Waste of a great concept.

Rating: 3/10 (6 November 2003)

* Spoiler Alert *
The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions was an attempt at a Terminator-style film, but you can't get away with an 80s action film in the 21st century. Even the writers of Terminator 3 knew that.
Keanu Reeves really did think he was the Terminator, you could tell by the way he "acted" every scene like a robot.
They did a good job of seeding questions in The Matrix and Reloaded, but failed to deliver any good explanations in Revolutions, just action. Nearly every problem faced by the humans was solved by brute force punch ups.
The problem is, if you dangle "what if's.." at an audience they'll come up with some good plausible explanations of there own. You then have to deliver an even better explanation in order for them to be satisfied. Fail and they'll be disappointed ... "Well, my explanation was better..."
I really think Revolutions was rushed, a good example was the scene with the French Man demanding that he have the Oracle's eyes in exchange for Neo's safe passage back to the Matrix. Great! There's an opportunity to develop a sub-plot, or some clever dialogue to barter with him, but no, after fighting their way in and eventually agreeing to a ceasefire because they were heavily out numbered and out-gunned. What do they do? They beat everyone up!

What was the point of the scene? Stretch the film out so we'd all have to pay the price of two cinema tickets?
The trend started by Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings of telling a story split over many films is a privilege deserved to few. It has to be a story based set of films, why else would you sit through three films? for the same action over and over again? Matrix R&R story was very thin.
The Matrix Revolutions featured the same kind of macho-Americanism as Pearl Harbour. What was Sati's role in the film? The audience would sympathise with her if she wasn't so transparently in the script for just that purpose. Sorry, but you'll have to do better if you want to emote people. The 16 year old wannabe soldier another example? Two poorly written characters.
Even if you did start to feel like it was a real struggle for survival between Humans and Machine, and waited on the edge of your seat for Neo to save the world, you'll feel empty by the time the credits roll.
It just failed to deliver on so many levels.
They put action before story, and effect before concept, character purpose before depth. A senseless waste of a great idea.
3/10