The Matrix: Revolutions (WARNING:SPOILERS!!!)

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-11-05 01:46pm

Big letters at the top of today's Detroit Free Press: "Will fans revolt over Matrix finale?" Their grade for the movie, D+.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-11-05 02:37pm

mixed reviews. It got two thumbs up from Ebert and Roeper, Rolling Stone says it just plain sucks and the guy from CNN says ehhh, not bad.

Cej4096 · Post by **Cej4096** » 2003-11-05 03:07pm

Reviews

38% positive at Rotten Tomatoes right now. Far worse than last two got...

Post by **Colonel Olrik** » 2003-11-05 03:20pm

Well, I've seen the movie. It's much better than what I expected. I was completely unspoiled, so I want to raise the following questions:
1) Did Neo really die? We see some of Smith's victims ressuscitate, and we see Neo's body being taken away, no evidence it's dead. Also, the Oracle implies he may return some day in the ending scene.

2) Is the child (forgot her name) the next (or maybe THE) one? She said she was responsible for the sunset, after all.

Oh, and this film is really a worthy continuation of the first one. Now we can just pretend the second never existed, or that it was an overextended animatrix.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-11-05 03:40pm

Colonel Olrik wrote: 1) Did Neo really die? We see some of Smith's victims ressuscitate, and we see Neo's body being taken away, no evidence it's dead. Also, the Oracle implies he may return some day in the ending scene.

2) Is the child (forgot her name) the next (or maybe THE) one? She said she was responsible for the sunset, after all.

i was wondering that too. maybe they just wanted to leave it open for potential additional sequels. i dunno.

oh and wasn't Smith just damn fantastic? he made the entire move IMO

Post by **Colonel Olrik** » 2003-11-05 04:10pm

I've stickied a Revolutions discussion thread in OSF.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2003-11-05 07:24pm

Bah, Revolutions is overrated. Pretty CGI, but the rest is just more mubo-jumbo. The defence of Zion was good (but the stupidity of the mechs was overwhelming. The pilots seemed to be falling out of their chairs even when they were not attacked.

). the big battle with Smith was just Neo and Smith fly towards each other. Neo and Smith hit each other. Neo and Smith fly in opposite directions with a big explosion. Rinse. Repeat. Again. And Again. And Again. Boring.

The only good parts in the movie were the Morpheus, Trinity, and Seraph vs. the Merovingian (sp?), and Neo's fight with Bane, and their subsequent attempt to get into the machine city. I felt sorry when Trinity died. Oh, and the machine city kicked ass.

Reloaded had its car chase. Revolutions had the defense of Zion. However, unlike Reloaded, I couldn't enjoy the Zion scene because of the overwhelming stupidity of the defenders. Set up some big stationary guns, and the whole thing could have held a lot longer. Not to mention having a Mech that leaves the pilot exposed (for that matter, having mechs at all) is beyond absurd. Something I couldn't stop thinking about as I saw yet another guy being ripped apart by the Sentinels.

Conclusion: Just as bad as Reloaded. *** (out of five).

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2003-11-05 08:02pm

I've got some thoughts, questions, and some answers

Answers:
Well the one thing that is notable about all the people we see "ressucitated" is that...they're all programs. We never see a single non-program alive again.

Also since the Matrix still exists and "The One" is still the end result of instabilities in the system then he will eventually reappear in some way shape or form.

Now questions:
Sure the machines need power from humans to survive but why the hell would they need to remain connected to the Matrix? I mean hell just disconnect the damn thing, build a new one and take all the fresh kids you've got and go plug them into the new one. Ignroe everything in the old matrix and just turn it into ash. I mean that would rather completely solve the problem of the Matrix being overrun by Smith.

In the same vien why the hell is Neo able to connect to the Senitnels at all? They don't have a being in the matrix and again, shrot of a compeltely integrated network (which makes NO sense) they shouldn't even be remotely conencted to the Matrix.

Here comes number three. A debate between myself and my friend: Does Neo just cease to be when he is absorbed by Smith or (since he is the positiive and Smith is the negative0 do the merging of the two simply eliminate each other the same way matter and anti-matter annihilate each other?

Final question. Given how the Hammer beats the living shit out of dozens of the Sentinels attacking them why didn't the Nebuchanezzer do the same thing in The Matrix? I mean there were only about a dozen or so sentinels which is far less than what the Hammer took on.

