Customer Reviews

The Matrix Revolutions (Widescreen) (2 Discs)

5 star:		(127)
4 star:		(81)
3 star:		(66)
2 star:		(48)
1 star:		(112)

 

 

The Matrix Trilogy must be one of the most significant films of our time, and is likely to go down as an all time sci-fi classic along with the likes of Blade Runner. It is obviously laden with symbology fished from a variety of sources, but I wonder if the Watchowski brothers realised just exactly how powerful a metaphor for our reality they were creating.

The central premise that our lives are not 'real' but are steeped in illusion in order that our life force may be fed upon whilst we are enfenced unwittingly like cattle - this is a relevant and powerful message on many levels. It can easily be seen that this is true on a superficial level, with the rampant rise of ultra-aggressive capitalist consumerism, whereby everyone is 'sold a dream' in order to siphon off all income to profit the few, but it goes deeper than that, and can be used to catch a glimpse of some ideas on the true nature of reality. The overlap with material such as Castaneda is remarkable, with stories about the archetypal predator who is invisible, and feeds on us because he has 'given us his mind'. In all, it is a striking metaphor for the human condition.

Of course the great thing is that, even if you don't want to explore things to those levels, taken at surface value as a piece of entertainment, the Matrix is still a fantastic sci-fi/action trilogy, with colourful characters, awesome visuals, and a solid original plotline. Taken as a trilogy, this is a fantastic piece of film-making artwork, though for me, this third episode is the weakest of the three, as the story gradually dissolves into excessive desperate violence, so for that reason I give it 4 stars. But don't get me wrong, it is still a very strong film and beats many other modern sci-fi efforts hands down. It just has a very high level of expectation to live up to, given the beginning of the trilogy.

Watching this is equivalent to being served my own excrement on a dinner plate. Cold. And a few days old.

As with any genre, science fiction (sf) has certain themes which lesser writers have used so often they've degenerated into cliches or parody. Time travel is the most obvious. Berman's Star Trek used time travel so often it's become a joke. That the last two NexGen movies discarded it altogether is proof that this hoary cliche has been exhausted.
The other great theme of the genre is the 'revolt of/from the machines, a time when our own creations would achieve sentience and attempt to destroy us. This goes back to Colossus of the Sixties, Battlestar Galactica in the Seventies and the 2000s. Even the first hacker movie "War Games" central theme was that of a sentient computer run wild, the human element removed from the loop.
The Machine theme resonates more everyday. Technology begins to speed past the limits of the comprehensible, invades literally every corner of our lives, from the most public to the most private acts,
The reliance on ever more sophisticated computers grows geometrically despite the fluctuations of the business cycles. Every year, nearly every day, some new gadget is proffered even if there is tangible reason for its existence or purpose. Even though our most sophisticated computers are still nothing but series of switches which open and shut and greater or slower speed, "intelligent software" that which can "learn" is still really just matter of processor and bus speed. Scientists debate whether such machine intelligence is even possible. Never the less, the reassurances of the eggheads can do little against what the heart fears.
Yet the Brothers W have taken this increasingly hackneyed-but real-fear of our machines and produced the ultimate dystopia. In fact, in a tyranny so foul that even a mind of winter such as Stalin's could never have conceived it. Human beings are no longer valued for anything but units of heat and electricity. The mind is controlled, imprisoned, yet always aware, at some deep level, that the world its senses report isn't real. The Architect confirms this in "Matrix Reloaded." We are cleverly led to infer that the Oracle is in fact an "agent provocateur" whose task is to lead the resistance and Zion to destruction. The Architect also revealed that the Matrix was not two hundred, but more probably closer to six hundred years old. A grim, insane, genocidal drama, Neo learns, has been played on a ruined Earth simply to satisfy a computer's insane compulsion to solve the equation that makes mankind's slavery permanent and irresistible; "inevitable" Agent Smith might say.
In "The Matrix" we are shown a world is a nightmare scenario sending chills precisely because it is so logical. In the "The Matrix Reloaded" the lesson of looking beyond what our assumptions tell us to the real truth and we are left bewildered, like the characters, as to the motives not only of their fellow humans but now even the machines are revealed to be in conflict. It is made clear that machines can't even control themselves. Programs hack each other, create their own "constructs" and in every way add indigestible variables to the Architect's precious equation. Like all evil creatures of genius he lies by telling the truth. But which truth? Which choice?
"Revolutions" moves slowly, with the dynamism of the action scenes and the emotional intensity of the exposition, it builds to the shattering climax that must be. Zion is now directly under attack. As producer Joel Silver reveals in one of the lamer extras, "The Siege" of Zion, 17 minutes of film, cost fifty or sixty million dollars.
And every dollar was well spent. The battle scenes literally overwhelm even on computer monitors or smaller TVs. Add to this the well-acted desperation of the human fighters and you have a battlefield reality nearly as grim as Spielberg's or Arnaud's. The stalwart defense, seemingly succeeding, is crumbled in an instant when tens of thousands of sentinels literally flood Zion's ship dock like mushrooming hordes of locust. If you don't gasp at this, you may have lost your capacity for wonder.
The scene quickly exhausts superlatives. I won't spoil the ending or reveal the fate of any major characters. But in year in which ANY film would have been thrown into the shade by Jackson's completion of the "Lord of the Rings" film, "Matrix Revolutions" shouldn't be overlooked. George Lucas needs a copy of all three of these films immediately. This Star Wars fan-who's already ordered his DVD trilogy of Eps 4,5 &6 (Ewoks are just my cross to bear)-desperately hopes he's seen them. Because the W Brothers have raised the special effects bar in sf so high that only a repetition of Star Wars' groundbreaking, industry-shaking impact can he reclaim his place as Lord of SF films. Right now the title is up for grabs because we haven't seen, and won't for a year, Episode 3.
As much as I love the "Matrix", part of me is still that five year old boy, sitting in a movie theater, in awed silence, as that star destroyer fills the screen in Star War's opening shot. I had never seen anything like and I know I never will. Perhaps the "failed" expectations are ours not, not his. I know that Lucas still has a grand slam left in him, that the "kids" (hell they're my age!) do not have sole possession of the field yet. But if Ep 3 fails to exceed expectations, then the field will be wide open and the Brothers W will have it all to them selves; that and crappy, bloated comic book knockoffs.

