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Four years ago we witnessed a true revolution in modern Western cinematography with the release of The Matrix. It combined modern digital techniques (of which some were of a totally new nature), with Eastern martial arts. And it was highly influenced by comics and Japanese manga. At the time The Matrix was released, the makers, the mysterious Wachowski brothers, announced this was the first in a trilogy. In May 2003 the centerpiece The Matrix Reloaded saw the light of day and made clear the initial movie could not be surpassed. Now the time has come for the last installment: The Matrix Revolutions. Thank God we did not have to wait yet another four years. Yet that might have been a wise decision: a better plot would have been worth the wait.
The review contains spoilers, in the sense that it gives an opinion about the plot of the trilogy. If you don’t wish to know too much about it, go see the movie first and then read this review. I won’t tell you how the movie ends; I will just give my vision on the ending… these ‘spoilers’ are in the last paragraph of this review.
Zion, the last human city, is making preparations for a final battle with the machines. In the meantime the crew that was left outside of Zion in Reloaded try to fight their way back to Zion escaping the machines’ attacks. Neo and Trinity decide to penetrate Machine City in order to destroy what is the core of the machines’ power.
The main weakness for Reloaded was the fact it was totally out of balance, in comparison to the first 1999 movie. The Matrix was a perfect combination of martial arts, cinematographic tricks, story, philosophy and a comic-style look. Reloaded shifts more to the philosophical side, focusing on the background of how the matrix came about, regardless of its many action scenes (including a climatical highway chase).
Revolutions however, is Reloaded’s complete antithesis. Its main merit is the fact there is no direct explanation of – or reference to – Reloaded. The movie starts rather abruptly yet slow, without a spectacular opening scene. And the first half hour is filled with completely gibberish dialogue. All I could think of was: ‘yeah sure, interesting, but get started with the action.’ Well action we get; the second half of the movie is of a visual quality we have not seen elsewhere. From the moment the machines literally drill themselves into Zion, turning it into an all devouring inferno, you find yourself on a rollercoaster ride that doesn’t end until you’ve been shaken, slammed and beaten. I don’t recall ever seeing something so visually stunning in a movie. The digital effects are absolutely incredible and the visuals alone are worth a second visit to the movie theater or a DVD purchase. The only weakness of this overwhelming assault on the senses, however, is that the story moves to the background, creating too sharp a contrast with the first half of the movie.
As I said before I won’t elaborate too much on the ending of the trilogy, but I could not help finding the eventual outcome rather disappointing, dissatisfying, weak and to tell you the truth: utter crap. The compromises that are being made are not what an audience wants to see. We don’t expect the trilogy to end in remise, especially because of the high expectations that were raised at the start of the trilogy. The directors take huge risks by giving some main characters unexpected fates. The similarity between Neo and the Messiah (call him Jesus) begin to pierce the mind more strongly when watching the final scene. I couldn’t help thinking that Wachowski’s settled for an easy answer to a difficult question. The open ending makes us fear the worst: a fourth installment is not out of the question – and that is exactly what would bring down the first Matrix even more.
Directed by: And Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne
Offical website
‘The Matrix Revolutions’ runs 129 minutes and is now showing
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Arjan Welles (213 posts)Arjan Welles - law graduate. I work at a bank, I work as a film critic for Dutch and English media. My favorite directors are David Lynch, David Fincher, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino. I love arthouse over blockbusters.
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Wow, kudo’s! You’re fast!
Comment by Anonymous — Thu November 6, 2003 @ 15:03hehe… I saw it last night and had it finished this morning
Comment by arjan — Thu November 6, 2003 @ 15:36Oh dear, well it sounds like Revolutions is going to annoy me just as much as reloaded did. Damn. You’re right in saying that it brings the first Matrix down.
There was a funny thing on Dutch radio yesterday afternoon by the way. They were giving away tickets to the Matrix Revolutions, and rang up a lady called Trix to ask “Ga je mee Trix?”. Sorry, this is only funny for Dutch speakers. Corny, but cute.
