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Directed by: Andy & Larry Wachowski Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Larry Fishburn The Matrix Revolutions. Hmm. Call me wacky, but I thought that the original Matrix was adequately self-contained. The story I cared about was resolved. There was no need for a sequel. Of course, this is Hollywood, a land where poo poo-eating suits who never saw a penny they didn't like give the green-light for a sequel to any moderately successful property. Still, as a fan of the original, I had faith that the sequels could deliver, at the very least, entertainment. I was willing to forgive the hopscotch of logic that Andy and Larry Wachowski played in The Matrix Reloaded, assuming that the loose ends would be tied up in a suitable fashion and that the dozens of characters they were so desperate to introduce weren't merely for show. Where I would have expected characters such as Mero, Persephone, Trainman and Locke (to name a few) to be characters, they were nothing more than disembodied chunks of script spouting exposition. "Thank you for ztopping by. Here are Persephone's tits, and Plot Point C iz straight trou zat door to ze left." The "people" were essentially sacrificed to the plodding machinations of the script and the special effects that aren't really all that special anymore. Smith, for what it's worth, was good. Pretty sad when the only character with a personality isn't even human. I simply did not give a poo poo about the dwellers of Zion because they were so far removed from our own experience. In the original Matrix, we saw ourselves, living our dull and listless lives--and then, we saw Morpheus and his crew, stylish and somehow superior, what with their shades without ear things and bitter defiance of physics. In Matrix 2 and especially 3, we saw these stylish figures humanized, living in a drab, monochromatic cave getting their rear end handed to them by stupid looking metal squids. Lame rave parties, zombie-filled councils and killer clown robots? Matrix plz. I mean, what were they fighting to protect? The directors did nothing to suggest the people or the setting were worth our interest. We were meant to identify with the fact that they were humans and that we should therefore, as humans, root for our own survival. Unfortunately, with the overabundance of pretty effects and pseudo-philosophy, something had to give. So, when Neo died and the humans survived, nobody cared because they weren't human--he was merely a plot device saving other plot devices. The Matrix Revolutions is an unoriginal, tedious, lame, pathetic, laboured "action" movie, drenched in an undeniably pretentious coating of angst. The Matrix was never reloaded, nor was it revolutionized--it was reheated, watered down and fed back to us through our asses. RATING: 1 PROS: Pretty good effects CONS: Ridiculous plot, overblown dialogue, endless action, unnecessary movie ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
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May 5, 2004 02:55
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quote:NADZILLA came out of the closet to say: Some people, me, consider those to be pros. And I highly doubt this is the worst movie you've ever seen. This movie wasn't great, but apparently in nerd world either it's the best goddamn thing ever or its omg so bad. This movie is purely spectacle, but there are a lot of movies on this forum that are the same type and have higher ratings. I enjoyed it, it was fast, and it was non-stop hardcore all the way to the end. I didn't need much more than that to like it. 3.5/5
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May 5, 2004 03:04
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I agree basically with the above. I did not enjoy revolutions as much as The Matrix but I can think of 2 or 3 cool scenes and I did not get up and walk out of the theater so I cannot see how anyone could actually consider it a 1. 3.5/5
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May 5, 2004 03:09
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It was a great movie about the problems of creation. Humans created machines and could not control them, so they were destroyed. The machines created Neo and Smith, which now risk destroying them. Ultimately it will take blind faith of them that Neo will restore the balance and reunite them with their creators, humanity, in the new order. It's a beautiful story if you open your mind to it.
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May 5, 2004 03:15
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it wasn't a GREAT movie and i have my own major annoyances with it --mostly with the combat-- but i also thought a lot of the bitching about this movie was about things that were considered acceptable in previous movies (ex. complaining about too much parallels to Christ in Revolutions, but giving it a past in the Matrix) or just the result of people not getting exactly what they predicted and wanted. it's inferior to the other two Matrix movies, but not bad. 3.5.
