AK's Movie Reviews: The Matrix Revolutions

The Matrix Revolutions is first and foremost an amazing action film and a visual spectacular the likes of which I haven't seen before. As incredible and innovative as the visual effects in the first two Matrix films were, the third and (allegedly) final chapter tops itself on every level imaginable. The film must be commended for its level of visual innovation, detail and intensity. It satisfied my eyes and ears and I smiled about the sheer audacity of it but what it failed to do was reach me on any kind of emotional or psychological level.

The original film was incredibly thought-provoking and absorbing and still manages to raise questions on each viewing. The Matrix Reloaded expanded on the ideas and concepts introduced in the first film and still managed to be psychologically involving. The Matrix Revolutions is mainly an orgy of violence and action. I pretty much knew what direction it was going at all times, I predicted the fates of most of the characters and unfortunately I wasn't asking myself lots of questions or second-guessing human nature. This is a conclusion to a trilogy, and a decisive one at that but I found the payoff to be less than spectacular and the lack of mystery was disappointing.

The story this time around is (at least somewhat) more straightforward. The people in Zion are preparing for a huge war with the machines in their underground facility. Neobi (played by Jada Pinkett) and Morpheus need to return to Zion with their ship in order to help the war. Neo (Keanu Reeves) must reach the main city of the machine world and have a final confrontation with Agent Smith (Huge Weaving). Everything in the film and every character seems to be pointing in one direction, towards one goal. In the end, Neo has to save the world. Without giving away too much of the plot, I will admit that the cliffhanger at the end of The Matrix: Reloaded is paid off cleverly and convincingly.

The action sequences are what define the film. The battle in the underground world of Zion is one of the most visually stunning pieces of filmmaking I've ever seen. The choreography of the robotic sentinels is so flawless and painstaking and there are SO many of them that it had to have taken months to film. It's an epic, intense, unique battle and I particularly liked the large machine structures the humans used which had arms and legs that moved the same way they did. The battle between Neo and Agent Smith towards the end of the film is an absolute epic and yet another marvel of filmmaking (the scene took two months to shoot). It's a gravity-defying, environmental altering fight that includes rain pausing in midair and a slow motion shot of a fist flying through it. The confrontation is on the same kind of epic level as the light saber battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. The latter fight, however ended with one of the greatest surprises and cliffhangers in cinematic history. The fight in The Matrix: Revolutions ended more with a whimper.

This was the first Matrix film where I really took to notice the performance of Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. He plays Smith as a cold, calculated heartless machine and seems to love every minute of it. A scene where he takes his glasses off and cackles with glee while an insane grin stretches across his face shows how much he's enjoying himself. Agent Smith does deserve to be ranked with the great movie villains and I'd like to see Hugo Weaving play more villains in general. The problem with his character in this film, however, is he falls under the "Fallacy of the Talking Killer." If you've ever read Roger Ebert's book of movie clichés, you know that the Talking Killer is a villain who goes out of his way to talk and explain himself to the hero when he could just have shot him and got the job done. This happens on two separate occasions in Revolutions. It would seem that a computer engineered killing machine would have no problem in getting the job done quickly and precisely but two different times Smith talks too much and ends up not killing Neo.

This film has no lack of clichés. There's a death scene near the end that includes every single redundant cliché from any death scene in cinematic history and jumbles them all together at once. It was one of the most overdone, melodramatic, and never ending death scenes I've ever seen. Beyond that there is a young boy with a heart of gold who just wants to help in the fight isn't allowed to initially but ends up being in the right place at the right time in order to make several crucial moves that help in the battle. For a series of films that have taken action filmmaking to the next level, to see all of these
clichés was just disappointing.

I am by no means trying to dissuade anyone from seeing this movie. This movie should be seen by everyone for the sheer excitement and technical achievement. Itshould be seen for the marvel and spectacle, the non-stop action and special effects unlike any I've ever seen before. It's a film that would be hard to appreciate on any kind of small screen. The action just didn't add up to anything satisfying for me. The film has a nauseatingly happy ending that seemed tacked on with a nail gun. I was kind of hoping that the final moment in a trilogy about how the known human universe doesn't actually exist would still have some kind of ominous sign about humanity at the end. The Matrix: Revolutions is an immensely enjoyable film at times but in the end I was left feeling empty.