We Used Up All Our Ideas In The First Movie, Part 2

Rating: 2/10 (16 February 2006)

Before seeing the first Matrix movie I didn't expect to like it. I was dead wrong  I loved that film. I therefore looked forward to the next two. I was wrong again  I hated them both. Each is execrable, but "Revolutions" is the worst.
In fact, "hate" is the wrong word to use for this movie. Rather, I was bored. Revolutions is dull, unimaginative and impenetrable. I know, there are people out there who see impenetrable as deep and meaningful. In this case it's not. It is shallow and meaningless.
Revolutions has three distinct parts. In the first third not much happens, and what does happen is of no import. Most of the audience will have been lost by the end of this portion of the film  disinterest will have caused their minds to drift. As the movie proceeds some may think that this inattention was the reason they didn't understand the film  that they were at fault, not the movie. This is a mistake; Revolutions really is as dull and meaningless as it appears.
The second third of the movie is a seemingly unending, desperately repetitive shoot-'em-up. There are lots of special effects, but they are used to no actual effect. Moreover, the effects aren't really very special. The entire battle scene uses the old trick of low lighting and shadow to imply great effects without actually showing them. It doesn't work. All we see are duplications of the same few (very few) basic machines  an obvious economy.
Moreover, some of the machine designs are just stupid. For example - why create a giant metal walking extension of a man, a walking waldo fighting machine, and then leave the operator totally exposed to  well, anything, really. These war machines couldn't beat a stone-age tribe. "Look, here comes one of those stupid machines again. Let's just hide behind this rock/tree/hillock until it's close, then throw a spear/axe/knife/rock at the driver, kill him and take his machine for our own." As for emotional involvement with the characters in the battle  forget it. They are, without exception, poorly drawn, shallow caricatures. If they die nobody in the audience is going to care  the characters aren't real people, just pale, humourless shadows.
Another lowlight of this central third of the movie (an entire third of the movie used up on this drivel!) is the acting. Poor throughout the film, the "acting" of the characters in the "battle third" is truly ridiculous. The General is the worst culprit, closely followed by the Council members, then  well, everyone else, really. It's almost as if the actors had no idea what the movie was about and - ah, yes, of course
WARNING - SPOILERS ARE PRESENT FROM THIS POINT ON
Then there is the film's ending, its "climax". Spectacular it isn't. No explanations are provided, no great revelations occur.
What we have is Trinity taking forever to die from injuries that quite clearly would have killed her almost immediately. Never mind, we get to hear her spout something about love again and again and again while Neo (on a desperately urgent mission to save Mankind's last hope for a future) takes his ease and waits for her to finish her pointless homilies.
After the woman finally dies Neo cuts a deal with the machines to eliminate Agent Smith in return for "peace". There is a bit of a fight, some meaningless wordplay, then Agent Smith attempts to absorb Neo. Neo becomes a duplicate Smith, the original Smith acts confused and the other duplicate Smiths go pop, followed by the original. The Neo Smith becomes Neo again, but dies  probably. He's carted away in a manner that suggests some kind of Messiah figure. The machines stop attacking the city and that's that.
Much thought has gone into this film's ending by those seeking a deeper meaning. My own interpretation is that Neo "knew" the Matrix to be a fantasy to a degree and with an absence of doubt that others could not achieve whilst interacting within the Matrix. This knowledge gave him the power to manipulate the fantasy. It also grounded him to reality (the "Source"), and when the program Smith attempted to absorb his enemy he became "grounded" to reality through Neo. Programs are just lines of code in the real world; so Smith's existence as a coherent being could not continue.
However, deep thought into the "meaning" of the ending is wasted. This was a very poor, unsatisfactory finale. In fact, the entire movie was dire. It was both dull and dull-witted. It is obvious that the writers used up all their good ideas on the first movie. That film was excellent  imaginative, innovative and understandable. It was complete in itself. But it was also very successful, and successful films must have cash-in sequels. So "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" came to be.
Unfortunately, there really wasn't much left to tell after the first film  and certainly not enough for TWO films. Neo had been left in a position to wrap things up in the first movie, but that was a tale that would take only a short time to tell  and would be uninteresting in the telling. So the writers chose to go all mystical and spiritual, seeking to imply depth and content where there was actually nothing, whilst providing a great big shoot-up to fill time and amuse adolescents and video game fans. It isn't enough. Not even close.
I would suggest that anyone who has not yet seen this movie should ignore the praise of those who imbue it with a depth and meaning that it just doesn't have. This is a bad film, pure and simple.
Avoid.