The Plot:
In the third installment, the epic war between man and machine reaches a thundering crescendo: the Zion military, aided by courageous civilian volunteers like Zee and the Kid, desperately battles to hold back the Sentinel invasion as the Machine army bores into their stronghold. Facing total annihilation, the citizens of the last bastion of humanity fight not only for their own lives, but for the future of mankind itself. But an unknown element poisons the ranks from within: the rogue program Smith has cunningly hijacked Bane, a member of the hovercraft fleet. Growing more powerful with each passing second, Smith is beyond even the control of the Machines and now threatens to destroy their empire along with the real world and the Matrix. The Oracle offers Neo her final words of guidance, which he accepts with the knowledge that she is a program and her words could be just another layer of falsehood in the grand scheme of the Matrix. With the aid of Niobe, Neo and Trinity choose to travel farther than any human has ever dared to go - a treacherous journey above ground, across the scorched surface of the earth and into the heart of the menacing Machine City. In this vast mechanized metropolis, Neo comes face to face with the ultimate power in the Machine world--the Deus Ex Machina--and strikes a bargain that is the only hope for a dying world. The war will end tonight, with Neo's destiny and the fate of two civilizations inexorably tied to the outcome of his cataclysmic confrontation with Smith. (From Yahoo Movies)
My Thoughts: (Reviewed by K-Billy)
First off…my god. This is going to be the third time I’ve put my thoughts about this film into words. You’d think the second time I would’ve reviewed it I would’ve been satisfied with the results, but no. Well I suppose third times the charm, so maybe this will be the definitive version of the feelings I have towards this film.
Ok. This film was pretty much regarded as a disappointment. The quality, the story, the acting, the money. The story itself is not bad at all. The thought of Neo being a savior is actually quite intriguing. The conflict between the humans and the machines in the final battle for Zion has been a long time coming and is visually stunning. The whole thought of human beings as a race at their darkest hour, making a hopeless defense…their lives basically in the hands of one man who in a short time has gone from low level computer hacker to a new Christ. Interesting yes? In fact the only really weak part of the story is the love aspect. Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann Moss have absolutely no chemistry together and the whole Neo/Trinity union seems forced and fabricated. Which brings me to the acting. This film would have been infinitely better if it had been well acted. I’m not saying that bad actors were cast, I’m just stating that they seem to regard their dialogue with such a reverence that they forget to put any emotion into their performances. Some of the scenes are so tedious to watch due to the dull wooden deliveries of lines. The acting quality seemed to decrease after the first film. However there is still one standout performance. Even though the third time around it starts to get old, Hugo Weaving, as the nefarious Agent Smith is wonderfully over the top. Keanu Reeves, who is always criticized for lack of ability is painful to watch in some scenes, yet perfectly acceptable in others. It’s a mixed bag with the rest of the cast. Except for the young teenager who idolizes Neo and dreams of becoming a hero. Whoever plays him should never act again, because that is on par to be one of the most annoying characters ever.
The film itself is somewhat perplexing. It’s hard to think of it as one independent movie, because it’s really just the second half of The Matrix Reloaded. In this way it suffers, because the first half hour or so of this film is so badly paced as the beginning of a movie and so dull that it’s hard to bear it. There are so many questions being asked in this time period of the film that it makes your head spin. There is however a nice little treat in the form of a walking on the ceiling gun battle in the Merovingian’s strange S&M dance club, which is a symbol of hell (look at the elevator button), the Merovingian himself being the devil. You can detect the religious undercurrent throughout the entire film.
However after this stuttering start the film takes off. The three stories that are connected include Neo and Trinity traveling to the Machine City, the defense of Zion, and the almost suicidal flight of Niobe and Morpheus in a race against time to aid Zion in its defense. All of these are wonderfully blended together throughout the film. Speaking of Zion, this is one of two scenes in the movie that I felt were wrongfully panned. The assault of the sentinels is an amazing achievement of visual effects. The humans in their ACU robots firing shell after shell at a swarm of machines is an extremely impressive sequence that while is almost all CGI looks unbelievably real. All of this of course takes a backseat once Neo reaches the Machine City, sans Trinity. Making a deal with the leader of the machines, the Deus ex Machina, Neo fights the problematic Smith in the Matrix in exchange for peace between the humans and the machines. Once in the Matrix, Neo realizes that Smith now has complete control over all.
Which brings me to the second scene in the movie that I feel is unjustly picked on. The final battle between Neo and Smith, or “The Super Burly Brawl”, is visually stunning in every way. The colors the weather, the kung fu, water exploding, people flying through the air, thunder cracking, punches being thrown, and teeth and kicks cracking. It’s mind blowing. In fact it’s so well done it’s scary. All leading to the most improbable ending anyone could’ve thought for the series. I think the problem most people have with it (the ending) is that everyone wanted to see the classic Hollywood moment where after getting beaten Neo gains his second wind and annihilates Smith. However, it never comes. And the final scene of this film only adds to a slew of existing questions that people will have about this trilogy.
The philosophy of this film seems to be that Neo is a Christ figure. As the messiah, Neo’s main task comes in the form of defeating Smith, who is representative of Sin. Neo and Smith being opposites of each other but the same, leads to the only plausible ending. The union of the two, and the termination of Neo in his human form (if you happen to believe that Neo is merely a program(THE ONE) that resides in a human body, the anomaly of the equation.) It’s always an enjoyable experience to be able to pull these kinds of inferences or ideas out of a film. This very ability to create a Matrix philosophy shows that it has depth. So the story cannot be discredited. Whether you enjoy this trilogy taking the savior route or not, it cannot be denied that it did something unique. While this film is definitely poorly acted you cannot take away from the achievement that these three films, including this one have made. The visual effects in this movie are out of this world. And the story, while not what everyone wanted, was definitely intriguing.
It’s tough to be a trilogy
coming out in the same year as the final Lord Of The Rings film. And this movie
was put under a lot of scrutiny because people had unreachable expectations.
In my view, the Matrix Revolutions is not as flawed as everyone says, and brings
the trilogy to a climatic and unconventional ending.
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving,
Jada Pinkett-Smith
Directed by: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
Rated R