November 6, 2003

Good Matrix Revolutions Day 2 to you…

I’m giving the column over to the readers today. I think we critics have had enough space to yap and yap and yap about the film. Before someone accuses me, this sampling includes every negative e-mail of substance about the film I’ve received. Perhaps it's because people know that I liked Reloaded that they aren’t storming my gate with bile. Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will also offer my review(s) of the film.

I have removed all the significant spoilers from these comments. Most were clever and didn’t include any specific spoilers. But if you want the pure experience, you should wait to read.

Until tomorrow…

THE FRYER writes: “I just got back from seeing Revolutions. With only a few hours time to consider it, my first reaction is that the Bros. W started something turning with Reloaded and it soon got very large, wobbly and out of control and the best they could do is push it toward a big obvious conclusion. I'm not saying it was bad, but I was hoping for something much more original. It made me wish the Bros. W had a taken a year or two between Reloaded and Revolutions to sit back, let it all soak in and then write accordingly.

The Matrix had some obvious religious aspects to it, but never took it to the clear cut Christ Figure place that Revolutions did. The Matrix was more about choice and Neo starting to figure things out for himself, deciding for himself what his fate needed to be. This is where I felt Revolutions got out of control, the story went to the most easy and obvious symbolic moment.

I felt like Reloaded and Revolutions could have each been cut in half and made into one movie.

I don't know Mr. Poland. I wish the guys had taken more time off to work on the fabulous and fascinating philosophies they started with The Matrix. It all got too serious and Christian for me. The Bros. W worked their asses off, no doubt about it and the third act, especially when it is it's own feature film is a tough tough thing to write. I look forward to whatever they come up with next -- a light romantic comedy perhaps? (ha!)

Those are my thoughts. I will see the movie again, as I promised a friend I would see it in Imax with her next week. So perhaps time will reshape some of these thoughts. We'll see.”

BLITZEN’S SIDEKICK writes: “This Matrix was the worst of the 3. What is it that Homer J. says? oh yeah…”BORing”…”

ALMOST IN ABBA writes: “I just saw MATRIX REVOLUTIONS now. What can I say? Maybe you were right. Some things that didn’t quite come clear in RELOADED make a lot of sense now. NEO was the MESSIAH (he is crucified, after all). It helps that the “JEDI COUNCIL” parts are reduced to a minimum in the last movie. The war is great, you actually root for the people to win it. Lawrence Fishburne rocks... Jada Pinkett Smith still has that “I AM A GODESS FROM ANOTHER WORLD” look, but when she has to kick ass, she does it beautifully. I still don’t like Keanu, though... There’s the final scene with Trinity (blessed be CARRIE ANN-MOSS), where I can’t really connect with his pain (probably because of the music. I think this scene should have nothing but ambient sounds). And the “Oedipus” scene... MY GOD!

In the end, the WACHOWSKIS should have made RELOADED a better movie, introducing some things that are great in REVOLUTIONS: the relationship between the KID and MATTIS, and that wonderful female character, the girl who teams with Zee. Never mind Cameron invented that character in ALIENS: she is the one that really looks like a female, bald and all.

REVOLUTIONS really made me reconciliate with the trilogy. But you know what? In my MATRIX-OMETER, the ranking goes on like that:

4º - MATRIX RELOADED

3º - MATRIX REVOLUTIONS

2º - MATRIX

1º - ANIMATRIX

THE SECOND RENAISSANCE is a masterpiece, don’t you think? I really think they should release it in the theatres, so they could get a nomination for best animated film.”

GLAD TO BE GLADE writes: I watched Matrix Revolutions with some concern because of my huge disappointment with Reloaded (and all the negative reviews of it that I read on the internet didn't help). After watching this thought, I must say that Revolutions is the true sequel to the first Matrix film.

I felt that Reloaded tried too hard (or not hard enough perhaps?) to pull the same mind-fucks that the first film had. For me, the architect's ramblings and the Merovingian were rather ridiculous. Whatever the Wachowskis were trying to accomplish with these characters within the framework of the mythology didn't work me.( All you geeks out there can talk about that crap all you want. It's all a waste of time to me. If you want to really get into and informed discussion on philosophy and the nature of reality, then take some courses at college. Otherwise, you don't know shit.)

In contrast, Revolutions is much more straightforward & natural with the journey it takes us on. Certainly, there are some surprises, but none of them seem like forced plot developments. Neo's journey from the end of the first film to the end of this film makes perfect sense.

I can write another thousand words on why I loved Revolutions & hate Reloaded, but I'll just give you one example of the differences between the two.

The last half hour or so of Reload had Neo having to make a choice. The Bros. put lots of money (special effects etc) into this choice and its consequences. It wasn't engaging though (In case you're wondering, I'm talking about Neo saving Trinity). It meant nothing to me.

