Gripe with the 'dreads' (potential spoilers)
This isn't a criticism of the story's structure or anything, though I did think there were plot holes. However, this is more of an annoyance with a semi-common theme in movies that revolve around humanity and technology. Another example of a movie that casts humanity in a similarly uncomfortable way is the Matrix trilogy (particularly, the second movie.)
What I'm getting at, in this case, is the human population that was actually still human, the people that refused to become surrogates. In this movie they were portrayed as relatively filthy, poor people. I suppose that's plausible enough, given that nearly all of the earth's population were surrogate users (though, it's difficult to imagine, I have to say, that the hungry and poor in third world countries the world over could afford surrogates, while people living in formerly prosperous parts of the USA became destitute. But that's sort of a plot hole, and not really what this topic is about, heh.) The point that bothers me more even than their less civilized life style, though, is how they developed mentally and spiritually.
The dreads, at least those shown in this movie, were massively intolerant, posting "no machines" signs and being generally hostile, even to outsider humans, as with the treatment of Willis' character when he entered the community in the flesh. They were also more or less mindless zealots, hanging on the words of the Prophet as if they were gospel, the words spouted to them over loudspeakers at all hours of the day. The people who presumably sought to hold onto their humanity had lost it as much or more than those that were surrogates.
Since I mentioned the Matrix films, I should probably justify the connection here. Granted, the humans in Zion had much more reason to begrudge machines (since they were, you know actively committing genocide against any awakened humans) but the general mindset of those no longer enslaved to the Matrix were still part of a zealous mindset, and their version of civilization was very primal to the point of being depressing, what with the horrific "club dancing" scene in the second movie, the one that took place alongside the decidedly unromantic and not-so-tender love scene between Neo and Trinity.
Maybe it's not really inaccurate, but...doesn't this ever get any other viewers down? It always seems in situations like this where it's "humanity" versus "everyone else", even those that have supposedly retained their humanity have, in reality, lost it, in a way as or more profound than those they seek to rise up against? It's a very grim portrayal of humankind that's very cynical.