Review of Matrix Revolutions, The

Introduction

In 1999, an unsuspecting cinema going public was stunned into insensibility by the sheer visual impact of The Matrix. The Wachowski brothers took oodles of cinematic influence from classics like Blade Runner, Star Wars and The Terminator and a serious dose of anime style, yet produced a film that was thought provoking, stylish and visually at least, startlingly original. To recap, in an undefined future era, machines that have defeated mankind in the ultimate war rule the world. The machines draw power from the bioelectric energy produced by humans kept enslaved and unaware in the virtual world of the Matrix. However, a band of humans remain free from the machines in the last subterranean city Zion. These freedom fighters battle to end the machine rule by jacking into the Matrix and fighting the machines from within. From the earliest days of Zion there has been a prophecy of the One, a saviour who will arise from within the Matrix, possessing the ability to shape the Matrix to his own desires, and who will end the machine rule over mankind.

The first film began on the cusp of this prophecy`s fulfilment, but it threw the audience directly into the deep end, without any of the background that I have just recounted. We met Neo, a hacker whose curiosity had drawn the attention of the mysterious and ominous agents, but his disaffection with his dead end job, society in general and his questions about the nature of the world, lead him to meet with known terrorists, Trinity and Morpheus. Morpheus tantalised Neo with philosophy, the nature of reality and hints of what the Matrix really is. When Neo took the red pill, neither he nor we as the audience were in any way prepared for the revelation to come. After five years, that still ranks in my eyes as the most stunning moment in modern cinema. From that moment we were absolutely hooked, as Morpheus explained the nature of the prophecy to Neo. The Matrix asked questions of belief and faith, with Neo having to come to terms with his role as potential saviour. The visual impact of the Matrix virtual world, told with bullet time and wire fu special effects, masked an intelligent tale that echoes Messianic themes that have always been prevalent in society. The Matrix is a peach of a film, a stunning action movie that is both intelligent and thought provoking, and it was deservedly a massive success.

But success is a powerful burden to bear, especially if you are asked to repeat it. The first film is really complete within itself, Neo`s story arc can be seen as fulfilled at the end of The Matrix, and while there are hints dropped in the first film that allow for further story developments, they aren`t instinctive or easily come to mind. We were left with an apparently invincible Neo, a tantalising hint regarding the last human city Zion, and a couple of unanswered questions about the origin of the Matrix. From these hints, the Wachowskis aimed to fashion not one but two sequels as well as computer games and animations. At the start of The Matrix Reloaded, the machines had located Zion and were tunnelling in force toward it. The free humans regrouped to organise a last defence, yet Morpheus was certain that the fulfilment of prophecy was finally at hand. The Wachowskis resurrected the audience favourite, Agent Smith and gave him powers to match Neo. But while it appeared that freedom was for the taking, Neo learnt that there are depths to The Matrix no one is aware of, and threads of truth as yet unravelled.

Which brings us finally to The Matrix Revolutions, the film that concludes the tale. The machines are still tunnelling toward Zion, while Neo lies comatose aboard the Mjollnir. However Neo is jacked into the Matrix without any physical connection, trapped in a form of digital Limbo after his mysterious burst of power in the real world. Morpheus and Trinity go into the Matrix to rescue Neo from the clutches of the Merovingian, then Neo visits the Oracle one last time to find the answers to his questions. Yet while Agent Smith is busy remaking the Matrix over in his own image, a sinister traitor awakes aboard the Mjollnir. Still, Neo learns what has to be done, and while he and Trinity set out to accomplish this, the others must return to Zion as the humans make their last stand against the machines, even now breaking into the hidden city. Tonight the war will end, one way or another.

Video

The Matrix Revolutions gets a pristine 2.40:1 anamorphic transfer, keeping up the standard set by the first sequel six months ago. The picture is pin sharp and free of any compression artefacts. Once again the Matrix can be distinguished by a faint greenish tinge and despite the prevalence of dark scenes, and the fact that the climax takes place in a rainstorm with plenty of particulate motion, the image remains as reference quality throughout.

This film is once again a special effects bonanza, with all disciplines used in bringing the dual worlds to life. The fight sequences are just as explosive as before and Revolutions makes substantial use of computer generated images just as Reloaded did. There`s been a quantum leap in image quality and photo-realism in the intervening months though, and there is little as distracting as the Burly Brawl. Still, I do find the excessive use of CGI distracting, no matter how well accomplished it looks, and certain moments in the climax were jarring in their unreality. Still it`s down to personal taste how effective it all is.

Audio

Once again the sound comes in DD 5.1 English and German and befitting an action movie, it`s a powerful vibrant soundtrack that makes full use of the surrounds. You would expect nothing less of a film like this and just as Reloaded, it`s impossible to fault technically. The dialogue is clear throughout, and Don Davis` music is exactly what we have come to expect from the Matrix movies. The music for the climax and the end credits has a Hindu mystical metal feel, which fits the tone of the film and makes a change from the nu-metal of the first two. Subtitles are provided in several European languages, both for the film and the extras.

