If Neo can stop bullets, why can't he just bend his opponents to his will? Why can't he, for example, freeze swords the way he freezed shells? I suspect it might have something to do with the opposing intelligence. After all, the force behind a bullet is the result of a natural law. Inertia is what keeps those bullets heading his way, nothing more. Well, technically I'm sure that a variety of other forces are at work, but none of them are actively intelligent, which is my point, so I'll short-hand them all and call them "inertia" for simplicity's sake. To stop the bullets, he can merely create a localized field in front of him in which inertia suddenly doesn't work. Presto, the bullets don't move. But when a sword is swinging at him, in addition to the inertia of the swing itself, there is still an active force applying increasing pressure on the sword. His opponent didn't just swing the sword and forget about it, counting on natural forces to deliver the cutting blow. He is instead still actively applying pressure to the handle of the sword, ensuring that even if inertia gives out, his own strength will push through and deliver the blow. Put another way, a bullet is essentially inanimate and unconnected to anything animate. A sword is an extension of an animate opponent. It is worth nothing also that Neo is able to mostly counteract a swinging blow, though not with quite the same grace that he counters bullets. What should have killed him instead only barely cuts his hand. As a god-like superhero, Neo may be close to perfect, but he's not quite there. Besides, all of his power exists only inside the matrix. Outside, he is just human, subject to dangers and threats and unable to control everything. Apparently he has trouble even finding time to get busy with his lady. The life of a superhero, it seems, is full of far more responsibility than Neo might like.

So why doesn't he just fly away whenever danger approaches? In the end, isn't that what he does anyway? I've heard the criticism, and I'll tell you know that it is bogus. Again, anybody still reading who hasn't seen the film, I can't do anything for you at this point. Your stubbornness will ruin the film for you, I promise you. Maybe not quite yet, but soon. To understand Neo's actions, remember that he has been largely unchallenged for six months. Suddenly there is a threat that he can't simply defeat by wishing it away - a threat in the real world. Now he must find answers in the matrix, venturing out into area he hasn't bothered with before. He also must face opponents he hasn't dealt with before, or at least not at this level (or quantity). If an arch-enemy thought you had defeated suddenly turns up, would you run away immediately? Remember, you're a god-like superpower. Of course you wouldn't. Now imagine that there are eight of them. If anything, your curiosity is piqued. And certainly you still think you can take them all on. In addition your mind is struggling to understand how and why this enemy isn't gone forever. So you fight for a while before realizing that this is a losing battle, and you flee in confusion. In other cases, you completely defeat the entire array of the Merengovian's bodyguards hand-to-hand before flying in to rescue your compatriots on the freeway, win - or at least draw - a hand-to-hand battle with The Oracle's watcher, and generally win every battle you fight. Sometimes, granted, you continue to pursue your goal of getting the Keymaker to the proper place and time instead of stopping to bludgeon your enemy into submission, but in the end the only enemy that really managed to fight Neo effectively was Agent Smith, and only in severe plurals.