The Matrix Reloaded
An immediately noticeable step down from the original, from the over usage of sets and green screen, to bland cinematography, to cartoonish levels of stoic circling dialogue eating its own tail of profundity. Yes there are interesting ideas, yes that highway sequence is incredible, yes Trinity, but the first movie balanced spectacle, existentialism, and intense cultural criticism while never losing sight of the message that love for each other is what will actually make us superheroes; Reloaded (and Revolutions further) sacrifices so much heart in their ambitious commitment to a mythos that is neat in theory but probably would have worked better in an Elder Scrolls style game when there is room for long explanation at your own pace vs truncated meta philosophizing and bullet time. If The Matrix was a radical albeit aesthetic nudge to recognize the history of western culture (colonialist cisgendered heteronormativity, whiteness, etc) and the rot of capitalist individualism, the sequels feel like the very product being critiqued (made more apparent when you read about <PERSON> objections). 387