Film and a half?

Rating: Null/10 (10 November 2003)

So where's the plot of Reloaded? The first thirty minutes of Revolutions. I've noticed an interesting phenomena with Wachowski films. I really don't care to sit through the beginning of their films again, the over-explanation of basic philosophy inspires me to not care what's being said and not bother to use my imagination and intellect to decipher their more abstract agenda. Does the film make sense on as deep a level as obsessive fans claim? Frankly, I don't care either way.
Once Revolutions wisely cuts its ties with the two-hours of trilogy filler material that was Reloaded, then I really started to get into this final act of the trilogy. Other improvements over Reloaded? Far less bullet-time (thank God); no more cop-out endings to battles; I wasn't watching a bunch of choreographed dance moves or, better phrased, the battles have intensity to them again; fights have enough plot/character purpose to justify them existing (though the length is still a bit too long, not as noticeable as Reloaded).
The battle between Neo and Smith, battle for Zion, and the war between human and machines, for the most part had satisfying endings. My only real complaints for how the Wachowskis ended the trilogy comes down to very fine nit-picky details. I found it particularly annoying how quickly, optimistically, and unrealistically the characters embraced the resolutions; however, I do acknowledge that to be true to life and history as we know it that would require significant more screen time that the Matrix trilogy does not have room for. I just feel that it could've been handled a little more realistically in the film.
Also the final dialogue in the film I didn't care too much for. It seemed too much like the universal epic-movie ending we've all come to expect. And after the final battles, both inside and outside the Matrix, I felt the Wachowskis were above that. Oh well, overall I was satisfied with how the Wachowski brothers ended this series. I'm glad they didn't sit us down for another 30 minutes and over-explain all the little nit-picky questions the audience is sure to have. Mystery is good. Explaining everything is bad.
Side note: kind of a pet peeve regarding trilogies (not exclusive to Matrix). . . typically, the first film is a stand-alone pilot for the rest of the series; if it does well, the second film is deliberately `to be continued' with a cliffhanger for the third film. So in other words you really get one film and a second film in two parts. That bothers me for some reason, and it doesn't really feel like a true trilogy to me. Oh well.