A Very Worthy Conclusion

Rating: 8/10 (8 November 2003)

I will briefly discuss this film on merits inherent to spoilers.
The Matrix Revolutions rewards investment. It carries the thematic arcs and plotlines introduced in it's two predecessors, as well as the short films The Second Ranaissance parts One and Two and Kid's Story, to a worthy conclusion. I feel the general reaction that there "is so much just left unanswered" and "the ending doesn't make sense" is a sad, sad statement regarding today's general moviegoing audience, as by paying just a little bit of attention to ANYTHING to do with the movie would answer these questions.
For instance, a common question is "what was with the ending of the last fight?" Well, I don't know how much more heavy-handed that could have been, and still so many people missed it: the theme of balance, of yin-and-yang was brought to total fruition in that fight. As the Oracle (played to perfection by Mary Alice--Gloria Foster, had she been in this film, would have played it the same) tells Neo that he and Smith are opposites, the negatives of eachother, the result of "the equation trying to balance itself." When they take to the air, they even fly at eachother in a yin-yang pattern. As long as one exists, they will both be struggling against one another. As long as one is there, the other must be. That is the nature of balance: they are both there, or they are neither there. So, Neo allowed himself to be eliminated, and so without his counterpart, without his purpose, Smith could no longer exist either. Heck, the oracle was even wearing Yin-Yang earrings.
The Oracle appearing at the end fight: It was established that when Smith overtakes someone, he still retains a part of their memory (established when he quotes Sati though he had no way of hearing her). So, the Oracle allowed herself to be overtaken, thus allowing her to speak to Neo (near the conclusion of Smith's AWESOME monologue on the breakdown of signifyer and the signified and perception of purpose), telling Neo "exactly what he needed to hear" to figure out what needed to be done.
But I digress. This film answers EVERY question raised by Reloaded (the rave was meant to draw parallels between the humans and the machines that are "like them, free, apparently," and Hamman's creepy little speech was to set up that maybe humans are starting to recognize that the codependance they walked away from in Second Renaissance is the best way to go).
It is not without it's flaws, though: much of the dialogue was sub-par, but how is that different from any other film in the series? Also, Trinity's death scene was ALMOST as drawn out and hammy as Yoda's, but not quite. The only loose ends are: what happened to the twins (though we could assume they were deleted after failing)? and How was Tank the brother of Dozer and Zee when he is of a COMPLETELY different racial background than they are? To me, these are two forgivable loose ends for a trilogy that sought to take standard popcorn-action fair and inject it with Bhuddist, Christain, and Hindu theology and some rudimentary philosophy. If you want a completely satisfying action flick where you don't have to pay attention to themes and theory, then xXx2 is coming out sometime soon. If you want a more honest theological/religious experience, pick up a Bible. If you want deeper psychology, go to a book store, or sign up for a 101 class at a local community college.