Came from good Anime, went to bad Anime

Rating: 4/10 (8 April 2004)

*** WARNING: Some spoilers within ***
Somehow, I saw the ending to Revolutions coming. Many will notice the film styling of all three Matrix movies match techniques used by several prominent artists and animators in Japan. It was this sleek style and method of storytelling that made the Matrix unique. The Brothers created the impossible: a true live-action anime.
However, anime reflects many trends. One such long standing trend in anime/videogames is to convolute the ending, as seen in such anime like Evangilion and games like Final Fantasy 9. Of course, the Matrix Revolutions picks up on the convolution as well. The Brothers left a lot of unexplained plot threads out in the open at the end of this movie. Yes, a few were explained by the Animatrix and Enter the Matrix. But to require an audience as large as the one the original movie enraptured to go out, buy them, and then stomach them, is just amateurish on the part of the Brothers.
Regarding the heavy-handed religious symbolism, I didn't mind it. In fact, I think it's one of the charms of the trilogy. The main problem with the symbolism in the third movie is that it takes a full 180 degree turn from being faintly hinted at in the first movie to being the central story. The Brothers could have sacrificed some of the "Pilgrimage" to re-explain some of the plot points dropped in the Animatrix and Enter the Matrix for the benefit of those who didn't go out and buy them.
*** SPOILERS ***
The greatest crime, however, was leaving the Merovingian out in loose-string-land. Almost all of the characters lost their intrigue in Reloaded, while the Merovingian was the only one who retained his intrigue even after the end of Reloaded. The Brothers went to a lot of work to make him seem like a central figure to the story, and then they just dropped him in the first quarter of Revolutions. Unforgivable. One of the themes running through all three Matrix movies was rebelling against conformity and authority, and when the Merovingian made his appearance, you knew he embodied both conformity and authority, and even more, he wielded it like a sword against his enemies. I believe he represented this theme even more so than Smith, who ended up loosing all of his marbles and going completely insane by the time of the final confrontation. A final confrontation with the Merovingian would have been much more appropriate to end this Trilogy.
*** END SPOILERS ***
In the end, the final chapter of the Matrix comes as no surprise to me.
I went into the theater with low expectations and came out with no change in my opinion. The tragedy here is that this Trilogy could have been something great. By taking away the Animation, and thus the stigma of "kiddy cartoons", it could have given the masses a glimpse of what good anime really is. To its credit, the movies did achieve that goal--it let the masses see what bad anime is.