I think in general the first Matrix movie was well received and largely understood. But in general I would say the sequel films were not as well appreciated. I was told by a coworker at the time that they were simply doing a Christ/Antichrist dynamic and otherwise the sequels weren't that clever. I've heard it said the sequels were much smarter than the original and simply way ahead of their time. In the light of a 4th film and nearly 20 years since the last one, were the 2nd and 3rd films that smart?