to ruin great, fun movies so they can never sit down and enjoy them thats their problem. I have no problem looking past a minor flaw in a good movie if it means a couple of hours of quality entertainment.

I had no issue processing the Architect’s dialogue, but the Merovingian was underdeveloped as well as the rest of the movie. Great ideas for a first draft.

Great analysis. I hated the sequels when they first premiered, but I was in high school and wasn’t really mature enough to appreciate them. Rewatching them in my 30’s I found them brilliant. There are some pacing issues due to the high pressure, difficult production (which apparently no one enjoyed) and audience expectations were just way too high. Ultimately, the sequels were a victims of the original’s runaway success.

A greatly needed analysis. I think the temporal distance to the sequels' creation helps us approach Reloaded and Revolutions more objectively. Your points ring stronger due to this.

I loved the sequels and I was surprised so many people hated them. Yet, I still don't understand what happened in the end. Zion survived and machines wait for next chosen one. What will he choose when he meets the architect? Will Machines ever loose?

I loved the overly complicated dialogue! It got you thinking. I agree the sequels are really good films, especially by today's standards where good films are rare. I think we were just spoiled back in the early 2000s.

I've always wondered what Neo's plan would have been to stop the machines if Agent Smith had not gone rogue.

The fiery vision that Neo was seeing was him being able to see all the electrical impulses from the machines it just happened to be yellow. The reason why Neo had to be the one to upload the virus that destroyed Smith is because Smith was no longer an agent of the Matrix and his code was more similar to Neo's. As the film explained Smith was Neo's opposite so the two had to be one again for the virus to work.

"your life is the sum remainder of an imbalanced equation." Making him "the one." The title "the one" didn't refer to "Chosen one" it referred to "the number one, the remainder in a math equation." No one ever seemed to notice that.

Well-structured, and well-said. Great job!

Yeah they are a little hammy at times, but even with the flaws they are more creative, stylish, action-packed and huge compared to anything we’ve had since. They make the Infinity Saga seem small and un-complex.

When Agent Smith quotes The Oracle “Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo”, Neo understands what he needs to do and let Smith assimilate him giving access to the machines to destroy Agent Smith witch Neo can’t do as he is everywhere.

Good video. I disagree with your take on the architect-which sounds like the mainstream narrative on him: "he was hard to understand and that's a bad thing." This is not so. First of all, how many of us didn't get the overall picture he painted: Neo isn't the 1st "one", freewill is an illusion, Neo has to reboot the Matrix or it will crash and kill everyone, Trinity is going to die, the architect can see the causes and thus the outcome of Neo's chooses ahead of time, and everything is inevitable. How many of us didn't get that even on first viewing? I did even though I was a teenager. Second of all, the rest of the architect's dialog being difficult to understand is now a drawback; it's deliberate. The Architect is basically God. He is so high above Neo (and the audience?) that he is difficult for mere mortals to understand. If you met the most logical computer program that exists, who's function is to design a digital "perfect world" and tried to have a conversation with him about how it works, would you expect it to be easy? His dialog was perfect; just hard enough that he feels above all of us, but just easy enough that we understand how screwed the humans are and that Neo played their game.

Might not be the best of what the Matrix has to offer but I do love parts of the sequels. The invasion is a great war scene and it's really cool seeing the humans fighting a literal wave of Squiddies. It's really cool to see how the machines fight with their numbers, just throwing themselves at the enemy cause they have the numbers to spare. Also the chase scene in the service tunnels is amazing. I hate to use the term "edge of your seat" but I always struggle to find a better description of the tunnel chase.

The Matrix sequels commit the same sin as the Star Wars prequels. They take the background elements of the story that give it texture and make them foreground, which diminishes their mystery and appeal. The Jedi, as reclusive mystics with incredible and surprising supernatural powers, are interesting as limited background to the primary story. Midichlorians, the Jedi order, Jedi council meetings, Jedi school, the Senate are BORING. Zion, squid battles, mech suits, the “real” world, all the prophecy/one mumbo jumbo are BORING. Those things are fine in the blurry background, where our imaginations can fill in all the details. Bringing those elements out in the light just exposes how flimsy and uninteresting the concepts really are and kills all the mystery and allure of the series. The big speech at the end of Reloaded by Colonel Sanders was just ridiculous and painfully pretentious. Computers are all about efficiency and precision. A computer mind wouldn’t whip out the thesaurus and pepper every other phrase with pointless obscure adverbs and adjectives and it wouldn’t meander around the point. Hal from 2001 and Hannibal Lecter are two great examples of how a superior intelligence might sound. The architect sounds like a 10-year-old’s idea of what a “smart” person sounds like.

15:29 "I implore you to reconsider." Master Tang: "Hmm... OKAY!"

