On it's own it's a decent flick, as part of the story, an unsatisfying conclusion

Rating: 4/10 (6 November 2003)

Saw the flick opening day, third show of the day. I went in with little expectations. After all, I loved the first, like the second, and was somewhat put off by the direction they were heading. I pretty much figured out what was going to happen from watching Reloaded several times.
THERE WILL BE MANY SPOILERS COMING...
So, to digress slightly, #1 was and opening, giving us the basic outline and introducing characters. A great flick, definitely one of the all-time great scifi's. #2 moved the story along, but wasn't near as groundbreaking. The story lines weren't all that. #3should be the climax, the conclusion. But we are left with a huge hole that isn't filled. So why...	Well, to the makers credit, they made a decent film. Sure most of the acting is stilted, and the dialogue is corny, but it is somewhat great in it's own right. As a part of The Matrix story though, it's dull, muddled and ultimately unsatisfying. Look at the titles. The Matrix Reloaded, pretty much what it implies, more and more of what made the first so good. Maybe a little too much. The Matrix Revolutions, huh, did I miss something, there was no revolution folks, Revelations, ok there were a few of those, but no revolutions. And this is just for starters...	The first had all the mythology, and pseudo-religious overtones. The third reveals that all of that was pretty much a lie. It's all based in a man/machine world. The Cynics of Zion were correct, he is no savior. He's an extremely poor negotiator. The end of the film pretty much blows away everything the brothers had worked so hard to establish in the first. Love, faith, the enduring spirit of man, are all cast aside by Neo in the end. At the end of the first, he said I'm going to show them what you don't want them to see', and he delivers. We saw an extremely unsatisfying conclusion. Neo forsake the people of Zion, and the folks caught up in the world of the Matrix, to help the machines conquer an out of control program that they helped create.	Hello! The title is Revolutions. There was no revolution. The great battle ended without a victor. Just a very fragile treaty. The Architect says those who want, will be set free. This is garbage to the extreme. Mankind by nature does not want to be kept in bondage, and these weren't the conclusions so easily defined in #1. But now it's apparent that Neo isn't working for Zion, he is a machine. So everything stated in #1 about faith and believing was all lies. Morpheus was duped, all the believers were. We should have at least been shown the aftermath in Zion when everyone found out what it was exactly that Neo did. It seems Cypher was right all along, better to be reinserted into the Matrix, then live he way they were. Morphues would have been strung up by his Buster Browns.
Why do I say all this? Because now it has to start all over again. And this is where filmmaking bugs me. In 5 or 6 years, a new set of (cheap) actors, More money spent on Special Effects, less on story development, (it's done now), to tell the whole darn thing again. Why? Because the Architect says so. It has to be done to keep the Matrix in balance, or whatevr he calls it. This Matrix had no conclusion. It was supposed to be rebuilt, and never was. The fields will still be grown for harvesting, and eventually those in bondage will get the same sense that Trinity and the others got in the first. Someone has to stand up and say, Let my people go'. It's human nature.	We are the cattle. And the brothers are the herdsmen. I will not be pushed down a chute.