Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2011)

Michael Bay directs a third movie in the series. This time the All-Spark is completely irrelevant and so is the renewed quest to extract Energon. However, The Autobots and Decepticons are on a search for an old Cybertronian ship called The Ark, which crashlanded on the dark side of the moon in the 1950's. The ship transported an Autobot called Sentinel Prime, an engineer responsible for the pillars that form a space bridge. The main plot now is to transport Cybertron to Earth to rebuild the wasteland.
Several changes were made after the previous movie: no more African-American stereotypes, no more cowardly Leo, and no more Megan Fox. Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) is three months out of college and is looking for work. Unfortunately it has to be the same formula within the Michael Bay movies: too many humans, too much detail of the characters we do not care about, and the presence of his ever-so-annoying parents who add more to the misery. Sam has a new girlfriend after Megan Fox was fired by Bay himself. No explicit explanation was offered, but it was only said that "she was mean". However, it adds more insult to injury because nobody would even hook up with this guy after the last misadventure that almost got everyone killed in the process. Any girl who has no taste for deathly pursuits would not have anything to do with a guy whose face was broadcast worldwide by the evil robots. As if that was not enough, we have to watch a montage of his job hunt. Like I said, anyone who is unemployed or not in full-time employed would be grossly annoyed by this montage when they came to watch Autobots and Decepticons duke it out on each other. More of Sam Witwicky than of the Transformers and we call clamor for a change in direction.
So when we do see the Transformers, we see our favorite robots reincarnated: Shockwave, Laserbeak, Soundwave as car instead of the satellite (I do not know how he did that and the movie does not show it). But we also see one other useless robot that plays no important role in the movie (a long-tongued stump), and another robot who could transform into a laptop once (named "Brains", like the Thunderbirds character, right?). You have to be honest, Shockwave is a bad-ass cyclops in his own rights with his giant worms and uses his worms to decimate every building and structure in his every sight. Laserbeak now talks, even though his previous incarnations never talk. There is some issue regarding his ability to transform into one ordinary hardware to another even without ample time to scan the object prior to transformation. I think the purpose of that is for product placement, otherwise they are just superfluous.
I have watched the 1980's series and have discovered that this movie derives two plot points from the series: "bringing Cybertron to Earth" and "kicking the Autobots out". I have to recall the first point: by bringing Cybertron to Earth's atmosphere, the Decepticons risk inducing powerful gravitational forces capable of tearing the Earth to chunks, as was acknowledged by the cartoon episode but grossly ignored by the movie itself. Yet Sentinel Prime has dedicated his alliance to Megatron just to enslave the human race. If the gravitational forces rip the Earth into chunks, these slaves will perish; so the plan is impracticable. On top of all that, one city Chicago is decimated with several victims being scorched by some factions of Decepticons who are possibly oblivious to their grand plan.
I can only assume that the incoherence in this story is shorter and less strenuous on one's logic. Here, we remember from the prologue that there is a ship that flew from Cybertron transporting Sentinel Prime with his technology. The ship was shot down into the moon and lay dormant for decades. But it is disclosed that the Decepticons shot down the ship without knowledge as to whether the ship would survive and perish. So Sentinel survives and is revived, only to later reveal his true alliance to Megatron. It might have been real pain for Megatron to realize that he had just demoted himself under Sentinel, from Prime to slime. Only Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) could talk some sense into him and <Spoilers>.
Speaking of H-W, I think she was less than passionate in her role. All her dialogue sounds wooden and child-like (as in, like child actors). I would not even think she was the best choice for a character to replace Mikaela Banes, with no emotion and very little rush in her aura unless in more serious situations.
Undoubtedly there is a series of destruction on highways, business districts, the NEST headquarters (which is no longer secret since Transformers can be seen with the naked eye). An orgy of explosions is a must, and there is this very long scene of one building being decimated with some occupants clinging to dear life. I am pretty sure that a lot of viewers were just hoping Sam Witwicky was just going to be killed off along with that overly heinous Jerry "Deep" Wang <urgh!>--thank goodness he was killed off. His appearance is just pointless and downright insulting to the 12A/PG-13 certificate. One other note, Tyrese Gibson only spends fewest minutes on-screen of the three movies. Seymour Simmons (John Turtturo) makes his third appearance for the sake of getting the plot forward, despite his role in the government sector being history. To top it off, he now has to make it big on us that he is rich and has a mansion of his own and no longer lives with his mother or owns a butcher's shop. He suffers from an injury in the highway chase which should have just thrown him out of this movie since he just sits in the wheelchair for the remainder of the film and talks about whatever he likes. There are several more unlikable human characters who should be killed off so that only the robots take up all the screen time.
This movie makes moderate improvements in some sections like having a story that can be digested, no more plot twists, and more action from the robots in disguise. But the Michael Bay formula still ruins the movie's chance of ever being taken seriously.

