The Matrix Revolutions A Big Disappointment

Rating: 4/10 (5 June 2009)

The Matrix Revolutions at least to me was the worst of the trilogy. The first one was great and the best of the three films. The second one was okay but could've been better. Revolutions isn't that bad action wise but the movie leaves many questions unanswered and the ending isn't the greatest either. The Wachowski brothers have done an admirable job of bringing the Matrix movies to the big screen but the last two films aren't as nearly as good or exciting as the first film was at least in my opinion. It was a big disappointment like Spider-man 3 or Pirates 2 to name a few. For those of you who haven't seen it yet I won't give way any big spoilers but I will say that it's worth seeing once only for the action but after a while even that becomes a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong the movie isn't that bad it just could have been so much better. Keanu Reeves turns in a good performance as Neo the so called One who must find a way find a way to end the war between the machines and save his people from annihilation. Laurence Fishburne continues to be the best Morpheus who finds himself with Niobe in a race to Zion in order to help their people wage off the attack by the machines. Carrie Anne Moss is effective as Trinity making her a tough and skilled freedom fighter willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good. Hugo Weaving is excellent as the rogue Agent Smith who can make copies of himself and is beginning to take over the Matrix. Jada Pinkett Smith is equally impressive as Niobe another tough freedom fighter who journeys with Morphues to Zion. But unfortunately all their characters get even less screen time than they did in the previous one because Revolutions seemed to focus more on on the battle at Zion between the rest of the human survivors and the machines that are bent on annihilating them . The battle at Zion is amazing and it does last for a while but the movies loses focus on the main characters who made these films entertaining by the actors playing them. The other action/fight sequences are also well choreographed but most of them including the final showdown between Smith and Neo can't help but feel like a letdown compared to ones in the first Matrix film. The lack of screen time not only given to Reeves, Fisburne, and Moss but mainly to Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith is what really hurt the movie for me. Reeves, Fishburne, and Moss aren't given much to do except for some action/fight sequences their characters unfortunately take a back seat in this one allowing state of the art special effects to take over. Weaving makes for an imposing villain and does a good job with the small role he does have in Revolutions. After watching all three films it seems like the most screen time he got as Agent Smith was in the first one. His role got smaller in Reloaded only showing up for some scenes here and there as the movies went on his longest one being his first fight with Neo. In Revolutions his role is even smaller since his character disappears for larger parts of the movie than he did in Reloaded which is unfortunate because Weaving is great in the role. Mary Alice who takes over for Gloria Foster as The Oracle does a good job with the all too brief role and the rest of the cast are for the most part okay but none of them stand out. Another problem with the movie was the final showdown between Smith and Neo which kind of felt anti-climatic and rushed because their fight doesn't last very long at all. It's not nearly as impressive as their confrontations were in the first film or Reloaded. The special effects to create the machines and the brief scene in which their city is shown are an amazing sight to see on screen but spectacle alone doesn't make a good movie. Overall The Matrix Revolutions is another third movie in a trilogy (like Spider-man 3, Pirates 3, or X-Men 3 to name a few) that start off okay but end up being a major letdown compared to the previous films. Despite the cool action/fight sequences and special effects I really wanted to enjoy the rest of The Matrix Revolutions but instead it left me feeling very disappointed.