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Some tales should never be told, and some
movies should never have been made.
By The Critic
unrivaled.info
Here we go again... After watching Reloaded
on DVD and truly appreciating the hard work that was put into it, I found myself
once again excited about the Matrix trilogy with Revolutions not too far behind.
There was much anticipation for a spectacular and final ending to
the trilogy as this would supposedly be the last Matrix movie. Still, some were
skeptic as to how it would all end. Many were burned by Reloaded either by
expecting too much from it or by being spoiled watching the theatrical trailers.
This time I stayed away from all trailers and read no reviews to keep my
expectations as neutral as possible. Needless to say none of these things would
matter in the end because while Revolutions delivers on good wholesome action, it fails to
complete a series with so much potential.
Basically I walked out of the theater disgusted with the results; I suppose many
things could have led to this. Maybe the hype revolving around these sequels led
me to have high expectations that could not be met or perhaps I was expecting a
supped up/perverted version of Reloaded (as it turns out this movie focuses more
on the battle between the humans and the machines rather than Matrix fun). And
the one thing you have to remember with these sequels is they are part of one
big movie with Reloaded being the beginning and Revolutions being the end. I
really did try to look pass all that and focused on what the Wachowski brothers
were trying to accomplish here. That said, Revolutions has to be the most
disappointing movie of the year. Why? It asks more questions than it answers,
never really following up on the themes of the first two movies. It has a cheap
ending, stiff acting, and again awkward pacing. Our main characters are playing
second fiddle to the events happening around them, which is OK if you don’t like
them. Don’t get me wrong; Revolutions is not a totally bad movie; your either
going to love or hate it. But without a doubt, it is the least user friendly
movie in the trilogy. In trying to relay their hidden messages, whether
religious, philosophical, or symbolic, the Wachowski brothers dropped the ball
on what I consider to be important: the movie itself.
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The good: the action and battle
sequences are without a doubt the best features in Revolutions. The ultra
realistic CGI special effects really work well here as they are good enough to
rival any new Star Wars or Lord of the ring movie; impressive indeed. Despite
the sub-par plot and story, there are some ideas shown here that are
good. I won’t go into details to avoid writing spoilers, but some sequences have to
be seen to believe. This is one of those rare movies to have these kinds of
things (sadly). I also have to give a nod to Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. He
pretty much steals the show with his character’s heightening madness.
The Bad: oh where do I begin: acting,
pacing, average plot… I could go on. But even if these things are OK, I will say
this movie leaves much to be desired. Again like Reloaded, certain scenes carry
on for too long. There were certain “romantic” scenes in the movies that had the
audience laughing (I’m not too sure if that was the intended effect; even I
found myself chuckling at some of Trinity’s sappy dialog). And what happen to
the main characters? Some of the more uninteresting backup characters get just
as much screen time as the main characters. This had me wondering what was
going on with our heroes as all this happened. And let’s not forget the cheap
Band-Aid of an ending. I remember at the end of the movie, half the
audience didn’t leave the theater hoping to see something… anything after the
credits. To their disappointment there was nothing extra to be seen. And if your
looking for more martial arts action, your going to be disappointed. While I
said Reloaded has too much martial arts fighting, this one does an about face
and has literally none (there is one fighting scenes in the movie, but its
mostly CGI).
- Execution – 2: sloppy execution leads
to a movie most users won’t accept. While the Wachowski brothers attempt to
convey hidden messages in the film, they drop the ball on the basic themes
portrayed in the first two movies. The results are devastating with a movie
that leaves more questions than it answers and in such a cheap fashion too...
- The Stars – 3: I have to give Hugo
Weaving my praise with his excellent performance as Agent Smith. He stole the
show over all characters, including our star hero Neo. Everyone else either
did an average or crappy job with the portrayal of our heroes. This may be a
fault of the plot rather than the actors, but I can tell you most of the
acting here is stiff and uninspired.
- The cast – 3: whether you like them or
not, much of the backup cast does well here, but their portrayal of
uninteresting characters lowers the grade a bit. They did little to pick up
the slack for the rest of the movie. Chemistry among the cast is average as
well.
- Special effects - 5: Stunning. If the
movie is bad, it's not the fault of special effects team. The
battle scenes here are intense as is the final sequence. Some of the CGI
looked noticeably fake, but it was awesome overall.
- Tilt – 1: I was disappointed with
Revolutions. Despite the few spectacular action sequences in it, I’m
unsatisfied with the movie.
Unrivaled rating: 2.8
Overall: Awesome battle scenes and a great (albeit CGI induced) final battle
will please most action seekers. But the majority of normal people will go
unsatisfied with the movie as so much more could've been done. While not all was
bad with Revolutions, I am disappointed with the movie overall. Good CGI effects
and spectacular sequences don’t make a movie good, and neither does hidden symbolism.
They story will leave you hanging, and have you scratching your head once it's done.
Hardcore fans will have their fun trying to figure out all the hidden meanings
and such, but
for the average moviegoer it's all a waste of time. Apporach with caution.
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