X-Men 2 (2003)

What a way to continue the X-Men franchised after a successful hit in the cinema. X-Men 2 brings two warring factions together against a threat even bigger than the dreaded Mutant Registration Act. Senator Kelly is dead, and the new threat is in the form of an ex-black ops commander who has hatched a sinister scheme to wipe out the mutant race. This sort of plan sounds familiar, but the last movie was all about forcing mutants to disclose their capabilities. 

Nightcrawler is under some kind of mind control. He attacks the White House, disarming and immobilizing security there without taking a break with his teleporting. Just after the anti-mutant frenzy from the last film, this film continues to brew the storm with this film just to gear up the plot.

Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) visits a site of his nightmare past. One subplot revolves around him trying to discover his past that has been plaguing him in his sleep. Somehow he still does not find any answers.

The opening prologue tells us something we could remember easily: humanity has never been the type that would ever share the entire planet with another race of humans, mutants. So genocide is the key plot point in this movie, and someone has deduced that a large population of mutants would require swift blow to be annihilated worldwide, so he has to hatch several schemes to make it work. So what has he done to do this? He has driven a mutant under his control with a serum he injects (or rather drops into a laceration on the back of their neck) as a means to control their mind. A man named William Stryker hates mutants so heavily that he would use them and dump them after they serve his purpose. He obtains the information he seeks to build and engineer his own cerebro to target mutants.

If you also watch this movie, you will acknowledge why Stryker of all people would launch his own mutant-hate campaign: his own son Jason has the power to create illusions in people's minds. His mother killed herself with a power tool to "bore the images out of her head." Jason blamed his parents for his condition, and caused so much pain for them. However, I still could not tell if Stryker himself killed or maimed his own son or something. Either way Jason is now wheelchair-bound and is reduced to secreting that same fluid for controlling mutants. How that works still eludes me.

We have new mutants to the mix: Iceman  a.k.a. Bobby Drake, Pyro, Shadowcat (whose name is not mentioned except Kitty), Colossus and Nightcrawler to mention but a few. There are other mutants whose powers are so dangerous they are useless, like a girl whose scream reverberates endlessly unless she is sedated. I wonder if her parents had to carry sedatives to silence her from birth, though mutation does manifest from puberty. More mutants with less than beneficial powers are revealed.

The next thing to look out for is Jean Gray. Her powers are growing erratically. Telekinesis is now accompanied by other powers that distort electronic signals, and enhance hearing range. For some reason I would not even note this regularly as this occurs less frequently throughout this story and is not fully addressed.

We can now explore the facility where Logan was experimented upon. The adamantium is a very indestructible metal at room temperature; it has to be continually kept hot to be used every time. But it is never addressed as to what or who is keeping it hot perpetually, or how it is made in the first place. 

You would have  more reason to be engaged with the characters and the main plot, but subplots here are just evasive. Fast-paced action scenes and the main story arc revolving around the main characters could just be enough to keep you engaged with the movie. You might remember the visual effects from movies memorable for their visuals, such as The Matrix (1999). But you do have to watch out for any religious connotations as shown by the blue mutant Nightcrawler.

