The Matrix Revolutions

As Seth MacFarlane said “…what the [heck] were you Wachowski brothers thinking?!” I was a missionary in 2003 and because I did not watch movies during my two years of service, I missed the final Matrix movies and the final Lord of the Rings movies. After doing a marathon of the latter trilogy and after returning to university, I set aside a day to watch all three Matrix films and I was let down. “The Matrix Revolutions” has some cool moments as to be expected from these directors but it is obvious that they got carried away with their success. The movie would be a lot better if it were not for the final scenes as they were anticlimactic. Our expectations from the first film were not met and throughout this movie, the filmmakers constantly seemed to be answering for the many plot twists they introduce throughout the franchise. As with the second film, I will compare the third Matrix film with its counterpart in the original Star Wars trilogy.

At the start of the film, Neo meets good programs. We realize, as hinted at in the second film, that not all machines are bad but this hinting should have happened in the first film. Those kinds of flaws come about when you try to create two films out of one film that was meant to exist alone. “Revolutions” also suffers from a problem that the third Harry Potter film had: the death of an actor. As Richard Harris died after the second Potter film, so does Gloria Foster. The reason we get for the Oracle’s change in appearance unfortunately seems forced upon us. “Iron Man 2” and “The Prisoner of Azkaban” accomplished the replacement of an actor better than “Revolutions” did by far: the former film subtly acknowledged the change and at the same time told us to “get over it” while the latter film did not react to the change at all. After meeting with Morpheus and Trinity, the Oracle gives us hope in Neo again but it is without a foundation as strong as the prophecy was. I also must say that Neo’s return from the train station seemed too easy and I will explain. At the end of both the second and third films, we see a deus ex machina plot device. This is where a problem is solved unpredictably by something new. The directors appear to use them so as to be dramatic but the way I see it, they use these plot device because they have painted themselves into a corner while writing the franchise. At the end of the second Matrix film, Neo was able to destroy the sentinels in the real world. We get an answer as to how he did this at the start of the third film but it has no grounding. Apparently, it was fate that Neo survived because he still has a purpose but this newly attainted ability in the real world was not alluded to earlier. It just feels like the filmmakers are adding twists without taking the time to justify them. They are trying to resolve the cliffhanger ending of the second film as quickly as possible so as to get this new movie going. That is why Neo’s return feels too easy. In another much better film trilogy, “The Return of the Jedi” took the time to fully address and resolve the events of climax of “The Empire Strikes Back”. I will explain more concerning the other deus ex machina in the Matrix franchise later. The agent Smith virus is a good twist as I said in my review of “The Matrix Reloaded” but his changing role in the franchise was a mistake. It makes sense that the system is trying to balance Neo’s presence in it but if you ask me, this explanation feels cliché. I just think that the filmmakers were trying to find any reason for Smith to be in the sequels. Smith’s laugh after getting the Oracle’s power was just way too cheesy. It was a violation of Smith’s established character and personality.

There are some parts of this movie that I like. Ian Bliss does such a good job of acting like Hugo Weaving. The fight sequences inside the Matrix are still fun and I like the line: “What’s it gonna be Merv?” The farewell between Neo and Morpheus is well acted and scripted. I love the match cut from Bane to Smith as Neo is about to kill him. When that second swarm of sentinels enter the dock of Zion, it is a quite an amazing sight. Despite these good points, the mistakes of the film are too many and the big ones can be seen in the climax. Too much happens in the real world instead of in the Matrix like on the first two films. For balance purposes, it would have been better for the battle of Zion to be fought in two environments like on “Return of the Jedi”. One army fights in the Matrix while another fights in Zion. The climatic fight in the Matrix sure is cool but the moments of conversation is what spoils things. The filmmakers have created a sequence so powerful that it cannot be explained at all in words. Either that or they weren’t talented enough to do so. The subtexts and themes have become so numerous that there is no easy way out for the writers. The end of the trilogy did not bring what it promised. It was established that the Matrix would be destroyed and thereby freedom would come to the humans. In the end, all that was accomplished was peace between the machines and the humans. The Matrix was rebooted but not destroyed. We were expecting the machines to die. It was plainly stated that “as long as the Matrix exists, the human race will never be free.” The Matrix still exists. When the prophecy was revealed to be a lie, another way to end the war had to be thought up. This monumental change is not wise as a filmmaker. When watching a sequel, the audience must have a balance between things that change and things that don’t change. The newly conceived way to end the war was anticlimactic. Neo didn’t defeat Smith as we hoped. The machines used Neo to stop Smith and that is the second deus ex machina. One might argue that Luke was willing to sacrifice himself as Neo was but that is different because George Lucas was telling a story of redemption. Another filmgoer may say that “Toy Story 3” also used a deus ex machina plot device in its climax but that particular plot point utilized story elements from all its previous films. It did not come completely out of the blue like the plot point at the end of “Revolutions”. It was not known in advance that the machines could destroy Smith by way of Neo. The war ends way too easily it seems considering that it has gone on for 100 years. I personally would not have believed that kid as he shouts that the war is over. How good would Star Wars be if peace suddenly were established in the final film between the rebels and the Empire? A big problem I have is the final lines in the franchise. What do you mean that the Oracle didn’t know but believed? What kind of Oracle is she?

The success of trilogies can fit into three categories. In the case of “Star Wars” or “The Lord of the Rings”, history is made with all three films. In the case of “Back to the Future” and “Ocean’s Trilogy”, there are problems with the second film but the third film saves the story. Then we have the scenario introduced to me by “The Matrix Trilogy” where the first film is such a hit that the second film is good but can’t quite live up to the original. Then unfortunately, the third film blows it story-wise. Usually this happens because the mood, style or genre changes over the course of the films but the biggest reason is that the filmmakers get carried away with the world they have established. Such was the case with this trilogy. The filmmakers were obviously out of ideas as to how to create plausible resolution in “Revolutions”. The movie is 2.5 stars instead of 3 stars in my book because of the final scenes. The film has little closure and the critical & public response to the film proves that.

2.5 Stars