Movie Review – The Matrix Revolutions

You’d need a good punch to the face too after seeing this film.The Plot – When we last left Neo & company, he was in a bit of a coma following the rather unique display of power outside the Matrix. The Matrix Revolutions continues from that point with Morpheus & Trinity aboard “The Hammer” one of the few ships that survived an ambush from within the Zion fleet. While planning on how they will return to Zion the crew comes across Niobe’s ship which thankfully is only in need of minor repairs. It’s discovered that somehow Neo has been able to plug into the Matrix without any external equipment and after a brief recovery op, Neo tells everyone that he must make the journey to the heart of the machine city. Niobe volunteers her ship and with Trinity at his side the two crews go there separate ways.

Will Neo complete the tasks necessary to save Zion before the machines reach the heart of the city? Read on to see if you’ll even care…

The Review – Looking around the blogosphere there was quite the rush to see this film… I kid, I kid. Watching The Matrix trilogy is like seeing a great magic trick and then being told how it’s done immediately after. As groundbreaking as the first film was, the illusion was completely dispelled by the inept storytelling and reused ideas in the two sequels. It’s not that there are a lot of plot holes, but it felt like new ideas kept being introduced for the sake of having a new idea. Like a little kid who’s caught in a lie, the rambling continues on incoherently in hopes that eventually what’s being said will come together.

The climax of the movie is yet another kung-fu fight. But wait it’s not exactly like the first fight between Mr. Smith & Neo, there’s FLYING involved. Apparently the dramatic control Neo gained over the Matrix only allowed him to simulate ONE of Superman’s powers. Of course, he now has that freaky Matrix vision whenever he’s not plugged in.

Frankly, when it was all over, I really didn’t care. In fact, I found myself scratching my head wondering what really was so horrible about the Matrix? If it was a choice of living under the illusion of a world where I had a 9-5 job, friends, beer & regular nookie, why in sam hell would I want to know it was all a lie? Thanks for yanking my ass out so I can spend the rest of my adult life underground without online porn. It’s no wonder Cypher ended up a traitor, I know I’d kill for a good steak after a hard day’s work.

I know what you’re thinking – you really didn’t point out any specific details in this review. You are correct dear reader, that’s exactly the kind of impression the film left on me.

Grade: D (I am sooooooo looking forward to the final chapter of the Lord of the Rings trilogy)

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13 comments

  • Ryan November 10, 2003   Reply →

    RotK looks better than the first two combined. I was a bit disappointed with the novel alterations in part two (they added the elves to the battle at helm, wtf) but I like Peter Jackson as a director and I’m sure he won’t let anyone down. So close…

    And by word of grapevine, I heard that Elf is a great movie. Sure, you and I both thought it looked really queer in the trailers, but the show sold out here at the local theatre for the first 3 showings. W.F. really holds it together. He’s on the cover of Esquire this month – I guess he really did deserve the spot.

  • A.J. Wood November 10, 2003   Reply →

    Obviously the buzz surrounding The Matrix Revolutions deluted its overall sales. From what I gathered, if Elf had been out on the same number of screens and started the week just as early it would have beat the revenue generated by the final Matrix chapter.

    As it is, I think it was a pretty close second.

  • Roland November 10, 2003   Reply →

    Are there any spoilers in that review? I’m scared to look.

  • A.J. Wood November 10, 2003   Reply →

    No, not really any spoilers. Overall disgust & disappointment, but no spoilers.

  • Roland November 10, 2003   Reply →

    Heh, well if it’s that negative maybe I won’t read it anyway… 😉

  • Roland November 10, 2003   Reply →

    “No spoilers” you say, then the first paragraph is the plot of the film! I save this till after I’ve seen it I think… 🙂

  • Aidan November 10, 2003   Reply →

    Okay, while I did actually enjoy this film, I can’t fault your review at all. lol 🙂

    I thought it was an excellent conclusion to the series.

    I’m looking forward to LOTR:ROTK, too.

  • Rick November 10, 2003   Reply →

    I thought Matrix Resolutions was a complete let down. The attempts at Buddist philosophy were completely weak compared to the first film…. and actually, there is no indication that Relvolutions is the last film in the series. The plot was full of holes, and there was no real closure. Even the special effects and Kung Fu scenes were mediocre.

    !!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!! – Don’t read below if you haven’t seen the movie.