Professor Charles Xavier is being bound by Stryker with a neural inhibitor so that he cannot enter people's minds. This gives Jason a chance to create an illusion to trick Xavier into concentrating hard enough to kill every mutant connected to the cerebro. I know you will be baffled by the continuity errors regarding the illusions generated by Jason. Nothing makes sense when Jason himself disappears and the little girl appears, and vice versa. And how Xavier continually falls for his illusions beats me all the time.

Fifteen years. Logan has been amnesic for fifteen years. The story must have resumed a few months after events of the last movie, according to Stryker and Xavier both of whom recall the time span in question.

Yuriko (a.k.a. Deathstrike) is The Wolverine's new adversary after Saber-Tooth. She has retracting claws and the ability to regeneration, a perfect match for a mutant without definable age. A fight between the two renders the last fight against Mystique and Saber-Tooth less momentous.

Mystique flips a birdie to the audience (Stryker's soldiers, actually). She has the ability to change size, weight and voice. However, there have been some discrepancies regarding her decision to impersonate a dead person, particularly Senator Kelly. Since his death she assumed his position without acknowledging that his presence is required round-the clock, yet nobody questions his absence under any circumstance. It would be sensible to think about impersonating someone of high authority before doing so especially if they are deceased. With that aside, she seems to know how to operate any machine and computer in place of her subjects. How she spends the time we do not know she has is beyond anyone's imagination.

If you enjoy watching a roller coaster ride of fights, raids, visual effects and mutant powers, this movie is for you. However you will often find the plot devices evasive and never fully explained, but you could relate to some characters in the story who are just there to demonstrate their capabilities in rough situations that come before them. By the way, if you hate N*Sync so do Wolverine and his companions. Boy bands are so 1990's and anyone growing up in the 2000's would not want to listen to that annoying trash.

RoboCop (2014 Remake)

There are some classics that were so memorable for their quality that a remake was not in demand. RoboCop (1987), Planet Of The Apes (1968) and Total Recall (1990) to mention only a few I watched as a kid (ironically) were so critically successful that no one thought a remake would do justice. RoboCop (1987) was the best thing to happen at a time the city of Detroit was beleaguered by crime and corruption in the highest places. You saw it all in the movie: bloodshed, heavy drug use, crime waves, breaking glasses, machine vs. machine, decapitation, and some hilarious consequences. In the movie you watched a man being killed on duty; his life flashing before him before being brought back to life as a cyborg. The story was tragic and heart-gripping, human emotions overwhelming, a cake stripped of its icing to reveal the truth beneath it. RoboCop was a satire to die for. It was rated 18 for its aforementioned elements of violence and bad language.

So when this remake was announced, I was hoping for something of an improvement over its 1987 predecessor. I acquired a pirated copy and was completely befuddled by the overall clip. This remake is just like the flop RoboCop 3 (1993): curtailed violence. This movie is set in the future and unlike its predecessor, bullets are nonexistent. Instead of bullets guns project lasers and plasma, thus curtailing any blood on the streets. That's how RoboCop's gun works, even though other guns still shoot bullets but still do not shed blood.

The movie starts off on an annoying note: flashbacks of events in relation to the story happen before the story actually takes off. This is what threw me off tangent and lost in translation. So what is the main point in this story? America does not allow machines to enforce the law, while other countries in the world, particularly the Middle East, have ED-209's patrolling the streets. OmniCorps intends to merge man with machine to offset the decision to refuse the enforcement of the law with machines by "putting a man inside a machine." This is where RoboCop becomes a project of priority. When Murphy is reborn as RoboCop he resumes his investigation and prosecution of Antoine Vallon.

You have to be honest, this movie takes a step in enhancing the ED-209 with computer graphics, but also throwing in too much techical jargon all in the name of science. In fact thirty-eight minutes of this movie focuses on the scientific evaluation RoboCop as a project, both his psychological and physiological aspects, and training exercise. For a 12-rated movie the young audience will have trouble understanding what is going on here.

