Zion
In the first part there was only the Nebukadnezar with a limited number of people – which at the end where mostly dead. Zion was just an idea shrouded in mystery. The Matrix – Reloaded widens the perspective a lot, and as humans are, Zion is no paradise. It’s a dark enclave where people wait for armageddon and struggle for power or live on faint hopes.

I really liked the power-struggle between Morpheus and Commander Lock. I also liked to see the disadvantages of being the Chosen One and that there are some councils [unlike that of the jedis], that know what to do. The only thing I wondered was: How do people live in metal boxes their whole live and don’t go mad because of agoraphobia? The Wachowski-Brothers [or whoever made Zion] did a pretty good job of designing this city.

Characters
Morpheus: He changes from the cool guy who just seems to know everything to the slightly lunatic crusader, that believes in the oracle – no matter what. The unresolved love story between him and niobe adds even more – so not unpredictable – depth to the character. After seeing him preach to the other captains, one can understand, why most people of Zion think that he’s crazy. I guess he’ll die of matyrdom in the 3rd part.

Trinity: Still the cool girl, now with more concern about neo. Dies, than gets reawakened by neo. No surprises here. Though this is not abd, I guess there’s not much room for improvement here. My prediction for the 3rd part: not so innocent bystander.

Neo: His Kung Fu got better. Else I go with Agent Smith: “You spend so much time using all your muscles except the one that matters most.” [points to head]. Serious: I was really positively surprised: Of course in the matrix he’s THE MAN. But in the real world he nearly seems to crack under the high expectations Morpheus and half of the people at Zion put in him. Also the relation between him and Trinity is very straight, I wonder if she made a scene about that kiss he gave persephone.

Link: Cool character, which also shows that Zion is not a bunch of rogues but meant to be a more or less well organized machine, but I found two things disturbing: I don’t really know what happened to Tank [well, except his girl saying: "I lost two brothers to that ship] and I fear that the long and tragic good bye between his and his girl was just made two build up a character which later gets killed and can be mourned about by the audience. [Like those nameless fellas which accompanied Kirk and Spock on their surface missions: almost everytime they died].

The Oracle: Cool. She’s a machine which isn’t a surprise and I was suspicious since she ate that candy. To me it looked like the red pill. So at the end she seems to be on the machines side or is there yet another surprise waiting for us?

The End
At the end Neo destroys some sentients with his magic chosen one powers. That made me speculate much about what really [really] is going to happen:

1. Big Mindfuck: Every human being has its own matrix and Neo is still inside his own head.
2. 2nd Level Mindfuck: If you leave the first matrix, you enter a 2nd. [Remember "13th Floor"?]
3. Game Mindfuck: In the end it’s just about a computergame, which produces multilevel-realities.[Remember "eXistence"?] Even worse: It’s a dream. [No. They won't do this to us won't they?]
4. The 6th Chosen One is a new step on the evolutional ladder: He takes his matrix-powers to the real world.[Most likely?]

Miscellaneous Questions
What is the purpose of Zion?
Why are there so many black people dancing and so many white people in the council?
What is Agent Smith’ problem?
Are the twins really dead?
What was that love-making scene about?
Do you think that’s air you’re breathing?

post Scriptum
I guess I’ve forgotten half of what I thought yesterday right after the movie and my I fear my not-so-fluent-english may be mistakable. So here is the short version: More [slightly overdone] action, much to think about, more ambivalent than the 1st movie but definitely worth seeing.