Not really the end of the story.......

Rating: Null/10 (7 November 2003)

Saw revolutions last night in a packed Theatre and I'm finding it a bit difficult to sum up my feelings on the film, having now seen the entire trilogy....
Firstly, I loved the orginal Matrix. When it first came out I was blown away by the universe created by the Wachowskis in a way that could only compare to the first time I saw Star Wars. It's fair to say that it was highly derivative and stole ideas left right and centre from other fantasy franchises, but it presented everything in such an original and stylish way and really left you caring about the fate of the characters.
Then came reloaded........ In equal measure I don't think I've ever been so disappointed in a movie. It seemed to be a charicature of the first film and the emotion and depth of the characters from the original got buried in a endless flow of philosophy and mysticism that ultimately for me sent the film up it's own arse. Burly brawl and car chase aside, I hated it and the scene with the Architect has to rank as one of my least favourite of all time, I wanted to stand up in the cinema and shout 'what the f are you talking about'...... I see I am not alone in this too.
So, revolutions. I guess it falls somewhere between the first and second. After a terrible start, featuring an incredibly patronising Indian character who seems to be cloned from Apu on the simpsons and a pointless Neo gets stuck in a train station section, the film really started to get into gear when the heros made their way back to Zion over the backdrop of the seige by the machines. I have to say that the battle for Zion has to be one of the most stunning wars ever committed to film, the CGI is simply on another level to anything I've ever seen before and it carries on for so long I was left feeling exhausted when the conflict finally drew to a close. I loved the APU machines and Nathanial Lees as Mifuni was, for me, the most heroic character in the entire trilogy. I loved his performance and was moved when he met his inevitable death. The bit where the robots punched their fists in the air was corny as hell though......
So then we come to the final part of the film, Agent Smith goes into Ham overdrive and made me wince with his 'evil laugh' when he took over the Oracle. I won't give away the ending, but suffice to say it was set up in such a way that a sequel cannot be that far off. That's ok though, if it means the Wachowskis can make a film as good at the first then that's fine by me. Reloaded and Revolutions were ultimately disappointing but there is so little science fiction made with as much ambition as this it would be wrong to say they were failures.