I saw the much-hyped "Matrix Reloaded" a couple of weeks ago, and emerged from the theater with the unsettling feeling that I didn't like the film.

I Loved the original "Matrix." Capital L. It wasn't like anything I'd seen before, and as a hardcore movie and book and comic fan, that's hard to do. The plot surprised me, there was true tension between the good guys and the seemingly insurmountable bad guys, and the special effects were actually original. I expected to at least like the sequel. Give the Brothers W a bigger budget and let them play. As part 2 in a 3-part story arc, even if it wasn't as compelling as the first film, it was bound to be inventive.

It wasn't. The W Bros. went the way of George Lucas, hurling dizzying digital special effects at the audience in lieu of a decent plot or characters we give a crap about.

But I couldn't quite put my finger on the main reason I didn't like the film until I read The Self-Made Critic's review. As he so eloquently put it:

"One reason why the original Matrix rocked the house was that it was filmed like a comic book... So you had the look of comic book, the characters of a comic book, the ideology of a comic book and the coolness of a graphic novel. The sequel is NOT shot like a comic book, it's shot like a movie. So it's not nearly as cool."

Not only is it not as cool, it gives Reloaded a completely different feel from the first film. "Matrix" was a graphic novel given motion, while "Reloaded" is a film adaptation of a graphic novel given motion.

So I won't be seeing "Reloaded" again in the theater. Meanwhile, it's a mere 6 months until "Matrix: Revolution" comes to theaters. Since the 2 films were shot at the same time, there's little doubt the third film will be as lacking in character and story as the second film.

The good news, as George Lucas has taught us, is that 2 bad sequels/prequels do not negate the awesomeness of the original. We can bask in the coolness and creativity of the originals while actively ignoring subsequent films made by people who have forgotten what made the originals great movies in the first place.