In fact, "The Matrix Reloaded" has a spectacular cliff-hanger ending which leaves audiences begging for more. "The cliffhanger is so substantial you will want to see it soon, and we're aware of that. I think we won't even have to advertise the third film, we'll just tell people the date, and they'll come," boasts producer Joel Silver. The Wachowski brothers originally planned to have both films be summer releases, but the tremendous amount of post-production work pushed out "The Matrix Revolutions" until November. The two films were shot together to save production costs, with production starting in the Oakland and San Francisco area in late March, 2001. From there, the crew moved to Sydney, Australia, where filming wrapped on August 21, 2002.

Production of the two Matrix sequels was plagued by the untimely death of two of the co-stars. R&B beauty Aaliyah, slated to play the role of Zee, completed only the initial shooting for "The Matrix Reloaded" before she was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas on August 25, 2001. Likewise, Chicago native Gloria Foster, who played the Oracle in the first film, died in New York City on September 29, 2001 from diabetes. While she had completed work on the first sequel, she had not yet begun work on the second sequel.

The first "Matrix" film became famous for its innovative special effects such as staggered-motion fighting and slow moving bullets. Many films that followed "The Matrix" sought to duplicate or sometimes parody these effects. At first the Wachowski brothers were flattered by these imitations, but as time wore on and the parodies mounted, they became irked. So in the new film, they go for visual effects that some believe can never be copied. According to producer Joel Silver, "We have done visual effects for the movie that, because of the time that we took to make them and the cost, will never be seen again. So I really think that the bar has been raised so high that, you know, there is no bar. This will end the way movies have been made up to now, because they can go no further." Reportedly, one of the new effects used by the Wachowskis will let the camera pan through the exploding car windows in slow motion.

Two exciting new characters added to the "Matrix" ensemble are albino twins with silver hair, silver jackets, and mirrored sun glasses. Known simply as Twin 1 and Twin 2 (Neil and Adrian Rayment), these baddies are "deleted programs" in the Matrix, who cavort about the network as free entities pursuing their own agendas. They live the lifestyle of rock stars, zipping about in sports cars while conversing in suave British accents. The twins have major fight scenes with the rebels, including one stunning sequence featuring an acrobatic swordfight against Neo, with special sabres that have rotating blades.