WARNING: Do NOT hold your mouse over the black spoiler text lines unless you want to read some movie details about story and characters.
I just got back from seeing this one at the 6AM premiere at the Seattle downtown IMAX. Hey, if you're going to see the movie, see it right, huh? Do yourself a favor and check your hometown to see if it's showing at the IMAX theater.
Let's cut right to it--this movie was FANTASTIC. I don't think I could give it an A+, but it's definitely a solid A. :45: on the star scale. I was very concerned that this movie wouldn't live up to expectations, especially since the Matrix Reloaded left me somewhat unsure. But it was more than satisfying.
How? You know, I'm not even quite sure. This is a TOTALLY different movie than the first two in so many different ways. It completely surprised me, especially since everything indicates that the Wachowski brothers wrote Reloaded and Revolutions together, intending for them to be one long movie broken into two parts instead of two separate stories. The most surprising thing, perhaps, is that there is very little philosophy presented or hinted at, which was so heavily inundated in the first two installments. The religious and philisophical questions that were raised in the first two movies was probably the one aspect that I liked the most about them, yet I didn't miss it too terribly in this movie. In general, I like movies that make me think.
All of the still living characters are present again, including Saraph, (who has his character aptly devleoped more this time) the Merovingian, and Persephone. Exceptions are Tank, (who was hinted to have died after #1, but not firmly, since reportedly the actor held out for too much money and was cut) the Albino assassin twins, and most notably, Agents. Yes, that's right--I don't recall Agents appearing at all in this third film, and for that matter, a significantly less amount of scenes actually occur in the Matrix. We also see a new Oracle, since the original actress died during the filming of the last two movies. Since that threw a major wrench into movie plans, this is dealt with and explained fairly well in the story, although it's certainly not ideal.
For those who immediately are worried about less scenes inside the Matrix, have no fear! There is more than enough action--perhaps even the most so far in the trilogy, certainly on the intensity scale if not quantity. The movie jumps right into continued plot and dialogue from Reloaded, as if you had just watched it prior to beginning Revolutions. note: I chose to watch the Matrix, Reloaded, Animatrix, and Enter the Matrix video game movie clips last night to review all aspects of this saga, which I would highly recommend prior to seeing Revolutions. They are certainly not necessary, especially the video game and less so with the Animatrix, but as a minimum having a fresh memory of Reloaded going into the theater will help you get up to speed right away.
Revolutions starts with multiple strings of scenes that are mostly character, story and plot development, which had me wondering slightly if action would be lacking. But the action builds in intensity through the movie, peaking in the Battle for Zion that is one of the best battle scenes I've ever seen--up there with Lord of the Rings - Two Towers. This was my favorite part of the movie, and was very well done. The image of the APU commander, freshly reloaded from Mr. Popper (the unnamed kid that idolized Neo) standing singlehandedly against the onslaught of Sentinels, guns blazing and screaming in the face of death, is etched into my brain as probably the most memorable shot from this trilogy, summing up the Matrix principles of humanity, faith, determination, and choice. Although a good portion of the action scenes take place in the real world, outside the Matrix, the movie culminates in the final showdown fight of Neo and Mr. Smith, which we all knew was coming. While there are some oddities about this "ultimate" fight, in general it is very good again, portrayed in the very archetypeal fashion of good vs. evil, perhaps with obvious allusions to God vs. Satan or Jesus vs. the Antichrist. After the large Battle for Zion scene and many things happening on a global or species-wide scale, this battle was a little anti-climatic, though, being one on one. Is the part with neo lying at the bottom of the crater in the rain, with downtown rubble all around him an homage to the death of Superman? I never really read that comic, but the scene struck me as such.
Like the werewolves and vampires making a cameo appearance in the second movie, there are a few things again in Revolutions that are rather odd, like the S&M bondage club Merovingian is in, the place that Neo wakes up in from his coma which we see at the end of Reloaded, and the the story twist of having Neo go blind. Is the purpose here to have Neo go by faith, not by sight, to show the world in which Neo operates of seeing light, or something else?
Revolutions is very well made as the conclusion of this trilogy. Perhaps that is why it is so different from the other two--perhaps it MUST be different to properly wrap up all the stories, ideas, and characters from the three movies. Characters are fully developed, many sub-story lines are properly included like the relationship of Link and Z, and the right amount of emotion is brought in. In this final movie we see the principles of faith, love, choice, humanity, and determination rise to paramount levels. Revolutions does NOT fully answer all of the questions that have been raised throughout the movies. Enough of the big ones have been finalized that the viewer is not left hanging, but in my mind a movie series which was so clearly designed to make the audience think, raising interesting questions, should not just give all the answers away.
On that note, a question for discussion that MUST include spoiler tags: Is this series complete, or is the door left open just enough at the conclusion for more? Is Neo dead at the end of this movie? I was quite surprised that they killed off Trinity--if any major character was going to die, I would have thought it would have been Morpheus in a martyr fashion. Based on the Oracle hypothisizing at the end that they will see Neo again in the Matrix, I think he probably is alive, but I'm not sure. Is he dead in the real world but lives on inside the Matrix? And another thing-- are there underlying implications with the manner in which Neo finally defeats Mr. Smith, being copied and then tearing him apart from within? I couldn't quite figure out what that meant, nor exactly how it was different than the way he destroyed Agent Smith in the original Matrix.
Could this movie have been better? Yeah, probably. But with such a monstrous task of making this great saga, I think the Wachowski brothers have done an exceptional job. I wouldn't have expected a movie that was different in style and content from the first two in the Matrix series to be so enjoyable to me, but I liked this one a lot. Highly recommended. (for what it's worth, my wife gives this one a B, saying that it should have had more philosophy and less action)
CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"
I just got back from seeing this one at the 6AM premiere at the Seattle downtown IMAX. Hey, if you're going to see the movie, see it right, huh? Do yourself a favor and check your hometown to see if it's showing at the IMAX theater.
