By now, the die hard, cult followers of The Matrix have already seen its newest chapter, The Matrix Reloaded. The excitement of seeing new special effects, fight scenes and car chases has pumped adrenaline through the veins of admirers of the epic to the point where yelling “That’s so cool!” is no longer enough. The Matrix Reloaded is a journey into the philosophical underlining of the “real” world and a bold step towards the rejection of advancing the rise of the machinery in the world. But mainly, The Matrix Reloaded is fun.

The film delivers just what is expected of a second in a series of three — a proper introduction to the problems in the last piece of the trilogy, good fight scenes, exciting plot twists and a naturally confusing explanation of the Matrix itself.

In Reloaded, Neo (Keanu Reeves) is fully aware that he is The One. He knows he must fulfill his destiny of saving the human race from the machines. But while the first film presented the machines as an ever-present, yet distant threat, the second part brings the danger closer to Zion, the last human city located in the earth’s core (the only place where the Earth is still warm).

The machines are burrowing through the earth to reach Zion. Their estimated time of arrival in the city is about 72 hours — that is all the time that Neo, Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) have to save Zion.

The trio, along with their trusty ship and its crew, must travel back and forth between the Matrix and the real world to save the human race. The only hope for salvation lies in Neo.

Only a few scenes have a blatant use of computer generated images. This seems to be the most offensive shortcoming of the movie, if not to count the Harry Potter/Superman-esque flying sequence in which Neo gains superhuman powers. While this phenomenon is easily explainable in the Matrix, it somehow doesn’t seem to fit to the rest of the film.

Unfortunately, the film focuses more on plot advancement and fighting instead of the philosophical concepts so important to the premise of the first film. However, that does not take anything away from the overall effect of the film.

The fighting sequences are amazing — they are nicely teased in trailers and well elongated in the film. The multiple Agent Smiths (Hugo Weaving) are a good twist, and his character ties Reloaded well with the original.

The acting is as expected — well performed and similar to the first one — with maybe the exception of Morpheus’ Hitler-like speech in Zion, which makes him a leader of all people, not just his crew.

The overall effect of The Matrix Reloaded leaves the audience longing for more and anticipating the third part, due out in November, and that is exactly what it achieves. The effect is multiplied by strategically placing a teaser trailer for the last part of the trilogy after the credits. Reloaded is fun, it’s exciting and it builds up and appetite for the final part.

Sci-fi/Action, R, Running time: 138 minutes