About what it means to be human

Rating: 9/10 (10 November 2003)

The third and final episode of the Matrix Trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions opened last week on 18,000 screens throughout the world, a fitting tribute to the cultural phenomenon the Wachowski Brothers films have become. Combining romance, awesome visuals, intergalactic adventure, and philosophy into a highly entertaining spectacle, "Revolutions" makes clear the enormous achievement of the entire project and brings it to a satisfying conclusion. Far from being a soulless video game, we identify with the characters, and a large part of the popularity of the series may have to do with people's need to find something in their lives that has meaning and purpose. We identify with Neo for his commitment and purpose, with Morpheus for his strength and integrity, with Trinity for her sacrifice and love. There is even a hero-worshiping kid (Clayton Watson), and of course the bad guy Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) who reminds us of all the corporate clones we have to face in our daily lives.
As the film opens, Neo (Keanu Reeves) is in a coma though he is actually trapped in all-white train station controlled by a scruffy-looking trainman (Bruce Spence), a worker in the ranks for the smooth-talking Merovingian (Lambert Wilson). The station scene is one of the most effective creations of the series, a cold and forbidding limbo between the machine world and the human. Here, Neo meets a lovely Indian girl named Sati (Tanveer Atwal), who introduces him to her parents and tells him she is going to live with the Oracle as her companion. As Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) seek advice from the Oracle (Mary Alice replacing the late Gloria Foster) on freeing Neo, Zion is about to be attacked by an army of robotic sentinels. To free Neo, With the help of Mifune (Nathaniel Lees), they pay a visit to the Merovingian at his S&M Club Hell.

The action heats up in two different directions, one in the battle to save Zion with great assist from Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith), the other an attempt by Neo and Trinity to enter the machine world to bargain with the artificial intelligence that has enslaved mankind for more than two centuries. The negotiation entails confronting and destroying Neo's mirror image, the multiplying Agent Smith, now a threat to all in return for peace. The battle sequences are state-of-the-art set pieces that include the all out war for Zion with squids flying in formation with octopus-like tentacles waving behind them, a shootout in the check room at Club Hell, the Star-Wars like penetration of Neo's ship into the machine world, and the final battle with Agent Smith.
Though these sequences go on too long, the human element is not lost and Neo's mission calls upon every last ounce of his personal courage and determination. Though the ending does not tie up all loose ends, ultimately, The Matrix Revolutions is about what it means to be human, to penetrate boundaries in life that had previously been off limits and to exercise our creative power in the area of choice. The film tells us that "everything that has a beginning has an end" but hints that the end is merely a new beginning. As the ship accelerates high above the Robot City to encounter a transcendental light, we see that another world is possible -- and train service is available.