The 2nd and 3rd ones are still fun, action-packed movies with ground-breaking effects. The Matrix set an impossibly high bar and it was not originally planned to be a sequel, let alone a trilogy. They also whipped them together much faster, so in that context, I think they did a great job.

I’m not 100%, but I’m pretty sure Lana undertook it to destroy the series and get the movie studio to stop asking for sequels. It’s like the central theme of the movie.