Continuing the downward trend set by its predecessor...

Rating: 4/10 (9 November 2003)

To put this into context, I loved the Matrix. I was dissappointed by Reloaded - it had amazing effects and set pieces, but dreadful story.
*MILD SPOILERS*
Alas Revolutions continues that downward trend, to the extent that it has surely shipwrecked the entire Matrix franchise?
The main problems I saw:
1) Lack of discovery & surprise - in the first movie, the audience learnt the secrets of the real & Matrix worlds as Neo did. The only thing we discover is that the plotting/story of the first film appears a fluke, as all this dishes up is some religious nonsense.
2) The trekky ship vs sentinel bits of matrix were at the periphery - they were merely a tenuous backdrop for allowing all the really cool in the matrix outfits, kung fu, gun fights, bullet time effects etc. Here they are given almost complete prominence. I counted only 5 scenes in the matrix (including the train station) in the whole film, and only 2 of these were action sequences. No freeway chase here.
3) The show down with Agent Smith - grand finale and all, seemed to go on forever, didn't add or explain anything, and was also oddly similar to the end of Superman 2, flying supervillains and all.
4) Neo's powers extending beyond the Matrix (as shown at the end of Reloaded) is, frankly, ridiculous. In fact, the whole religious iconography of "Neo is the saviour" gave a philisophical edge to movie 1 - here it is just over the top and spoils things.
* SPOILER *
5) With Smith gone, what possible reason do the machines have for keeping the new found peace?
A stupid waste of an excellent franchise opportunity....