johnlinkmovies

Came home late from work and decided to finish off the MATRIX trilogy. I went into this knowing that the third film was my least favorite, and hoping that I had just not given it a fair shake.

I watched THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (2003) on 2.3.10. It was my second viewing of the film, and first since seeing it in theaters. TRAILER HERE

I suppose my largest problem with the final chapter of the MATRIX trilogy is that we are asked to spend so much of our time rooting for characters which have not been properly built up. The second film gives us one scene with the boy, one scene with the war leader, one scene with Link’s wife. Then we are pulled around to follow them for 60% of the film. The intrigue with Trinity, Neo, and Morpheus is marginalized. We separate them and give them (especially Morpheus) precious little to do.

The matrix itself has become unrecognizable. The office buildings and parks have become a fully green otherworld, where our closest idea of normalcy is going to an S&M club. The audience has been asked to disassociate from the matrix and associate with Zion. This would be much easier if the previous films gave more of an effort to get us there. If Commander Lock had been allowed to be more of a hero, and less of a douchey one-tracked general, then I think the audience would have made the jump more strongly. He is the character we get the most from in the second film, and he is the one we like the least. We actually are put in a position to root against him.

The big final climactic fight is both necessary and unfulfilling. I understand that it had to be big and bold and it had to rip the matrix apart. But it feels so computer manipulated that it loses its personality. The best moment is the opening (when they fight as actors and not computer graphics) and the end when Neo busts out.

I used to say that my problem with this Matrix trilogy involved its paralleling of religious allegory. I think I can drop this torch now. Yes, we have Trinity. Yes, Neo is positioned like Christ at the end after sacrificing himself for mankind. Yes, we have illusions to ‘The One’, ‘The Prophecy’, ‘faith’, and ‘miracles’. But really, so what? It’s religious backbone serves as a way of giving the story structure, it’s not trying to convert me. So why did I get all in a twist about it ion the first place?

As a trilogy, I find that the series weakens as it moves along. The first film is an undeniable classic, the second has problems, and the third does not meet the expectations  set up by the first two. The further it moves into the story of Zion, the more dated it looks. There is a timelessness about the first which the second and third are unable to quite capture.

I’d rank this well behind the original STAR WARS trilogy, but ahead of the prequels. I still hold LOTR as the greatest trilogy of all time, and the MATRIX doesn’t get into its league. If the second and third chapters had held up to the first, then it would have had a shot.

SCORES

FILM: 4; MOVIE: 5; ACTING: 5; WRITING: 3

4+5+5+3+0= 17

FINAL SCORE: 4.25

SERIES RECAP

MATRIX: 8-8-6-7 (7.25)

MATRIX RELOADED:6-7-7-6 (6.5)

MATRIX REVOLUTIONS: 4-5-5-3 (4.25)

~ by johnlink00 on February 3, 2010.

Posted in ~ M ~, ~~~ 2003 ~~~
Tags: sci-fi