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May 5, 2004 06:53
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I liked Revolutions a lot better than Reloaded, and the final battle scene was quite awesome, but of course it fails to be anywhere near as good as the first movie. I think if the second two movies hadn't had to follow up the first one they would have been received a lot better, but they're just blatant boring action and horrible unexplained plot points. Still, I was entertained while watching Revolutions, and I liked the ending well enough. 3.0
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May 5, 2004 07:24
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I know I'm opening myself to cringing all around, but I friggin' loved this movie. The quest to find the true meaning of control, the drive to find purpose. The logical route of tearing everything down and going back to zero versus the struggle to keep choice, be it logical or illogical, alive. Yes, the sequels are practically in a different world than the first one. But it's a world I got a huge kick out of. Voted 5.
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May 5, 2004 08:07
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I thought it was the weakest film in the trilogy but it was still good. The battle for Zion was fantastic and I liked the gunplay at the start of the film as well. The Dragonball Z-style fighting at the end was a bit of a turnoff, though. The resolution was all right and not too contrived, but it was somewhat unsatisfying to me and the film leaves a lot of unanswered questions. More good than bad and it really didn't deserve the shitkicking it took in reviews and public opinion. 3.5/5
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May 5, 2004 08:09
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This movie was dissapointing on so many different levels, made watchable only by excessive special effects. Voted 2.
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May 5, 2004 09:50
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Loved it. Excellent all around. Those of you wringing your hands over the plot holes and logical missteps should realize that: 1. It's an action movie first and foremost b. It's a sci-fi fantasy. III. Keanu Reeves is in it. It took my sphincter a day to unpucker from the hovercraft getaway scenes and the docks battle. THIS was a movie you could eat popcorn to. 4
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May 5, 2004 13:57
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If they took out the overblown philosophy (which was much, much, ever so much better in Matrix 1), fixed the horribly overdone Trinity death sequence, stopped relying on the fake-looking CGI (there's realistic CGI where it's hard to tell the difference because they use actors for the foreground and blend effects in the back, and there's the CGI that uses lots of blurring to hide the fact that none of the faces have features. This isn't type 1, and it shows), and possibly made the whole film into 2 more hours of the awesome Mechwarrior fight, I could certainly live with this movie. As it is, the 20 minutes of giant robot action don't really make up for sitting through the other 1:40, though I admit the Smithifying scenes were kinda cool, too. 2.5.
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May 5, 2004 17:01
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quote:Mathieu came out of the closet to say: This movie was completely useless. It was Hannibal to Silence of the Lambs. And if Morpheus or anyone else said "Because some things never change... and some things do" one more loving time...
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May 5, 2004 20:41
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I like the film, although I agree it's the weakest of the trilogy (I think Reloaded was the best). As Mathieu said, if you just open your mind and look at the story behind the special effects, it's beautiful. Take 'It ends tonight' (the final Neo vs Smith showdown). So many people just think "Oh yah Neo was electrified and that blew up Smith", but by looking at some of the allegory and the important three speeches in Reloaded, you can work out what really happened to Neo. This is what makes the sequels great, for me. When I saw the first Matrix I thought it was good, and left it. All the philosophy was relatively simple and obvious, the storyline straightforward and nothing was left unanswered. Maybe that's why I'd rate it lower than Reloaded. When I first saw Reloaded I felt disappointed and confused. After watching it a few more times and reading a few essays on the net, I've come to appreciate it much more. Some things will never be answered, so like philosophy, you just have to make up your own drat mind. The same happened with Revolutions, although I wasn't so disappointed because I knew I'd be confused. Trust me, give them a bit more thought. They aren't so bad once you get to know them. Also, I'm pretty sure the Wachowskis had plans for the sequels before the first Matrix was released. In an earlier shooting script there are loads of references to the reloading of the Matrix and the previous Ones. Apparently the plans for the sequels are explained in Revisited. Even if the sequels weren't planned in advance, I think the stories are perfectly coherent, so all the more credit to the Wachowskis. deez nutz fucked around with this message at 22:16 on May 5, 2004 |
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May 5, 2004 22:10