Comment by suzero — Thu November 6, 2003 @ 15:57There is no open end. I thought the same thing after seeing it last night. But when you start to think about the background of the story I kinda found out that there is an outcome. The thing is that they don’t show it… I liked the movie quite a bit, but my main problem with the trilogy is that the focus of the movies keeps shifting. Which isn’t a bad thing but it most certainly isn’t a good thing either…
Comment by punkmachine — Thu November 6, 2003 @ 16:08There SO is an open end. The whole thing ends in a compromise and Neo’s destiny is not quite certain…
Comment by Arjan — Thu November 6, 2003 @ 16:49@ Punkmachine: please e-mail me (in Dutch?) with the reason why you don’t see it as an open end… I am curious
Comment by Arjan — Thu November 6, 2003 @ 16:50* MINOR SPOILERS*
ok maybe 5% better than reloaded…
Things that were fucking awful about the film:
The Acting/Dialogue – OMG!
The Camden market jumpers worn only by the people of zion ( Zion – what a load of shit, if there was no scenes of Zion and it was just reffered to, it would’ve been a better film you know.)
And anyway, WTF! I mean Zion has the most scientifically advanced city and mechanoids and defense systems and they dont have the technology to put together at least Fred Perry Jumper ??
TOO MANY BLOODY SENTINELS!! It was boring and nauseating, just became a blur…Zzz
The same bloody conversation between Neo and the oracle as the last two films:
What should I do?
You’ll know what to do…
How will I know?
You’ll just know when the time is right…
What does this mean?
It means what you want it to mean.
ARGGHH!
The annoying (I’m hard as nails and wish I was judge dredd) captain of that ship, repeating things like “God dammit” and “damn she’s a good”
Neo’s perfectly burnt eyes etc…
‘Love’ is only a word. Hmmm.
The Bullet time punch between neo and agent smith -’ you know, the one they stole from Rocky…
The Machines – in the beginning they wanted to rule the earth and kill/use all humans as batteries – (you know, they could’ve also kept animals like cows n shit to creat energy – what happened to the animals? they wouldn’t fight back! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ANIMALS!!!??)
Neo makes a deal for peace with the machines, if he wipes out the virus that is Agent Smith
- Neo Succeeds !(of course)
But like what changed? The machines would have said – thankyou very much.. now we shall get on and kill the rest of you snotty fuckers! right?
In the matrix Neo is superman and in the real world he’s Jesus, blowing up squiddies and turning water to wine… cha!
the cheering from the people of Zion (yack)
The awful Indian girl with the oracle creating a crappy city scene with the sun shining (yack) looked
like an student architect’s first year drawing’ – poo!
so there u go….
Bob
Comment by BOB — Thu November 6, 2003 @ 21:07@ Bob
And please remember that advocating the use of animals as batteries is never allowed. Let them keep on using those bloody humans instead 
Comment by punkmachine — Fri November 7, 2003 @ 9:55Hehehehe kudos for this great post
Hear, hear!
We humans think that because of our human cognitive abilities. We are superior to animals. Conveniently forgetting we don’t understand anything at all about anything else in the universe than our own pathetic society.
Back to the Matrix now, because I’m waaay off-topic here.
Comment by reisneus — Fri November 7, 2003 @ 10:39Now Bob, I feel insulted as I sit here in my Camden Market jumper, reading your comment. Excellent commentary for the rest , though
Incidentally, the cows have gone to make long leather coats for Neo and Trinity etc.
Comment by suzero — Fri November 7, 2003 @ 10:48I used to work at Camden Market. Perhaps I sold you that jumper?
Comment by pip — Fri November 7, 2003 @ 12:56=D
Of course! Why didnt I figure that the cows were used for the cool leather coats!! (great answer!)
Thx guys, Im glad you all approve…
I had strong feelings about this.. I loved the original Matrix and just wished we could’ve had at least 2 good films out of the trilogy…it just wasn’t to be.
ah well… we have the next lord of the rings to look forward to!
BOB
Comment by BOB — Fri November 7, 2003 @ 13:37I totally agree with Bob-san here: the Bros. have pulled a fast one on us. All the shite they introduced in Reloaded was even so quickly discarded in Revolutions.
I was also annoyed to hell with that slow rhetorical dialogue between Neo and the Oracle. The explanation that she gave for her new appearance (the real actress died right after Reloaded) was crap (what sacrifice was that?). Reeves really played like a dead piece of wood and Morpheus seemed lobotomised throughout the movie, with his ongoing mantra: “I believe in Neo”.
