So much more than I expected... (spoilers)

Rating: 8/10 (8 November 2003)

I loved "The Matrix." I even liked "Reloaded," though the flaws of the Wachowski brothers' filmmaking were becoming more apparent. I thought "Reloaded" took a lot of courage to make, and I liked the new direction for the series, since it made the conclusion that much harder to predict. Less appealing to me (and everyone else it seems) were the Zion rave and the CGI parts of the Burly Brawl.
I then heard lots and lots of negative reviews for "Revolutions." And I mean EVERYWHERE - in newspapers, on the net, and on IMDB. I was scared - had the Wachowskis finally failed? I went in with just a single hope: please be decent...please be decent...
These thoughts were dispelled fairly early on. In Mobil Ave., Neo has a classic Matrix moment: he runs into a tunnel, and, like Pac-Man, he comes out through the other side of the screen - the tunnel wraps around itself like a mobius strip. It's a nice comic touch, and put me at ease for the rest of the movie.
The coat check fight at Club Hel was a bit of a let-down (very derivative of the lobby shootout, unfortunately), but the Mexican standoff with Mero's goons made up for it. "I'll kill everybody in this room to get Neo back," Trinity says, and Carrie-Anne Moss makes us believe it.
The real-world action with Trinity, Bane/Smith, and Neo was pretty good, though I can't believe it took Neo THAT long to figure out Bane was Smith (maybe he was buying Trin time :P). It's nice to see that the people in the "real world" retain all their kung-fu skills and such.
Even the minor characters (like Mifune, the Kid, and Zee) received plenty of characterization. The "Battle of Zion," which I was concerned felt too fake in the trailers, came off beautifully. The whole desperation of it, the overwhleming feeling of inevitability - it was classic stuff. The streams of sentinels, the blaze of APU fire, the low-tech manner of resupply ("Reload!")...exciting and well done.
The final "Dragonball Z"-style fight was AMAZING. The water-sphere effect (especially the water falling down afterwards) was beautiful and impressive. Neo and Smith fly through the air in a ballet of kung-fu, and Neo actually loses(!). How many big-name sci-fi trilogies end with the main character biting the dust to save the world?
Overall, the movie was a fitting and respectable end to a great trilogy. It's certainly flawed, but nothing too critical has been screwed up, and the parts that are good are great indeed. There is even more religious symbolism and philosophy, and the Wachowskis allow the speculation to continue (Is it MWAM? Is Neo _really_ dead? Where did his powers come from, anyway? Will the peace last?) without copping out and forcing an explanation on us.
For the true believer in all of us...
8/10