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Revolutions is a victim of ridiculously high expectations, a 4-year grudge and a fundamental misunderstanding of what the series was about. I am not saying "everyone who disliked the movie did it because of these petty reasons" because that's not true, Revolutions has flaws that will make many people justifiably dislike or hate it. However, I think the other people are worth mentioning in the atmosphere surrounding the movie. The high expectations I can relate to, because when I went into the theater I was expecting a whole lot of fantastic explanations and some mindblowing twist. After about a half hour of film I realized that wasn't going to happen, I was disappointed, but I began to enjoy the movie for what it was doing rather than what I thought it would. The failure to explain itself, however, is entirely the W bros fault, having purposely led the audience to expect more thought out explanations to Neo's powers rather than "you touched the source." That's just lazy bullshit. The 4-year grudge I'm talking about is hatred that has been building for the Matrix since the first movie. Some of it is because people didn't appreciate the combination of philosophy and action. Some of it is because people are insecure fuckers who get upset at any movie that is more than Bruce Willis firing a machinegun, and feel the need to attack it to prove that they're smarter than the television they watch. There's a reason the "THE MATRIX IS SO TERRIBLE AND DUMB CUZ I'M SMART" cries we were hearing three years ago turned into "THE SEQUELS SUCK, UNLIKE THE ORIGINAL, WHICH WAS OKAY, BUT I'M STILL WAY SMARTER THAN." Now granted, many of those people are reacting to the dimwitted internet jockies who think a reference to Plato is mindblowing, but a significant portion of Revolution-hate is more related to ego and annoyance of hype rather than the film itself. The most important thing to understand about Revolutions is that the Matrix was originally conceived as a comic book series. Because of this, it was meant to have hundreds of different characters in parrallel storylines that sometimes connect but don't entirely end. This is why you were seeing comics, short stories by Neil Gaiman and The Animatrix. The Matrix is not supposed to be a trilogy, it is supposed to be a universe. The movies are only about Neo, the 6th path of The One. Now, of the movie itself: The dialogue is badly written. It's short and direct manner has it's purpose in some places, like the meeting with the Deus Ex Machina ("and if you fail?" "I won't"), but it's mostly repetitive and cliched, sometimes painfully stupid. A large amount of the characters are reduced to shadows because the W bros tried to fit too many into the story without any real purpose. Ghost, my favorite character from the videogame, was reduced to a gunner. The only one that really had a place in this movie was Smith, who had a few of his best scenes in the trilogy here, both as Hugo Weaving and whatever human it was he possessed in the real world. Most important are the mech battles and the final fight with Smith, the superbrawl. The mech battle was great in that it was all out war for 30 minutes and it continually hit me just how desparate it all was. The Superbrawl was kickin' in a wicked undergound way. The effects where there, the actors went through hell getting jerked around by wires in the pouring rain, Neodammerung was apocalyptically stunning and the cinematics were loving great. Every shot was setup with a lot of care for contrast and full use of the widescreen angle, all in beautiful comic book style. As a sidenote, the comparisons to DBZ are entirely without merit. Every single DBZ fight has energy shots and attacks with stupid names. There is not one fight that occurs without either of these. Comparing the Superbrawl to a DBZ fight, despite the total lack of either of these, is a stupid as comparing it to a gunfight, despite the total lack of guns. Make no mistake, this was a SUPERbrawl, as in one SUPERman would and has engaged in. If they are making more Superman movies they can only hope to follow in Revolutions's footsteps. If you are looking for a typical hollywood ending where every character's arc is completed and the big evil bad guys are destroyed, this is not for you. The stories are meant to continue elsewhere. If you'd rather call something a plot hole than take time to think about it then this is not for you. That eliminates about 2/3rds of the audience. Most importantly, if you don't like movies that give you little things to research and gently caress around with, you will find this movie empty. For every bit of Christian imagery the audience can automatically recognize, there are 10 Buddhist or Hindu references that won't even be noticed. For example, the song Neodammerung that plays during the Superbrawl may just sound like nonsensical chanting to a Wagnerian orchestra, but the lyrics are actually passages from the Upanisads and they tell you exactly what this fight is about. quote:asato ma sad gamaya 4.5/5, it was excellent in its production and I loved it. Better than Reloaded, not anywhere near as good as The Matrix. quote:at the end when everything goes back to being the same vaguely boring way it was before. Knight fucked around with this message at 00:36 on May 16, 2004 |
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May 5, 2004 22:52
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This movie still blows. 1 NADZILLA fucked around with this message at 00:17 on May 6, 2004 |
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May 5, 2004 23:16
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I know you put a lot of time into that but this is not a discussion forum.