The second and 3rd move were supposed to be one film and they were shot as 1. Because of run time they split them up. That’s why, if you can remember, they came out like 3 months apart

I always thought that Neo's real world powers were indicative that they were just in another layer of the matrix.

Absolutely fantastic video. It didn't make me change my mind on the Matrix sequels but you did a good job backing up your case.

I enjoyed 4 too tho. I was shocked how it’s action was very unsatisfying but I was there for Trin and Neo and loving Henwick and Groff a lot too helped. Plus the ending really felt like practically made for me wish fulfilment. It’s different at least. But obv nothing holds a candle to the original.

I just watched the original again and you know, the Oracle never actually says he's not the one. She let him make the choice by saying 'you already know what I'm going to say'. And though she doesn't correct him when he says it, she never actually says it. And then she just points out that he's waiting for who knows what, his next life maybe. Basically just pointing out what's preventing him from realizing his potential. As Morpheus said, she simply told him exactly what he needed to hear.

Deserves way more views, it's a good video with a compelling setup. KZfaq algorithms are r-worded sometimes

8:37 Totally disagree. As someone who has always had a love for these sequels even if I had to older for them to really click, I just think the Revolutions fight is more rewarding narratively. I love the ending fight of the first one, because it shows how Neo's own understanding of the Matrix, much like the hacker he was introduced as, has now grown to the level where he can throughly exploit and beat systems designed to protect it, but he still doesn't really understand the systems function itself yet and he misunderstands his own power as near-complete control. Reloaded obviously leads to him realizing that he's wrong. The final fight in Revolutions represents this on an even bigger level, where now Smith has grown so powerful that the machine he was designed to protect no longer can control him either and the two of them are more or less fighting for control of something that neither of them really wanted. Agent Smith's desire is to be free but, he is. In terms of the machine world, he had almost complete autonomy, compared to the other agents even, before Neo smashed him and he only got more freedom since then. It was almost like the Matrix rewarded him for failure. Hell I have always interpreted the Machine that breaks into ship at the end of the first was Smith in machine form. Smith only wanted human form because he thought it made him better when really all it did was make him more fallible. He can now actually die and can't reupload himself or copy or anything like that. Neo didn't want to control The Matrix and I would argue didn't even understand how to stop Smith when he went back into The Matrix. But he understood Smith so well by that point that he knew Smith would not pass up the chance to try to beat him personally instead of in a smart, calculated way. They knew each other so well at the point, both as people and as functions within the Matrix, that it hammers home how inevitable and somewhat pointless the conflcit between man and machine is. It's an endless cycle based on a misplaced sense of pride and purpose.

I agree with your comment on dialogue, but pretty much disagree on the rest of it. I never really found any of the action to be excessive, and the elaborate nature of those moments make total sense. Too much to type at this point. The only other problem I had with the sequels were some of the casting choices.

Your comments about Neo's actions in the Burly Brawl (thats how the fight sequence against Smith in Reloaded in is called in the OST) are by no means plotholes. This is the first time Neo sees Smith since he destroyed him, he has no idea how powerful is Smith now. Neo, knowing he is the one, goes to fight him probably assuming Smith is just another (upgraded) Agent like the ones he fights at the beginning of the movie. This is actually a sign of character arch, as now Neo is a bit arrogant. But he literally doesn't know what he is getting into, so when he found himself overwhelmed he naturally escapes flying. It actually makes a lot of sense. The other question is more arguable I would say, as it is part of the narrative that involves the philosophy of the movie itself, but inside the mythos around it it makes sense. Just minutes before the fight against Smith in Reloaded, The Oracle tells Neo he already made a decision, he came to The Matrix to understand it. He knows he needs to sacrifice since the beginning of the movie (it is hinted in his doubts and dreams), but it is crystal clear at the end of it and in Revolutions, what he hasnt realized is why... and thats where the last fight comes in. He understand he is doing it for love, thats what Smith's monologue is about. Neo lets Smith assimilate him because he finally understood he is sacrificing for love. The decision was made, he needed to understand it, like The Oracle said. Both Neo and Smith do not belong to The Matrix anymore, they use it to their will, but the code doesnt have control over them. As the virus he is, Smith knows how to control things that belong to The Matrix, thats (probably) why nobody inside of it can be used as a vessel. That's not the case for Neo, Neo like Smith doesnt belong to The Matrix, Smith do not know what can happen even tho is inevitable. I like the video, I largely agree with you, but I think your analysis of the movies details might be improved. Im not saying im the authority (I did watch this movies, and the original, in cinemas and I've been reading and thinking about them ever since), but I do think a lot of videos revisiting the sequels lack in this regard. Most plotholes aren't (they are understood inside the mythos of the movie), details do matter to the general plot, character do behave in logic ways and in their nature. The problems with the sequels are pacing, rhythm and tone. They are, like you say, by no means bad, but they are deeply inconsistent as pieces of media.