If I have to be blunt, the characters in this movie are forgettable. They do not stand out and you would fail to relate with them on any level thinkable. Even Alex Murphy seems to drift away into the screen every time you see him. He just can't relate with his own family even if this is the opposite case of RoboCop 2 (1990) where RoboCop here had to deny Alex Murphy thanks to OCP's stance against it. It was pretty much as though the director watched the movies but failed to understand what made the first one incredibly memorable. Even the main villain is so illusive that I can not even comprehend his position as the crime boss of old Detroit. I would resonate with these guys better if the script wasn't so bland and devoid.

Give this movie more credit, at least we can see what remains of Alex Murphy. Unlike the previous entry, there have been continuity issues over the organic remains of Alex Murphy incorporated into RoboCop. However, I would like to retract that credit because they preserved Alex's right hand while the rest of his arm has been dismembered. I do not see the point of preserving that right hand or right arm with the hand since he is a machine going against the underworld of Detroit.

This guy loathes what he has become and demands to be put to rest. This scene alludes to the content from RoboCop 2 where the test subjects were former police officers who [hilariously] committed suicide after seeing what they had become. Murphy here still adhered to his remaining strong will to continue as he is and keep the hopes of his family up. He remembers his family and his will to die dissipates.

Embarrassing as it looks, this movie shows that it was aimed at a young audience. They demonstrate a model that "kids would love". I was at first pleased that they displayed the original RoboCop, until they "transformed" it into a toy with shoulder sirens.

How much are you going to bet that RoboCop spends more time in the laboratory than on the streets? I must be frank that this takes away any anticipation of tackling crime on the streets of Detroit as a bad-ass cop. It would be wicked to have him do some damage after testing instead of wasting so much time in the lab listening to more jargon than one can comprehend.

Pat Novac (Samuel L. Jackson) must have been given his lowest position in movie history since Deep Blue Sea (1999). He is reduced to a talk show host debating on the same topic over at least three times in this movie. That topic adheres to RoboCop as the future of law enforcement, and the campaign to repeal the "Dridus Act". (Throughout his talk show he refers RoboCop as Alex Murphy.) He does his best but is dismayed overall having not taken part in the entire story.

It must be painful watching a highly trained neurosurgeon operate on Murphy's brain with immense caution.

I don't know about you but this RoboCop resembles a combination of Iron Man and the droids from Pacific Rim (2013), the Jaegers. The suit is an update to the original model, giving Murphy greater mobility and automated feature on his visor, access to the criminal database and a camera unit. Though I would now question the decision to put his brain on strain by having it access the criminal database. We can see what it is like to have a human brain treated like a CPU: it is obviously painful and has its repercussions.

Also instead of a car his main means of transport is a motorbike. I wonder how a small vehicle like that can withstand a cyborg that must surely way a ton (probably not metric tonne).

So let's be fair, this movie was meant for a younger generation who have never heard of the original masterpiece of the 1980's. Movies like this will appeal to the CGI-crazed generation but not to those who grew up with the original. The story and deep messages are irrelevant to anyone who loves CGI and adrenaline-filled action sequences, but to someone else, this movie overall is irrelevant and inferior to the 1987 masterpiece.

The Matrix: Revolutions (2003)

A final entry to the Wachowskis' film series, Revolutions starts off from where Reloaded left. When I last checked it was revealed that the sequels were released six months apart, which does beggar belief that the actors involved could have endured such a struggle. I mean, each movie cost $150 million dollars and possibly took four years to produce. Within that time there were two video games, The Matrix: The Path Of Neo and Enter The Matrix, and an anime The Animatrix. It must be a wild ride for the actors and staff involved.

Remember Mouse from the first movie? "Do you know it really reminds me of? Tastee Wheat. Did you ever eat Tastee Wheat?" Look at it. It is actually being advertised in this scene!

This product placement billboard appears on the same platform three times in a row!

Why does this tramp wear so many watches on the same wrist?