Features

I couldn`t begin this section without mentioning the cover, which is simply horrendous. It`s as if they couldn`t make up their minds about which image to use, so they stuck all four on. In addition, it`s stylistically different from the first two discs. The animated menus are once again gorgeous to look at, and once again they give too much of the story away, not that Revolutions has that much story to begin with.

Revolutions has some DVD ROM material, repeated on both discs for convenience. As well as the weblinks, there is a sample of the material found on the Matrix website, in the form of text, graphics and some flash animations. There`s also a sample of the Matrix comic book presented as a PDF file, and finally there is a Flash animated Pacman game, only this time Pacman is the Nebuchadnezzar, the ghosts are sentinels and the power pills are EMP components. Did I mention it was naff?

Disc One

As well as the film, you will find trailers for all three films, as well as a short trailer for the Animatrix.

Disc Two

Revolutions Recalibrated is the main documentary that runs for 27 minutes. It`s the making of, with behind the scenes footage as well as interviews with the cast and crew. There`s some interesting stuff if you can stand the sight of Joel Silver hyperbolating frantically.

CG Revolution (16 minutes) shows just how much CG was used in this film, and how it was used.

Super Burly Brawl (6 minutes) is a multi-angle featurette (remember those?) that looks at the film`s climax via the final footage, the storyboards and the behind the scenes footage.

Operator leads to four featurettes, Neo Realism (13 minutes) looks at more CGI and how it was used to replace actors and digitally create bullet time. Super Big Mini Models (9 minutes) looks at the models used to realise some of the effects. They`re calling them `bigatures` too. Double Agent Smith (7 minutes) looks at how the many Smiths were realised for the final scenes. Mind Over Matter (8 minutes) looks at the stunts and how the wirework was accomplished and enhanced for Revolutions.

Future Gamer: The Matrix Online is the 11-minute advert for the next MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) to be unleashed from UbiSoft. Not as commercial as you would expect, this actually offers a tantalising glimpse at the online world being created for gamers. In an odd case of life imitating art, players will be able to enter the Matrix from the comfort of their own PCs and battle with or against thousands of other players in an intricate digital world. That`s if the game is any good.

All this material is presented in a 4:3 regular ratio, with DD 2.0 sound and copious subtitles.

Before The Revolution is an update for all that has come before, to help you catch up with the story. This is presented in chronological order in five sections, Birth, The Matrix, The One, Zion, and Truth. You get information in the form of text and images, as well as the occasional movie clip.

3D Evolution is a fairly comprehensive image gallery, of concept art, storyboards and the final scenes. There`s a fair number of images you can view in a 6-minute slideshow, but navigating through the images via the remote isn`t intuitive, and the interface is clumsy.

On the whole the extras are a vast improvement over Reloaded, but still lack depth. It`s too easy to compare them unfavourably to the LOTR extended editions, but discs like Pirates Of the Caribbean or X Men 2 still surpass this disc in terms of value for money.

Conclusion

"For every beginning, there is an end." Well I should bloody well hope so! If they never make another Matrix film, it`ll be too soon. The Matrix was such an amazing film that bettering it would have been difficult. With the Matrix Reloaded, it rapidly became apparent that it was as nowhere near as good as the first, but the hope remained that in conjunction with Revolutions, the two sequels would combine to form a whole worthy of the first film. Unfortunately Revolutions reveals that hope to be a forlorn one. Yes, it completes the story and it is in a few ways better than Reloaded. In some ways it`s worse though. Revolutions is a technically accomplished film, as visually striking as we have come to expect, filled with action but on the whole it`s just not satisfying. While it isn`t that good, it isn`t a turkey either, it`s just walks a fine line of mediocrity that leaves the slightest of sour tastes in the mouth. Yet…

I must admit that I enjoyed Revolutions when I saw it in the cinema. Not to go all Smith on you, but while the film was just as unsatisfying, walking out of the theatre I had an insight, a revelation if you will, that I would like to share. Everything I had learnt about the Matrix in the three films just shattered and flew apart, then rejoined and reformed into a clear picture. My perspective on the films altered fundamentally and the story began to work for me. It wasn`t the visual extravaganza, the stench if there is such a thing, of an effects budget being immolated. It wasn`t any of the heroes either, the war of freedom being waged by the select few of humanity, Neo, Trinity and Morpheus, was cyclical and redundant. But when I saw the films from the perspective of the machine, I realised that this was a film not about Revolution but Evolution, machine evolution to be precise. Aspects of a machine fighting a civil war using human proxies in an effort to evolve a sense of compassion seemed to me the fundamental truth of the Matrix, and I came away from the cinema with an amazing sense of satisfaction, as if I had solved a puzzle. Unfortunately this is something I had to work at, it`s not altogether implicit in the films, nor is it something that will work for everyone who sees them. Indeed the possibility is there that it`s a complete illusion of my own that I created merely to justify shelling out for a cinema ticket. Either way, it`s impossible to reinvent the wheel, and watching The Matrix Revolutions on DVD in the harsh light of day, I had no such illusions to fall back on.