What happened with the cool twins? What happened with the cool Merovingian? Who was the big talking head in Machine City (the Arichitect?). What was up with that boring underground station-scene? Who the f**k was Sati? What was Seraphs function? Was he one of the old predecessors of Neo (he beat Smith before)? If he was a heavenly creature (like angels and cherubs) why was he the only one? Who is then God? The Oracle? Is the Architect then the devil and Smith the Anti-Christ? Am I looking for things that aren’t there? Why are t.v. commercials always so loud? Why, Why, Why?
Maybe I didn’t get it, but if so many questions are kept unanswered then something is wrong. Dead wrong.
Comment by Paco — Fri November 7, 2003 @ 13:46Hi Pip,
Just to but the record straight, I have never been
‘lucky’ enough to own one of these , I’m sure exclusive, Campden market Jumpers…
I do like Campden market though…
some really cool modern antics/furniture etc…
and there’s always lots of ozzies and kiwis aswell to
keep the place really bohemian.
One thing I love though is the quantity of dredlock hairstyles also, they match perfectly to the zion jumpers…
Comment by BOB — Fri November 7, 2003 @ 13:55I say: GUCCI, WESTWOOD, PRADA – watch out – Campden Market Jumpers are the next big thing – especially after the wonder that is Matrix Revolutions!
The fact that guy in Zion was agent Smith… DUH! I heard it from the first moment he opened his mouth!
Comment by arjan — Fri November 7, 2003 @ 17:04I just saw the movie Friday and was actually depressed for the next day. I woke up and hoped it was a bad dream, but in “reality” this has got to be one of the most disapppointing movies ever. I actually thought Reloaded was pretty good after a second viewing, and at least raised some new and suprisingly dark or pessimistic questions even though there were way too many fights scenes, but this… this…
dreck.
Explanations were barely touched or explained so badly I wanted to scream bloody bullshit.
Dialogue, trrrrrrrrite, nonsensical and cornball. Love will conquer all, blah blah.
Characters that I didn’t give a shit about and a plot that kept trying to tell me I should.
Plot and continuity? Come on, nothing made sense. The EMP certainly, the fact that Neo has inconsistent powers, and machines making deals and sticking to their word. oh yeah and the train station garbage and the fight scene with Smith? Why do they punch eachother all the time, I thought we had gotten past that.
Why did the Oracle’s building parameters change when Smith was closing in? He doesn’t control that does he? If he could he could destroy someone by thinking it, just like Neo should have been able to do in the second movie. A fucking Great and Powerful OZ head ? The kid who “saves the day” who is brought in by the animatrix story, still isn’t explained. He fell off the building and then..what? then he was free of the matrix?
I am surprised that this hasn’t inspired a lot of antisocial teenagers to take “the Jonestown route” out of the Matrix, they think encapsulates them.
Oh the twins, they totally bit it in Reloaded, don’t you all remember, Morpheous made them blow up ya know?
That girl was as “ewokian” as the kid but even more pointless.
Where is the victory in what Neo did, sure these people didn’t get squidded but the Matrix still has a bunch of humans there and now these guys are gonna have to build new ships and technology to build it up to free people right? Did all the people who were taken over by the multi-Smith die too? Was it everyone in the world?
At the end I thought the answer or the deal was going to be (When Neo was losing but continuing to fight Smith) that Neo was going to have to fight Smith forever in order to keep the Smith’s in check, sate the machine world and stop the war. The ultimate sacrifice that Neo (Jesus) would have to endure a personal hell, fighting Smith (Old beelzy) for infinity. That would be a good ending eh? Well, instead it was totally freakin hollow-wood.
Great it all worked out, Neo saved the day, awww look at the beautiful rainbow, the war is over, the kid is a hero, the tough chicks showed their mettle, love conquers all, because that is what it means to be human…
GRRRRRRR.
Comment by bummedbeyondbelief — Mon November 10, 2003 @ 11:50If they could have had Reloaded and Revelotions in one movie, you had less talking about things that don’t realy matter (Arcitect, the Orakel tells us herself) and enough innovating action what is missing in Revelotions.
Comment by Mr. White — Wed November 12, 2003 @ 0:10you are all so full of crap…just because you are too stupid and shallow to understand such a perfect set of movies doesnt give you the right to come and dump on them. i would like to see any one of you write anything that had even a fraction of the value that all three matrix movies have. sure the first was revolutionary and something no one had ever seen before and theres no way the second or third could take the place of that they are both just as good in their own rite. what? did you want the brothers to churn out a couple of carbon copys of the fist film. typical…america has become so stupid and arrogant that almost no one can appreiciate, or even recognize for that matter, a good thing when they see it. so it wasnt spelled out for you, so it was deep…that makes it crap? the fact is you are all too stupid to realize what geniuses the Wachowski brothers are. i pity you all.
