Matrix Revolutions

[poliphilo]

The problem with the Matrix trilogy is that most of the story got used up in the first movie. The Wachowskis claim to have always intended a trilogy, but I'm having a hard time believing them.

I've not seen Reloaded (I understand I'm not missing much) but Revolutions is just an extended battle sequence. It's beautifully imagined and executed, but I want more. With all that time to play around with, you'd think they might have developed the characters a bit. Zion v the machines- why should I care when the human beings are scarcely more interesting than those (rather wonderful) steel octopii?

Nemo was quite affecting when he was human and vulnerable, but once he turns into Superman he's dull. I liked the idea of a Geek Messiah, but lose the geekiness and you lose the thing that made him distinct from all those other two-fisted rocket men. He's dwarfed by the CGI and so is everyone else. Morpheus stands around and does nothing in particular. Trinity gets to flash her cheekbones. After the smartness and trippyness of the first film, it's disappointing to find that the fate of the world ultimately depends on gun-play and fisticuffs. What started as a fascinating intellectual conundrum ends as a B western.

I always suspected that Dark City (which has a similar premise and which came out at the same time as the Matrix and got swamped by it) was the better movie- now I'm sure.

Comments

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

whisper His name is "Neo" - which may or may not make the movie more meaningful to you, depending on how deeply you want to get into the symbolism of it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I would like to believe that Revolutions has hidden depths, but for me it simply squanders the capital that was built up by the first film in the sequence.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I was pretty much "Meh" on the second film...so much so I didn't even see the third.

There are numerous reasons for the let-down...first, there was very little true expansion of the story in the second film. Second, the special effects were no longer "razzle-dazzle" and thus putting more of them in the subsequent film couldn't make up for the lack of plot, not to mention that it was impossible for the subsequent films to live up to the reaction of audiences at the first.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The special effects are impressive in Revolutions, but, like you say, they're no longer "razzle-dazzle". We've seen these tricks before.