The Matrix Revolutions
Directed by: Larry and Andy Wachowski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Lawrence Fishbourne, Collin Chou, Nona Gaye, Nathaniel Lees
Rated: R for sci-fi violence and brief sexual content
Parental Notes: Like the other films in the trilogy, this includes a great deal of violence, both unrealistic and visceral. Youngsters will find it too intense, but those teens who enjoyed the other films in the trilogy will probably like it.
After the disappointing second installment of the “Matrix” trilogy, the concluding film, “The Matrix Revolutions” is a moderately pleasant surprise. While not as entertaining as the first film, the pacing and effects are generally superior to the second. It is the main characters’ lack of dimension and the holes in the plot which keep this from being a great film.
For those who have been hiding out in a media-free bunker for the last several years, the “Matrix” films chronicle the attempts of humans to overcome the machines which have taken over the world. The machines grow humans to use as living batteries, hooking them up to a computer generated artificial reality called the Matrix to keep them ignorant of their real situation.
Freed humans can move into and out of the Matrix, daringly trying to rescue more and more people and build a force to challenge the machines. The machines use special programs called Agents to fight the freed humans inside the Matrix. In the last film, we learned that one of these Agents, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), had become the equivalent of a computer virus, duplicating himself a hundredfold in an attempt to destroy his enemy: Neo.
Neo (Keanu Reeves) is “the One” – a human with phenomenal powers both inside and outside the Matrix. His destiny is to end the war between the humans and the machines, aided by Morpheus (Lawrence Fishbourne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss). He and Trinity fall in love, and at the end of the last film it looked as though that love will change the destiny of humanity.
The first film had just enough material out of a Philosophy 101 class to make it interesting, but the second one felt like a boring college lecture with fight scenes wedged into it. “The Matrix Revolutions” handles the pacing much better, keeping the profundity in check so that it is interesting rather than dull and livening things up with the Wachowski’s trademark balletic fight sequences.
A serious flaw in “The Matrix Revolutions,” as in the other films, is that there are too many plot holes. It’s easy to suspend disbelief in cheesy action films, but when even secondary characters wax philosophical about things like the nature of choice and whether programs can have emotions, it’s hard to keep from pointing out the things in the story that make no sense. It’s a mistake to mix brainless action with brainy philosophizing.
On the bright side, those in search of cool visual effects and killer fight sequences will not go home disappointed. Inside the Matrix there are the balletic, unreal battles audiences have come to expect, one of which includes people who can twist their personal gravity in ways MC Escher would appreciate. The huge climactic fight between Neo and the super-program Smith is way over the top, resembling something out of a martial arts cartoon, but that is to be expected.
Outside the Matrix, we have the humans trying to defend their city from an overwhelming attack by the machines. The tentacled robots are graceful and frightening, seeming to swim in the air like schools of squid while the humans try to hold them off with robot-mounted machine guns, two-person bazooka teams, and gun turrets. This sci-fi equivalent of the battle at Helm’s Deep from the Lord of the Rings films is breathtaking if one enjoys computer-generated epic battle sequences.
The fight scenes are cool, as are the brief philosophical discussions. What’s really missing from most of the film, however, is the feeling that these are real people. Many of the minor characters have personality and we believe in them as people, but somehow it’s difficult to believe that Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus exist outside the script. They have high-minded ideals, but lack the basic characteristics that make people human.
The romance between Neo and Trinity is bloodless because we see no evidence of it other than what is necessary to the plot. The Wachowskis have neglected to give their actors the chance to act in the silences, to show that Neo and Trinity genuinely care about each other.
It is the human connection that is missing from the central characters here, and of the major characters Smith, the rogue computer program, displays the most humanity. His rage, desperation, and passionate need to defeat Neo give him the dimension which the emotionless heroic trio lack. The minor characters, including a program who loves his daughter and a determined wife in Zion, have personality and we care about them, but they have so few scenes that the human element in the film never entirely gels.
“The Matrix Revolutions” is an entertaining two hours, but it could have been so much more. Had there been more humanity in the central characters, it would have been elevated from a B action movie with some philosophy thrown in to a wonderful examination of human nature. Unfortunately, the Wachowskis seem to have gotten sidetracked by the intellectual and action sequences and neglected to include enough of a human element.