I watched all three of the Matrix movies in theater.
The first Matrix was a phenomenal movie. I thought the setting was particularly intriguing and creative. I thought their version of the dystopian future was particularly compelling, and while the events that got us there were a bit implausible, their backstory held together just fine for sci-fi material. I thought some of the themes that most of us are living a shallow fantasy of a life oblivious and unaware of the deeper machinations driving society were compelling and worthwhile. As sci-fi goes, it was a fantastic film. As social commentary goes, I think the messages of the vapidity of society are even more relevant now than they were in 1999. The effects were revolutionary, and they still look good even now. I find it very difficult to argue against The Matrix.
Then the other two happened. Reloaded felt like they released a rough cut of the movie. The script was all over the place. The effects were unpolished then and show their age pretty hard now. And then, there was that 30 minute GM commercial that they passed off as a chase scene. Watch that chase scene again. Literally every car but for two were GM cars. The two oddballs were both 4th-gen Ford Taurii. We saw that same beige Oldsmobile Alero passed off as probably 15 different motorists on the freeway. Of course, the two main vehicles were Cadillacs. The cop cars were Caprices and Impalas (odd, given that the Caprice hadn't been produced for at least five years when it was made). That chase scene was entirely too long and entirely too much product placement.
Revolutions was better than the Reloaded, but only just. The rave scene made no sense at all for the feel of the rest of the movie, and it was grossly too long. The effects were better than Reloaded, but they still looked unfinished. But, I felt it was an ok wrap-up to the story.
The first one created a really compelling universe and presented it with compelling social commentary. The other two were passable action flicks. Only one of the three stands the test of time. Despite all that, though, I'm still a big fan of the series.