jon e.’s review

Matrix Revolutions… the question most asked of by most of the people that I know who have seen the film is “…what the ‘f’?” Since so many have seen the movie, I won’t waste too much time telling you what worked or didn’t work, story and cinematically. But instead tell you why the Wachowski Brothers got it right. One of the brothers, I am not sure which, has a degree in philosophy, as I’ve said in previous reviews about how nothing is ever created in a vacuum. Taking that into account it is not a large leap to assume that the entire Matrix trilogy is in reality a morality play centered on faith.

As Americans we always ask for deeper thought in our films, but when it’s given to us, we balk, we don’t really like the taste. Well, the Wachowskis wrapped their philosophical lump of medicine in a sugar cube of action and adventure. But as all things hidden, soon surface, people were not happy being tricked.

Because so many have seen the movie, Revolutions, I am going to skew this review to those that have seen the movie and the prior two; since I think people will enjoy the movies on whole the more times they view them. So if you have not seen Revolutions avoid this review . I liked Matrix Revolutions and the Matrix trilogy as a whole. Being a moral play about faith, something that is very close to me.

Again just as nothing can be created in a vacuum, nor can any review ever be created in that same vacuum. Each reviewer filters the movies he or she sees through the screens of their entire life. That’s why some reviewers rock and others are so full of crap that you wonder how or why they even like movies. Even my opinions should be taken with a grain of salt. Unless you are willing to learn of my history, sensibilities and outlook, you can’t really know what I think or why. So that being said, what are the filters of my life that makes this a good series, why does the Matrix series speak to me?

Well, not only was I raised in the religious strap of the bible belt, Virginia, home of such icons as Jim and Tammy, 700 club and etc; I am and have been obsessed for over twenty to thirty years with a dream that has not allowed me a true moment of rest. I have willingly missed some pretty important things in my development just holding on to this dream. Anyone who has known me for more than a day has heard of some aspect of my want to create comics. I’ve even tried walking away from it, refocusing on other talents, but for some reason I’m always drawn back to it and when I am doing some aspect of it I really feel complete. There is only one reason for why the dream won’t fade and that is… faith.

Somehow I will make this dream happen, faith keeps me trying - I liked Matrix Revolutions and the trilogy as a whole. The entire trilogy has always been a tale of faith and perseverance; and with each continued stage of the Trilogy, the theme of faith is only intensified:

In the original Matrix, Neo is asked by Morpheus to take a leap of faith and dive into the rabbit hole, to see how deep it goes. Neo took the leap kicking and screaming all the way waking in the real/machine dominated world. His faith constantly faltering yet Neo pushed on anyway. When instructed to continue on the ledge by Morpheus - Neo resolve faltered, only later to be saved by Trinity - in turn recovering his faith. Later still when told by the Oracle that he wasn’t the One, Neo’s faith faltered again. Recovering quicker, Neo discovered a new faith; the fact that he could save Morpheus, again discovering a greater level to his own faith. His task accomplished, Morpheus free of the matrix, Neo faces the Agents of the Matrix. When finally cornered by the Agent Smith he didn’t falter he fought, and paid the ultimate sacrifice he died in the Matrix. Believing in his own death in a virtual world his conscious faith accepted the end. Until Trinity confided of her deeper faith in him to Neo’s body in the real world. Inspired by Trinity’s love, Neo rose like a phoenix in the matrix, retaining his faith in something bigger than himself, seemingly by sheer will Neo destroys Agent Smith from with in the home of faith. Motif: Faith asks that you never give up, even in a hopeless situation.

In the first film our attentions were skillfully misdirected else where by the directors, Andy & Larry Wachowski like magicians with a slick slight of hand magic trick. The Matrix was about faith from square one, still… Why?

The Wachowski Brothers had one shot at getting it right. I’m convinced the Directors knew that they had to show the magic before people noticed the slight of hand trick they were trying to pull off. The slight of hand theme being one of ‘faith’, which was tucked way under the magic of the wild, wire working kung fu of Wo Ping’s. The cosmic scientific backdrop created by comic book artist Geoff Darrow (check out the comics Hard Boiled or Big Guy and Rusty the robot boy). The mind bending, history altering SFX of Jon Gatta. People were mesmerized and inspired by the vibrancy of the film; never noting the resonating factor of the hidden morality slipping into the background. All people could talk about, and rightly so was the elements and the concepts of the Matrix? It worked and an epic word of mouth buzz was created.

Spending most of our film time in the Matrix and less in the stark reality of the machine world, made the simulated virtual reality status quo of the Matrix look real good… Who in their right mind would choose to leave the matrix? A heaven in comparison to reality. A gilded cage by any other name… Still the downloading instant kung fu skills does make me pause.

