Matrix Revolutions

The human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also opposing the rogue Agent Smith.

Directed by
Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski

Genres
Action, Thriller, Sci-Fi

Cast
Mary Alice, Tanveer K. Atwal, Helmut Bakaitis, Kate Beahan, Francine Bell, Monica Bellucci, Rachel Blackman, Henry Blasingame, Ian Bliss, David Bowers, Zeke Castelli, Collin Chou, Essie Davis, Laurence Fishburne, Nona Gaye

DVD

Like most others, I loved the Matrix. And like a lot of others, I was underwhelmed with Reloaded. But for Revolutions, I came out pretty happy. You do see an end, and there are some surprises. But I was still left with important unanswered questions, and that’s kind of inexcusable for the finale in a 7 hour trilogy.

What Matrix Revolutions brings to the table is a giant war. The machines have reached Zion, it’s the last stand for the humans, and Neo must make a choice that could bring him face-to face with the machine city and a possible end to the war.

After a slow but interesting start, we see the war begin. It’s a special effects frenzy, similar to that of Lord of the Rings or the arena battle at the end of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. The war scene makes up the entire middle third of the film, and for what it’s supposed to display, it does it well enough. Aside from legions of the “squiddies”, or Sentinels, there are a couple new machines that are fascinating to watch: Giant, drilling creatures that instill an appropriate feeling of dread and power. On the human side, there’s a small army of walking robots similar to the Power Loader machines in “Aliens”, but with extensive firepower. This results in long sequences of shooting, attacking, and screaming, which is going to uninspire fans of the Matrix’s deeper plot but which is appropriate for a war setting.

The only problem is that a lot of this is pretty standard stuff. Grizzled military commanders will be hard on young soldiers, who find their courage and prove their true worth. People will be injured and give important information in a speech just before dying. The heroes will be doubted but still do just enough to prove their doubters wrong.

But then one of the bigger overall problems is that the main characters are sort of lost amongst the backdrop of war. Morpheus has maybe 30 lines, becoming a shadow of the informative, enigmatic hero he was in the original. This time, he’s reduced mainly to someone who hopes Neo saves the world while himself taking orders as co-captain of Niobe’s ship. Trinity has little else to do either besides tag along with Neo or do a couple arbitrary flips and kicks.

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