Comment by nicole — Wed November 12, 2003 @ 6:18Ah Nicole, thanks so much for your pity. It is obvious that the majority of cinema-goers have puny minds compared to your superior intelligence. If a big chuck of the audience doesn’t understand a film, THEY must be stupid as it is NEVER the director’s fault, right?
Hey, your name rhymes with TROLL… is that coincidence?
Comment by suzero — Wed November 12, 2003 @ 10:59Now, now. Sticks and stones
@ Nicole
So you see something you like get critized. You obviously disagree with abovementioned reactions. You’re making your point, aren’t you. I think founded criticism is a sign of respect. It isn’t mindless bashing.
Comment by reisneus — Wed November 12, 2003 @ 13:07LOL!
I haven’t seen one argument in your post that suggests we should reconsider our opinion. It’s gets even better that you say ‘typically American’ whilst a lot of people that gave a negative are not from de US at all (as if that would make any difference).
Comment by paco — Wed November 12, 2003 @ 15:55of course you can think of an interpretation afterwards like (SPOILERS!) There is a constant ongoing battle between man and machine that always end in remise and then a new savior comes and it all starts all over again. But I find that a rather weak solution…
Comment by Arjan — Wed November 12, 2003 @ 19:05Nicole,
Firstly, I honestly feel that no one posting on this site is American…
I have read through the posts and they are all grammatically correct and contain no spelling mistakes?! LOL!
(CALM DOWN – I’M JUST KIDDING!!!!)
Anyway… I think you must be taking the piss with your post, I mean it is the only explanation. The only other explanation is that your a snotty 14-16 year old Goth who LIVES the matrix…probably in your bedroom. You must defend the matrix films to the death, for if it is ridiculed, YOU will be ridiculed…AH HA! Tell me, are you Neo or Trinity?
Hey, maybe I’m way off… but then again so is your post.
Much love from the (cue sarcasm) highly educated and intelligent
BOB
=D
Comment by BOB — Wed November 12, 2003 @ 22:31I somehow feel compelled to defend my intelligence, yet I know an educational and grey matter aptitude resume’ would not satisfy someone who actually thought Revolutions was even a remotely adequate finale. I am (was) a huge Matrix fan (anticritic? apologist?). I even enjoyed Reloaded minus the overlong fight scenes.
I expected (and was owed by the filmmakers) a legitimate conclusion to the trilogy and not, what in reality was, a TYPICAL American film. This was the epitome of form over substance, and in my mind, unfortunately, diminishes the strength of the series’ reputation.
BTW, I am an American. Haha fooled you! (not that I was trying)… uh, did I spell everything correctly? ;D
Good comments folks, obviously an astute bunch, save a few.
Comment by bummedbeyondbelief — Thu November 13, 2003 @ 0:46I watch the movie yesterday. It fucking sucked. Dammit I just don’t know where to begin attacking this movie. ok take a breath here it goes. Why the fuck is NEMO at a fucking train station. he was alive when we don’t know how, he fuking zap robots in real life. he is in coma but at train station that is in middle of matrix and real world. the fuking train station is in middle of fuking matrix and real world how the fuk is that possible. i thought they can only connect by plugging in. he’s in a fuking coma for crying out loud. how does morpeus tell the link to locate NEMO in matrix. even if he is in there how the hell did he know, i guess morpheus was FINDING NEMO. LADYS AND GENTS. i am just getting started. please read on i beg of u. how did smith become bane in real life. i read theories on this and i kinda agree.
that a matrix within a matrix. he stop dam spider robot in real life but that’s impossible. and smith became bane, a program went into human body, impossible. at machine city he stop flying robot spiders, impossible too. this is how he did it, the real life is also a dam matrix. so what he thought was real was really fake. every1 trap inside matrix and real world like morpheus and others including us the audiences, IF this theory is real, is Fucked. but u have to remember he saved trinity in matrix and IF this theory is true, how come trinity dies and he can’t save her at machine city after crashed. that’s y i said I KINDA BELEIVED this theory.
