The Matrix: Revolutions

December 10, 2004

Rated: R Runtime: 129 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

If you thought The Matrix Reloaded was a bit too wordy, then The Matrix Revolutions is gonna drive you nuts.

This movie starts up right where Reloaded ended, and continues the action in Zion as they prepare for the coming machine invasion. Did I mention they were in Zion, and not the Matrix? Precious little time is spent inside the Matrix this time around, with only two fight scenes, and one of those is a rehash from the lobby scene of the first movie. Granted, the final fight scene between Neo and Agent Smith is worth the price of admission, but we’d really have liked to have seen more fighting.

What we do get this time around is some cool flying with Niobe, and lots of fighting in Zion where apparently 13 guys in big metal robot suits can hold off thousands of sentinels for a really long time.

The action is fast paced once it gets started (there’s about an hour of dialogue at the beginning of the movie, no kidding) and the effects are spectacular. Those guys in the robotic suits look great, and the sentinels flow around like a giant school of fish, with each being detailed and having it’s own bit of movement. The giant drills look awesome, and when they hit the ground there’s a great satisfaction to the thud.

In the Matrix when Smith and Neo finally do battle, the effects are visually stunning. We’ve all seen the beginning of the fight scene in the rain, but how it all plays out is excellent. Finally, the voice of Deus Ex Machina is thunderous and everything you could hope for.

What we didn’t like was the long setup, and the battle in Zion played out a bit too long. There’s a lack of realism in the human battles that really bothered us, but being that this is sci-fi we’ll let that slide. If there had been just one more killer Matrix scene this movie would have likely earned a 5th star like the two before it, but as it is the only reason it got 4 instead of 3 was due to the quality of the effects and the fact that it’s part of the Matrix storyline.

Oh, and regardless of what other reviewers have said, there are many many ways for this series to proceed past the three movies should the studio decide to do it. Hopefully they won’t, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see a Matrix 4 around 2008.

Posted by John | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, R, SciFi, Theatrical