Don't believe the hype - "Revolutions" rocks

Rating: Null/10 (25 November 2003)

The Matrix series constitutes the penultimate action epic of our time. Period. End of story. All these critics that can't seem to get to the woodshed fast enough to beat Revolutions like a redded mule will be the same ones lining up ten years from now to say what a brilliant body of work it was a part of (and I include The Animatrix in that body - the nine shorts are works of genius in and of themselves and I think would go a long way toward helping those who haven't seen it and were confused by Revolutions' ending understand it better). That said, don't see The Matrix Revolutions if:
1) You hated The Matrix Reloaded. I loved it, but that said, there's not much in Revolutions to convert the skeptics - this one's for the choir, so to speak, and God bless the Wachowski's for giving us such a bold and uncompromising finale.
2) You are over the age of 40. I truly believe this is one of those generation gap movies, like Fight Club, that older people won't like or truly understand because the themes simply don't resonate the same way - nothing to be ashamed of, as the same will certainly happen to us with films made by future generations, but I think it is an important consideration nevertheless. My parents don't "get" movies like Fight Club and The Matrix the same way their parents didn't "get" movies like The Graduate, and so on and so forth. Not to say there isn't a 60-year old woman out there who won't be giddy with excitement seeing Neo and Agent Smith throw down in a superpowered, rain-soaked, zero-gravity battle royale, but I think its safe to say that the target audience for this sort of thing drops exponentially for every ten years removed from age 25.
3) You think kung-fu comic book action movies ought to feature Sir Lawrence Olivier in the lead, reading lines straight from the pen of Shakespeare himself. It doesn't and it shouldn't.
If all you're after, though, is one last mind-blowing trip into the incredible visual of world of the brothers Wachowski, strap yourself in and enjoy the ride. You won't be sorry.
*SPOILERS BELOW*
First off, it helps to understand that Reloaded and Revolutions are two parts of the same film, rather than two truly separate sequels. Ironically, I think that the Wachowski Bros. intended the apparently highly unpopular Reloaded to be the big, bustling crowd-pleaser (and so it was, as far as I'm concerned)so when Revolutions hit, people wouldn't be so put off by the rather downbeat conclusion. Oops. Oh well.
It has been noted by critics and several posters that Matrix fans too often retort that those who pan the films simply "don't get it." While I agree that this can't be used as a catch-all for a film's shortcomings, some of the most frequent criticisms in terms of the plot of "Revolutions" tell me that many critics either weren't paying very close attention or that there is indeed some merit to the "don't get it" accusation. For instance, over and over people ask "What happened to all the people still in the Matrix? Why didn't Neo and Co. rescue them?" Well, if you were listening during the first and second films, you'd know that 1) generally only the very young can be freed from the matrix (Morpheus: "We have a rule. We never free a mind once it has reached a certain age. It's dangerous. The mind has trouble letting go."), and 2)that the intervening time between the first film and the second was largely spent freeing plug-ins (Morpheus: "We have freed more minds in the past six months than in the past six years."). The problem that faces Neo and Co. is that to destroy the Matrix entirely would result in a full system crash, killing of all those millions of people still "plugged in," as is directly noted by the Architect at the end of Reloaded. Thus in Revolutions, contrary to what has been concluded by many reviewers, Neo does indeed save those "plugged in" by ridding the system of the virus Smith that, left unchecked, would have crashed the system.
Another plot point frequently brought up is, "Why doesn't Zion have more EMP's and/or why didn't they use them?" Yet another point DIRECTLY ADDRESSED not only in the third film but in the first as well - an EMP doesn't just knock out the Sentinels, but all of Zion's electronic defense systems as well. As Lock points out, while the Hammer's deployment of an EMP temporarily saves the day, its use also leaves Zion completely defenseless against the next wave of attack. So why would Zion have a plethora of EMP's when using them would either mean destroying their own defense capabilities or shutting them down completely? This is the sort of sloppy criticism that elicits the "you just don't get it" reply from fans, and in some cases it is rightly deserved.
The real reason behind the decidedly negative response to Revolutions, I believe, is that the way it ends forces you to draw your own conclusions about a great many things and presents supreme triumph by either side as being impossible and ultimately contradictory. The series ends the only way it can, if you've been paying attention (again, seeing the Animatrix, particularly The Second Renaissance Parts I and II, will go a long way towards explaining the resolution), in a manner that is both, for me at least, totally satisfying while still leaving enough unsaid to keep your head spinning with images and possibilities for weeks to come.

In short, Revolutions is one last terrific ride through The Matrix universe, with the final showdown between Neo and Smith worth the price of admission alone (contrary to many reviews - not sure which fight THEY were watching...). Get to the theater, see it, and as the Oracle might say, make up your own damn mind.