Every Beginning Has An Ending  Just Kidding, Folks.

Rating: Null/10 (23 January 2004)

If there is one thing Revolutions' is not, it is not controversial. One look at the user comments here and you are left in no doubt as to the plausibility of this statement. Usually controversy arises from the inclusion of taboo subjects in movies, but this is definitely not the case here. The Matrix' machine has given itself the concomitant reality of its own hype  elevated expectations. For a large group of people their expectations were not met. No matter how good a story is, and I am of the opinion that this is one of the best that I have seen for a long time- with some minor glitches  if you elevate expectations to such a high level as is the case here, expect some disappointment. In reviewing this movie, I shall outline some of the factors that have contributed to the wide range of differing opinions.
Characters and their problems provide impetus for the story. Without these elements, there is no story. This is obvious, but there is a point to be made here. Therefore the makeup of the characters and the problems that they have to solve will virtually be the sole source of success or failure. In Revolutions' the problems that the characters encounter are of great magnitude thus keeping the audience spellbound. It is therefore the characters themselves, that is, the changes that they have undergone as a consequence of their past experiences that should be the centre of the controversy.
Neo is the movie's hero and it is his journey that the audience is most concerned with. He will lead to story to its ultimate resolution. The most important character change here is that he is more vulnerable and not the superhero that he was in Reloaded'. Neo faces his challenge as a man and not as a digital entity. Hence the obstacles that he faces are more daunting. The problem with this is that much of the action that he was involved with in Reloaded' was not evident until the climatic scenes. In fact, Neo has far less screen time than the previous two chapters. This is also true of the other two central characters  that of Trinity and Morpheus. The directors may be looking to the future and in a sense passing the torch' of the Matrix' story to other characters. It did much to make Revolutions' a better story since it involved more characters with greater problems, but it certainly did not appeal to fans of the past two chapters.
Trinity's character did not change much from Reloaded', except for the cut back in screen time, but Morpheus changed dramatically from the previous chapters. Now he is far more uncertain about the path of The One' and as a consequence is not the ever present strong leader. Other characters take over this role as the strong leader as Morpheus is relegated in status. What this did was to take control away from the one leader who believed that he had the answer to the ending of the war. It created tension for the audience since leaders less visionary than Morpheus controlled the actions of the defenders of Zion. The idea has a sound foundation in reason, but it did weaken the character of Morpheus who was central to the story. A better balance could have been obtained by giving him more support from some of the top leaders. This would have created greater character conflict and would have not undermined the threat of the machines.
Another big change was that of the composition of the action. The others were kung  fu orientated and this one was largely a straight shoot  out. This meant that much of the signature special effects were minimally apparent here. The special effects that were now on show were very good and did much to display the power that the machines possessed. But this alienated fans of the signature special effects who may have felt deprived of what bought them much enjoyment.
Not only its composition, but its duration has changed as well. This is particularly evident from the opening scene where Neo is trapped between worlds whereas the other chapters opened up with the signature special effects and action. It was thus evident from the start that the story was going to move much slower thus emphasizing a dramatic build up rather than continuous action. This allowed for the development of other characters which further evidenced the continuing story of the Matrix'. This change to the action would not have been what many would have expected. It is probably the downturn in action which is the source of most disappointment to many users.
Over the course of a long story, there will be changes to allow for character development of the heroes and also for the introduction of new characters. Character changes are very difficult. These changes are inevitable to the continuing story and the characters we see in later chapters will be different to the ones that started the adventure. A balance is thus necessary. The basic nature of the heroes needs to be retained in order to keep their mass appeal. In meeting this balance some of the changes were not appealing. The one that did not appeal to me was that of Morpheus. This is also due to the fact that Lawrence Fishburne has a natural leadership charisma and this strength was thus underscored. In essence, his basic nature was not adequately retained.
The introduction of new characters is necessary in order to stimulate audience interest and to add freshness to the story. It is the addition of the leaders of the resistance that was disappointing. They were emotionally one  dimensional and were not good for the Morpheus character in terms of undermining his strong leadership appeal. This was probably also due to the fact that they wanted to project gutsy fighters for the invasion, but it was at the expense of one of the central characters of the story.
The wide range of opinions regarding this movie is almost as interesting as the movie itself. That is why I have dedicated most of my comments to the reasons for this. A story which is going to be bigger than the characters necessitated a gradual progression into the introduction of new characters and the ending of the adventures of our old heroes. This meant that Revolutions' was going to have a greater mixture of action and drama. Revolutions' was thus a step above Reloaded' in terms of story, but as a consequence lacked enough of the spellbinding, imaginative impact of the original. On the whole it was a fitting conclusion to the story and the many questions that were left unanswered will be a subject for the continuance of this great story.