Went to go see The Matrix Revolutions. Didn't want to be the last one to see it. Overall, I liked the movie, much like how I like the overall trilogy. The movie had its good and bad points (careful, there may be spoilers ahead):

Good: Definitely NOT as talky as Reloaded. Which is good, it's a tad more action driven, without having to think about the ideas they're trying to cram into your brain.

Bad: However, the script does suffer (I think much like the previous two) from too much vague dialogue. To paraphrase 75% of the conversations of all three movies:
"What do I do now?"
"You know what you have to do."
"Yeah, you're right." *goes and does it*
The thing I like about some movies is trying to figure out the puzzle on your own. There's some point, just before the climax of the movie, where your brain clicks and you understand everything that goes on, which then leads to the final resolution. The Matrix movies don't seem to have that; they give you plenty - maybe too much - to think about, leaving you confused, and the only way you know what they're going to do next is during the next scene when they're actually doing it.

Good: No weird unnecessarily-and-uncomfortably-long rave/orgy scene. There is, however, a brief S&M/bacchinalia kind of party going on inside the Matrix, proving that programs know how to have a better time than humans.

Bad: The ending. I'm not saying it's a bad ending...it's just that it ended the only way it could end. And that's both expected and...disappointing. I just kinda felt, "Oh, well, that's it then." We can't have the humans win; that issue was brought up at the end of Reloaded. And we obviously can't have the machines win. So, of course, we're left the the only other alternative.

Good: Trinity doing her "trademark" flying-crane kick thing on one of Frenchy's goons. I'm not saying that because I like the kick for any special reason; I'm saying that because she seemed to use it in a cameo "Hey, that's from the first movie!" kind of way.

Bad: The script (returning to this point) also suffers from a bit of cliche dialogue. You can almost say the line right along with them. Things like "There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it," and "You did it!" "No, we did it." I hope the Wachowskis don't fall into the Lucas trap.

Good: Persephone (Monica Belluci) in a skin-tight, red leather dress showing off ample cleavage.

Bad: Not nearly enough screentime with Persephone in a skin-tight, red leather dress showing off ample cleavage. I don't care if she talked or not.

Good: Great special effects, as always. Especially the final fight between Neo and Smith. Plus the sentinals-forming-a-face thing at Machine City. Also delightfully unexpected was Neo giving Smith a bullet-time punch to the face (you know, using bullet-time to show something besides bullets).

Bad: One of the problems I had with Reloaded was the "Burly Brawl" scene, with some of the bodies, and occasionally Neo, looking a little too artifical to keep the suspension of disbelief intact. Well, it seemed like they fixed that problem here in Revolutions. The problem is, they fixed it by having virtually every fight scene shot with some kind of strobe effect going on, be it lightning or electrical sparks or machine-gun fire or whatever. The fight scenes are busy enough, but part of the whole point for me is to be able to see what the hell is going on.

But, like I said, overall, a thumbs-up from me. If you're a fan of the series like I am, you'll enjoy it. If you're a die-hard rabid fanatic of the series...well, I'm not going to tell anyone how to think of the movie, but had I been more rabid about it, I probably would've left the theater a bit disappointed.

posted by Tim at 1:29 AM