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 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.
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