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May 5, 2004 23:47
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This film was terrible. The trilogy went from great to ok to utter poo poo. I kept checking my watch to see when it would be over. Proud to vote it a 1.
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May 6, 2004 00:11
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I agree with the original poster. The Matrix should of ended with the first movie. They demolished the special aura that each character had at the end of the first Matrix. Morpheus went from being an incredibly cool, almost untouchable character, to being pushed around by his leaders. Maybe I just like the black sunglasses/trenchcoat thing, but the sequels ruined the original movie. Too much time spent on Zion. The audience (including myself) cannot really identify with the Zionians/Zionists/Zion dwellers because we identified with the people in the Matrix so much more.
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May 6, 2004 01:06
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quote:natashafatale came out of the closet to say: Regardless, anyone who gives this movie a 1 rating is acting out of some irrational anger and spite. 1 movies are straight-to-video fare. If you think Revolutions was a 1 movie then you need to rethink your priorities.
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May 6, 2004 01:13
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quote:Knight came out of the closet to say:
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May 6, 2004 14:19
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quote:Arm Unit 700 came out of the closet to say: It's a plot device used to take a story/conflict to a contrived resolution. I was disappointed by Revolutions, but I still think it deserves a 3 if only for Hugo Weaving's performance.
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May 6, 2004 16:20
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quote:Arm Unit 700 came out of the closet to say: It is normally, but in this case I think the name was just chosen because that's what it literally is - a god from the machine. It's hardly a Deus Ex Machina in literary terms.
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May 6, 2004 16:42
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I find that everyone keeps comparing the Matrix' sequels to the first movie in terms of their inward impression and emotions regarding it. The first movie was spectacular for the plotline and the special effects which added a ton to the feel of the movie. It really blew people away. I think they expected the same level of awe with the sequels, and that is near impossible. Bullet-time opened the door to a fantastic new level of special effects. Anyway, I went into the theatre expecting the end of the story to be told. And it was. And I was pleased. If you saw the first two, see this one. It's the end of the trilogy. 3.5 - above average
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May 7, 2004 04:39
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it is a war movie even though it really should not have been, a 3
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May 7, 2004 05:06
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Not as good as the first, but HARDLY as a terrible as people think it was. Still a great film. 4/5
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May 7, 2004 11:41
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I enjoyed it. But it could've been kind of better. 3.5. Also, the Matrix comics are in large part ugly.
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May 7, 2004 13:41
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The thing that I really hated about this movie is that it didn't even try to answer all the questions set up at the end of Reloaded. Like why do Neos powers work outside of the matrix? The only answer we get is "the Ones powers transcend the matrix". What a cop out. The whole movie felt like it had been patched together just for sake of making a third movie. What was the point of Neo getting stuck in the station? As far as I can tell it was just done because they needed to make the movie longer. I also found it a bit hard to believe the machines would honer the deal. Why would the machines care about going back on their deal? On top of it all Keanu still hasn't learnt how to act, and there were no memorable action scenes like in the first two movies. Over all it felt like a two hour episode of a crappy si-fi TV show. 1.5 stars.
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May 7, 2004 14:02
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quote:NOS came out of the closet to say: Neo's real world powers (only over machines) came from his permanent connection to the Source, it's partially explained in Reloaded. The Wachowskis have said that they wanted Neo to follow a Western and Eastern hero path. In Western mythologies the hero generally creates a relationship with an external source of divine power. The train station is essential in bringing together some of the Christian and Hindu allegory.
