in a word: wow.

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2003)

I almost never like sequals. much less trilogies. stories tend to wane and fade as time goes on... not so for this film - in fact, for the first and only time i've ever said (and ever truly expect to say) this, i would say it outdoes the original film even. absolutely overhwhelming, but not in that visually-assaulting way like Matrix Revolutions was (i.e. lets just throw enough crap at the audience that they feel they're 'imersed' when really they're just oversaturated with sound and picture). To look at it another way, its like the difference betweeen hi-fi sound and club/concert sound - I would liken R.o.t.K to a good hi-fi recording where the idea isn't to drown you (whereas rock concerts try to blow your socks off) - which, considering it's basically an effects / cg / epic / spectacle type film, is absolutely astounding. Great performances (esp. considering the CG characters and environments), excellent music, sound design was awesome. Seeing it on opening night (midnight:01 tuesday / wed am) was a treat - and it was incredible how much the audience CLAPPED - something you hardly see / hear in a cinema these days.