Think about all the sequels out there. Most of them are horrible and should never have been made, very few have ever been worth it. Generally, they are the attempt to squeeze out the last few dollars from a storyline. To me there is one sequel that stands above the rest and that is The Empire Strikes Back not only the best of the Holy Trilogy (I'm not counting the new movies here, and yes I know that a trilogy means three), but it took Star Wars to a whole new level for me at least. The question was could The Matrix Reloaded do that for this trilogy? While there has been loads of hype about this movie and expectations that were off the chart; the biggest question facing this movie was would it live up to the first one. Could the story be as well thought out, could the action be more over the top? From where I sat at the end of the movie I had to say yes to both of those questions.

The story picks up presumably 6 months after the first one; Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity have been busy pulling people out of the Matrix and the threat of the machines has continued to grow. The Matrix has some unusual features this time around from 1,000 Agent Smiths to a couple of crazy twin "programs." I won't give more away, but the story unfolds nicely and it keeps you hooked. In a movie where you expect the unexpected I found the story to be credible and intriguing without verging on the ridiculous or being prefabricated. They also introduced us to new characters and didn't fall into the trap of trying to give them too much background and making the movie drag. Overall the story was solid and the ending of this movie almost reminds me of Empire Strikes Back in that sense that you can't wait to see the next to figure out what in the world is going on.