When I first watched this movie alongside its predecessor, I was dismayed and discouraged from watching. I preferred to watch The Matrix 1500 times, The Matrix: Reloaded 1000 times but The Matrix: Revolutions 10 times. In other words, Revolutions was my least favorite movie and prompted me to question whether these sequels were even demanded. In my opinion, the sequels are just as silly and cartoonish as the video games meant for children and teenagers. It leaves so many plot holes that even characters (actors) were just as befuddled as the audience.

So what is the usual case in this movie? Expositions that do not even address the anomalies that occur in the matrix or even in the real world. For example, we last remember Neo stopping five sentinels before losing consciousness, only to end up in limbo (Mobil Avenue, "mobil" being an anagram for "limbo"). When I first watched this I was confused as to how Neo was separated from his body without ever jacking in. He finds himself in a train station, which is between "his world and the matrix", yet it is never explained how he ended up there so that he could be taken captive by the Train Man who works for The Merovingian. And just when you thought this anomaly remains unexplained, we have to watch Neo being bombarded with questions by a small Indian girl who seems to have every piece of information that the audience did not ask for, only for the Oracle to deliver the same thing to us later.

Speaking of The Oracle, this woman is played by a different actress, Mary Alice. (Is it me or does Nathaniel Lees resemble Mary Alice? They almost look like siblings here.) Alice replaces Gloria Foster, who died from diabetes. This change is noted by the characters in the movie but is not explicitly explained. Give this movie credit, at least no one overlooks this difference as does everyone else in various other movies. This change is only explained in Enter The Matrix where The Merovingian drastically alters her by, in my own words, downgrading her as a program. It is shown in the game but not in the movie, so anyone who hasn't played the game should do so in order to understand the circumstances.

So now the machines have tunneled into Zion and unleash chaos and bloodshed on a massive scale. The only thing I must debate here is that it is metal-on-metal rather than a more modern, energy-efficient ammunition discharge on the enemy. The volunteers of Zion have to reload every minute in this perilous adventure, discharging so many bullet shells and shedding so many monsters. However it turns out that it is less efficient than bullets against the sentinels. At the end it [literally and metaphorically] leaves a colossal mess.

Another thing: this has to be the third movie where there has to be a rave dance scene and music to accompany it.

Did Trinity and Maggie deduce that Bane and Neo are Yin and Yang? I'm not sure if any hospital beds are positioned this way if these two were in coma.

A few minutes after the opening scene I can hear several one-liners and sarcasms that must be far too cheesy for a sci-fi movie of this sort, at a time of seriousness.

Remember the first movie where Neo and Trinity storm a building and single-handedly wipe out an assault team? That makes it back into this movie, only that this armory is small compared to the hallway which is unnecessarily large. It should be noted that rehashing the action scenes from the previous movie renders this scene totally dull. I have been in a nightclub myself and even gunshots are loud enough to be heard by revelers on the other side from this nearly empty hall which enhances echoes. Also there are three heroes against four bad guys, each armed with only a pistol, yet this gun fight takes as long as it took two good guys (Neo and trinity) to decimate around eight foot soldiers armed with shotguns and automatic rifles! I call this a downgrade. This fight scene resembles something from a video game. And how is it that nobody takes the time to reload their guns? It looked as though all their ammo is unlimited.

Music in the auditorium of the nightclub is so loud that nobody can be heard even at the top of their voice. Yet this DJ with his headphones on can hear The Merovingian yelling at him with ease. Also he switches off the hi-fi system without causing so much as an upset. As I have said, I've been to a nightclub and everyone would revolt if the party was abruptly interrupted. How dangerous is this program that The Oracle made him out to be?

Once again this movie rehashes the first movie: the slow-motion drive to The Oracle. Can't these writers do anything different? Also Neo consults the Oracle and asks so many questions than anyone can answer, just like the first movie.

This guy must be beating himself up after looking like a complete Muppet. I mean, this is out of character and completely unwatchable. Smith clones himself into The Oracle and that results into this insanity.

You know, I just wish that the machines would kill this kid off. Only time will tell. A movie with too many side characters and too much screen time on them ends up boring and void.

