The Matrix, Repetitions...

Rating: Null/10 (22 December 2003)

Don't worry, you don't need to brace yourselves - much - I'm not about to slag this off as a bad movie. I'm certainly not about to declare it as anything great or remotely special, but the first thing that begs to be said about this flick is that it is not bad, just stale. The first entry into the series was a quality film, despite some flaws. The two extensions to the series in 2003 were just that: extensions. Flicks. Slightly sub-standard action fare mixed with slightly above-standard special effects.
I enjoyed Revolutions more than Reloaded, most probably because I had already been exposed to the considerable problems that weighed down the last movie. That is, the pretentious philosophising, special effects that crossed the line between grandiose and downright excess, and obsessively slick atmosphere. The fact that these flaws were just as prevalent again may have been worth taking points off for, but I was really quite resigned to it.

Points were lost instead for new problems that dragged the series down further - although I suspect these were issues that started with Reloaded that I was too crushed to notice. For one, the film's actors display a frustrating reluctance to imbue their characters with any significant emotion. There are some emotive moments - rare as they may be, but the characters are generally rather sullen and cold. More time is spent with the characters describing their feelings, when it should be enough for them to show it, and wanting the characters to show some feelings, given their extreme situations, shouldn't be considered expecting too much. This is the fault of the writers, who will no doubt be forgiven for it anyway seeing as people are still so blinded by the fact that they have created ONE particularly interesting movie. It is also the fault of the actors, who vary in the degree to which they offend on these grounds - Carrie-Anne Moss again shows that she deserves better work than this, while Laurence Fishburne's performance is almost completely pointless. Reeves falls in between, although it must be said that he is capable of much more than this, as films like The Gift can attest.
There are highlights - Merovingian is again priceless, although Persephone is reduced to background here, which is disappointing given her seductive turn in Reloaded. There are some spectacular moments, too, particularly during the 45-minute assault on the city of Zion. Unfortunately, the length of the sometimes-spectacular action sequences reduces them to hackneyed exercises in special effects.
The biggest problem, however, for one of the most ridiculously hyped films of all time, is that there is far too much going on here - too many characters and too many loose ends to be wrapped up. The Wachowski Brothers fail to manage the film's time, with several characters, such as Niobe and Link, failing to develop, while many of the action sequences, as in the last film, are given far too much time.
What destroys the credibility of the film, however, is the realisation that everything was better off left unanswered, with the first movie delivering a visual feast and a suitably cryptic ending. The second and third instalments coming nowhere near the ingénue of the original's special effects, and fail to measure up to even the flimsy story that the first film offered. The issue then that defeats Revolutions - which settles for the oft-treaded standard big-budget action-flick - is the fact that the it would have been better off never being made.

Grade: C