Matrix Revolutions
The third chapter in the revered Matrix Trilogy introduces some good, original ideas, but sadly fails to capitalize on them choosing instead to downgrade certain characters in their stature, focus on an overdone and overlong battle scene where the CGI flows like wine and also maintain a slower pace without having a truly disciplined focus. Just as well: Gloria (The Oracle) Foster filmed all of her scenes for Part 2, then suddenly died before this back to back sequel shifted to the filming of Part 3. An unfortunate development, since it was in this film that The Oracle’s role would be greatly expanded, revealing her as being the mastermind orchestrator of the whole entire “revolution” that the Zionist humans were fighting and even managing to have a bigger role here than Hugo Weaving’s Smith. Foster’s real life friend Mary Alice (with whom they had played sisters in a stage production) took on the part, commendably surviving the sequel recasting curse by implying that her AI avatar in the Matrix had been slightly altered after the events of Part 2. The actual storyline here involves our main characters trying to rocket their way back to Zion in order to help prevent the machines’ military troops (CGI robotic squids with pincers) from wiping them off the map for rejecting the comforting and stable world of The Matrix itself. As Fishburne’s Morpheus and his old flame (Jada Pinkett Smith) steer their way through the underground tunnels with precision timing, Neo and Trinity try a different tactic: take the ship formerly captained by Pinkett Smith and take a ride to the aptly named and unoriginal “Machine City”, the hub of the entire AI / machine movement where (since Neo is The One) his superpowers will either make or break the regime and win the war outright. Not much of a premise really, but it’s the unrealized ideas here that wind up getting shafted, including the engrossing notion that the AI computerized programs in human avatar form are actually developing humanistic qualities up to and including love itself! Instead of going all the way with that idea, we’re subjected to Morpheus being systematically emasculated as a character. There’s no more aura, no more mystique to Morpheus anymore like there was in Part 1, just scene after scene of secondary characters talking down to him as if he were a black Gomer Pyle, always chasing after fairy tales and rainbows instead of focusing his attention on the very real and grown up task of defending the safety of the people of Zion all while Fishburne sits there with a forlorn look on his face. Then there’s Carrie Ann-Moss’s Trinity, always reminding Keanu Reeves’ Neo in nearly every dialogue exchange between them just how much she loves him and how important he is to her, basically leaving for dead the cold, badass female character from Part 1 in exchange for continuing the inherent lack of chemistry between her and Keanu, leading to a horribly protracted death scene where (despite being impaled in several vital organs) she manages to blurp out an extended love speech / monologue while Reeves’ overemoting goes down as his personal low point in the series. But the real atrocity is with the use of Hugo Weaving as Smith, now promoted to the role of Antichrist Superstar Villain who represents a stark threat to both humans AND machines but unfortunately even after elevating himself to the level of quasi God in The Matrix world, he is sent to the sidelines while the human characters argue over their next course of action, leading to Smith (sort of) entering the human world by managing to demonically possess one of the lovable rogue crew members, an effect achieved solely by using an actor (Ian Bliss) who did a pitch perfect vocal impersonation of Weaving while also having an incredibly strong physical resemblance as well. The prospect of Smith completely (and independently) taking over The Matrix while handing the Oracle and the others their collective asses is not depicted really at all, as we do at least get to see Smith take down Oracle before he goes offscreen for nearly an hour, only reappearing as needed for a final showdown with Neo that doesn’t even come close to outdoing their classic duel at the end of Part 1. Instead, the film makes the mistake of focusing on a slew of secondary characters, many of them talking tough during their screen time but not making any kind of real impression with the exception of Nathaniel Lees as the military leader who gets so filled with patriotic gusto that he goes on a battleground killing spree of machines that would make Audie Murphy blush (even though you can’t really kill machines but you can do enough damage so that they will shut down). But the big battle in the second half of the film goes on forever and is pretty damn repetitive as well, with the machines having no problem in sending endless reinforcements of CGI enhanced killing machines (and they say that the Matrix was fake) who specialize in using their pincers to CUT their victims up rather than use explosives or other conventional weapons. But the story that WE want to see is Weaving’s Smith (who appears to have more than one consciousness in each world) in The Matrix taking over and desperately trying to find himself at the same time, a plot element that is ignored until the finale when Smith gets an advantage on Neo and then starts acting confused when he has no good reason to. This does a disservice to Weaving’s contribution to the series by reducing his potential screen time just as Fishburne and Moss had their roles made even weaker by the writing. The film takes a step in the right direction by bringing in Bruce Spence (Gyro Captain in Road Warrior: Mad Max 2) to play a new henchman villain called The Trainman (one who is shown to be more than capable of kicking Neo’s ass), but even that is scuttled aside in favor of the secondary characters’ last stand against the machines in the “real” world, a depressing environment where the humans always seem to be standing in a large crowd (one big target). As for Reeves, he still acquits himself nicely with his presence and charisma which can’t be taught and got his big payday here even as the biggest revelation in these sequels is that Neo was little more than a pawn in an ongoing chess game amongst characters whom by their very artificial nature are more fun to watch than most of the other primary speaking parts…
5/10