Major disappointment -- Pedestrian Effort

Rating: 1/10 (6 November 2003)

I took my 15-year-old son to see Matrix Revolutions last night. (Our local AMC won't let kids under 17 see R-rated movies unless accompanied by someone over 17. The adult can't just buy the ticket, but has to actually go into the movie.)
Let me preface by saying that I really liked the first two. My son and his friends and I had several discussions about the nature of reality and parallel universes and all kinds of philosophical questions raised by the films.
Now that I've said all that, let me just say that I *hated* the latest. Okay, "hate" is too strong a word, but it was a major disappointment. The film makers took the easy way out and made a standard action film (which I generally dislike), complete with much more graphic blood-and-guts violence than in the previous two. And they had a super heavy hand on the Christian symbolism. Okay, we get it: Neo is a Christ figure; now stop hitting us over the head with it. Be a bit subtle and let us feel smart that we were able to figure it out for ourselves. The special effects and even the back ground music owed more than a little debt to George Lucas; at one point, I leaned over to my son and said, "At least there's no Jar-Jar."
If you like The Matrix, avoid this one and stick with the first two.