What the hell was that?!?!?!

Rating: Null/10 (7 November 2003)

BIG SPOILERS
Ok, so I confess, I wasn't an enourmous fan of the 2nd film, but then I fail to see the fuss about the first (yeah it was original, but just because something is original doesn't necessarily make it good), so if your an enourmous fan of the films, perhaps i'm not the best person to read. Anyway, I went into this third installment expecting relatively little. Whilst I enjoyed "Matrix Reloaded" the 2nd time I watched it (maybe the same will be true of this one), I found it tedious the 1st time. With this film I've kinda expected the same. So, after the negative expectations, was I surprised? In ways yes.
At this point I'd normally write a brief summary of what happens in this film, but lets be honest, most of you will have watched the first two and could quite possibly have seen the trailer for this, and that's all that is really needed. So I'm going to quickly flick forward to what I liked and what I hated.
Firstly, I do confess, for a lot of this film the graphics were well made, if slightly fast at times, and the fight scenes involving technology never failed to impress me. The almost "Aliens" like contraptions which the men at Zion used were quality and I almost wish i had one.
To be honest with you, this could quite easily be the only thing I really enjoyed about this film. There are a few key reasons for this.
"The Matrix Revolutions" feels ridiculously action packed. Whilst the 2nd was at times slow and painstaking, this film was so fast and paced that it feels almost like the Wachowski (spelling?) Brothers had told their stories and just wanted to cause fights. So ultimately, that's what they've done. During the ultimate final load of battles, whilst the machine battles are taking place, the incredibly tacky fighting between Neo and Agent Smith is almost legendarily bad. I went to see this film with my friend Alex and he'd been told before hand that the fighting felt like something out of "Dragonball Z". Well whoever told him that, they weren't far wrong. The two men seemed to zip across the screen in almost depressingly fast shots which were blurred and all in all, relatively weak.
So, other than the fighting, what else can I complain about? Well theres the almost satirical nature of the religious implications. This film feels at times almost like the Brothers got so fed up with the religion comments in regard to the first film that they thought they'd get revenge by putting as many Christian links in as possible. I won't say much on this, but basically, towards the end of the film, you'll know exactly what I mean.
Also, there were times where I felt a bucket was almost compulsory to someones cinema going experience. Your reading something here by someone who rates "When Harry Met Sally" as one of his favourite films, and if forced to watch a well-scripted romantic comedy, can tend to stomach it ("Notting Hill" being an ok example), but there were scenes in this film (most involving Trinity, but not all) which were so ridiculously sickening, that I'm sure I heard someone throwing up on one of the front rows.
To summarise then, I know the Wachowski Brothers faced a lot of problems in their filming (actors getting injured or dying... the Oracle's Death was cleverly delt with by the way), but ultimately I can't help but feeling that they should have left these films after the original (having said that, the ending to the original was pretty weak too), and saved themselves all that unnecessary cost and stress. Go watch this film for the experience (I recommend watching any truely awful film for the cinema experience ...... except "Crocodile Hunter"), but don't expect too much. Go in, try to shut your brain out to enjoy the action, but most of all, remember your sickbag.