Hmmm, tricky one...

Rating: Null/10 (15 April 2004)

WARNING **SPOILERS**
I don't like to be led too much by previews and reviews before I see a film, although I happily read them. So I was quite distressed to read so many negative pieces in the press about The Matrix Revolutions. Naturally, I ignored them, and went to the cinema to see it. Frankly, I felt let down by part three. Addmitedly, Reloaded was a loud, brash rollercoaster, but it was bloody good fun at least. So even though the good guys win in the end of Revolutions, it was alarming how much it felt like a downer.
Nevertheless, when the DVD came out, I snapped it up (gotta complete the set, y'see!!), and having seen it a couple more times, I now look at it in a different light.
It's good. Not great, but good. Some people have said that it is a shame that Neo, Trinity and Morpheous are not part of the battle for Zion, but why should they be? They weren't in Zion at the end of Reloaded, and as Revolutions is a direct continuation of that film, there is no real reason for them to be there. Certainly Neo (Keanu Reeves) has bigger fish to fry, for one thing.
Oh course, if you haven't seen the first two films in the series, this will leave you completely lost. In fact, first time round, I was still completely lost by the end. What happened exactly? Has Neo been turned into a machine, or is he alone powering the machines so that the rest of the enslaved human race can go free? Is the Oracle dead? (should that be off-line?) Why did they kill off Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss)? She died once already didn't she? It seems a bit much she has to die twice in the space of twenty-four hours (in film time)!!!
Still, if you sit back and think about everything that happens while it's happening, it does start to make sense in a pseudo-religious, larger-world kind of way. All the Biblical references are there, but I won't go into them here, as so many other people have beaten me to it, suffice to say that in one sense, the Deux Ex Machina sacrifices its son - Neo, in order to save the world, and defeat the renegade Smith(s). Revolutions is more in tune with the first film than the second and is a fitting, if disconcerting, end to the saga. Give it a chance, just don't expect so much kung-foo this time around.
Oh, and watch out for deja-vu's!!!