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May 7, 2004 19:49
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I really think the series would've been better if Neo hadn't become The One until the last ten mintues of the third movie. Neo could still be well above and beyond the abilities of any of the other Zionites, but keeping him human would've brought a lot more to it for me. And c'mon, how cool would it be to see him stand up out of the muck in the super brawl with a twinkle in his eye and a fist full of rear end-kicking? Voted 4/5 anway.
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May 7, 2004 23:53
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the movie isn't all that bad if you take one thing into consideration. it is NOT as good as the first one, and very few movies will ever be. i'll agree that the dialogue could use some work, but the effects and action sequences (in my opinion) are top-notch. just take into consideration it won't be as good as the first movie, and it is quite enjoyable. Voted 4/5
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May 8, 2004 20:30
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This movie took everything that was good about the first one and dashed against the rocky shore of sucktitude. The dock fight was ludicrously unbelieveable, and the "inter-personal interaction" was so horribly bad that I had a hard time not rolling my eyes with every other line. Still, the SFX were nice, saving it from the bottom of the barrel. But this film was bad enough to make me realize just how decent Reloaded was, and I walked out of the theater after that one hating it. 1.5/5
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May 8, 2004 20:42
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quote:notary sojac came out of the closet to say:
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May 11, 2004 17:31
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They ignored the rules of their own universe, using a crazy catch all plot device to explain away everything that made no sense. That is not how you make great movies, it is how you destroy everyone's enjoyment of the prior films. Notice how nobody talks about the Matrix any more? 1. 
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May 11, 2004 17:42
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It was a pretty decent flick with some good special effects. The war in Zion scene scored major points with me; had the feel of an epic battle. I thought it wrapped the series up nicely; I have no idea why everybody bitches about it. 3.5 out of 5 manbabies
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May 11, 2004 18:09
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I just read the best review of the trilogy and thought I would post it here, as I completely agree with it:oddtodd posted:The Matrix trilogy started off like a fit and trim diver on a high board who sets up, jumps off and dives doing twists and turns beautifully. Then he breaks out from the routine and starts flailing his arms and legs. Then in the end he splashes down into a half-filled Mr. Turtle pool and you see that the promising graceful diver has now become a big fat guy in a bad bathing suit sitting in a cracked plastic pool with his legs hanging over the sides... and you can see his nutsack hanging out. Uch. The third movie was a bit better than the second, but only because I could anticipate the suckitude. Also there was less meaningless psycho-babble. rated 1.5 for cool fights and un-intentional hilarity.
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May 12, 2004 00:11
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quote:Moosh came out of the closet to say: The first movie was "possible" without adding fictional elements. That created the precedent for the series, and now we have to believe that Neo can project his control over machines in the real world? It just makes no sense. At all. And no matter how many explanations and factors you give, it isn't possible. It's fake, and it's a betrayal of the storyline which was otherwise based (loosely) in fact.
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May 13, 2004 22:36
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Screw all the philosophizing and stilted dialogue, it had mechs and dudes with rocket launchers against insect robots and giant drills. Think about that for a second. You're probably thinking "wow, that's awesome" because it is.
