Action 90% - Character/Story 20%

Rating: 5/10 (6 November 2003)

What a major disappointment. After such plot complexities in Parts 1 & 2, in order to get through to a simplistic mystical resolution the Wachowskis have abandoned character depth, and tragically as we watch we no longer care about them. There are simply too many characters, new and old, (for example a beautifully presented Indian family at the beginning), yet they disappear without development. Only the main figures of Neo and Trinity have any conclusion - and, hey, death is an easy way to conclude!
The major action sequences continue to combine CGI and real sets in new and mostly exciting ways: the chase after The Hammer is a great rollercoaster; the great battle in Zion is well planned and shot, though the spirals of Sentinels look tacky; the duel between Neo and Smith is just awful. But we are watching characters we hardly know, and whereas, say, the smaller battles in Aliens (one of the many sci-fi 'borrows') have tangible fear by using character and darkness, this has the emotional punch of an 007 film. The Smith/Oracle meld laughs like Mike Myers' Dr Evil - cringe.
The first Matrix held a wonderful balance of strong characterisation, a journey of discovery, wonderful new action/CG, and a sense of revelation. Reloaded continued most of this, albeit in a much clunkier and preachy way. Revolutions only has the action/CG and a facile path to the end, borrowed so superficially from Christianity, Hinduism and Greek tragedy. "Everything that has a beginning has an end" - I wish the beginning of Part 1 hadn't had Part 3's hurried, cheap end!
The Wachowskis have so much genius to offer us - but they now need a strong scriptwriter and producer to control their excesses, which have become juvenile.