How has this commend been overlooked I can agree with you that with the knowledge of movies out to this day it might seem average, but in perspective of the movies from the time that The Matrix released it was pretty well above average. Grrr, !mrahil
To be honest though I thought it average even compared to films released before it or around the same time. It never gripped me in the way The Terminator (which coincidentally it steals a lot of its setting from), Alien or Predator did, it's certainly inferior to the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy in my own opinion, and it's nothing compared to Lord of the Rings. Hell I'd even say the Star Wars Original Trilogy is better (which says a lot given how much you know I look down upon the OT), because at least Luke had to work to become a Jedi, whereas Neo gets all the knowledge he needs programmed into his head - ironic that the resistance wants to be free of the Matrix yet still relies upon programming themselves to be able to combat it. Indeed if it wasn't for the small amount of struggling and learning Neo had to do to defeat Morpheus in their training and Smith in the final battle of the first film, I would definitely accuse Neo of being male Rey - he's 'The One' for no known reasons other than what is hidden inside Morpheus' mind, he overcomes most enemies without breaking a sweat and he always seems to make the right decision without ever taking time to think or making a mistake. The only charge he is not guilty of is being made OP for political reasons.
Watched The Matrix Revolutions yesterday so have seen the whole original Matrix trilogy now. I actually think this one was the best one, though only because the Dreadnought battle against the machines brought some welcome relief to the shenanigans inside the Matrix's software, and because Neo and Trinity snuffed it. I was not fond of either of those characters. The rest of it was still mediocre though, oh, apart from Hugo Weaving as Smith. He certainly brought some gravitas to it all.