Hey look. Something's wrong with the Matrix feed. But it's not the monitors that are acting up because it is the matrix itself! It's going haywire!

Give this movie some ample credit: at least they developed this guy from the second movie. He often confined himself to the shadows and had little screen time up to this point. No one believed he was any way sinister even if his dialogue was no way subtle. It made no sense to anyone but it raised no alarms whatsoever. Does he somewhat resemble Smith in this realm? His true colors finally come to light after he kills off one of the characters, Maggie, who only appears in a few minutes of the entire movie.

Many would argue that there has been a much stronger chemistry between Neo and Morpheus than there has been between Neo and Trinity. I have watched this but never took note of it throughout this trilogy. They say they love each other but they do not put much emotion into it whatsoever.

The Matrix: Revolutions is a disappointment because it slides down in the scale of epic magnitude. Neo, the messiah, has to go to machine city but has to face his enemy Smith who, to this point, has jacked into a human mind. In the previous movie there was considerable hype over the idea of a program jacking into a human mind, which defies any logic. Smith has remained so subtle that no one even bothers to ask themselves why Bane suddenly calls Neo "Mr. Anderson", even though no one outside of the matrix would ever call him that assumed name. It should have struck anyone in the head when that sufficed. So Smith decided that in the ship belonging to Niobe was a perfect opportunity to kill Neo and Trinity while outside of the matrix, and jest with Neo after blinding him. But Smith wastes time and Neo shows that he has newer vision. This can't be explained as how he is capable of this while not in the matrix, but it is cool for someone who was been sought for as a messiah.

Bane/Smith recollects a situation like this from the first movie: Smith holds Neo at gunpoint, even before discharging his firearm. In this case he does not do so immediately and wastes time talking. Smith has Neo where he wants him in the real world yet he just stands there loathing the human vessel. It takes so long for Neo to even recognize the enemy's aura that it gives Trinity enough time to conveniently plunge the ship into darkness so that Neo can tackle his adversary.

I would have so much difficulty taking one guess that will eventually turn all the lights off in the ship. There are countless fuses in this basement yet Trinity is able to do this without error.



The music says it all. In the final battle Neo faces of Smith; however considering how Neo seemed to have what it took to face off several clones, it does create some disbelief that he has so much trouble facing one single Smith out of many. Why did Smith create so many clones? He might have many things to do with the sentinels attacking Zion. After all it was shown in the first movie that the agents can deploy a sentinel to do their duty as assigned to them. So there are as many sentinels as the clones in the matrix.

This scene is riddled with flashing imagery. it also doesn't seem impressive to watch Neo beating this guy up here. Since he is not in the matrix, this shows no energy.

Once again the villain wastes time taunting the hero whom he has blinded. However he did not see the next thing coming.

Cool visuals, but how is it that he still wears sunglasses? Wouldn't it be even better and more sinister for us to see his fiery eyes?

I must have forgotten to mention that Neo now spends the smallest chunk of his time in the matrix. If I could count every minute, I would note that Neo only jacked into the matrix to consult the Oracle for the last time, and to face off with Smith in a final battle of no return. And of course the Indian family in the beginning of the film are given very little screen time since we could care less about them; The Merovingian, Persephone and The Train Man are never mentioned again after the confrontation; yet Sati the "last exile" is given more screen time than her parents, and that Popper kid is given more time as if anyone gives a toss about him since is of no real significance to the overall story, except where he had to blow the gate open before The Hammer ship approached Zion while under pursuit from the sentinels. So overall, there is less time in the matrix than in the real world where Zion faces annihilation--for the sixth time.

Warning: This fight against the machines will contain scenes with flashing images, and many more will come. This movie is not suitable for anyone suffering from epilepsy, or anyone prone to it.

The giant drill takes on damage from every angle, yet the sentinels attack nobody except these women on the right. Care to tell us why(?)

These sentinels normally dissipate to attack at different angles. So why do they form this weird pattern in the path of firepower? It has come up to my attention that since taking snapshots, a tinge of blue has been characteristic of Zion while a tinge of green has been characteristic of The Matrix.

