So it comes it this

Rating: 4/10 (29 August 2010)

To me The Matrix Revolutions is one of the biggest cinematic disappointments I have seen. I enjoyed the first Matrix film and whilst The Matrix Reloaded was rubbish on a plot level it was still good on an action-adventure level. I had hopes that everything would come together in the third part of the trilogy but like many Matrix fans I find it is best to ignore this film.
Following straight after the events of The Matrix Reloaded Neo (Keanu Reeves) is trapped in a coma, with his mind in the Matrix like limbo. The machines are only hours away from Zion and everything looks lost for humans. When Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) rescue Neo our hero sets out on a suicide mission to go speak to the machines with Trinity. Morpheus and the rest of the humans go back to Zion. In the Matrix itself Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) is taking over and becoming a threat to humans and machines.
First the Matrix film was very clever, on a simple level its can be broken down to the world that Neo knew was a computer programme and for knowing that he was able to do whatever he wanted to help fight the Machines. The Wachowski Brothers were able to bring in other references, from 1984 and Alice in Wonderland to Plato to computing and cyberpunk, making complex ideas about reality manageable to a wide audience. But with the sequels however the films became to bogged with the philosophy with ideas of balance, choice, free will, fate, the meaning of words etc.. which felt so force, that the Wachowskis were trying to make the sequels film philosophical. The only people who enjoy it are the kind of young fools who pretty much say 'I'm so clever because I can understand this'. The plot of The Matrix Revolutions became bogged down with all it's subplots and it's ending was a real cop out: SPOILER ALERT that humans and the machines end up in peace together so Neo and Neo ending up defending Smith by becoming a part of him. The Smith part is able breaking the equation but it still was a big let down of an ending Spoiler OVER. The Wachowski seem to be loosing the plot by adding more and more random new ideas into the film, like the limbo train station with The Trainman (Bruce Spence) and Neo being able to see a flaming world and having powers beyond the Matrix. Things just happen for no real reason, there is a lack of a plot and film was an anticlimax.
The action itself is decent and perfectly edited by Zach Staenberg, who edited the last two films. But the action can not compete with the levels of the first two films. The first fight between Neo and Smith should have been epic, Neo fighting dozens of clones. It was a fine well edited fist fight but it just lack power and the flying in the sky should have been between Superman vs. General Zod and remind the zero gravity fist fight in Inception (even though that was released 7 years later). I did however enjoy Don Davis operatic music when Neo and Smith first start to fight. The battle of dock was grand and will satisfy action junkies and was a fun sequence, almost like a high-tech Lord of the Rings. But the battle was full of stock characters like the hard ass Captain Mifune (Nathaniel Lees) who gives words of encouragement to Kid (Clayton Watson), Charra (Rachel Blackman) who we never saw before was pretty much a red shirt (a character introduced so that they would die) and Commander Lock (Harry J. Lennix) is speaks in military clichés. The action in the Matrix world takes a backseat for the most part.
A problem in the film is the dark cinematography of Bill Pope (who did good work on the previous films). It made many of the scene more difficult to see much of the action and gives the film a too gloomy atmosphere (which is really saying something). When I watch a film, I want to see what's happening, even in a scene in the dark.
Acting wise Reeves is as wooden as ever but that quality works in The Matrix. Other actors like Fishburne, Moss and Weaving were strong, particularly Weaving as Smith, giving important speeches. Ian Bliss was also very good as a villain, giving a great impression of Weaving. And as stated Lennix was offering the most clichéd performance possible.
My initial reaction to The Matrix Revolutions was complete hatred. My opinion has soften and I can enjoy the battle of the dock. But I still think this film is a let-down, an anticlimax and a cop-out by the filmmakers.