In Revolutions, there's a scene early in the film where Neo meets a family. A husband, wife, and their child. Neo has a conversation with them. Within a minute of them talking to each other, I fell in love with this family. This was well written and a truly tender moment in a film which really shouldn't have any. The husband/father talks about the choice he has made, for the love of his daughter. This simple scene, accomplished more on the nature of love and sacrifice, than all the effects-laden bullshit that was in Reloaded. It got me hooked!

This whole film is like that. I cared what happened to Neo, Trinity, and the rest of the humans, in this film. Also, Mr. Smith in this film is truly, and I mean TRULY, one badass motherfucker. The final fight between him and Neo is truly brilliant! Why? Because I actually cared what the outcome was. Sure it looked great, but there was truly some sense of dread to this fight. You know this fight has 'meaning' to it, as opposed to the fight scenes in Reloaded, which didn't.

Anyway...

Although not all questions are answered (and new questions arise) Reloaded is the real pay-off to everything promised in the first film. Reloaded is a total waste of time.

OHIO MAC writes: “I find myself in a difficult position in talking about "The Matrix Revolutions" because nearly everything I have to say will make it seem like I hated the movie--which now, after hours of reflection, I'm starting to think that I might. Yet, I think the film is definitely worth seeing, and is, on a certain level very good. There is something great going on in this movie, but I am not quite sure what it is...because this certainly isn't a "Matrix" movie. It is like a much better version of the two new "Star Wars" entries. And for another random "Star Wars" comparison, it reminds me a lot of "Return of the Jedi," which I liked, but felt like it was a creature-feature more than a worthy "Star Wars" conclusion. In the same way, "Revolutions" is just machines, machines, machines. Everything we love about "The Matrix" is gone, and all that is left are effects, giant guns, and a pale fragment of the complex ideas the first film laid out and the second film built up.

The first "Matrix" was such a revelation because it was a great pioneer of a new wave of action movies, none of which could replicate the same kind of magic therein. Its monster influence to action films is a lot like "Pulp Fiction's" influence on all slickster movies with cross-cutting, back-folding narratives. But it was more than just an action pioneer--it introduced a strange, wild atmosphere and mythology that was magical in its own way. It had challenging ideas and was state-of-the-art visually.

"Reloaded" hit just the right note for a "Matrix" sequel. Unlike what seems to be an increasing amount of critics and fans, I thought it was absolutely fantastic. Once the initial awe wears off, multiple viewings expose some of the film's weaknesses, but it was an awesome spectacle with an intriguingly dense set of expanding philosophies on display. It didn't try to copy the first film, but tried (and succeeded) to build on both the action and the philosophy. It was much more story-minded than was the original, but it still felt like a "Matrix" movie.

"Revolutions," to me, seems like the inevitable empty conclusion to a set of rules and questions that the Wachowskis posed, but couldn't answer. Where the first film was about mystery and the second was about compounding the mystery, the third seems to be about discarding the mystery in a leaden, downbeat, level-one sci-fi story that only works as pulp action. And that, essentially, is what the movie is--pulp action interspersed with incomprehensible Matrix speech-spouting. It is great pulp-action, and the special effects are incredible, but I think it's apparent that the film doesn't have the answers to the questions it raises in the first two installments. That is evidenced not only by the more-or-less exclusion of a lot of the wonderful supporting cast in "Reloaded" (Lambert Wilson and Monica Bellucci among them), but also in the ultimate conclusion of the trilogy, which, depending on the way you look at it, either explains nothing, or attempts to put a deceptively happy face on what is actually a horrifying series capper, or both.

All the mythology has been reduced to the occasional recitation of inane platitudes, the action in the film has been reduced to a straightforward shoot-out, the actors have been reduced to glum, pretentious clones of the characters they played in the earlier films, and the juicy, challenging ideas have been hung out to dry on the clothesline of a plot that, in "Revolutions" especially, seems forced into being told and wrapped up, when in all actuality, "The Matrix" is not about a story but about a compilation of challenging thoughts and ideas--and maybe it can't be concluded. "Reloaded" hinted at great things to come, and made it seem like the transition from just ideas into a story of those ideas could work, but "Revolutions" fumbles around, becomes too action- and story-oriented, and fizzles out in an ending that, try as it might, can't hide the fact that it is just as confused as we have been all this time.

All the same, I admire the audacity of the Wachowski brothers in mounting such a spectacular, mind-bending trilogy, even if they got too wrapped up in it to be able to figure it out in the end. And, while "Revolutions" frustrates me, it is still an amazing achievement in action and special effects....the action, if not Matrixian, is still spell-binding and lovely to behold. And it is nice to see the mindmaze brought to a conclusion...even if it is not a particularly satisfying one.

