Excellent action but with philosophy in slight disarray...

Rating: 10/10 (7 November 2003)

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** The Matrix saga got its start by using excellent graphical action combined with an interesting concept of existentialism. However, with the subsequent sequels, the action intensifies while the philosophy behind the movie begins to stray from its original premise.
In the beginning, we as humans were enslaved to provide the machines' necessary power to live. Machines created a fantasy world for us "slave children" to live in while we grow to produce more power for them. So, the general premise was that we were the "brain-in-the-vat", trapped in a preconceived situation and oblivious to our actual lives. The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions seem to stray from this theory as we are introduced to the concepts of causality and free will. What is perceived for us to do vs. our own desire to do what we feel like doing at the present moment. Many people I have discussed this merger with have agreed that the movie does begin to send the audience into disarray. I was disappointed with the change of topic from the Matrix to Reloaded as I wanted there to be a continuous of the same interesting topic. However, the movie does well to obscure this change with its overly verbose explanations of existence and the cause of it, especially with the solliloquies by the Oracle at the park right before the legion of Agent Smiths ambush Neo. Revolutions does well to continue this with its philosophy as well. Revolutions does live up to everything it was billed for. "While Reloaded deals with life, Revolutions deals with death". The way the Wachowski brothers interpreted everyone's death in Revolutions was utterly brilliant as Neo's "ONE"ness became very apparent. We all find out why Neo was so special, so special as to be given the fate of the universe in his hands.
So, as I entered the movie theatre to watch Matrix Revolutions, I was expecting to see much of the same action/philosophy as was present in Reloaded since they were filmed together. I was correct in that assumption as the action was utterly amazing and the concepts were very contuinuous from Reloaded. I had read in many magazines that the crew were going to unveil some very unique new bullet-time scenes and other very revolutionary action scenes.
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS* (read on at your own risk) =============================================> The clips that stole the show and possible the whole saga is the fight for the dock in Zion and the ending fight between Agent Smith and Neo. The music montage picked to represent the whole scene for the survival of the humans was amazing. The play up to the EMP Shcokwave finally being blown was and will be a historic scene in cinematic visual history. The legion of machines that were on screen all at once made it even more amazing as you could see that it had to have taken a lot of time and effort to make.
The final fight between Agent Smith and Neo was also a piece of cinematic history. Many people do not know how or why Agent Smith became the ultimate of ultimate bas guys. I have an obcure explanation but you had to have seen Reloaded in order to understand. In Reloaded, it was either the Architect or the Oracle (I forgot since it's been quite a few months since I've seen it), Neo was told about the Matrix and that it's just a bunch of code. Neo was a "renegade program" that could withstand much more maliciousness than normal "programs". Agent Smith was Neo's opposite. Smith was an "evil" renegade program, duplicating himself in order to try to take over all other programs. The Oracle is another code that isn't governed by normal programming methodology. That is why she has so much insight into everything, because she has the point of view of God. Agent Smith taking over the Oracle was his way of becoming a very powerful person. He now has the power of Neo, but also the point of view of God. He can see the future and he can act almost like God. That is why the machines let Neo fight Smith - because Smith has become a force that could even take down the machine world! However, in the final fight scene, we see Smith trying to take over Neo and become a supreme being. Neo's desire and perseverence and love and his charisma and his etc. that was been building up throughout the saga has given him something that Agent Smith never had... the will to be free. We are in control of our own world and nothing can take that way. I saw it a bit blasphemous as I think this movie gives Christian theology a slap in the face. It says God doesn't even have the power to rule over us. That is why Neo rejects Smith and destroys every copy of himself.
The fight scene before that was brilliant. It was almost like two "Superman"s fighting each other, but the whole "the fate of the world is hanging in the balance" environment was very well made. I was on the edge of my seat while I as watching the awesome eye candy.
In conclusion, the movie was an overall awesome ending to the movie. I love movies that give something for the viewer to think about. Don't look for there to be a sequel to this one, but there could be television shows or something that will continue on the story. Agent Smith has been destroyed. However, Agent Smith took over the Oracle's body and she was seen at the end again. Could the same happen with Neo? Perhaps, but hopefully not in theatres. The whole saga was awesome (if it not were for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it would probably be the best trilogy ever). After the first Matrix, the philosophy began to waiver a little bit but it was at least consistent after that until the ending which pretty much makes up for any faults. The action was second to none and will always be benchmark of any other graphical accomplishments. I gave this movie a perfect 10, not only because of the great effort that went into this movie, ut because it was very entertaining and thrilling all at once. Thank you for such an awesome ride Wachowski brothers!