Matrix Revolutions
Posted by marshall Sun, 09 Nov 2003 19:00:00 GMT
Lara and I went to go see The Matrix Revolutions yesterday. I enjoyed it quite a bit more than the second film, right up until the ending. The ending was such a terrible, terrible letdown that I don't think I'll ever properly enjoy the first movie again. What a waste of a great idea.
Warning: Don't continue reading if you plan on seeing it and want to keep the plot a surprise.
Okay, so for those of you who have seen it: could it have been a worse ending than that?
She dies. After Neo spends the entire second movie trying to save her life, flying in to rescue her at the last moment and re-starting her heart, Trinity goes and gets killed in a freak accident. Just like that.
He loses the fight. Neo's been built up as this guy who is all-powerful in the world of the Matrix, yet in the overlong fight with Smith in the end, Smith wins. Neo only defeats him by tricking him, and Neo is killed in the process. There's no victory.
He dies. Killed in the process of tricking Smith. That makes two main characters that we see die twice. Now, it's hinted that he may still be alive, since he still has his fire-vision view of the world after being zapped by the Source, but even so, he's in the middle of the machine city, blind and with no transportation anywhere. The end.
It doesn't make sense. The first movie set up a somewhat plausible scenario: the signals in your brain could be controlled by a machine plugged into it, causing you to perceive a world that isn't really there. But now we're expected to believe that Neo has some magical "connection to the Source" that allows his senses to be controlled by the machines even without the machines being connected to him, and no explanation is given for this. Huh? The thing that made the first movie so cool was that it all made sense. What makes it worse, though, is that this new concept isn't even explored very well. If Neo can now be fully in touch with the Matrix without being connected, why does he still need to be plugged in later on? A really neat scene could have been Neo and Smith fighting it out simultaneously in the Matrix world and the real world (via Bane), but the opportunity is wasted.
What about the first movie? If the machines had destroyed Zion 5 times before (and have become "extremely efficient at it", per the Architect), why did the Agents in the first movie need to get the key to Zion's mainframe? If hovercrafts have guns built into them, why is the EMP the "only defense" in the first movie? If Neo has the ability to alter/rebuild the Matrix as he sees fit, as is said in the first movie, why doesn't he ever do that? Why doesn't he pull apart buildings and reshape the Matrix during his battle with Smith in Revolutions? Another great opportunity tossed aside.
The war isn't over. Yeah, the Kid thinks so, but they didn't defeat the machines, Neo just made a bargain to get them to call off the Sentinel attack. The Sentinels could turn right back around and wipe everyone out. There was far more hope at the end of the first movie than at the end of the third. Now, when watching the first movie, I can't help but think that it just gets worse from there. It sucks all the enjoyment out of it.
Apart from the ending and the inconsistencies with the first movie, I really did enjoy watching the third one. I thought the gun-room battle and the fight with Bane were both done very well, and the effects throughout the movie were spectacular as expected. Niobe's piloting of the ship through the tight corridors brought back some of the excitement from the original Star Wars films. It's just a shame that they wasted all that potential for a truly incredible ending.
I'm interested in hearing what others thought of it. Did you find the ending satisfying? Am I missing something that would explain the perceived inconsistencies? Or do you also have ideas for how it might have been better handled?
I totally agree with you. The ending was absolutely HORRIBLE and there were a lot of loose ends. It really destroyed the entire series for me. I was convinced at the end of the first movie that Neo, when something changed and he stopped the machines, would have realized that they were still in the Matrix or something to that effect. That the world they thought was real was actually still in the Matrix. I think that would have explained the destruction of Zion 5 times, etc. Their "real world
" would have been deception and another system of control. The third movie should have been his entrance into the real world, destruction of the Matrix and the release of the people...or something like that.
Couldn't agree more - although i did not enjoy the film at all. All the special effects did was distract you temporarily from the fact that what there was of a story line was full of holes. The film took on concepts that it had no idea how to deal with and rushed into over used, under thought messianic imagery. the first Matrix was a superb film, the second a slick visual creation and the third unfortunately a commercial, cynical, flop.
I totally agree with you on this one Marshall, That ending was so very poorly thought out that I wish I had left the theater before it started. Smith and Neo had been punching, biting, kicking etc. for three movies now when they just walked up to each other and started doing it again I instantly got bored. there's only so much you can do with two people beating each other up. I don't know if I can ever watch any of the originals again. Oh well, maybe underworld will be good.
By the way, congrats on everything especially the move. Drop me a line if you feel like talking about it some time.