Less irritating and less interesting than Reloaded

Rating: 2/10 (21 February 2005)

By this third film the Wachowski brothers almost completely abandon the idea of The Matrix, not to mention the two stars who had led the first film (Neo and Trinity), and produce a black-oriented action flick set almost entirely in Zion. The result is a movie that is less irritatingly smug and confusing than The Matrix Reloaded, but also lacks any of the mind games that carried audiences through the first film and part of the second; it is now simply a Sci-Fi channel action movie with a bigger budget. If you care at all what happens to such fascinating characters as Morpheus, Niobe, Bane and Councillor West, well, here's your chance to watch them save the sweaty, bad-smelling Zion and keep it free for humorless black people. If you can't even remember who such unmemorable characters are, and wonder how the Wachowskis so badly misunderstood what made the first movie appealing, well, me too, my friend, me too.