The Matrix Revolutions

Rating: 6/10 (22 May 2006)

With The Matrix Reloaded considered a general disappointment, Revolutions certainly had its work cut out for it to bring the trilogy back up to the heights of greatness. Unfortunately, it fails. Whilst not a catastrophe of a film that it was first made out to be, it is nevertheless the lesser of the three films.
The story picks up straight after Reloaded ends, being as it is one story cut in half. We learn that the Zion fleet has been destroyed, and that the machines have resumed their tunnelling towards the last human city, while Neo's mind is trapped in a place between the machine world and the Matrix, his body lying in a coma on board the Hammer. This time, the Wachowskis have opted for a basic war film - without much of the philosophical banter that threatened to stall the second film - the centre of which is the machine attack on Zion, whilst Neo and Trinity go off on a mission of their own. The main problem with the film is the sidelining of major characters, particularly Morpheus, who spends the film sitting in Niobe's shadow, as they rush towards Zion. To relegate the best character in the series to such a small part is just asking for trouble  and the film does suffer for it.
The actual battle in Zion is well done, however. It is one of the most impressive sci-fi battles made, and yet not a single major character is involved, which makes the whole sequence seem a little shallow. It is also far too long, so whilst it is visually stunning, it starts to get a little monotonous in the end, which is a shame considering the amount of time and money that must have gone into making it.
Neo this time, particularly in the real world, seems more human than he did in the last film, especially when he is viciously blinded, in a clever little twist, by the real-world Smith. As he and Trinity fight their way through to the machine city, he shows us a vulnerability not seen since the first Matrix, which is a welcome break from the soulless Neo he was last time. Another change in the film is the oracle, played this time by Mary Alice. She still gives out her usual cryptic responses, but it is never explained (in film terms  the original actress died before filming was completed) why she has changed. Herein lies Revolutions' biggest fault  unless you have seen the Animatrix and have played the video game Enter the Matrix, much of what you see on screen is not explained in full. Only when you have experienced the full range of the Matrix brand will you be able to understand the film in its entirety. It is a perplexing decision that the Wachowskis made a film to such a specific audience, without a thought to those fans who didn't go out and do all the research into the other mediums.
But what of Agent Smith? By this time, he has managed to assimilate the majority of people in the Matrix, and has polluted the system so that it literally starts falling apart. Only Neo now has the power to stop him, and come the final confrontation, the audience is rewarded by a kung-fu mega-fight that is everything we hoped for after so much build up. Unfortunately, it is too late to save the day, as the film ends leaving us with more questions, and a sense of overwhelming incoherence in the film's quality; at once it is both visually stunning yet physically empty. We are left with a war film that is just too full of clichés, and has an ego too big to be justified. As a film, it just about stands up on its own, but as a sequel to the best action film of the 90s, it is the biggest let down of the year.
Rated: 6.5/10
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