"Love" is a word. And so is "Balls."

Rating: Null/10 (5 November 2003)

Spoilers ahead!
When someone buys a sports car, they don't want to stand around for hours admiring the bodywork. They want to jump in and take it for a spin. When someone goes to see an action movie, they don't want to sit through lectures about love, choices and beliefs before they get to the action. They know what the film is capable of, and they know what they've paid to see.
The Matrix is a stubborn film. It refuses to accept that the audience is ahead of the story. The discovery that Agent Smith has entered the real world is drawn out, The exposition in front of the Zion council states what we already know, and Neo and Trinity spin the "I love you" plate one time too many, desperately trying to keep it balanced on it's wavering stick of credibility.
What is so frustrating is that while Revolutions wastes FAR too much time over-explaining what we already know, it fails to provide answers when they are really needed: (Why was Smith's possession of Neo his downfall? What happened to Neo at the end? How do the machines and humans re-integrate?), Instead of an explanation, all we get is a flash of light. Even the action is insubstantial - most noticeably, the fight with Agent Smith, which is a laughable anti-climax. But hey, never mind all that kids! Be blown away by the film's philosophy! Remember - "love" is a word!
Worst of all, after rooting for mankind through three films, after cheering Neo through so much bullet-dodging, slow motion, kung fu bravado, after firmly distinguishing between the good guys and the bad guys, we learn that it all ends in a stalemate. Peace between man and machine. Men and machines skipping through a field together. Lovely.
Good points? Agent Smith lights up the film, and it's refreshing every time he appears. He's got good lines, he's got character, and he's not in the film nearly enough. The fight in Zion is well staged too, but would it really have been that much effort to do a multi-layered, Return of the Jedi style battle, interweaving Neo's confrontation in the matrix with the battle underground? A missed opportunity.
Revolutionary? Hardly.