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May 14, 2004 00:10
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It wasn't as good as the original by far, but I think it topped the second one. This movie is really a philisophical movie and is the kind of thing that makes you think. Sure, it can't top the suprise in the first one, but I think it did well to add a touch of philosophy to a bleak and pointless existance. To learn that even after the entire world is destroyed, nature still has it's ways of restoring balance, is truly the perfect way to wrap things up. And the loose ends aren't so much loose, as they are open ended. All in all, the movie made you think, and that wasn't something the american public likes. I however, do. 4/5
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May 14, 2004 05:23
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Okay movie. Didn't really care for the very CG looking fight toward the end, but parts of it were entertaining. 3/5
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May 14, 2004 10:31
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Eh. I was a Matrix fanboy. I adored the first movie, both for it's philosophical overtones and for the slow-motion kung fu and gunplay. It wasn't the smartest movie ever made, but it had enough brains to be interesting, and at the time of release, was one of the best action movies ever. It wasn't high art, but it was bloody entertaining. Then came Reloaded. The philosophy took a sideways turn, but in a manner I personally liked. The action sequences were so ridiculously over-the-top that I couldn't help but love them. I've seen dozens and dozens of kung fu flicks, and every time there's one guy taking on 12 guys one-at-a-time, I ALWAYS just wanted to see him take on 50 or so at the same time. The movie provided it and then some. Then it threw in some slick weapon-fighting sequences that Reeves handled remarkably well. Then it threw in a car chase that I actually enjoyed, which is saying something. And it ended with a big dollop of philosophy (that gets mocked a lot because someone uses big words), and a huge cliffhanger. They opened up so many possibilities, that us fans tried to explore using our knowledge of how the world of the Matrix worked. Then came Revolutions. And shat all over it. The movies took a leap from Science-Fiction into Science-Fantasy, and required us to suspend our disbelief to a ridiculous degree. It's conceivable that someone could have a probe inserted into their head that places them into a near-perfect virtual environment. It's conceivable that someone aware of this could alter the environment around them. It's not conceivable that someone in the real world can magically interact with a machine many miles away using the power of his mind. You're talking telepathy in the real world, which is thrown in completely out of the blue without an explanation. That's the resolution to our big cliffhanger, and it's a huge letdown that only sets the tone of the rest of the movie. Almost everything Neo does, he seems to be able to do for completely abritrary reasons, as though the last two movies were only there to provide us with some action rather than to build up or explain this stuff. Then there's the inevitable attack on Zion. It's supposed to be the highlight and the big climax to the series. It's an hour of what felt like looped clips from a CGI anime movie about big robots. And we get a subplot about a handful of characters with zero introduction, who we're expected to care about. Yay. I REALLY wanted to see that instead of some incredibly intricate, superbly choreographed kung fu supplemented by top-dollar special effects, or interesting psuedo-philosophy filled with subtle references to various ancient pantheons. No, really! We get 10 minutes of cool stuff happening in the Matrix at the start of the movie, a smattering of philosophy from Smith, and that's ALL. And the big finale? Ever wanted to see live-action DBZ? The finale had it's moments, but the ending wasn't one of them, as the fight is won for a completely arbitrary reason. Yet again. Then the most sickly-sweet ending you could possibly imagine. Ugh. This is without mentioning the huge event of Trinity's death, which happens for... you guessed it... a completely arbitrary reason, and which invalidates the POINT of the entire second movie. If she'd died in the second movie, Neo wouldn't have been blinded and wouldn't have needed her to pilot. Even the nature of the death is horribly unglorious for one of the three biggest characters in the movie. What would have happened if Tyler Durden had died because he accidentally crashed his car while out grocery shopping, or if the TX terminator had been eliminated after it slipped on a banana peel and got a nasty knock to one of its important chips? SHE FOUGHT AGENTS AND SURVIVED, AND DIES IN A loving VEHICLE CRASH WHICH ISN'T EVEN IN A BIG CHASE SCENE. Okay, so it has its moments. The Zion invasion IS cool for the first 10 minutes. The first 20 minutes of the movie feel like lost clips from Reloaded (and I'd be happier to have seen them put INTO Reloaded, perhaps swapped with the infamous Zion Rave Scene). Weaving as Smith hams it up to the Nth degree, and it really works, with some excellent quotes. Reeves is just as good/bad as the previous two movies. And there's a gimp which runs along on ceilings. It just didn't feel like they realised they'd made two previous movies. So many things happened that the audience simply has to accept "because", and you're left with no suspension of disbelief. They had two previous movies to build up all the reasons for things to happen, or could have come up with feasible reasons on the spot. Instead, they just say "oh this happens because, now accept it." That, and there's very little action that actually takes place within the Matrix itself, half of it which does is rather terrible, and the action that takes place outside gets boring very quickly. If this had been its own movie, it'd probably get about a 3.5 from me. As it is, it's a horrible end to the trilogy which pretty much ignores the previous 2 movies, so it's getting a 2.5 and nothing more. And that's only because of Smith's cookie speech.
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May 17, 2004 19:19
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