OK, I have a confession: when I first saw this film, at the end I felt like burning down the theater. I was angry and spent the next 7 months crucifying this film in front of anyone who cared to listen to my ranting. I had loved the first two films and felt let down by this.
I gave myself awhile, got a copy of ANIMATRIX (I highly recommend it), watched the first two again, and yesterday decided to give the movie one more chance. I came back with a much different viewpoint. I realized that the reason why I had felt how I did was because I had ridiculous expectations after seeing RELOADED. That film had been such a heady blend of philosophy and action, that I had been expecting an exponential increase for the third film. Now I realize that this movie is more about death, duality, and rebirth. It is about the end of things.
One gripe many people had (including me) was that the movie basically ended in a cease fire. For all of us raised on decades of action films where the hero gets the girl and the bad guy gets his gruesome comeuppance, this didn't sit well. But what you must realize is that in this world, both man and machine have become so dependent on each other, that one cannot live without the other. It is truly a matter of maintaining balance. Listen to the counselor's opinion on machines when he's on the engineering level with Neo. Also watch "The Second Renaissance" on the ANIMATRIX DVD. Both of these things help bring this concept into focus.
Also, the issue of Neo's five predecessors is never brought up again after his talk with the Architect. How can Zion have been destroyed repeatedly? I realized that the answer lied within the character of the Architect himself. The Oracle tells Neo about the Architect's need for maintaining balance. The Architect tells Neo to select a group of humans to repopulate Zion after it's destruction. Given the machines power and numbers, Zion's destruction is inevitable. This is not just his opinion, but also a plain fact. But the Architect sees that there is a NEED for Zion to exist. I can't work out all the details in my mind right now, but hopefully you see my point. It's about Yin and Yang. Duality. It's about purpose.
Although I have taken back some of my gripes about this I still have a few. Here's my laundry list if anyone cares to read:
1. Trinity didn't have to die. Neo just could have and I still would've loved it, but not Trin. And to me it's only sadder that she dies right after seeing the sun. It negates everything Neo did to save her in the second film
2. Too much time and plot steam is devoted to the siege of Zion. A buttload of money is used to make this densely packed CGI sequence, and it ultimately makes you numb to it. By the time the machines rally together and overrun the one guy's walker and cut him up, you wonder why the hell they didn't do it fifteen minutes ago. There are so many Sentinels that no matter how much he might scream manfully and fire at them, you know they're just going to stomp this guy.
3. There wasn't enough good Matrix action. You see Morpheus, Trinity, and Seraph going into a crowded club with guns drawn, you think ALL RIGHT! But the fighting that they do is negligible. And the shootout in the lobby is a let down. Do the bad guys really have to be upside down the whole time? In a film where the hero flies and everybody has some kind of gravity-defying skills, this isn't that impressive. The lobby shootout in the first film and the staircase fight in the second surpass this one easily.
4. There are some definite story problems. The movie starts, everyone is still holding their breath from the cliffhanger ending of RELOADED. Neo is trapped in the Matrix and all hell is about to break loose in the real world. But within a half hour, he is bartered out of the Matrix after hanging out in the train station and talking to a few friendly programs. Oh, okay. . . .
5. The fight against Smith ultimately isn't too impressive. The point that they are equal in strength to each other is over-emphasized. How many times to they come at each other, strike simultaneously, and some big wave or explosion happens and they fly away from each other, neither having gained anything? And is all the rain necessary? I know its supposed to represent the Matrix code and meant to look really cool, but it's just too much.
I'll end this here. I'm sure it'll get buried under a few hundred other reviews pretty soon, but I hope someone enjoyed reading it. Ultimately, my opinion is that the brothers really had something to say with this one, but they only partially achieved their goals. They didn't make this film with their fans totally in mind. In my opinion, you can't get to the third film in a franchise and leave out the things that people have come to love about it. And you have to give them answers!

