Total mixed bag

Rating: 7/10 (11 November 2003)

I saw the movie last Saturday, and I've been trying to decide what i thought about it ever since then. Everyone came out of our theatre with a "Ho-hum" look on their face. This was not the "balls-to-the-wall" action film we all envisioned. I know it's certainly not what I expected. Therefore I am totally torn on my feelings for the film. On one hand I thought it was cool way to end the series, on the other hand, it seems there is so much more that could have been done to make this a better movie. There is no clear ending here, I won't give it away, but those who have seen it know what I'm talking about. We're just supposed to accept that some things happened after the end of the film, and in my opinion that boils down to bad filmmaking. Then I start wondering if it was intentional. The Matrix movies have always been about thinking and elusive meanings and dialogue, but it still seems that there should have been some attempt at a true ending. Now to the fights, these are spectacular. Spectacular, other than the first fight with Morpheus, Trinity, and Seraph against the Merovingian's goons which seems to me like a rehash of the lobby scene in the first movie, but then we get to the good stuff. The Zion dock fight is a new step in the right direction for CG mixed with live action, this thing is a beauty to behold and one of the best parts of the film. The superfight at the end is astonishing as well, as we finally see the two most powerful characters in the Matrix mythos go at each other like there's no tomorrow. Agent Smith is now totally enshrined as my favorite character of the entire trilogy, and he ranks up there with Darth Vader as one of my favorite villains in film history. Hugo Weaving shines here, and I hope will get some much deserved credit for his portrayal of Smith. The movie though is a totally mixed bag; it's better than Reloaded but not as good as the original which set the bar so high that it's hard to surpass. It will definitely take multiple viewings to sort all of this out and decide just how this film was meant to work. There's way too much to think about here. I think that if people give it a second chance and not just dismiss it after the initial viewing they will find more to love here, but only time will tell.