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| Review by Magus |
| Review: Let me get this out up front: If you were watching Matrix: Revolutions with the expectation that it would answer the unanswered questions in Reloaded, boy are you in for a letdown. A sum total of about 10 seconds is devoted to "wrapping up" each, if you're lucky. All the Architect's prattle from Reloaded turns out to be irrelevant, as does most of the Oracle's. No time is devoted to explaining the "exile" programs. The explanations we do get are simplistic, and to me, cop outs. We figured this much out on our own at the end of Reloaded, but we were expecting the writers to do better. We expected too much. Now let me get down to this here: The movie learned a bit from Reloaded in that we only had to endure SOME of the Frenchman's prattle in this one and he didn't philosophize too much on the ethereal nature of bullshit. We do get a nice shot of his wife's breasts. The Architect gets about 6 lines. The Oracle is played by a different actress, which they explain well enough considering. The opening sequence with Neo trapped in between our world and the machine world was completely unnecessary. I saw this and I thought "Christ, it's going to be another Reloaded." But like I said, this one learns from the previous in that we don't have to listen to too much prattle that doesn't go anywhere. The majority of the movie takes place outside the Matrix actually, about a good 3 quarters is the defense of Zion. The special effects and the action is good here, but again, Zion pales in interest to the Matrix. Neo's power over the real world is explained (VERY simplistically I might add), and Smith's existence is also explained (in a way that was not at all relevant, and which they shouldn't have even bothered with, because it made you think it was actually going to go somewhere). The ending fight scene is good for what it is, even if you do have to get used to Smith and Neo flying around and their every punch causing a nuclear explosion sized reality ripple. Smith is good as ever, and the guy who he's taken over in reality does an excellent job of imitating him and his psychosis. Ok, what this movie suffers from, in place of prattle, is cheesy sentimentality. The death scene with Trinity clocked in at what seemed like an eternity. My brother actually said loudly enough for people to turn their heads "Christ, just hurry up and die!". And in this case, I was in perfect agreement. The "sentimental moments", particularly with the Indian girl, are absolutely nauseating. I almost applauded when Smith absorbed her. The movie is full of moments like that and little heroic, if brainless, mini-speeches. It's so bad, it's good. Think Morpheus' embarrassing "We will be victorious!" speech. But it sure beats the prattle. The ending is left VERY open, and the way Neo beats Smith is actually pretty anti-climatic. The tie ins are never explained, at least in the Matrix we KNEW what was happening, and why, but the movie is full of nonsense left over from Reloaded that turns out to be just a bunch of dead ends. The effects are top notch, but story wise, the movie is like one of those games like Jengo where you just keep stacking the blocks and stacking the blocks, until the tower falls over from being too top heavy. That sums up the plot of Reloaded and Revolutions, and the worst part is, so much of it is never even answered, or just discarded completely! So, if you liked Reloaded, this one is better...somewhat. It's still a far, far cry from the original, and your questions will not be answered, I cannot stress this enough. I am by no means a slow man, they simply don't answer them. It killed two hours, and that�s about all I can give it. My recommendation is just forget the 2 sequels were ever made and start writing some fanfiction. |
| Disclaimer: My brother, Magus, insists I put up a disclaimer, so here it goes. My brother says that this review is more of a rant than it is a review (though, there is little difference between the two) and that he wrote this with a headache, so I guess that's just his way of saying that you should take this review with a grain of salt. |
| Rating: *1/2 |