So this is it. The end. Zero-hour. Global release of arguably the most anticipated, grandiose and action-filled movie in film history.
If I could wish for one thing, I just wish that I could tell you that it was perfect, that the brothers Wachowski nailed the landing, that this one makes up for the minor stumbling that occurred in ""Reloaded."" But I can't.
The Wachowski brothers put themselves in a difficult position when they decided to make 1999's ""The Matrix"" into a trilogy. The growing fervor for that film, combined with four years of anticipation, created expectations that this summer's ""Reloaded"" simply could not have met. ""The Matrix: Revolutions"" concludes their epic sci-fi trilogy in what I can only describe as a satisfying but unsurprising manner.
??ber-hero Neo (Keanu Reeves), is stuck in limbo between the Matrix and the real world. He's being held in a train station by The Trainman, a minion of The Merovingian (Lambert Wilson). He meets a family of programs that are seeking The Merovingian's assistance in safely smuggling their daughter to safety, before she faces deletion due to lack of purpose. Her father, Rama-Kandra, reveals to Neo something we haven't seen before-a program who can love.
After a short scene with The Oracle (now played by Mary Alice, replacing the late Gloria Foster), she directs bodyguard Seraph to escort Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) to Club Hel to barter for Neo. This leads to an incredible shootout reminiscent of the original's lobby scene, where the guards completely defy gravity by running around on the ceiling. It also leads to a strikingly funny line when Trinity finally gets The Merovingian at gunpoint in an attempt to rescue Neo, asking, ""What'll it be, Merv?""
These opening scenes wrap up the loose ends from ""Reloaded,"" allowing the main threads of ""Revolutions"" to begin. The attack on Zion commences as Morpheus, Niobe and several other shipmates race back to try and save the day with an EMP. Meanwhile, Neo and Trinity attempt to travel to Machine City. Their trip is slowed when Trinity discovers that Bane, corrupted and overtaken by the virus-like Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) in ""Reloaded,"" has stowed away on their ship. Neo tries to overtake him and does so, but not without suffering certain pivotal injuries.
The rest of the film is nothing if not predictable simply based on the mythology that Andy and Larry Wachowski have built into the series. Anyone that has seen the first two, along with the ""Animatrix"" short films, should easily be able to figure out where this is all heading.
However, ""Revolutions"" thrives on the spectacle of it all. The giant battle for Zion is quite possibly the most spectacular use of computer generated images in history. The mech ""APUs"" that Zionites climb into and lumber around in to fight the squiddy Sentinels are spectacular, although I had to wonder why no one bothered to protect the operator in some sort of cage or enclosure. The entire scene, which intercuts between Zion and the ship racing toward the city, is a far cry from the action in the first two films. Gone is the coolness of ""The Matrix"" and the over-the-top feel of ""Reloaded;"" the fight for Zion is an epic, brutal, sci-fi shootout.
When Neo finally meets up with Agent Smith in the final fight dubbed ""The Super Burly Brawl,"" my breath caught just a bit. This fight, brewing since the beginning, frequently departs from the wire-fu action and degrades into hefty streetfighting. But what's more, the two eventually exert so much power that the fight seems as if straight from a comic book.
Throughout this showdown, I was struck with the legitimacy and gravity that Hugo Weaving brings Agent Smith. While the rest of the film is filled with less than perfect acting, Weaving nails Smith as he grows frustrated with Neo, venomously spitting, ""Why? Why? Why do you get up, Mr. Anderson? Is it pride? Is it anger... or is it love? Love. Only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love.""
Regardless of these strengths, ""Revolutions"" still stumbles on some of the same key points that its summer predecessor did. While Mary Alice does an adequate job as The Oracle, there is no replacing Gloria Foster in such a pivotal role.
The pacing is off, delineating the film into blocks that isolate us from Neo, the central figure, for what seems like nearly an hour. Reeves and Moss again fail to capture any sort of real love between Neo and Trinity. This is never more apparent than in a key scene that should be touching, but almost borders on comedy by the end. This is not entirely their fault-some of the dialogue, especially when used to transition to another scene, is downright painful to hear.
Despite those shortcomings, ""Revolutions"" also has something that ""Reloaded"" did not-a sense of urgency and real danger. The stakes are much higher now and it was palpable in every single shot and punch. The philosophical diatribes that turned off many fans from ""Reloaded"" are gone, allowing the film to move steadily toward its logical conclusion. Most importantly, the film doesn't shy away from that ending in fear of upsetting audiences.
According to the film's tagline, ""everything that has a beginning has an end."" I'm just relieved that this trilogy got a worthy send-off.
wwtemby@wisc.edu.
