Year of Release: 2003
Director: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Harold Perrineau, David Roberts, Lambert Wilson, Monica Belluci, Mary Alice, Jade Pinkett Smith, Collin Chou, Harry Lennix, Anthony Zerbe, Bruce Spence, Gina Torres, Nona Gaye, Essie Davis, Ian Bliss, Clayton Watson, Bernard White
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review:
Both "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" were shot simultaneously, even if they were released months apart. If the first was met with superlative expectations, following the film's release, there was a collective disappointment, as if the directing team had taken the story into directions that were almost incomprehensible for the audience. The conclusion to Neo's saga, finds the hero and his partner, Trinity, going to the location of the genesis of the war, situated at the core of the Machine world. The rest of the group, including Morpheus, Niobe and Link, go back to Zion, in order to protect what is left of the human enclave from the machine attack. While the group fights valiantly, it's finally up to Neo to go back into the Matrix and defeat Agent Smith, who, much like a rapidly disseminating virus, has taken over all of the Matrix ecosystem, endangering the sustainability of all human and machine life.
In the vein of what I wrote previously concerning "The Matrix Reloaded", also applies to this sequel. The writer/director team, aimed to expand the universe they had created so successfully with the first film, but in these sequels, they peppered the experience with more of everything, without creating balance between story exposition, visual effects and interminable action sequences. What made the original "The Matrix" so inventive, was the capacity to draw this new world in an economical way, mixing notions of philosophy and religion with the trappings of a sophisticated action film. The sequels in comparison, diminished the storytelling, and made the universe more opaque and dense, while increasing the duration of the action sequences for no particular reason. "The Matrix Revolutions" again repeats the issues of the previous film: Zion's attack for instance goes on and on, with a multitude of digital effects pulverizing the human resistance, yet there's never a real feeling of dread nor menace. It's a film that over indulges in visual effects to squelch the sweet tooth of the audience, never realizing that they're making everyone diabetic. The film is unbalanced, and leaves very little for Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss to do, when in the original they gave the film the humor, gravitas and sexiness that it had. It's a film that closes a saga that could have been better explored, but that nonetheless contains traces of a more interesting film, something that the directors would tackle going forward, with their ambitious "Cloud Atlas".
In the vein of what I wrote previously concerning "The Matrix Reloaded", also applies to this sequel. The writer/director team, aimed to expand the universe they had created so successfully with the first film, but in these sequels, they peppered the experience with more of everything, without creating balance between story exposition, visual effects and interminable action sequences. What made the original "The Matrix" so inventive, was the capacity to draw this new world in an economical way, mixing notions of philosophy and religion with the trappings of a sophisticated action film. The sequels in comparison, diminished the storytelling, and made the universe more opaque and dense, while increasing the duration of the action sequences for no particular reason. "The Matrix Revolutions" again repeats the issues of the previous film: Zion's attack for instance goes on and on, with a multitude of digital effects pulverizing the human resistance, yet there's never a real feeling of dread nor menace. It's a film that over indulges in visual effects to squelch the sweet tooth of the audience, never realizing that they're making everyone diabetic. The film is unbalanced, and leaves very little for Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss to do, when in the original they gave the film the humor, gravitas and sexiness that it had. It's a film that closes a saga that could have been better explored, but that nonetheless contains traces of a more interesting film, something that the directors would tackle going forward, with their ambitious "Cloud Atlas".
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