Joel Silver doesn't do subtle. One of Hollywood's most successful modern-day producers, his chew-em-up, spit-em-out style is already part of showbiz lore. In the 80s and early 90s he produced franchises such as the "Lethal Weapon" and "Die Hard" movies, but he's bested both of those with his Wachowski brothers collaboration, "The Matrix".

After the huge success of "The Matrix" and given how influential it's proven to be, how did you think you could top it?

Well, we knew that we had done something that people were very excited about with the first picture, and we knew that we wanted to continue the aesthetic. We also felt at the beginning that the people who were copying and replicating the style were sweet and cute for a while, and then it got to the point where it was impossible to see any action movie that didn't have some element taken from "The Matrix". It was almost de riguer that every action movie had to have elements from "The Matrix".

So we decided, with these two new movies, we wanted to raise the bar as far as we could, so that it wouldn't be possible for people to just jump on board and do what we did.

Apparently there are at least 29 continuity errors in "Reloaded". With all the money spent on it, how did that happen?

I don't know what those errors are, but it's gratifying that there's so much discussion and talk and activity about this movie. It makes all of us who were involved feel very good. And, it is the largest opening movie this year in American cinema.

Some critics are saying that the film already looks dated. What's your response to that?

I haven't read those reviews yet. But, I guess when you're coming in with this kind of force, it's kind of logical that there will be this kind of "deflation quotient" in the media. But the film works. It's an incredible ride. The story is really the key to all the "Matrix" movies, and the visual effects are only there to tell the story better.