I'm not sure what frustrated me more..."Matrix Revolutions" or the fact that you still haven't posted a review on it...”

THE F writes: “Freaky, but the spoiler-scriptment I read last summer was 100% accurate. The scriptment had really bummed me out, it seemed like a cop-out, and going into the Revolutions my hopes for enjoying it hinged on the chance that the spoilers were a hoax. Now, having seen the film, I can't imagine it ending any other way.

Admittedly, the whole series is a bit like Aranofsky's Pi, in that the story asks questions so large that no resolution was gonna be totally satisfying. But I didn't walk out of the theatre gnashing my teeth or shaking my head. Which was what I had fully expected. Instead, I felt haunted, a bit hypnotized, incredibly weirded-out. And that's a good thing.

In fact, the ending of Revolutions left me feeling stranger than I've felt since the last episodes of its crypto-mindfuck cousins, Twin Peaks and the Prisoner. (And did this without resorting to too much of the impenetrable abstraction favored by both those series. Although, strangely, both Peaks and the Prisoner ended with the hero somehow integrating with his nemesis. "What's the significance?! I DON'T KNOW!" Ask me in a year or two.)

For me, one grand pleasures of this series (way more than the action, more on that later) has been watching the development of its varied religious allegories. But in Revolutions' last moments it became pretty apparent to me that the series functions primarily as a retelling of the Christ myth... nothing unique there, and nothing very surprising either as this was spelled out in the first film's very first scene with Thomas Anderson/Neo. I shoulda seen it coming, but I never expected this element of the series to turn out to be its overriding metaphor. And I sure wasn't prepared for was the last scene's presentation of the Oracle and the Architect as the Higher and Lower Twin Gods of Gnostic Christianity. (Again, something that was also a big part of Twin Peaks' thematic spine.)

Based on the reviews I've read, and the reaction of the tiny theatre audience that attended this morning's show, I'm almost sure this is gonna be a huge bomb. What would have made people happy? I think maybe they wanted to see Neo standing on top a smoking pile of machine rubble, with millions of waking humans climbing out of their gooey pink pod prisons. But despite the first films' rousing tone, everything that happens in the sequels was set up in the first film. The sequels really are faithful to the themes and tone of the first film, and they see the cycle through to a conclusion that was thematically (to quote the movie itself) "inevitable".

Admittedly, none of the action in either sequel is anywhere near as good as the action in the first one. The hand-to-hand combat is slicker, and more overblown, but it never really hurts, and it never advances the story like it did in the first one. Also, the orgy of CGI that riddles the sequels proves that throwing cash at something will not necessarily improve it... the siege on Zion looked to my eyes like a bunch of digital static. But that's fine with me, because as much as I dig a good action scene, I'm not spending time with The Matrix because of the explosions. And neither, I suspect, are the Wachowskis. But for most of the audience, the carnage and Kung Fu is probably the main selling point. And the series doesn't just slip on the carnage, it ultimately renounces it. Does the series' ultimate message have anything to do with the harsh initial reaction it appears to be receiving?

I mean, shit, Gnostic Christianity was never a big hit. Even Christians passed on it.

But bomb status isn't always permanent; plenty of true classics were dissed hard on their initial release. (For Christ's sake, I remember the first Matrix movie generating quite a bit of bad press.) But there's so much to this series. And so much of it feels heart-felt and well-considered. (For instance, the way in which The Matrix's spoonbending sequence directly foreshadows Reloaded's encounter with the Architect.) This series' true reputation might be at least ten years away.”

YHQAM & CHEESE writes: “The "Revolutions" will not be televised, at least not until the HBO window opens in 4 or 5 months...but the finale to the odyssey of Neo feels strangely like a series finale to a long running geek-tacular television show (think any of the modern "Star Trek" shows or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"). Like these finales, "Revolutions" supplies all the spectacle it's budget can muster and provides a measure of closure for these much loved characters. Unfortunately, it also feels a little rushed and a little underwritten.

The first "Matrix" was a near perfect stand alone "superhero/pseudo religious savior origin" movie that sent a "Die Hard" sized seismic shock through the action movie genre. "Reloaded" expanded and turned on it's ear almost everything we knew about the

"Matrix-verse" and asked some tantalizing questions. Detractors said it lacked the thrill (of the new?), the tightness of plot, and the effortless cool of the first. Defenders claimed it was far more ambitious than it's progenitor and it couldn't be judged as a whole until

"Revolutions", as the 2 movies were really one big "Uber movie". For all its perceived flaws, "Reloaded" effectively set the table for what should be a "take no prisoners, blow mind" finale. Next level "visual crack" action melded with synapse twisting philosophical overtones. A slam dunk, one for the ages. Well, (almost) 1 out of 2 ain't bad.