The Matrix: Reloaded continued our’s and Neo’s faith studies, by pulling the theme forward and firmly planting it in the middle ground. The ’slight of hand tricks’ this time out were performed with the sets, costumes, kung fu and special effects, but admittedly were not as smoothly done. Tried and a little clunky, Reloaded had such density with so much exposition to deliver. The sheer weight of the information forced many viewers, myself included, to come back and view the movie a second time for either the action or the story. Like any magic trick preformed too often the audience becomes a little less gullible with each viewing, the curtain shimmers just a bit more.

Early on in our decent down the Reloaded rabbit hole we’re forced by our very nature down one of two paths :

1) Surface action story arc or 2) the story about faith, love, and sacrifice. Picking which route ultimately tells you what inspired you about the first movie or at least more about yourself.

Is the glass half full or half empty? Are you half full or half empty of faith? That’s what Reloaded asked. The red herring love story subplot threw everyone for a loop. Oh yeah, Reloaded, it’s just a simple love story… The element of love only serves as a motivator for faith, a side effect. The prize at the end of the quest that can strengthen or in some cases weaken one’s faith. Eventually every character in Reloaded is asked to act upon their faith and is torn by the question as well as the consequences…

Link is asked by Morpheus to trust in his belief in Neo’s cause (faith), in spite of what Link knows about the violent reality of the machine world. Zee, Links wife, is asked to believe (faith) that Link will return home to Zion, even after having lost her only two brothers, Tank and Dozer, to Morpheus’s cause. While Neo has to maintain faith in the cryptic visions of the Oracle; regardless of the fact that he can’t be sure she, as a program, can be trusted. Trinity’s faith, as always, in Neo is pure and unquestioned, and is what ultimately drives her to storm the gates of the Matrix to protect Neo’s back when others had failed. We were all overloaded by Reloaded subplots’ having either to follow the story or the action. Real epic stuff is not easily digested in one sitting. Just like the Matrix, Reloaded leaves you with a host of new questions, questions ensuring you will be around for the end.

The Matrix: Revolutions‘ title says it all… the revolution is real and will be televised. It, too, is a movement entrenched in the faith motif. Knowing their audience, the crutch of magic, the need for slight of hand tricks are no longer necessary. We know the tricks; it’s just time to go on and finish the show.

It was a bold move on the Wachowski brothers’ part to keep the final story simple, and how hard that must have been to keep it that way. Revolutions is a time for answering all questions, and the last movie does deliver those answers, probably not in a way that most people wanted. What is the fate of Zion and the human race? What is the fate of the Source and the A.I. (Artificially Intelligent) machines? And ultimately, what is the fate of the virtual world of the Matrix? At the end of Revolutions you find out the destiny of all three. But what about all the characters’ questions of faith?

Will Link make it home? Will Neo stop the war? Will Morpheus’s team make it in time to save Zion? On, on and on you can find the varied examples of faith are laid out thickly and heavily in the film. Each question is answered in turn some simply as selfless sacrifice and others with resigned fates. But faith as a constant blind struggle is the reoccurring key to this film.

With all it’s exposition completed previously in Reloaded, the story in Revolutions is allowed to flow clear and clean on all levels. The action is corralled into two parts: the attack on Zion, the last home of the human race; and the assault on the Source, the A.I. core of the machine world. The Wachowski Brothers choose mirroring storylines to tell of the assaults, which run simultaneously. But they keep the stories pace moving, refraining from adding too many new subplots. End with the ultimate show down between Neo and the new and improved Agent Smith for the destiny of everything; inside the only common ground between the two sentient races, the matrix. A heaven now completely corrupted by Agent Smith, the fallen angel him self.

My only criticism of Revolutions is the same as the silent one I had about the other two movies; is that the directors never really used some of the dynamic characters that they created. In the Matrix they killed off the Morpheus’s entire team before they could cut loose. In Reloaded characters like the Albino twins, Persephone, Vangine were dynamically drawn… I especially wanted to see the twins cut loose in one on one action against Neo. At the end of Reloaded, somehow I assumed they would be in Revolutions, they were not. The Brothers didn’t take into account the importance of those set up expectations, particularly by Reloaded. For many others I think that was one factor in their disappointment, and was my only let down.

The first, the Matrix, was about action setting up the milieu. The second movie, Reloaded, was an action/story hybrid pushing the exposition. That leaves Revolutions as a straight story delivering solid resolution. You have to be ready for a fable, and know it is coming to value it. What soured people so much is that they were forced to think about their escapism. America always asks for deeper stories, but do we really want to be helped down that rabbit hole?

This rabbit hole of faith was deeper than anyone thought, making it hard in the end for a lot of people not to reevaluate the decision why they dove in, in the first place. To me that’s where faith kicks in, faith in the story and the storytellers themselves. Sometimes faith is truly blind… And at the end of this long review, some of you will say that I am too. But in for a penny, in for a pound, I say… Do you still want to know how deep the rabbit hole goes? I did and still do.