Let's cut right to it--this movie was FANTASTIC. I don't think I could give it an A+, but it's definitely a solid A. :45: on the star scale. I was very concerned that this movie wouldn't live up to expectations, especially since the Matrix Reloaded left me somewhat unsure. But it was more than satisfying.
How? You know, I'm not even quite sure. This is a TOTALLY different movie than the first two in so many different ways. It completely surprised me, especially since everything indicates that the Wachowski brothers wrote Reloaded and Revolutions together, intending for them to be one long movie broken into two parts instead of two separate stories. The most surprising thing, perhaps, is that there is very little philosophy presented or hinted at, which was so heavily inundated in the first two installments. The religious and philisophical questions that were raised in the first two movies was probably the one aspect that I liked the most about them, yet I didn't miss it too terribly in this movie. In general, I like movies that make me think.
All of the still living characters are present again, including Saraph, (who has his character aptly devleoped more this time) the Merovingian, and Persephone. Exceptions are Tank, (who was hinted to have died after #1, but not firmly, since reportedly the actor held out for too much money and was cut) the Albino assassin twins, and most notably, Agents. Yes, that's right--I don't recall Agents appearing at all in this third film, and for that matter, a significantly less amount of scenes actually occur in the Matrix. We also see a new Oracle, since the original actress died during the filming of the last two movies. Since that threw a major wrench into movie plans, this is dealt with and explained fairly well in the story, although it's certainly not ideal.
For those who immediately are worried about less scenes inside the Matrix, have no fear! There is more than enough action--perhaps even the most so far in the trilogy, certainly on the intensity scale if not quantity. The movie jumps right into continued plot and dialogue from Reloaded, as if you had just watched it prior to beginning Revolutions. note: I chose to watch the Matrix, Reloaded, Animatrix, and Enter the Matrix video game movie clips last night to review all aspects of this saga, which I would highly recommend prior to seeing Revolutions. They are certainly not necessary, especially the video game and less so with the Animatrix, but as a minimum having a fresh memory of Reloaded going into the theater will help you get up to speed right away.
Revolutions starts with multiple strings of scenes that are mostly character, story and plot development, which had me wondering slightly if action would be lacking. But the action builds in intensity through the movie, peaking in the Battle for Zion that is one of the best battle scenes I've ever seen--up there with Lord of the Rings - Two Towers. This was my favorite part of the movie, and was very well done. The image of the APU commander, freshly reloaded from Mr. Popper (the unnamed kid that idolized Neo) standing singlehandedly against the onslaught of Sentinels, guns blazing and screaming in the face of death, is etched into my brain as probably the most memorable shot from this trilogy, summing up the Matrix principles of humanity, faith, determination, and choice. Although a good portion of the action scenes take place in the real world, outside the Matrix, the movie culminates in the final showdown fight of Neo and Mr. Smith, which we all knew was coming. While there are some oddities about this "ultimate" fight, in general it is very good again, portrayed in the very archetypeal fashion of good vs. evil, perhaps with obvious allusions to God vs. Satan or Jesus vs. the Antichrist. After the large Battle for Zion scene and many things happening on a global or species-wide scale, this battle was a little anti-climatic, though, being one on one. Is the part with neo lying at the bottom of the crater in the rain, with downtown rubble all around him an homage to the death of Superman? I never really read that comic, but the scene struck me as such.
Like the werewolves and vampires making a cameo appearance in the second movie, there are a few things again in Revolutions that are rather odd, like the S&M bondage club Merovingian is in, the place that Neo wakes up in from his coma which we see at the end of Reloaded, and the the story twist of having Neo go blind. Is the purpose here to have Neo go by faith, not by sight, to show the world in which Neo operates of seeing light, or something else?
Revolutions is very well made as the conclusion of this trilogy. Perhaps that is why it is so different from the other two--perhaps it MUST be different to properly wrap up all the stories, ideas, and characters from the three movies. Characters are fully developed, many sub-story lines are properly included like the relationship of Link and Z, and the right amount of emotion is brought in. In this final movie we see the principles of faith, love, choice, humanity, and determination rise to paramount levels. Revolutions does NOT fully answer all of the questions that have been raised throughout the movies. Enough of the big ones have been finalized that the viewer is not left hanging, but in my mind a movie series which was so clearly designed to make the audience think, raising interesting questions, should not just give all the answers away.
On that note, a question for discussion that MUST include spoiler tags: Is this series complete, or is the door left open just enough at the conclusion for more? Is Neo dead at the end of this movie? I was quite surprised that they killed off Trinity--if any major character was going to die, I would have thought it would have been Morpheus in a martyr fashion. Based on the Oracle hypothisizing at the end that they will see Neo again in the Matrix, I think he probably is alive, but I'm not sure. Is he dead in the real world but lives on inside the Matrix? And another thing-- are there underlying implications with the manner in which Neo finally defeats Mr. Smith, being copied and then tearing him apart from within? I couldn't quite figure out what that meant, nor exactly how it was different than the way he destroyed Agent Smith in the original Matrix.
Could this movie have been better? Yeah, probably. But with such a monstrous task of making this great saga, I think the Wachowski brothers have done an exceptional job. I wouldn't have expected a movie that was different in style and content from the first two in the Matrix series to be so enjoyable to me, but I liked this one a lot. Highly recommended. (for what it's worth, my wife gives this one a B, saying that it should have had more philosophy and less action)
CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"
) the way Smith hovered in the air with jagged lighting crashing around him. The way the shock waves rippled through the air when these two titans endlessly slammed into each other. Well done but misplaced after the battle at the dock. I loved it all the same
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