So this is the point where the sentinels attack. The drill is toppled and this is the only time they decide to pursue their adversaries?

Captain Mifune bites the dust after the sentinels dice him, yet the kid was hanging behind Mifune's APU without sustaining fatal injuries. Why did they not kill this unimportant character?! 

So this is why the kid was left alive. He struggles to harness the APU to open the gate. Zee walks in and listens in on a radio from Lock regarding the imminent impact of The Hammer approaching Gate 3. It was just by coincidence that she went to his aid.

So here's what I can gather so far: Neo consulted the Oracle before Niobe. The Oracle tells Niobe that the time will come when Niobe will help Neo on his assignment. The Oracle did not tell Neo himself that he has to fly to the Machine City; Neo himself had a vision to go there. So I would personally not have to question why he flew all the way there to fight the enemy when he could have done so in Zion. However no human has ever made it into the City in over a century, so this journey of no return was seen as loco. Zion is being decimated by sentinels, yet Neo goes a city where humans have never set foot. (I imagine this Machine City to be the capital of 0-1, as was mentioned in The Animatrix.)

In the first movie Neo was told about this 'pod farm'. Now he has the chance to see it for himself. Plus he can also see it in the foreground with the giant power plant in the background.

There are three power lines channeling electricity from the power plant to the city. With so much energy produced, why aren't there more than three? The biggest discrepancy here is that even 7 billion human bodies can never generate more energy than it is needed to operate the matrix. It is no wonder the machines would even push ahead to terminate the human race. Fusion is now the way forward and humanity is obsolete.

Holy s***! What just happened?! I can't even explain how this happened and neither does this movie! A sentinel hits the windshield but its "ghost" passes through Neo!? I'm so scratching my head here and my nerve is swelling!!!

The sky is the limit. This has to be Trinity's first time of ever seeing the sky. The humans scorched the sky? This is just a blanket, not destruction or scorching. This was just a maneuver to sweep the sentinels off the ship and continue to the city.

The ship plummets but survives. So does Neo (narrowly) but not Trinity. Her death here is slower than the last time: previously she died in the matrix from a bullet from an agent and it took less time. Here it takes so long for her to die she had enough within her to breath her last words. Neo and Trinity whisper with little to no emotion and it just makes me bored and impatient to death. 

Let's make the machines appear human by creating a human-like face with scores of sentinels! The Wachowskis must have been so much in love with special effects that they animate this stuff on screen.

If you have paid attention to detail, you will notice the rainfall indicates the Matrix has gone haywire. The sentinels stand down because the Smith clones stand still. This is real rain, and it must be difficult getting everyone to stand still in the rain while Neo and Smith duke it out.

One Smith clone strides out of the millions he created. How does anyone know he's the original? I wouldn't know either.

By the way, Smith can fly in this movie after not being able to do so in the last movie. And I am going to count how many times they create this ball of water after impact.

A combination of slow-motion on intervals with silhouette turns this kung fu into a ballet.

Neo dies for the sake of Zion. The sentinels leave but no one except that annoying kid Popper confirms they are leaving period. Popper is the very catalyst that sparks so much annoyance that I was just quick to turning away and disregarding the triumphant breakthrough that everyone was just eager for. No one else, not even Morpheus, was keen to confirm this because machines are under instructions from the agents, which must have recovered from the infection just as did The Oracle. (Oh, Smith was The Oracle. The Oracle-Smith was the one fighting Neo, not the original Smith that infected her. This has to be some bizarre twist. The "real" Smith was just sitting this one out while the copy was engaged to fighting Neo.) Again, the music says it all: it is saddening and melancholy. The ending does not raise any hearts and spirits after a massacre in the last human city. This is why I avoided this movie all the while and adhered to the first two movies.

Overall, lazy writing, obsession with visuals and special effects over characters and story led this film to a roundabout trip. Nobody would even bother with this film as a sequel. I honestly will continually find it a painstaking task to watch it as the final film in the trilogy.