An unsatisfying conclusion

Rating: 7/10 (19 October 2019)

This review contains spoilers.
The Matrix Revolutions is the third movie in the Matrix franchise and is the sequel to 2003's The Matrix Reloaded. The movie is directed by The Wachowskis, produced by Joel Silver, written by The Wachowskis and stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving. The movie picks up where The Matrix Reloaded leaves off with the sentinel army breaking through to Zion, Neo is stuck in the machine world, and Smith continues growing in power.
The Matrix Revolutions is the conclusion to The Matrix trilogy. The Matrix Revolutions has grand spectacles in key scenes. The introduction retrieval of Neo from the Merovingian, the battle for Zion, and the final battle between Neo and Smith are awe-inspiring to watch. The movie plays to its strengths visually and it absolutely shows in its production, shots, and cinematography. This movie is a treat to watch visually and audibly. The movie thrives when it is presenting the situations.
The story suffers from the same drawbacks as the The Matrix Reloaded. With only a few months until the movie was released, any of the criticism that was leveled towards The Matrix Reloaded could not be fixed. The movie had to go towards the ending here. The movie still suffers from over bloatedness that plagued the previous movie. This is not helped in this movie as there are many characters that are simply side characters elevated to a higher standing. The audience wants to watch a movie featuring the original characters from The Matrix. Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity should have been the focus and should have been involved in the storylines in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. The story could have built up the characters better and had a more satisfying resolution.
The defense of Zion is pointless knowing the revelation from The Matrix Reloaded. In the movie, the plight of the freed humans is pointless when the revelation is that the machines have predicted them to be wiped out. The machines have also wiped out the humans before. We as the audience know that the fight is futile. The only treat the audience has is that the sequence is pretty to watch with many cool effects on display. Otherwise, there is a lack of tension in the scenes. There are not characters that the audience cares from the start of The Matrix trilogy to the end present in the battle.
The movie heavily draws upon the story with Neo. The movie felt conclusive and even interesting as it brought back the themes from the first Matrix movie. The concluding fight between Neo and Smith is both narratively, visually, and audibly satisfying to the audience. The movie has a super-charged Smith fight against the anomaly of Neo. The conclusion of the battle made sense and rewarded the audience that paid close attention across the three Matrix movies. The conclusion itself may not make sense logically with what the characters state but Neo's own story arc was satisfying to watch.
I would recommend 'The Matrix Revolutions'.
Grade: B