"DORM-ROOM REEFER-PARTY PHILOSOPHY": Lileks on "Matrix Reloaded": He has all the same complaints as me: too talky, too much meaningless philosophy, Zion looked stupid, the action wasn't groundbreaking enough, the first was much, much better. And a major part looks borrowed from "Ghostbusters":
I knew I was disengaged from the movie when the Oracle told Neo to find "the keymaker," and I thought of Harold Ramis joining Sigourney Weaver to bring about the rule of Zuul. Come to think of it, the movie needed a big dose of Ghostbusting. Not in the gentle wisecracking Bill Murray sense. It needed plagues, ghosts, apparitions, giant Sta-Puft Marshmallow Men stalking down the streets in Matrixland. If Neo and his crew wanted to defeat the machines, why not play with the heads of everyone in the Matrix? Get inside the program. HACK IT. Use your m@d h@X0r skilz and give everyone a reason to disbelieve reality. But from what we see Neo et al have spent the last four years doing nothing but assembling a top-notch team of Scowling Operatives whose day jobs consist of crafting really cool sunglasses. Because, you know, you really need sunglasses on a planet with no sunlight.