Visually interesting, but poor closure to the trilogy

Rating: 5/10 (6 November 2003)

This film suffers greatly from the mythos and world that it created in the first two films.
*** Spoilers below ***
Just as the recent "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is tame compared to "Kill Bill" (which was so over the top, it became a Road Runner cartoon). Matrix Reloaded gave us the 100-Smith "Burly Brawl," and the half-hour chase. Matrix Revolutions provides "more, more, more" of action with sentinels, ships, gunfire, and everything that (in still panel form) would make a comic book exciting.
Characters introduced in the earlier films have diminished roles (Persephone, The Architect, the "Frenchman", and even Morpheus and Trinity are given little to do) and some minor characters are given pivotal roles (the 16-year old kid, drawing a page from Wesley Crusher by saving the day, oh, wait, no he doesn't. Psych!).
We have set-ups (the M. C. Escher-styled train station) without payoffs (sure, the gang has to solve the puzzle, but... so what? Does it matter later? Does it advance the plot? Does it in any way affect the ending?).

While "Matrix Reloaded" suffered from "Empire Strikes Back" syndrome, "Matrix Revolutions" suffers from "Attack of the Clones" syndrome, with so many things happening on-screen that "more" becomes irrelevant. If we see 10,000 sentinels, are we in 10x the amount of danger compared to 1,000 sentinels? The first film had small clusters (10?)! I think we've finally hit the asymptote on the amount of "action" that can happen onscreen. While the battles are "epic" in scale, the filmmakers do incorporate the struggles of some minor battle teams, something akin to the old WWII film "The Longest Day".
I won't even address some my disbelief that I could no longer suspend, like the huge mechanical beasts firing so much weaponry at the incoming machine sentinels while they not only aren't wearing hearing protection, but they *shout* commands to each other (standing side by side) or listen to commands from a speaker in what looks like a radio. With so much firepower expressed in that tiny area, it should have been full of smoke, noise, and confusion. (But then we couldn't see anything, saving them millions! in the process).
The Architect's mumbo-jumbo (from Matrix Reloaded) about how this Matrix wasn't the first iteration, but the sixth, was mostly ignored. Why? Why have a set up like that with no payoff? Why the Christian symbolism in The Matrix that was marginalized in the last two films?
In the end, though, it comes down to Smith asking why Neo continues to fight when "he can't win" (since he has survived as long as he has, it hardly appears to be an even battle, so is Smith trying to) and Neo responds with (spoiler!) "Because I choose to" (apparently arguing that "free will" is what separates him from the machines?). Choice is what "The Matrix" started with (blue vs. red pill). We're back to *choice*? That is the end philosophy of three films?! The Matrix has gone from uber-cool to cypher in just three films.
Art direction: 10/10 (ala "Kill Bill")
Plot : 3/10 (ala "Attack of the Clones")
Overall : 5/10 (can neither recommend seeing or avoiding)