Remembering that the second two movies were filmed at the same time, I think that they too should actually be viewed at the same time. That way the trilogy’s dynamic set up would not be so far removed from it’s pay off. Once the final DVD is released and everyone starts having Matrix Trilogy themed movie nights, the Matrix trilogy as a whole will become a science-fiction cinematic milestone.

gtodd’s review

When you deal with films in a series, there is always an element of expectation to be dealt with. Upon viewing the first film, the audience builds subconscious expectations (with various levels of attachment) as to what the continued story should be. These expectations may have been met or ignored completely by your viewing of Matrix Reloaded… leaving you either pleased or irritated by the experience. Going into Matrix Revolutions it’s only natural that our expectations are further modified by the second film. Matrix Revolutions certainly seems to have met everyone’s expectations in terms of action, but the initial gut reaction is that it fails on the mental front despite making some good efforts.

When we began our journey through the Matrix, we were confronted by two narrative threads: the nature of reality and the possibility and acceptance of fate. Throughout the first film, we concentrated a lot more on the nature of reality, since this was a brilliant question to present. “Is seeing really believing?” This was the core of the film that let us transcend reality along with Neo. Meanwhile, we let the question of Neo’s destiny slide to the background. After all it seemed like a simple device to move the story along… much like Arthur discovering that he was destined to become the King of England after drawing Excalibur from the stone. It’s like a sign post telling you the road you’re going to take through the problem. This built an expectation in the audience at large for the rest of the series to deal with more of the reality question.

The Matrix Reloaded broke with expectation as the Wachowski Brothers moved to focus on the element of fate and Neo’s destiny. The Merovingian and the Architect both hammer this point through their dialog. The Merovingian presented an introduction by framing events as a simple matter of cause and effect. He plays it up and suffers a bit from it as Persephone turns the Key Maker over to the heroes. It’s a simple relationship to build on, and it delivers us into the hands of the Architect… who tells Neo that all anyone within the Matrix has (Neo included) is the illusion of choice. I thought this was a brilliant speech since it had some really diabolic implications.

The Architect ends his speech with presenting Neo with a choice of two doors. Door 1: Neo goes back to the source and Zion’s reduced to 23 people to start rebuilding until the next Anomaly appears. Door 2: Neo reenters the Matrix, and the machines kill everyone in Zion and the Matrix. Since choice is only implied, you can reduce this to having Zion whacked the easy way or the hard way. The nasty twist is that if choice is only an illusion, it means that the Oracle and Architect are actually on the same side. Neo’s quest for freedom becomes a scripted path. To this end, Reloaded plays out very much like a video game. Neo’s battle at the Merovingian’s home plays like a battle with a boss monster to advance to the next level with the key he’d won. The Architect’s choice of doors simply returns him to start the loop all over again.

This certainly seems like plan of attack going into Revolutions. We don’t have any meaningful encounters with real people within the Matrix… just the Programs, which are suddenly a dime a dozen. Plus, since we don’t see a return of the Virus Twins, we can assume that their task is done until the next loop. Pass a given challenge and you get to ignore that enemy. What about Agent Smith though? He manages to stick around until the end of the film…

Smith originally struck me as a return to satisfy the marketing people who found an easy to identify villain. Better to have left him dead at the end of the first film I thought during Reloaded and the thought remains after Revolutions. There’s a lot of potential to be tapped in the role Smith is put in. Perhaps it was a role that would have been fulfilled by another character originally, but whether or not that’s the case it simply failed for me.

Smith is the obvious foil for questioning the human drive for survival and perseverance against overwhelming odds. I suppose he does an adequate job in the perseverance front… not that there is any revelation or reward to the audience from Neo’s enduring these odds. I expect that there is meant to be a lot in Smith for the struggle against fate and the illusion of choice, too. However, this battle is reduced to the Oracle’s surrender to being overwritten as a Smith herself.

Similarly, Smith fails in his role as a uniting point for the humans and the machines. Smith cannot unite our warring parties in a meaningful manner since we’re never presented with his threat to the machine world. We know from the original Matrix that Smith wants to end the need for patrolling the humans in the simulation, but what does he have against the machines that employ him? If anything, his replication ability seems the perfect tool for him getting to quell all of humanity by overwriting them with a single personality. In fact, you have to wonder why the machines don’t simply lobotomize the pod humans they use as batteries. Aside from killing the story, it doesn’t seem that the machines have much to lose from doing that. But then, the scorched skies seem more of a problem to humanity, since this probably destroyed the availability of food everywhere on the planet. The machines could simply some giant space bourne solar collectors for power….

In the end, perhaps it is just that fate is kind to Neo and he is simply blessed to succeed beyond reason. Humanity is saved, and the machines will likely keep most of their battery people, since like Cypher most of humanity would prefer the comfort of the Matrix’s illusion to the dingy reality that awaits them outside. At best, Neo’s salvation of humanity is a static existence with no true paradise to be seen.