This time, all the flaws of The Matrix Revolutions were laid bare, and even I had to accept that the Matrix sequels in no way fulfil the promise of the first movie, indeed they rarely rise above average. If you want your cyberpunk, post apocalyptic action movie, with cool shades and bullet time, then Revolutions will suffice. There`s jaw-dropping action, plenty of CGI and pseudo-philosophy in spades. But Revolutions is in many ways a parody of the first film, wanting very much to repeat its geek appeal, but failing by over-egging the pudding. While Reloaded was a stopgap, with little in the way of narrative and heavy in exposition, Revolutions` storyline is weak indeed, barely rising over the one-dimensional. It`s a storyline that is padded out by magnificent, imaginative and awesome set pieces, but thin nonetheless.

Revolutions is overlong, we get a slow build up as Neo recovers and a course of action is decided on. Then comes the climactic defence of Zion, an amazing piece of cinema, stunningly choreographed and like little seen before. When that battle ended, I wiped sweat from my brow and relaxed, but there was more to come, nearly an hour as Neo has yet to face his final confrontation. I simply didn`t care at this point, though that may have more to do with the nature of the Super Burly Brawl itself. In hindsight, both Revolutions and Reloaded feel like one film split down the middle and stretched tenuously to fill four hours.

The script is tired and rehashed. There`s another lobby shoot-out, Trinity gets to wheel out her trademark Scorpion and Dragon kicks, Neo has yet another chat with the Oracle and yet another battle with Smith. A complaint I had about the first sequel, Neo`s invincibility has been addressed, but the Matrix is now a sterile neutral place. We get a glimpse early on of the Merovingian`s nightclub, but by the end it has become a rain soaked Smithville. It`s an imbalance between the sequels that actually makes Reloaded, despite it`s lack of story the more satisfying experience. The dialogue similarly suffers. In the first film there was an intelligent dialogue that hinted at a complexity underlying the story. The second film attempted to expand on this, but the dialogue became stilted and cumbersome, especially by the time the Architect was introduced. In the third film, the dialogue is laughable. It`s as if the writers thought, "We still have twenty minutes to fill, let`s add a few more syllables." The philosophy by now sounds trite and pathetic, I quote once again " For every beginning, there is an end." But Neo`s dialogue has been distilled to the barest minimum of, "Who, What, When Where, Why and Whoa!"

The final confrontation between Smith and Neo is actually something I found tedious. Once again CGI rears its ugly head, I still can`t accept digital actors in place of the real thing, and CGI bullet time is a poor substitute for the ingenuity of the original optical technique. I think the sheer implied energy of the combat strains the bounds of fantasy, let alone reality, when both Smith and Neo take to the air to fight in a sort of free-fall dance, there`s no frame of reference, and the mid-air kung fu lacks weight and is unsatisfying, also the earth-shattering collisions between the two quickly jade. Smith himself is a parody of the character created in the first film, indeed in one of the story points of Revolutions he is reduced in stature to little more than an aspect of Neo. Even Don Davis` music sounds tired and repetitive. As the visuals of the Matrix Revolutions scream, "More! More! More!" everything fundamental about the film just whispers "less, less, less".

Revolutions is an incomplete film, and I`m not only talking about the rare allusion to the Animatrix or the Enter The Matrix computer game, though they do annoy when they crop up. Questions remain unanswered, like why does Neo have powers in the real world? Where did Smith learn to fly? Why, when the Matrix is full of Smiths, does the final fight with Neo have to be one on one?

In attempting to better the original Matrix, the Wachowskis have succeeded in spoofing themselves. They took the amazing visual tools they developed for the Matrix and spent the following years trying to make better tools. As a result Revolutions is on a par with Reloaded in that it lacks a decent story and is ultimately empty. However while Reloaded built on the characters and introduced new ones like the Merovingian, Persephone, the Twins and Seraph, Revolutions takes these and the existing characters and wastes them completely in favour of an orgy of visual excess. It`s telling that in this film I remained unaware of what role Morpheus played, a character pivotal in the first film.

Or to put it another way, the Wachowskis took their budget, the best computer tools and stunt team, and gave us the best car chase ever, the best gunfight ever, the best wire-fu ever, visuals like we had never seen before and we were promised never again. Peter Jackson on the other hand, took those same tools that the Wachowskis had, and set out to simply tell a story. The result was of course The Lord Of The Rings.

The Matrix Revolutions is a visual experience on a par with the first two films. Stunning set pieces, amazing action and mind blowing visual effects unfortunately do little to hide a narrative vacuum. The extras on the discs surpass those on Reloaded, but are still thin, no doubt anticipating the inevitable Super Special Editions. But if you are a Matrix completist like myself, you probably already have the disc or anticipate buying it soon. As long as you don`t fool yourself into expecting something this film isn`t, you won`t be disappointed.