Matrix Revolutions

Sounds great... but then so did MatrixReloaded....

I've seen it. Competent. Adequate. Workmanlike. Might watch it again if it appeared on TV. Might.

Not as disappointing as MatrixReloaded. --KrisJohnson

Arguably. The dialog and pacing were worse, but the plot outline was better, I think. --TimLesher

Spoilers Below:

Dreadful in a rather different way to MatrixReloaded. Where the 2nd movie was extremely disappointing and thematically lost, this one is simply CounterCounterCulture?al, rewriting the subversive themes of the original as mystic militarism. The struggle is no longer a band of loving brothers against the all-encompassing machine conspiracy. It's the Architect-directed "machine city" vs. the Smith-infected matrix. The former controls the squids and other robots. The latter houses the minds of the "blue pills". When Smith threatens to infect the machine city, Neo joins forces with the machines to annihilate the infection at its source. In exchange the machine city spares Neo's life and declares truce in its war against the Zionistas.

Most of the movie is taken up with the battle between squids and powered infantry. Just why the squids spend all their time circling around doing nothing but letting the infantry pick them off I can't figure out. I think the giant machine-city weapons shoot mecha-squids rather than fuel-air explosives as a fashion statement ... or maybe the machines know there is never any question that the humans will triumph through superior Hollywoodenness. A peculiar telegraphic turn of phrase marked many of the most fatuous bits of dialog: "I'm going to tell you something [X] now ..." where X is generally one of [Important, Complicated, Mind-bogglingly Obvious].

The character of Morpheus is most horribly mutilated in the mess of gaming aphorisms. Where the original Morpheus was brooding, complicated, holding most of the cards and actively pursuing the remainder, this one plays a milquetoast second fiddle to the minor characters that consume most screen time. The climax of the flick, in which a fanboy identification icon declares the war against machines over and attributable to blind-messiah Neo based on nothing but a minor alteration in squid behavior, is gut-wrenching Hollywood jingoism at its nadir.

On the flip side the movie's FX are nicely rendered. That's it - if you want pretty visuals the equal of next year's play-station 3, go see it.

Did we see that same movie? Seriously, this description isn't accurate at all.

Then correct it. That's WhyWikiWorks. How is what is written above mistaken?

Maybe you should go back and watch the ani-matrix to get some background story and understanding before writing bad reviews.

I need to play a video game before watching this movie? I'd have been happy to - if the movie makers had indicated that was necessary to the continuity. What story elements does the ani-matrix feature that justify Reloaded's Hollywood schlock and Revolutions' gormless mechanismo?

Revolutions was great, Reloaded was great, and the original was great

I and just about the whole world agree that the original was great. You seem to be about the only favourable reviewer of the sequels, however. Can you explain what you liked about them rather than just waving the flag?

and if you see it as one big story, it works very well.

I can't. How can you? Spell it out for me like I'm stupid please.

Tell you what, when you can do a better trilogy, do it, then come critisize.

[This is the best you can do to defend crap like MatrixRevolutions? Are you arguing that anyone who watches movies has to become a filmmaker, or otherwise be forced to declare every film good? Unless you make movies, then, I expect you to be consistent and declare every single movie ever created to be a masterpiece.]

AdHominem arguments are such fun. Pity they're meaningless. If you like the flick, tell us why. Maybe you'll even convince us. Not likely, but better than flaming on.

I'm not sure this is an AdHominem argument. He was asking for credentials in a roundabout way, he doesn't believe you know what it takes to make a movie. Nevertheless, I would like to see the reasoning behind the favorable review.

The reasoning behind the favorable review was simple, while it may not compare to the Matrix, it's certainly better than any other movie currently in the theatres. Just because it doesn't top the original doesn't make it bad movie, and considering the huge lack of sci-fi fantasy in the theaters, I'll take what I can get. I tend to dislike reviews that criticize something rather than discuss what was good about it. It's like the programmer who only points out shortcomings in your code rather than compliment the good parts. I apologize if my reaction was a bit too harsh, but the movie only disappoints if your expectations were too high, and that's your own fault, not the movies.

Of course, none of us (or very very few) have the resources to even try to do a better job. However, seeing as the intent of creating a movie is at least partially to please, when the movie disappoints, it fails.

The reasoning behind the favorable review was simple, while it may not compare to the Matrix, it's certainly better than any other movie currently in the theatres.

One might argue that McDonalds is better than BurgerKing?, or vice versa, but that doesn't make either of them particularly good. And the fact that I don't know how to build a successful burger franchise doesn't disqualify me from saying so; all I need is my taste buds. -- MikeSmith

I haven't seen either of the Matrix sequels, nor do I intend to anytime soon. Have better things to do.

However... regarding the positive review above: The reviewer wrote a positive review of the movies most likely because he likes them. Most movie reviews, especially those posted by casual fans of cinema (like me), mean little more than that--a statement of whether or not the writer enjoyed the film. Far too many people think that their critical senses are so finely honed, their knowledge of film (or whatever media) is so in-depth and complete, that they positively go nuts when someone expresses a contrary view. (I've done this myself numerous times--I get far more annoyed than I should at the Tolkienistas who hated the recent LotR film trilogy. As evidenced by my inclusion of the rather inflammatory term "Tolkienista". :)).

Just because you thought the movie was great/sucked shit, doesn't make it a slander against your sensibilities to discover that someone else happens to disagree with you.

They're just movies, people.

CategoryMovie