Other Thoughts:
Sure it was a neat battle scene, sure it was a cool driving scene, but there seems like so many recycled concepts thrown together just to create the movie. I mean hell the shootout to get into the underground is copy from The Matrix, the runaway down the maintenance tube is alternatively the Car Chase from Revolutions or the flight down the DS trench. The fight between Neo and Smith is essentially The Matrix redux only with flying. The Hammer coming at the alst second and triggering the EMP which stops the sentinels is The Matrix redux part two. The whole Bane angle seems drawn straight from The Matrix with the betrayl from within, I mean does anyone eslesee this?

Now this doesn't mean I didn't enjoy things but it seems like I was watching peices of the previosu two movies cut together and embellished to try and make the story seem grander.

All that aside the visuals kicked ass and Naobi and Smith were quite possibly the best characters out there. Loch actually got to be a tidbit interesting as do several of the other defenders. Keanu actually fillsinto the Neo role excellently and I am, in the end, suprisingly pleased with his performance across the three moves. On the contrary it seems like Trinity and Morpheus just get blander by never changing throughout.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-11-05 08:32pm

I liked the movie but was a little disappointed in the Zion ending and in the Coda.

In the Zion ending I thought they jumped to conclusions a little fast that Neo had saved them and that the war was over.

In the Coda, I liked seeing all of the programs rebooted but was a little annoyed at the resurgance of the mumbo-jumbo religious crap. That it'd kicked into the overblown music that went over the end credits just contributed to this.

I thought it should have ended with Morpheus and a few others in the Matrix talking to the Oracle and perhaps the Archetech so they could find out what happened to Neo, that there was a truce and what that entailed.

One thing I really liked was the "Superhero Battle" between Neo and Smith. I did hope that one of them would catch a lightening bolt and throw it at the others but it was cool just the same.

zombie84 · Post by **zombie84** » 2003-11-05 09:44pm

I just saw it and my god that film KICKED MY ASS!! I think it was the best of the three. The CGI in this film is unbelievable.

One thing though: so much is left unexplained and it is obvious that the story is not done yet. I would have liked more of a conclusion. But still a great action film.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2003-11-05 09:56pm

CmdrWilkens wrote:Answers:
Well the one thing that is notable about all the people we see "ressucitated" is that...they're all programs. We never see a single non-program alive again.

The intent was quite clearly that Smith had taken over nearly all of the Matrix's inhabitants, or a huge percentage in the city--now unless you're supposing the Matrix is suddenly depopulated, I think its suggested things went back to normal after the Matrix "self-corrected" from Smith's fucking around.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2003-11-06 01:00am

NecronLord wrote:So, that power source crap is left in there?

The machines harvest some type of "life energy" from humans. They dont use a human's thermal energy at all.

Basicly its "magic"

I'm not joking.

Other relavations:

When they jack into the Matrix they do upload their mind into a Virtual Avatar and when they logout, the mind is then downloaded.

With sometype of keeper system keeping the body & "mind" in sync. (And just like the Matrix the stupid thing isnt foolproof)

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2003-11-06 03:15am

I am adding this rant from the official reviews thread because I am so pissed at the waste of time and money I went through tonight.

Time for a rant.

I expected many things, hoped for some things and wished against others. Let's just say the wishes came true.

The movie was SUCH a let down that I felt like leaving the theater by the Smith Battle at the end and one movie goer summed it up best as the credits started to roll in a very loud voice. "I want my fuckin' money back!" which started some applause from those of us trying to exit the theater as if we were trying to get away from a crime scene.

First let's dispense with the good stuff.

Battle at Zion's gates, VERY good, predictable but GREAT action and battle scenes.

The symbolic blinding of Neo, I liked that very much. Shades of Dune Messiah and other Messainic myths.

Niobe's character wasn't as grating in this one and there was not the predicatble. "Morpheus I really love you!" stuff that I was cringing was going to happen but did not.

Now let's tackle the crime that some would call a movie.

Merovingian scenes.....WTF?! They took the most intriguing character from Reloaded and made him into Tun tun ta "Mr. Plot Device." in big neon lights. Hello, while I'm at it I will lose my balls and have the WORST security imaginable in place to create the plot device scene that shows us Trinity at her best. We don't want to make hard decisions here, we just want more kung fu.

Neo....what can I say about Neo. The boiy can't emote. Just can't, its not in his nature and even the touching death scene made me roll my eyes. And they stuck him with the most innane lines. Hi, I'm a virtual god in teh MAtrix but I think I'll spend most of this movie getting my ass kicked because it will generate a false sense of drama that will make people say "Hmmmm Maybe he won't succeed. FUCKING AWFUL and a crime against the basic premise of this story. If I wanted to see Neo getting his ass kicked I will watch Matrix.

