A good ending to a hyper-cool trilogy.

Rating: 8/10 (12 November 2003)

It's been four years since we first saw `The Matrix,' and few could have predicted the immense success that it would become. Two sequels later, we finally see how it all ends in `The Matrix Revolutions.' One thing to be expected with this film is it is action-oriented. For those out there who love the semi-deep philosophy involved, never fear, it is still here-just downplayed. We basically know everything, after `The Matrix Reloaded.' We know that Neo is the one.' We know that instead of ending the war, he chose to save Trinity's life and fight another day. But exactly HOW was it going to end? You'll have to find out for yourself.	`The Matrix Revolutions' picks up exactly where `Reloaded' left off-Neo appears to be a coma. In fact, he is trapped in a place between the real world and the computer world and he is being held there by the Merovingian. Morpheus and Trinity take it upon themselves to make a deal with the Merovingian to set him free.	When freed, Neo visits the Oracle one last time. However, her appearance has changed in order to hide her identity-after all, she is a program and can be changed (Gloria Foster who played the original Oracle died before `Reloaded' was completed. Mary Alice plays the new oracle). She reminds Neo that he still has to face Agent Smith one last time in order to completely end the war. As such, they are now off and trying to find a way to help the underground city of Zion fight off the machine army burrowing towards them.
When a strategy is formulated, Neo and Trinity decide to take a ship, alone. Neo knows that in order to end things once and for all, he'll have to go Machine City, where humans are grown, and face the leader of the machines. He believes this confrontation will be the key to ending the war between humans and machines. The philosophy that once seemed so deep is still in `Revolutions,' just in a minor way, compared to the last films. The Oracle reminds Neo that in order to defeat Agent Smith, Neo has to understand that he and Smith are practically the same person-they just have different personalities. Only when Neo can comprehend Smith's intentions, can he ever hope to beat him. Metaphorically, Smith is compared to Neo's evil twin. Also, I found it amusing how in the one scene where we see the elusive Architect of the matrix, he explains to the Oracle the outcome of world if the matrix comes to an end. When the Oracle questions the Architect if what he's saying is true, his response is, `What do you think I am, human?' Naturally, in his world, machines do not know how to lie. `The Matrix Revolutions' is an action flick-and what a great one at that! The visual effects are as astonishing as one would expect from the series. However, unlike `Reloaded,' `Revolutions' sequences do not drag on for long periods of time. In `Reloaded,' many of the scenes seemed be never-ending as if to show-off the filmmaker's great visual technique of Bullet-time. In actuality, it was overkill for the film making it run longer than necessary. In `Revolutions,' we get the right amount of action combined with those amazing Bullet-time shots. As such, it's every bit as impressive now as it was in the first two films. Overall, `The Matrix Revolutions' is a good ending to a hyper-cool trilogy. ***