MATRIX REVOLUTIONS

The sequel that fans wanted, only one film too late.

Rating: 63/100

Original Release: 2003

Director: The Wachowskis

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving

Favourite Quote:

“Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?”

Favourite Shot:

The (at the time) final installment of the Matrix (at the time) trilogy was supposed to be its saving grace. The final piece in the puzzle that made it all make sense, even elevating the previous film somehow. Once again the hype was unreachable, the fans hoped to god that this one wouldn’t flop. Filmed in tandem with Reloaded, Revolutions, despite feeling like a totally different film, came out and received the same mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. But this time, it may have been warranted. Revolutions feels like the ‘safe sequel’ the Wachowskis could have made to the first Matrix. It is the way everyone expected it to go. A war between the machines and the humans. A resolution to the problem that is the matrix. Death of major characters. It feels like this is what fans wanted from Reloaded and the Wachowskis gave it to them one film too late.

It begins where Reloaded left off. People are dead, Neo (Keanu Reeves) is trapped in the matrix and the Agent Smith inhibited Bane is unconscious. We find out Neo is inside a part of the matrix that is in between the machine world and the matrix. A limbo which is represented by a train station. There he meets Sati (Tanveer K. Atwal), a small girl who is a program born from the love of two other programs. It is a truly fascinating conceptual start of the film (an approach I wish they took for the whole film). The train station is dreamlike and calming. And the interactions between Neo and the programs are thought provoking. The idea that these programs are talking about and understanding these human notions such as ‘love’ sets up the whole film in which love is the main theme. The power of love, the things people do for love. what love is. How can it make people, and now programs, act in such a way, that seems almost insane? As well as asking also how love can be understood by the machines? And if they can understand it what are the differences between the humans and the machines.

We get this connection between insanity and love almost instantly when Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) confront the Merovingian about getting Neo out of this limbo zone. He tells them he will release Neo if they can get him The Oracle’s eyes. The scene is executed well as it seems as if the whole plot is now going to be about trying to get these eyes, but then Trinity defies all our expectations and threatens her own life to force the Mervoingian to release Neo immediately. The programs can not fully understand why she would put her and her friend’s lives in danger just for one man. It seems insane.

Neo is released and goes to see The Oracle, who is played by Mary Alice after the sad death of Gloria Foster, and it is here we learn that Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) intends to destroy the matrix and the real world. And that Neo is the only one that can stop him. Either one or the other will prevail. One is peace, the other is complete destruction. The film loses itself at this point. Neo and Trinity leave for the machine city, while the others prepare to defend the city of Zion. There is too much focus on this main battle with hundreds of characters we don’t care about and not enough focus on the ones that we do. There are long fight scenes with characters we’ve hardly had any time with. The visual effects are spectacular, but there is not enough in these scenes to keep you fully invested.

When we do eventually shift back for short check-ins with Neo and Trinity there are some phenomenal moments. There is a suspenseful fight scene between Agent Smith’s Bane and Neo in which Neo ends up blinded. It is a shocking result that jolts you for a moment. Neo’s eyes are basically just holes in his face. A nice visual metaphor for the whole series. The moment Neo can see more than ever, is the moment he loses his sight. In an emotional moment Trinity and Neo rise above the clouds and see the sun. A deserved brief moment of brightness for two characters that have suffered for the sake of their love and for the sake of humanity.

Trinity dies. The machines are almost about to defeat Zion. All hope seems lost. And then Neo arrives to tell the machines about Agent Smith’s plans of destruction, and his own plans of peace. They enter him into the matrix which has been taken over entirely by Agent Smith, literally (all of the people have been assimilated by him). And the stage is set. The atmosphere that the Wachowskis create is perfect. The music is orchestral, there are grays and greens dominating the screen. It is raining. What more could you want from a final showdown. The scene is epic and truly a marvel to look at. I cannot see how anyone could be unhappy with this scene capping off a truly great trilogy (at the time). The look on Smith’s face as he says, “is it over?” says it all (Weaving is truly outstanding in the scene). The machines send a surge through Neo’s body. He becomes a super god. Smith mutters “no, it’s not fair.” And then he explodes. The machines stop their attack on Zion. The matrix is rebooted and The Oracle, Sati and the Architect watch a beautiful sunset as peace descends on the humans and the machines. A balance struck. The people that want to stay inside the matrix can stay and the people that want to leave can leave.

Revolutions is a much safer film than Reloaded, but it still features enough signature touches from the Wachowskis to make it a spectacular third installment. There is much more action than ideas and philosophising. And much more formulaic sequel stuff, such as wars and final battles. But the Wachowskis, for the most part, make these formulaic scenes much more enjoyable through their use of style, filming of action and grand ideas. The fact that the film doesn’t finish on a simple good beating evil note, is a testament to the Wachowskis vision and courage to go against the grain. And that seems to illustrate this film very well. Similar to ‘Bound’ which used a known formula but featured minor decisions that subverted the formula, ‘Revolutions’ is a blockbuster sequel that once more follows what we expect to see, with minor differences that are the major highlights of the film.