No new substance, same old style

Rating: 2/10 (8 November 2003)

Hardly the worst science fiction film ever, The Matrix Revolutions is simply clichÃ©. At least it can be laughed at. In fact, I had MST3K-style commentary going through my head from the first scene forward.
Except for Agent Smith, the Wachowski brothers failed to write dialog worth hearing. The question-answer cadence has all the freshness of Plato's dialogues yet lacked the philosophical depth. It's been done before. It's been done better.
Actually, the film's only saving grace is Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. He makes an excellent villain. Too bad Reeves' Neo comes across as just another hackneyed hero and not worthy of such an antagonist.
Stylistically, the scenes within the Matrix keep the original's essence but do little to expand it. Scenes outside the Matrix are everything that can be expected of high-budget, postcyberpunk, cinema scifi. When will an innovative futuristic battle sequence ever be filmed? The open-cockpit robots standing firm against waves of attackers would be tactically foolish today. The fight lacked substance and had all the style of middling mecha anime.
Thinking of anime, as the directors certainly do, I hoped that the final Neo v. Smith fight would at least be a good ride. Instead it was best fight Dragon Ball never had. I kept waiting for Neo to shout "Kamehameha!" Fortunately it didn't take a hundred half-hour episodes to finish.
Even still, The Matrix Revolutions isn't substantial enough for one solid half hour let alone 130 minutes.
Rating: 2/10