and there’s a kind of rave scene that just didn’t seem to fit the movie (in my opinion).

I thought the rave scene was great. I'm not clear on the symbolism, but they were trying to make some kind of a point by intercutting between the dancers, the dancers' muddy feet, and Neo/Trinity.

I think they may have been trying to show "what exactly are we hoping to save?" in addition to making some sort of symbolism point.