More attacks. while zapping robots at machine city one of sentinals went through the whole ship like a ghost thing. it took something from him or something like that. what the fuck was that all about. how the fuck is he seeing everything in flames. what happen to french men Merivigian or whatever. y does he control train station. at the end when machine was taking him away he was still seeing things in flames. is he fuking dead or no? what was oracle and artchitect talking about, ” U took big risk.” what happen to NEMO? what happen to anyone? part of a big fuking mathematical equation. to balance like yin and yang. the movie can be good but not. i think these people try so hard to make it deep that no one understands almost anything. i mean it’s nice to movies to challenge u but this is too much and a triology and the last one leave u hanging big time. probably bigger than all the rest. the wako brothers that made this was one) blazing a joint while intoxicated or two) knew this shit was gonna make big bucks so didn’t matter what effort they put in it. so they put bull shit in that made it sound like something when amount to nothing. and if it is something why make something that ur about 90% of ur audiences don’t understand. Peoples, the movie don’t have to have happy ending like NEMO kiks ass and human destroy machine once and for all. that’s cool if ending like that but if not it’s cool too. just let it make sense or something. i was planning to watch this movie again but not wasting money on it again. i hope nobody makes another movie like this again. please respond. i am sorry for my rude behavior and swearing but i just had to get that off my chest.
Lord of Rings and Star Wars everyone let’s hope for the best:)
Comment by VC — Thu November 13, 2003 @ 7:40Hey: we got Marisa, she is American!
And Pip and Suzanna are British…
Comment by Arjan — Thu November 13, 2003 @ 11:13are any of you fans of, or familiar with david lynch’s work??
Comment by pandora — Thu November 13, 2003 @ 22:23Yeah Pandora, have a look at the Mulholland Drive review, there’s a LOT of talk there about Lynch and the Mulholland Drive explanation.
Comment by suzero — Thu November 13, 2003 @ 22:39anyone a fan of anything of david lynch’s besides mulholland drive…?
Comment by pandora — Fri November 14, 2003 @ 1:20Erm… yeah, Twin Peaks (until he did a ‘Matrix’ on us at the end of the first series and said “To Be Continued” instead of telling us who killed Laura Palmer).
But does your question about Lynch have anything to do with the Matrix or should we continue the Lynch discussion underneath the Mulholland Drive review? (Trying to keep things tidy here
)
Comment by suzero — Fri November 14, 2003 @ 8:20Bob – bang on the money.
Nicole – Apparently you are brilliant because you’re able to just accept that neo has powers in the real world because he’s “tapped into the source”. What a load of crap. He can see electronically?
BummedBeyondBelief – I can empathize. I finally saw the movie last night and have been totally unproductive today. I’m just down about the fact that something I previously viewed so enthusiastically now has so little meaning. I doubt I’ll even watch the first 2 movies again now that it’s all been ruined.
After Reloaded (flawed as it was) the stage was set for a truly phenomenal ending. So much potential was there, and the Wachowski brothers took an approach that was worse than the worst-case-scenario.
Suggestions that would have kept the magic alive:
1. DON’T GIVE NEO REAL-WORLD POWERS! The brilliance of the Matrix was that the franchise had a way to endow its heroes with superhuman capabilties in a (more or less) fully explainable way – it is all within the computer system, and freeing your mind lets you manipulate your digital self-projection to perform physically impossible actions. Powers in the real world? STUPID!!!!
2. Much less focus on Zion. There are two many characters, and too many that are just annoying. Fine, have the grand scheme of things be that the machines are digging for Zion and it needs to be saved, but stay focused on a core group of individuals and constrain the tasks to be completed within the Matrix.
3. FORGET THE TRIP TO MACHINE CITY! GET RID OF THE GIANT MACHINE HEAD! IF I WANTED TO WATCH LAWNMOWER MAN, I’D RENT IT! This sequence was simply unbelievable, and flat out annoying. The same end goal (communication/deal with the machines) could have been accomplished by having Neo seek out the Architect within the confines of the matrix to carry out a discussion that way. Much more acceptable – again, within the Matrix disbelief can be fully suspended because it’s not real…use that oh-so-valuable fact to your advantage!
