Suffers from nothing more than lack of talented writing

Rating: Null/10 (8 June 2004)

I suspected after Reloaded that the Wachowski Brothers, while creative, were not particularly good writers, and this suspicion is confirmed in the muddled Revolutions. To be fair they did hit the nail on the head with the compelling, tightly written original Matrix but the flat second installment and disastrous third show that they have a long way to go. The brothers are basically idea men with admittedly very interesting ideas but no idea how to shape them into plot. For example, at the beginning of the original the idea was set up that Neo would use his new-found powers to free others trapped in the Matrix and use them in the revolution against the machines. This potentially interesting conflict was very nearly completely dropped in the next two installments save for a quick comment by the Architect that those who wanted to leave would be freed. This brings up a major complaint with this film: very little of the plot is resolved by our nominal hero, Neo, which is a primary violation of dramatic writing. The protagonist MUST solve the plot through his own devices. The aptly named Deus Ex Machina basically hands Neo a win. Sorry but that's not playing fair with the audience. Revolutions takes what was a thought-provoking idea and turns it into a couple of mediocre fight scenes, a bunch of watered-down Eastern philosophy, and an ending that neither makes sense nor resolves the plot in a satisfying manner. Pass.