    The “Matrix” was still running at the end of the film….. A truce was agreed to between the humans and the machines… no other humans were liberated! How can there be a truce when the machines need energy to run? Also…. the sun was shining when Neo and Trinity popped through the clouds (I thought the humans blackened the sun?)…. The machines could have easily just built a solar structure for energy and shut down the Matrix long ago. The architect and oracle were still talking at the end of the film…. weren’t they supposed to be programs? WTF?

    Also after centuries of war and human abuse (as Duracell batteries)…. suddenly the “Smith” program becomes the enemy that the machines and humans (well really only Neo) unite against. Hmmm And what does everybody in Zion think? Only Neo knows about the truce….. Morpheous basically takes a guess that Neo solved their problems…. Suddenly everyone is supposed to live happily ever after? WTF again!?

    Once the Smith program was terminated, why didn’t the machines just kill all the humans? Easy enough at that point. Actually, Smith basically self terminated once he realized his “purpose” was to end…his ass wasn’t even kicked….what kind of closure is that?

    Matrix Revolutions was potentially worse than Terminator III which also sucked. I look forward to a kick ass Kill Bill vol II…. and a LOTR:ROTK.

    They should have just left well enough alone after the first film. No wonder they released Revolutions at the same time around the world…. once word got out about how much it sucked… only a fraction of the folks who have seen the first two films would have shown up.

    A.J., I’m surpised you have it a D…. as my old ear training professor would say back at Berklee: FLUNK MINUS (F-) would be my rating.

    Somebody make another ground breaking movie like the first film!

  • Lauren November 10, 2003   Reply →

    Everyone stop reviewing the Matrix!!! I still haven’t seen the 2nd one!

    I know, I know ok?

  • Chris November 11, 2003   Reply →

    The review is right on the money: there really was no purpose served here. I would have been content with the first one just being like “Yeah, there is a Matrix..tough shit” as opposed to this pseudo-elaborate crapola fest.

  • Aidan November 11, 2003   Reply →

    Rick – I can’t really blame you for looking too deeply into what is essentially a Hollywood action flik, since I’ve done the same in the past, but:

    “How can there be a truce when the machines need energy to run?” – They don’t give you all the answers – I think they expect you to use your imagination and decide for yourself what happened. But I think the suggestion is that if humans and machine work together, they would find a way. (Awww)

    “I thought the humans blackened the sun?” – In the first Matrix film, Morpheus says the humans “scorched the sky”, not blackened the sun. You can find out about what happened in more depth in the Animatrix shorts.

    “The architect and oracle were still talking at the end of the film…. weren’t they supposed to be programs?” – The Matrix was still there, so why shouldn’t the programs still be there?

    “Morpheous basically takes a guess that Neo solved their problems.” – Well the machines had full opportunity and access to wipe out all of the humans and they all suddenly stopped. What should he have thought? Everyone was expecting Neo to do something.

    “why didn’t the machines just kill all the humans?” – Because the machines know that even if they killed all of the humans and kept everyone in the Matrix, just as the Architect explained in Reloaded; there would still be that small percentage of humans who reject the Matrix. Why not end the war and try to find a way to live together? Maybe the machines didn’t enjoy living like that either, and were just doing it for survival.

    Okay, so it’s cheesy as f#ck, but still. 🙂

  • A.J. Wood November 11, 2003   Reply →

    Woo Hoo! My first heated debate in a comment thread and it’s about action films.

    Hoo-ray… BEER.

  • Rick November 13, 2003   Reply →

    Aidan,

    You are right…. my expectations were quite high… and perhaps the W. brother deserve some poetic licence given the impact the first movie had on me (I saw it at least a dozen times)….. and maybe I’m getting too old to appreciate mindless action and SFX…. Bottomline is…. I was not entertained by this movie. For me, this best part of the movie was recognizing the Sydney Landmarks. Hey…. Keanu even had a coffee at the cafe I frequent… there is a picture on the coffee maker to prove it….. so I did derive some pleasure from this movie…even indirectly.

    I saw Intolerable Cruelty a few nights ago and laughed my ass off. It reminded me why I go to the movies in the first place…. to be entertained. But heck, for me even the mildly entertaining Solaris was kinda cool on an intellectual level (everyone else I’ve talked to hated it with a passion). My taste must have changed…..I think the Matrix Revolutions sucked Koala caca (a brand of chocolates they sell to American tourist at Australian souvenir stores).

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