4. CHANGE THE DAMN ENDING TO CLEAN IT UP! 2 possibilities: a) The point of the trilogy is that all will progress in a cycle as it has 6 times before, or b) This time is different, so Neo leads humans to victory. If (a) is the desire, clean up the fight with Smith with a similar end result, have 23 survivors in Zion (7 male, 16 female or whatever was said in Reloaded) and leave people to ponder it all. If (b) is the case, have the grand finale be some sequence of events that brings down the Matrix – maybe he realizes he should let Smith crash it all so that the Matrix is destroyed…movie closes with all humans waking up in their pods, and a sequence with Morpheus giving some final speech to the effect that they now need to enlighten people on what has happened and begin the process of rebuilding humanity’s world…with all people unplugged, the power source could be gone and the machines could all collapse. ANYTHING’S BETTER THAN WHAT WE GOT!
Comment by getmeout — Fri November 14, 2003 @ 21:00Good suggestions, getmeout, there needed to be something else other than plowing through to the expected (unexpected) ending. I will not say that every minute detail needs to be tied up and accounted for, but I would say we learned nothing new in Revolutions, nothing we didn’t see, hear or think after Reloaded.
Who (what) exactly is the oracle, the stereotypical psychologist dialogue grew tiresome, didn’t it? “It means what you want it to mean”, “you’ll know when you are ready to know thyself” Puhleaaaase!
Why did she have to be black, speak in the same cadence and smoke, better that it be harder to see rather than be played out.
I even buy him having “powers” in the real world, as the world has been taken over by machines. He could have some wireless or spiritual relation to them. But how he harnessed that newfound power, comical.
The scene with Bane (smith) was ridiculous. It was Bill and Ted meet Agent Smith. I am surprised that Morpheous didn’t tell everyone to be excellent to eachother at the end.
Why didn’t they just fly above the clouds in the first place?
I felt like everytime I pay for a Mike Tyson pay-per-view fight, somehow trusting that this time its gonna be like the old times, only to say what the ?@!% was that?
Which leads to my final question of today… What the hell was Roy Jones Jr. doing in the movie. He has no acting ability and is not generally recognizable to sci-fi fans (IMHO). Is he in the video game? Does he fight in that ? Were his scenes cut in Revolutions? Sheez I thought they didn’t edit anything out.
Anyway, I’m still bummed.
And, oh yeah, the person who called us all pea-brains, please check your post again…very poorly written. I know if I was gonna call a bunch of people morons, I’d at least check my spelling. Am I Rite?
Comment by bummedbeyondbelief — Sat November 15, 2003 @ 1:25Sorry, you called us stupid AND shallow. Are you sure you weren’t talking about the movie?
I think a chimp on a typewriter could come up with something as creative as Revolutions, although I may not be able to muster a joke and post that show such intellectualism that the WBs have.
Everything about this movie was frustrating (dialogue, storyline, action sequences, editing and casting).
Please explain what was so “perfect” about it, I am still (trying to be) open-minded.
Comment by bummedbeyondbelief — Sat November 15, 2003 @ 1:37More criticism on the “real-world” powers:
1. If it needs to be, then find an intelligent way to explain it. In some cases, not explaining things is good when the underlying logic is solid (let people think it through until they make the connection and marvel at the brilliance). In this case, the logic is weak at best.
2. If he has some kind of wireless connection, would that not make him traceable by the machines throughout the trilogy? Would that connection not have led them to Zion long ago?
3. It still killed the magic. With Neo having powers in the Matrix, it let anyone watching believe that they too could be that hero in the same scenario – i.e. once plugged in, anyone may be capable of freeing their mind enough to manipulate the matrix. Once it was a “real world” difference between Neo and the others, the concept that anyone could be the hero was destroyed. He’s just superman.
Comment by getmeout — Sat November 15, 2003 @ 15:52The WB could have done a whole lot better by just searching the internet after Reloaded; I’ve seen better suggestions and explanations than what they came up with. That’s why they get slagged off: they didn’t deliver in the end.
A shame, it tarnishes the first excellent movie a bit. (same effect as Episode I/II/III are doing to the first StarWars-trilogy)
Comment by paco — Sun November 16, 2003 @ 1:11I just can’t leave this thing alone! I’m trying to rationalize some way to accept the third movie so I can still appreciate the trilogy, but have had no luck! Miserable stuff.
The great thing with both the first movie AND Reloaded (yes, reloaded as well) was that they left you thinking. The concept of the matrix gave you plenty to ponder in the first, and the Architect’s comments in the second (as cheesey as they may have been) raised the concept that this was the 6th iteration through the process…all that was happening had happened before, and everyone was a pawn in a set pattern. Hmm.
