Must see - however its good, not great

Rating: 9/10 (7 November 2003)

Warning - minor spoiler or two but not enough to ruin the movie: I have seen a comment suggesting skipping this movie and watching only the first two. That is absurd. How could anyone who saw the first two not want to see the conclusion. However, it is a very different movie than the first two. It's kinda like how "Aliens" was a very different movie than "Alien" - however they were both very good movies. This is mostly an action movie in the real world (as opposed to inside the Matrix). Most of the Matrix scenes involved the Oracle except for the final Neo vs. Agent Smith showdown (thats not a spoiler you had to expect that to be in the movie). The first was about discovering the matrix world vs. the real world and the second was mostly inside the matrix world. But the real story here is the final battle in Zion with the sentinels against some big bad human weaponry (homage paid to the "Aliens" walker Ripley kicked the aliens butt in with some serious gunpower added) and some well placed missiles targeting the diggers. That scene was awesome, a special effects spectacle and a battle of unparalleled sci-fi proportions. However the rest of the movie is somewhat slower, the first half particularly with a lot of talk but not as much philosophy as the first two installments. The film succeeds in one way that the second (understandably) failed which is that it does have a conclusion, a finality. I appreciated the fact that it wasn't ended in a typical Hollywood fashion (it didn't go on and on, wasn't full of false endings, and didn't result in everyone living - minor spoiler). So because of the fact that its not so much philosophy and not occuring so much inside the matrix, it is more of a "normal" action sci-fi flick. I suppose some viewers could be surprised by that but they shouldn't be disappointed. Appreciate it for what it is. That said, it does lack the emotional punch and human element some might have hoped for. And its not full of one liners and the usual tricks of a typical action battle movie. Some will take it as a bit dry because of that but I felt it was more realistic - its not a summer blockbuster for the bubblegum audience with effects for effects sake. Its honest, genuine, real, touching but not overly emotional and in the end its all about inevitability and as the oracle said - every thing that has a beginning must have an end - as does this movie trilogy. A good one, but not a great one.