Better than Reloaded but still focusing on effects rather than story

Rating: 5/10 (1 January 2009)

Neo (Reeves) finds himself trapped in a place between the machine world and the Matrix as the people of Zion prepare for battle against the machines.
The Matrix sparked debates about reality, Reloaded questioned the importance of choice and Revolutions with all its fancy effects and sharp direction fails to deliver on a misguided narrative that tries to pinpoint the issue of destiny.
After a stunning ending to the rubbish Reloaded, the final part of the trilogy was set up to hopefully amend the mistakes from its predecessor and deliver an intriguing story that would decide the fate of both worlds. But like the previous instalment this falls flat on its face and delivers pointless continuous waves of visual effects. Stunning visuals again, but if there is no story to juxtapose them with, then they simply are a fact of the film, with no special significance.
The narrative dives into the ridiculous of the prophecy and continues with the inaccurate concept of choice in an attempt to reach its conclusion and bizarre open ending.
The man versus machine battle took long enough to arrive and after the built up anticipation it is a huge disappointment with too much screen time, conventional hero moments, predictable just in time scenarios and unorganised direction. The difference and surprise from the first film has been replaced by action convention and is the saddest thing to see.
Though the visuals and direction do not appear for the battle between man and machine, they are present and beautiful in a fine climatic showdown between Smith and Neo.
This narrative is complex like the previous two releases but it is hard to interpret. Unlike the first, Revolutions doesn't give enough information to even guess what happens at the end, not to mention how elements from the Matrix appeared in the machine world. Open endings are a fantastic device to create a sense of mystery to leave the viewer guessing, but here there is a quick conversation and that is that and the viewer will be left wondering what happened. Re-watching the film doesn't help either, but you wouldn't really want to as it is simply boring, pointless and doesn't have a point.
Sci-Fi films have always been about difference from reality and stunning visuals. Star Wars, Predator and Alien had visuals and question generating narratives. So why must all sequels ruin these original story lines by driving down the road of effects and action.
Like many other sequels this final part of the trilogy focuses on its computer to score hits with its viewer but fails miserably thanks to an action packed and pointless narrative