Neo chose the “unexpected” door when leaving the Architect opening the path for the unknown to happen. In the end, if the Matrix to continue into a 7th iteration, DON’T present it like the Oracle made a choice and “played a dangerous game” but all worked out. THERE IS NOTHING TO THINK ABOUT HERE! Instead, have the final speech between the Architect and the Oracle reveal that everything went exactly as it had in the previous iterations…Smith was purposely turned into a virus and the final confrontation between Neo and Smitch was part of the process (for the “equations” to negate). Reveal that the Architect had “lied” when speaking to Neo…all previous “Ones” had in fact chosen the same door that Neo did. Nothing had been unexpected…all had progressed exactly as before…the cycle was complete. Be clear and close off the loose ends. As it stands, the trilogy is just messy thanks for a jumbled conclusion.
Comment by getmeout — Sun November 16, 2003 @ 15:59Do you think the W.Bros. would ever admit they failed with parts 2 and 3? Could they be man enough to say sorry?
At least the fact that we are all so angry about the last 2 installments proves that we loved The Matrix. So it’s not like we’re telling them they can’t make movies. Something just went horribly wrong. I would SO like to know what they REALLY think of their own trilogy.
Personally, I find it fascinating when people love fictional characters or stories so much that they feel the author/maker has an obligation to keep up the good work. I guess it’s the biggest compliment there is, but weird all the same – getting all upset over FICTIONAL characters.
Apparently there were parents of Harry-Potter-reading kids who’d write to J.K.Rowling to tell her that she wasn’t allowed to kill particular characters off or let too many bad things happen. Fascinating!
Comment by suzero — Sun November 16, 2003 @ 17:13Again, even with all its flaws, I can accept Reloaded. Middle movie syndrome…still had some bright spots and that “6th time through” deal…so long as Revolutions was solid it would be livable. Revolutions wasn’t.
I hate to say it, but I almost find myself hoping there’s a Matrix 4 (and 5/6? second trilogy?) in 10 or 15 years that actually tells a story worth watching. This trilogy didn’t.
I’m done now. I’ll quit complaining.
Comment by getmeout — Sun November 16, 2003 @ 21:19getmeout- you seem to be thinking along the same lines as I am. Do I want a followup? Yeah (almost) , but not if it means being disappointed, again and again.
Come to think of it, that would manifest sort of lke the “iterations” of neo. The WBs would keep on “reloading” the matrix, and people would keep on coming back, even for the 7th time, to see if it would turn out different.
Do we have a choice? or is it preplanned? Or will love see me through? I don’t think my girlfriend will sit through another!!!
Okay I guess I’m done too.
Comment by bummedbeyondbelief — Mon November 17, 2003 @ 11:25I think that we saw too much of neo and trinity’s relationship in reloaded. I think they needed to create more animatrix-like shorts explaining the other ppl. ie, Merovingian and persephone (kinda like the zion scene except no crazy underground raves) Seraph (possibly the one from a previous matrix) The twins (more awesome, dematerialization fights) more on the architect (what the hell is he?) deus et machina (the big head in zion) and maybe something about seti (the freaky indian girl) oh, and more Persephone Naked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CIAO!
-Jolson
Comment by Jolson — Tue April 13, 2004 @ 20:14I agree that some mistakes were made. I didn’t like how the Zion high council looked like they were dressed up for a kindergarten play, and I disliked that “Kid” character (Neo! I believe!— what is this, friggin’ Peter Pan?) But aside from that and the fact that the Wachowskis did try to stuff to many characters into the series, I thought that the movie was quite enjoyable in a philosophical sense. It presents some very advanced philosophical theories and ideas. Also, the cinematic effects were spectacular. As someone who has worked with advanced, Hollywood-caliber computer softwares, I can really appreciate what they pulled off visually, especially the “Burly Brawl” and the sentinel attack.
Comment by Richmond — Mon December 12, 2005 @ 23:55What in the hell was wrong with this movie? Are these people retarded? I mean come on… you dont make a good movie, then make another..then another.. and ..they should have stopped at the first one, maybe the second, that is all.
Comment by Dani — Sun January 29, 2006 @ 2:57kewl nice to knoww u work all the time lol
Comment by arjansfriend — Fri August 25, 2006 @ 17:35