True, "Revolutions" has visual magic on a scale that's a wonder to behold, making even "Reloaded", with it's much hyped "Burly Brawl" and Highway chase, look like an also ran. The Battle for Zion sequence staggers with it's scope, scale, detail and yes, even a

touch of much needed human emotion (though it hangs by the thread of clichéd dialogue). This is the battle "Star Wars" Episodes 1 and 2 aspired (and failed miserably) to achieve.

The only action downsides are the "human scale" fights. The Seraph, Trinity and Morpheus gunfight/raid on the Merovingian's club plays like a self-homage to the "Neo/Trinity" lobby gunfight from the first film. While more complex and flashy, it has a "been there, done that" quality to it (something "Attack of the Clones" , CG Yoda aside, fell into with its lightsaber duels), despite a nice choreography gag that gives Trinity an opportunity to recall a signiture move from the original.

The Neo/Smith fight, while bigger and filled with complex environments (coolest use of rain in an action sequence ever), again feels like a rerun of the first 2 films both physically and emotionally (though the FX technology in this sequence should make the new "Superman" film everything a comic fan would want if they ever get it off the ground).

Plotswise, the movie is much more of a straightforward action/war movie than "Reloaded", and while that might make it more "accessible" to the average moviegoer than it's predecessor, it lacks follow through on all the issues/philosophizing raised in

"Reloaded". By keeping Neo in the "real" world for most of its runtime, the film succeeds in making him a vulnerable hero again, something that made the first film so effective and marred the second film (indestructible Neo made for boring Neo action since we KNOW he couldn't lose).

For anyone who follows the major eastern or western religions, Neo's journey is predictable, following a fairly typical "savior/warrior" route. The ending and what happens to some of the characters surprises because it is neither a typical "Hollywood happy ending" nor a standard "tragic" ending. It almost seemed mathematically designed to be "bittersweet" (though the "bitter" is dialed down as much as possible, giving us one of the most dry eyed good byes in recent memory) and leaves more questions unanswered than answered.

The cast and filmmakers have all said this is the last of the Matrix films and there will be no"HyperMatrix", "Back to the Matrix", "Matrix Rev -o -loaded: The Reboot of Smith" or any such nonsense (such as a sterile, unwanted, unloved "prequel" trilogy or a questionable 4th film in a "trilogy" with the near elderly main character "raiding" the social security office). Ending "Matrix" here makes sense. The Journey of The One (or at least this particular One, saying nothing of the previous five) is over. To try and continue it would seem mercenary and pointless (though that never stopped a Hollywood studio...). Maybe a new Animatrix project every couple of years. Taking it any further would be a mistake. Like the tagline says "Everything that has a beginning has an end".”

NOT ELF STAR writes: “So, I saw Revolutions tonight. I'm shocked at how different it was from Reloaded, both in style and tone. I wasn't sure I was enjoying everything I was seeing for the first 30 minutes or so. It just felt like things were happening, without any real setup for them. But, after 30 minutes or so, about when I realized that we wouldn't be seeing the Merovingian or Persephone again, it hit me: this was a live action anime film. Instead of integrating the look and feel of anime, as was done in the first film, it was if the Wachowski's stole an anime script and adapted it to live action. And I dug it. A lot. It was a very bold move. I understand why a lot of folks won't like it---there's a reason that anime isn't often found on the big screen in America. As movies go, this one wasn't designed to be loved by all. Perhaps that's not fair to the large number of people who will pay to see this movie, but someone has to foot the bill for something that grandiose.”

THE YOUNG ONE writes: “Let's get the obvious out of the way: "Revolutions" is an action film, a war film. We've been given all the ideas the Wachowskis wanted us to have, and this movie is solely about showing this final battle and the fate of Neo, the Matrix, and Zion. Don't expect something as innovative as the first "Matrix" ... it'll be awhile before something bends the action genre as much as that movie did. But "Revolutions," itself, is a remarkable action movie. What amazing visions it gives us; what a world this film has created for the mind and imagination. You do not criticize a war film for straight action, and you cannot criticize this movie either for that reason. Sure, it's gotten a little silly by now, and we could care less about Neo and Trinity's romance, but I doubt we'll see another movie this visionary for quite some time. I want to see it again for all those moments of awe, for all those times I said to myself, "how did someone plan an action sequence of this magnitude?" The cinema is about showing us new dazzling worlds and new myths, and this film is a revolution in that sense.”

WHAT’S NU writes: “David, why haven't you been pumping this film up? Did you not love it? Are you afraid to share your opinion because of the flack you'll get from the Matrix haters?

Now it's time to be honest, did you love it or hate? I LOVED it. Thought it was better then Reloaded and is a great way for the series to end.”

E ME: Well… I didn’t really want to load the tank with my ideas. But tomorrow, I will. Keep the reviews coming…