The greatest gift an artist can have is the knowledge of when to quit.

Rating: Null/10 (6 November 2003)

The greatest gift an artist can have is the knowledge of when to quit. In case you're wondering, the 'when' part has been over about two movies ago. They say leave well enough alone. I plead, "Leave a classic alone."
I guess it is too late now. I understand some people are under the delusion that the matrix was originally thought up as a trilogy. Wake up. The Matrix was a masterpiece of imagination. It was a truly wonderful experience for the new generation of flicks. The last two 'installments' are just pathetic attempts at cashing in on the success of the classic.
At the end of The Matrix, Neo was supreme. Numero Uno. The people were happy. Neo was happy. Morpheus was happy. Trinity was happy. The audience was happy. But there came the flaw. It meant the end of the cash flow. No chance of a sequel where the hero is undefeatable, right? So comes the twisted attempts at reviving the old connection to our pockets. Neo's importance is lowered. The one? Pchaw... Lots of 'the one' s have come and gone before. Morpheus is reduced from 'the leader of the flock, the father figure' to a nobody with low credibility with the authorities. A dreamer spreading false hopes to the world that is Zion. Agent Smith is revived. More powerful, deadlier than ever. And the money machine spins again. Hurray Hollywood.
You shall note that I refrained from commenting on 'reloaded'. It left roughly half a million unexplained loose threads. I thought I'd better wait till I see the whole picture. I cannot regard 'reloaded' and 'revolutions' as two movies. Just one long pathetic movie. And now that I've just finished seeing 'revolutions', you know how many loose ends they've tied? Zero. Okay, so I exaggerated. So maybe they did try to answer some of them, but not satisfactorily. And they've brought in a lot of new strings as well.
For the love of humanity do not try to mix the last two flicks with the original. What is the freaking point of the story anyway? We are not shown anything of the matrix anymore. The matrix and all the billions of people in it... It's over. Kaput. No mention at all. Are we to assume that Smith copied himself into ALL the matrix elements? They have tried to pass off the oracle as a program now, apparently trying to explain how she knows all. In the original, you had to be content with 'blind faith for matters beyond our understanding'. A belief in a person who can predict the future. No more. Since 'reloaded', the oracle is a program, plain and simple. Yeah, right... They're creating more questions than answers. The oracle is now a program which predicts some of the future, a program sent into exile as a choice over deletion. If she's a program, the programmer, the machine world, can create similar programs to 'predict' the future, and hence foresee the threat that is Neo. But none of that. Ultimately, did the oracle know all that happened would happen? The oracle says, "I didn't know. I believed." As in 'blind faith for matters beyond her/its understanding'?

And Mr.Smith, everybody's favorite agent, is now a self sufficient, malignant, all powerful free anti-Neo whose purpose is ... to end all. I loved the character of Mr. Smith, the agent from the original. The Mr.Smith program has actually grown in power to such an extend that he is beyond the control of the machine world and the real world. Mr.Smith also has the power to copy himself into the real world, in one of those bizzare loose strings I was telling you about. But Neo too, has the power to control (to an extend) forces of the real world.	In the ultimate clash of the titans, where Neo and Smith face each other, it was so superficial that it was almost comical. Both character had been puffed by the writers up to such an unbelievable level that they just didn't know what to do. Oh, they tried their best to add colour to it. It just didn't make sense anymore. I'm not revealing the climax for the benefit of the lucky people who stayed away. But once you see it, think a bit about it. The next half million loose ended strings shall show themselves. Observe the vain attempts to try to make sense.
I wouldn't wonder if they release a fourth sequel. It's very easy, when you decide the stories don't have to make sense anymore. It's not impossible. They might even try to make it like 'revolutions' was all just a dream, and try to explain that was how Neo controlled the 'real world' elements. I am being sarcastic, Hollywood... Let the cash machine stop here. Pretty Please.	Neobe is the only new character since the original that showed some strong points. Weak, uninteresting, moot, and puffed up characters portrayed by some really lame over-actors filled up the rest of the 'new character' spots.
On the upside, the graphics are reasonably adequate, and the soundtrack is way more appealing than the 'reloaded' version. It is reasonably fast paced. Visual effects are okay. The one real matrix stunt with gunmen walking around the ceiling was great. In all, I'd give it a 4.5/10.