missed opportunity

Rating: Null/10 (5 November 2003)

I expected so much from this movie and got so little. I may be in something of a minority here but I loved Reloaded, maybe even more than the original. The complex exploration of the nature of the Matrix in that film widened the scope of the story arc into new territory, seemingly opening up a plethora of possible revelations to be revealed in 'Revolutions'. Disappointingly, the makers completely abandoned this approach in favour of what boils down to an almighty scrap. Granted, the film does resolve the question of Neo's 'purpose' in the Matrix and beyond, but virtually all the other tantalizing plot threads from the previous two films have been left hanging. Instead we get a story which essentially focuses only on the 'battle for Zion', and some extremely heavy-handed religious symbolism. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy films to leave endings open, but there's a difference between leaving the audience guessing and blatantly abandoning or losing plot threads. To me that just smacks of either poor plotting or, more likely, a way to get more cash from us. The previous two films were intelligent and thought-provoking, but the Wachowskis seem to have missed the enormous potential this story had, and have ended up with little more than a big, dumb action movie with a ridiculously simple 'conclusion'.