The Matrix Revolutions

The first “Matrix” movie may have been clichéd, but it took old elements and redid them in a great flick focused by an essentially interesting concept and good story subtleties. “The Matrix Reloaded” had its moments of excellence, but to get to them you had to go through many boring fights and endless monologues about choosing from choice and fate. It was a very different film and an overall disappointment. Those who hoped for answers in “The Matrix Revolutions,” also released in 2003, or at least a worthy sequel to the original film, are going to sadly be left with about nothing again.

If this movie came out sooner that year, maybe in July, it could have been in better hands because what you see here is a summer blockbuster – and a very average one to say. Garth Franklin mentioned in his review, “The money is all onscreen, the FX from a technical point of view are utterly tremendous and visually it can't be faulted.” However, the script & dialogues are terrible, the action scenes go on way past the point of dull and the principal flow of the whole movie is that by the end, the audience is left feeling very ripped off. Franklin mentioned that, “Take away the pretty pictures and you have a film as equally problematic as other bad sequels this year ala "Bad Boys" and "Charlie's Angels" but without the playful sense of fun.”

Franklin goes on to say, “For all the complaints about 'Reloaded' being too high brow, the opposite is true with 'Revolutions' - there's almost no depth here.” The first half hour is also the worst. If you haven’t seen the first two films, then don’t even try to understand. If you haven’t seen “The Matrix Reloaded” before this, it’s still going to be tough to sit through the beginning. Franklin mentions, “From a family of programs in a train station limbo, to a new Oracle (Mary Alice) who gives her role dignity but lacks the quirky sense of humour so signature of her predecessor - its a class in exposition 101 with endless talking albeit very little said.”

When the movie gets to Mega City’s Club Hel (an interesting, but desperately theatrical club), we once again meet the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson). Franklin brings up that, “Gone is the dangerous man with a taste of eccentricity, replaced by a Bond-esque olive-sucking baddie complete with trophy wife with just one line” (however, the hot Italian actress and fashion model, Monica Bellucci’s shot of her chest in here is the most impressive FX shot of the whole movie). After that point, the film starts to deteriorate. The one that is the most notable is the main actors of the movie are missing.

Franklin speculates, “Maybe we've been spoiled by TV or films like "Return of the Jedi" or "LOTR: The Two Towers" where there's constant cutting between 2-3 separate subplots but its an effective storytelling method which helps keep the pace moving and add tension.” For an hour or so in the middle of the movie, we see the defense of Zion and that’s it. Franklin says, “Sure Morpheus' head appears at times and Jada Pinkett Smith puts in a far better turn this time out, but they're the B-story to what is one of the longest non-stop action sequences on film.”

Franklin goes on to say, “Yes its random faces (such as the overly eager kid (Clayton Watson) and the old warhorse general (Nathaniel Lees)) in CG tonka toy gun suits shooting non-stop at squids.” It’s fierce and furious to be sure, and impressive but also tiring and insistent to the point it becomes tiresome. Zee (Nona Gaye) and her masculine army friend (Laurence Fishburne’s wife, Gina Torres) (Franklin calls her “a Vasquez wannabe”) fire rockets and more rockets, the council contemplates, the shooting continues, some gets killed by Sentinels, something random crashes and falls over, etc.

Eventually, we get a breath of fresh air from this and return to Neo, Trinity, the machine world and, obviously, the much commercialized fight of Smith and Neo in the rain. The outsides of the machine world look great, likewise there’s a nice moment in here when Trinity sees a natural beauty for the first time in her life and comments on it before it disappears. Yet, it also leads a moment of the film that was designed to be emotional is actually ends up being laughable in the extreme for both what is said and how long it bores you.

Even though the Neo/Smith fight again looks visually great, it’s also completely flat. These two can’t hurt each other, but they keep going on and on in different ways to the point where you are saying, “Finish the fight, guys.” Franklin mentions, “Indeed if there's one thing this whole sequence does well is that it inspires you to think about possibilities - not about what's happening on-screen but rather how cool would a Superman movie be using the filmmaking techniques used here. The ending I'm not going to even comment on, suffice it to say it renders the point of pretty much everything before it moot and cheats the audience - its a stop gap measure at best and leaves open way too many sequel possibilities for a film that it was claimed would always be "the last".”

Is this movie worth seeing? Maybe for the fans. Even though the action felt like something you would see in a cartoon in the second film, it does have more weight here and by having things take place in the real world, it does give it a bit more brutality and a real sense of desperation at times, it’s interesting to see a movie where the idea of people praying for a better tomorrow comes off sincere (for the most part, at least).

Bruce Spence has a nice little turn as a wild-eyed traveler program named the Train Man, and Hugo Weaving does quite the best antagonist work ever as Smith. The main convincing reason though is eye candy – this is what $200 million and a boatload of CG machines can buy and filming techniques give in these scenes will probably never be used again. For cinematographers and filmmakers of different skill who have a liking for visuals, this movie is for you.

Sadly, it’s just flat for the rest of the audience. Those who found “The Matrix Reloaded” not “sci-fi action worthy” enough for them will get into this more. Yes, it’s designed as more of a crowd pleasing film than the last. I agree with Franklin when he says, “Yet I honestly prefer "Reloaded" myself and think with the failure of many of this years bad sequels its been shown that people are getting tired of these bloated blockbusters with little or no point.” Don’t believe any of the talk from the producers that “this is actually the second half of one big movie,” saying and look smartly this feels very different to the other two, Franklin says, “far more glossier and vapid best sums it up.” A nice empty ending to a film series which should’ve just ended at the first movie.

My brother was the only one who went and saw this in the theaters. My sister and I didn’t see this until I got it from the library, I say when I was in late high school, early college. You can believe we fast forwarded through a good majority of this movie since it was just boring us to death with so much dialogue and what action there was, it felt flat. Undeniably, this is the worst one of the three. If you want to see this, go ahead, but I say you should just watch the first one and “The Animatrix,” and that’s it. However, Nostalgia Critic is right when he says that none of these movies, even this one, is god-awful. All of them are still watchable and I credit them for at least making an impact in cinema.

So that ends “The Matrix Month.” I hope I gave you good recommendations, although I think anyone could tell you that it was obvious that they should have left the series off at the first movie and not continue it on. Look out next month to see what else I have in store for everyone.