THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Everyone remembers that when The Matrix first blew audiences away in 1999, we obviously couldn’t help but want more of it. We were lucky enough to get two sequels in 2003 and the second of which The Matrix Revolutions was definitely something else.
PLOT
The film takes place immediately after Reloaded. The army of machines are now 20 hours away from attacking the city of Zion. The conscious of Thomas Anderson/Neo is stuck in a virtual train station called ‘Mobil Avenue’ that is a transition zone between the real world and the Matrix. He tries to board with a programmed family, but station’s controller the Trainman does not allow him to do so. Trinity and Morpheus ask the Oracle (Mary Alice) how the One can be freed. She explains that the Trainman won’t let him go because of his allegiance to Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), whose still upset of taking the Keymaster. The two visit him along with Seraph, a program that is Oracle’s associate and Trinity threatens to kill the powerful program if she doesn’t free the One. He surprisingly takes them to Mobil Avenue. Before the red pills wake up, Neo requests to see Oracle one last time. When he does, she reveals to him that Smith will destroy the real world after he destroys the Matrix. Just as he leaves, the rogue program assimilates her, along with Seraph and a younger program named Sati (Tanveer K Atval), gaining the powers of precognition. When Neo wakes up, red pill Bane is questioned of what happened in the attack on Caduceus. He claims to not remember what happened, but little do the others know he is responsible for the slaughter due to being possessed by Smith. Hoping to take one last stand, Neo & Trinity take the Logos and make their way to Machine City, unbeknownst to them that Bane/Smith stowed away. When he makes his move, he is able to blind Neo with severed cables, but the One gains a second sight and sees the manifestation of Smith inside him. With it, he is able to defeat him and move forward to his travel. As the humans begins their battle against the machines, Neo & Trinity crash upon arrival to Machine City. Trinity would be mortally wounded in the process and sadly die from blood loss, but Neo remains focused with his task despite heartbreak. He meets Deus Ex Machina, the central interface of machines and makes a deal with it: If he can destroy Smith permanently, the machines must leave Zion at peace. It agrees and plugs him back to the Matrix. Despite giving his all fighting his rival, he allows himself to be assimilated, which takes his life in the process. When that happens, Deus Ex Machina (Kevin Michael Richardson) sends a surge of energy through the Matrix, which causes all of Smith to be destroyed. The only ones to survive the surge were Oracle, Seraph and Sati. The machines withdraw from Zion and leave it be just at they were at the brink of victory. As the remaining humans embrace Neo’s victory on behalf of them, the Matrix is rebooted by the Architect. He agrees with Oracle that this era of peace will last as long as it can be, while the next generation of humans will have the opportunity to leave the rebooted Matrix. The film ends with Oracle reuniting with Sati, telling her that it is possible for Neo to return.
THOUGHTS
The best way to properly address how I feel of this film is through Pros and Cons.
CONS: The reason why people give this sequel because of how anticlimactic it was until Resurrections came around. We should applaud Neo's sacrifice, but were left confused when Oracle claimed it was possible for him to return. It annoyed us all how he had to wait for so long for that to be explained. And before we even get there, there were moments in the story that still don't make sense. Like how did Trinity and Morpheus know where to find Oracle when Seraph didn't say where to meet? If he gave coordinates, it really wouldn't hurt if it was acknowledged. And it is pretty badass for Trinity to threaten Merovignian to get Neo back, but why didn't she just continue chasing Trainman on her own? She'd save some time if she did that. And how come no one at Merovignian's bar try shooting her when she acted against him? I mean it takes a while for Seraph and Morpheus to follow up, so it's weird no henchman took advantage of the opportunity. I even thought it was rude of her to tell Neo not to see Oracle. He does anyway and it's easy to admit that her choice of words comes from the pressure of the deadline until the machines make their way, but she could've been more polite about it since he is the One. And I guess her shutting off the lights was useful when Neo fought Bane, but he lost his sight because of that. If she thought it through, that would've not happened. Also, Lock (Harry Lennix) is kind of an idiot in this movie. He clearly enjoys picking on Morpheus for opening the door when he fucking ordered it to happen. The tension just gets dumb when he speaks. And lastly, he weirdest thing that happened during the Battle of Zion was how both sides temporarily saw each other in the battlefield and didn't fire shots. Either one could've had a better gain had they not stood still for the view. Aside from the story, I didn’t think there was a balanced perspective of the real world and the Matrix. I know the real world has the main focus due to it’s importance, but we stuck around because the Matrix is a cooler perspective and it felt odd that there wasn’t enough of it. With that being said, all of this can make it a hard viewing to get through.
PROS: Despite said flaws, I am still capable of enjoying this film. I don't know about you, but I thought the visuals were fine. So when you're in the perspective of the real world or the Matrix, the fight scenes are good enough to keep me onboard. The reason why I have a soft spot because I understand what the Wachowskis were trying to do. They were still trying to maintain the theme of existentialism, while also trying to be as epic as Return of the Jedi. So if you weren’t into the chaos that ensued in between, you likely got into the meaning they’re sharing. In his third outing, the breathtaking Keanu Reeves still makes Neo a memorable protagonist because of how will is put to the test. No matter the amount of pain and loss he went through before his sacrifice, he still moved forward and didn’t give up and I thought that was transpiring. I feel this way because it was an illustration of the self making power of the human condition, how it separates us from machinery. Lucky for us, this wouldn’t be the last time we’d see him. As for Trinity, I think Carrie Ann Moss was able to make her more self aware as the stakes are now higher, becoming rational enough to get things done. Her death is the most tragic moment in the series because this was the time where Neo had nothing to lose and couldn’t see her go. And again, we were lucky enough to see her again in the future. Morpheus appears a bit sidelined since he doesn’t join Neo to Machine City, yet in given time, Laurence Fishburne reminds us that having faith in your beliefs will be worth it in the long run. So when he finds out that the war is over, he is in as much relief as everyone else that the prophecy came true. His reward of being faithful was getting to live longer and that is a precious reward indeed. For the last time, Hugo Weaving is able to make Smith menacing enough to be intimidating to viewers. However, he became someone that was losing despite getting stronger. The more lives he took, the more overconfident he became, which is why he couldn’t believe in the Will Neo showed in battle. While this wasn’t the last time we’d see this character, it is a relief to get rid of a messy virus like him. While the main cast is what kept me invested, there were others that got my attention in this temporary finale. I didn’t say much about Seraph during Reloaded, because he didn’t exactly drive the story at that time. Now I can say otherwise here because Collin Chou made him the sophisticated of programs. He was one that has been in both sides and has gained a better understanding of what his world is like. So seeing him fight alongside Trinity & Morpheus comes to show how adapted he has been since being align with Oracle. The only new character in this film that got my attention was the Trainman because I thought Bruce Spence did a really good job making him as slimy and calculating as Merovingian. I don’t mind arguing that he is stronger than viewers would realize since he is capable of deciding who boards his train.To wrap up, The Matrix Revolutions is not exactly a good finale, yet still an entertaining sequel, which is what matters the most. So if you still have deep love for this franchise, I hope you try to enjoy it like I do.
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