> That said, I thought two philosophical speeches went on too long (the Architect's and Merovingian's)

Funny, the only philosophical speech I liked was the Merovingian's (quick question: is his name "Merovingian" or "the Merovingian?" I thought it required the direct article, as so many other programs did [the Oracle, the Architect, the Keymaker, the Twins] but I could be wrong). I don't believe it really meant anything, but, I dunno, I liked the character. Personal preference, I guess. I also hated the Oracle in the first movie, and wasn't keen on seeing her return.

> which was not the case in the original Matrix, so maybe what people are objecting to is not their meaninglessness but the way they disrupt the pace. The original film wasn't exactly evenly paced either, but we were still learning about what the Matrix was and who all the people chasing Neo were, such that the uneven pacing does not become apparent until a second viewing, when we already know the answers.

I can buy this. The pacing in "Reloaded" was way off. For starters, that first hour or so is just so loaded down with crap. But things really pick up in the second half. The original had a really strong opening act, a slow, drawn out middle and a humdinger of a climax.

> Those two scenes, however, were my *only* problems with Matrix Reloaded. On the whole, I think it's superior to the first movie by a nose. Why? Reloaded is a stylistic improvement, and in a movie whose purpose is 100% style, what other metric are you going to use?
>
> The original had two scenes that blew my mind at the time: the first shot of Trinity taking out the cops, because that was the first moment we saw the kind of action we would see later, and the climactic skyscraper/helicopter sequence.

My favorite scene in the original is still the Neo/Morpheus fight, or maybe the Neo/Smith fight in the subway. Guess I'm just a sucker for good kung fu.

Oh, on an unrelated note: my favorite non-action scene in "Reloaded" has to be the Neb's docking in Zion. I loved the people controlling the gates hooked up to the computers, and I loved the way they did all that. That was just GREAT.

Stephen