I know of friends who only saw the first Matrix movie and that is a shame, as all three parts of the trilogy belong together as the journey of Neo and the change that happens to him along the way. It is a fantastic job that has been done in keeping the quality at the top without descending into making B-grade follow up movies as is often the case with sequels.

It is a movie that can be seen on many levels. Some will see it just as a great action movie which it is, but there is so much more to this film. It is a fantastic depiction of the journey of the spiritual seeker and the difficulties that he encounters within himself as he starts pushing against the prisons of his own mind and the multitude of programs that operates and which keep us small.

It also neatly depicts the way humans are kept as 'food for the moon' in Gurdjieff's words or simply food for ultra terrestrials. In the film this is depicted as humans, being little less than cultivated biological batteries for the machines.

The story is part of a trilogy and all three parts are worth watching more than once, as you will undoubtedly see new things each time. Things that start making sense only after some time of reflection and reading. In this regard I can recommend reading the book by Ouspensky called "In Search of the Miraculous", and the book by Laura Knight-Jadczyk called "The Secret History of the World".

i found this concluding chapter of The Matrix trilogy much better than
the second installment and probably better than the first one.this one
was more coherent and made more sense story wise.plus there aren't as
many drawn out repetitive,and absurd fight scenes.this movie is
actually pretty exciting,particularly during the showdown between Zion
and the sentinels.but this movie,like the other two,borrows heavily
from other sources,most notably the Alien franchise,and the biblical
parallel is once again very strong.there are some logic gaps,and things
that don't make sense,but at least the story wasn't as muddled.to
me,this was the most satisfying of the trilogy.for me,The Matrix
Revolutions is a 3.5/5

Lots of crash n' bash and smash and guns and fun! A great movie! Tons of octopus-robots, explosions, and... wahoo!
OK, down to the point. These movies are supposed to be watched without bathroom breaks, without intermissions, anything like that. YOU HAVE TO WATCH ALL THE MOVIES IN A ROW TO UNDERSTAND IT PROPERLY!!! It's confusing when you don't watch the movies together. You don't understand it. That's why you watch all the movies in a row. 'Nuff said.

People who critisize this film are right to. However what everybody is doing is not watching it PROPERLY. You are SUPPOSED to watch Matrix Reloaded; then IMEDDIATELY after watch this. It's the same kind of deal with Kill Bill: both Kill bill and the two Matrix sequels were supposed to be one long movie.

well if you like bullets,lasers and explosions,this one is for you.problem is,thats it too.they go to the central core of whats holding the computer world together and rage war on it.then these millions and millions of robotic squid things come out.theres a big bunch of shooting and boom boom boom.the end.its too violent for kids i think.it seems as though they spent so much money on the squids,they forgot a storyline or anything else that goes with a movie.just boom boom boom.outof the 3,it basicly just wraps the first two up.in the first 2,there were stories,chicks,plots,scenes,and places.this had a dark place filled with squids.of the 3,this one is a distant 3rd.if you like sci fi and action youll love this one.this one black chick does some awesome pilot work in one of the movies most exiting parts.the hype was better than the movie actualy turned out to be.not to discredit it though as an excellent movie.this is keeono.uuuuhhhhhhh.....teds third best movie ever.ill give you one guess what the other two are.the trilogy ends here.it is a bit long,but good.

I would give this movie 4.5 stars if I could, but I can't. It like The Matrix Reloaded wasn't quite as good as the original, but still is a brilliantly written and important piece of sci-fi literature. Although it starts out directly where Reloaded leaves off, the situation is completely understandable and not confusing to a non-Matrix person. Like the others, its soundtrack of classical music with a blend of rock gives a nice feel.

Mind-boggling conversations between characters sieze to get old and Keanu Reaves gives his best preformance in the trilogy. It ends strangely, with Buddhist-Christian philosophies that balnket the sad ending with a happy, touching feel.

My only problem with this film is that the battle scenes are to elongated, and after a while become tedious, and just blurres of flashing light and loud noises.

Overall, I thought this was a great ending chapter to a science-fiction masterpiece.