His death was...less than satisfying and his fucking tag line answer to Smith's very pertinent question of why. "because I choose to." THIS is what we were led by the nose throughout both movies to hear as Neo's final revelation?????

I FUCKING CHOOSE TO?!?!?

We were spoon fed in Matrix to a lesser extent and Reloaded to a nauseating extent about systems of control and what is control. WHERE the fuck was the payoff?? Why did I sit through a horde of characters speaking about control and it NEVR COMES UP. Not once, not even a passing fucking reference. Its as if Reloaded existed in Darkstar's parallel universe and the W brothers wrote Revolutions without referring back to Reloaded.

The Oracle....bastards. You want to sell some fucking video games??! Don't do it on my time you sons of bitches. Give us something, a flashback, ANYTHING to show us what happened to the Oracle, don't just mentioned, "Hey I lost my shell" and that's all I get yet get meaningful looks and Niobe basically stopping all the action to look at the screen and say "buy the video game for the full story."

Guess what, in Starcrossed I won't explain why Leia is suddenly in another body, I'll leave that to the Starcrossed Video game.

The Smith battle...the audience appauded desperately at this point, many already looking at each other with expressions of horrible realization that this sucked, but this is the final battle, right? Kung Fu will see us through this to a great ending, like Kung Fu saved Relaoded (for me anyway)

Were we ever disappointed. How many fucking times must we see each of them slump as iof in defeat and stand back up again. How many times must Smith look like he's being put down and come back again??

The ending. What. is. this. travesty?

Oh I get it, Neo is a messiah and like all messiahs he gave up his life....but wait....what did he give up his life for?!?! WHAT DID IT FUCKING MEAN?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Why are the final shots of the machines?? I didn't emotionally invest myself in a bunch of FUCKING programs. I emotionally invested myself in human FUCKING beings. I want to know what happens to Morpheus, Neo, Trinity. What does this ending mean for them??! The Orcale and sundry other programs can give me a rimjob for all I invested in them emotionally.

Someone help me...I feel violated as if the W Brothers bent me over a table and anally raped me without lube, each of them taking a turn.

W brothers

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2003-11-06 07:43am

My thoughts:

gah, meh, woah, bleh. The movie was average. All action, some of it was good, and the hand2hand was CRAP! Where was bullet time and the great fight scenes we are acustomed to? I hated the end fight scene. It was all CGI and not really impressive to watch. All explosions and rain. Yet again Neo had terribly inconsistant powers. One minute he is a god and the next a fly hurts him, only to pull back up again when someone mentions a loved one....and what was up with the flying??

The story was ordinary, and didn't even address some things from #2. There were plenty of unanswered questions, but i was left in no mood to even worry about trying to answer them. The dialogue was average, and lost its mysterious edge, and Neo said even less than the others

All the spiritual edge of the movie went out the door, so it is never really answered nor addressed what one of the bigger factors of the earlier ones were :/

Overall, it was too built up for what it was, and #2 was heaps better. The fight scenes were awesome in reloaded, they kept the mystery and religious hints constant, and there were cooler chars in it.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-11-06 07:59am

Stravo, i think you are looking too deep into this movie for meaning. Despite all of the supposed symbolism, there is nothing below the surface. All of the movies were like that, and i went to the theater knoing that. I appreciated this movie for what it was, part of the "Action movie with some plot" -genre. (as opposed to Jerry Bruckheimer's movies :action with no plot) It was a fun adventure, plain and simple. IMO the reason why you and others are so dissapointed is because you go expecting a stirring examination of the human condition and mythology intermixed with action, and that is not part of the deal.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-11-06 08:17am

I was hoping that Smith would win when he took over Neo, but then
they do a cheap ass method of copping out. For fucks sake, make
Smith be the ONE for gods sake, the one who ends the matrix, and
frees the humans from the machines!

Now that would have been a mind fuck

Crackpot, there was too little explanation in the movie. I'm not asking
for an indepth excruciating analysis, but have a copuple of throwaway
lines that explain the questoins....

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2003-11-06 08:23am

I've posted my opinions in the OSF thread(s) so i wont go the whole hog here.

Keanu's acting ability has been upgraded from Plank to Tree. It's still wooden but there are definate signs of life.

Monica Belluci's cleavage was the best thing in the film, closely followed by Smith!

Stravo wrote:I want to know what happens to Morpheus, Neo, Trinity. What does this ending mean for them??!

In the case of Trinity .... it doesn't look good