Has its bad, good and great moments...

Rating: 8/10 (15 July 2004)

The Matrix Revolutions was was the highest anticipated trilogy finale behind Return of the King...and by the time that Revolutions rolled around, people had grown disappointed of Reloaded while others cherished the philosophy embellished sequel...I personally am one of the latter. Here is why I enjoyed Revolutions, and why I rated Revolutions an 8/10.
Lets start with the acting...and a small but pertinent synopsis. Keanu Reeves reprises his role as Neo. Yes, Keanu Reeves is extraordinarily wooden for this role...but that is because he has to be. The character of Neo has lost everything by the time that the movie roles to a conclusion. Neo does not bear emotion after a certain loss during the course of the film, and the film concludes with Neo fighting himself. However, "himself" is represented by Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith. By the time that the two clash in arguably the greatest fight scene of 2003, Neo has lost everything and has no idea that it is simply his will pushing him forward. *small spoiler* Even that does not hold through to the end. While Neo has stripped himself of everything and every emotion, Agent Smith has grown exponentially more powerful and begins to show signs of anger, and even lust for more...something that his character lacked in the timespan of the first film or even the exposition of Smith in the second. Carrie Anne-Moss's Trinity, like Neo, has lost much faith in the war itself, but on the other hand, has gained so much faith for her significant other that she is willing to "give anything and everything for him". Carrie Anne-Moss is able to show that strong compassion for Neo without overkilling the role...this is a war mind you and its not wise to be on your knees telling your partner how much you care. Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus is again the strongest and again, my favorite character in the film...although this time, his dialogue is no longer riddled with philosophical jabber and he has now been reduced to one of three captains trying to make his way home before it faces an untimely destruction.
Now...speaking of which...we have the epic siege of Zion. A quarter million cephalopod-resembling machines are augering their way into the last free human domain...and what the audience is treated to is something that both blew us away...and at the same time, something that we expected with Reloaded's over-extended action scenes. What hurts the battle is that we lose touch with Neo and Trinity over the course of a quarter hour...which leaves the audience wondering two things when the story between the pair resumes (where are they and/or who cares). the battle does give us a little insight on some lesser elaborated characters...although not enough to make us like them or care for them. Captain Mifune and Kid are the two main battle-characters...but the female Zee and her rocket-wielding partner Charra are supporters. Some people may like this while others do not...the characters don't really matter during this battle...the battle matters.
Lets talk about the battle itself. It was mentioned in the first, set up in the second and shoved in our face for the finale. I saw Revolutions twice on opening day, once in an IMAX theater and I must say, there were moments when the battle scene in Revolutions made me forget that I was holding my breath...something that the war in Return of the King didn't manage to do. The siege of Zion quickly becomes an exposion of live-action (very little) and CGI (13 of the 17 minutes) action where the humanistic machines of combustion engines and machine guns square off against the machinistic modules of doom that bear dozens of tentacles and lasers to boot. In a nutshell...I say that Return of the King had the best battle sequence of 2003...but only because Revolutions broke us in for it. Seeing two-hundred and fifty thousand squirming and swarming Sentinels against the seventy human-gunned walking tanks is a sight to behold. Wow, wow, wow.
Now that the good things are aside (although I didn't make much mention to the final fight scene) lets talk about what hurts Revolutions the most. Its the poorly constructed script and the characterizations within them. Morpheus (as mentioned earlier) is no longer a philosophy-spouting genius but is simply a worried and frightened captain. Neo has somehow changed slightly from the falling action of Reloaded...he now knows the questions he needs to ask the Oracle, Trinity doesn't show the compassion that was felt in Reloaded...although her final scene did bring tears to my eyes, and the only character who we seem to know inside out from the last film and who has changed only because of what happened in the last film is the French Merovingian (who is my second favorite character). "The prodigal child returns...are you here for the bounty, Seraph?"...Agent Smith has the worst lines in the film when the excremental feces hits the fan for Neo, ("I was standing here, right here...I'm supposed to say something."...yeah, something with a little more substance.) and the Trainman thing was a horrible waste of time that doesn't really tie into the last film at all...and the script really doesn't help it there. The Oracle is the only character besides Merovingian who brings continuity to this flick in terms of the script.
As a trilogy, only Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are more epic in size and grandeur...as a pair of sequels...Reloaded and Revolutions are great but seem disconnected from the original somehow...as its own film...Revolutions deserves the 6.3 rating given to it by IMDb.com users...by I am judging it on how well its melds into and finishes this trilogy...which it does damn well. No one can be told what the Matrix trilogy is...they have to see it for themselves...and that is the only way to fully enjoy these three as a trilogy. It is the best seven hours you can spend watching science fiction.