(Review originally written at 30 July 2004)
What made the previous 2 Matrix movies good and unique were the "matrix" fights and the use of bullet time. "The Matrix Revolutions" threw this all overboard and what is left is an old fashioned fighting and shooting science-fiction movie instead.
It's ironic, the worst scene's in "The Matrix Reloaded" were the Zion's scene's but in "The Matrix Revolutions" these are the best one's! The Zion attack is definitely spectacular but when you watch a Matrix movie you would expect fight scene's with wires and bullet time and not the fighting and shooting that has been done dozens of times before. It's also a disgrace that they heavily borrow from other science-fiction movies such as "Aliens" (The whole APU things and they even seem to have borrowed some of the costumes and weapons used in "Aliens") and the Star Wars movies (using nameless characters that only press buttons and deliver their line's cheesy. In the Star Wars movies this work but in "The Matrix Revolutions" it gets only annoying), instead of being original like the first two movies.
The end Neo vs. Smith fight is cool but it can't make up for the lack of missing fight scene's. Also the burly brawl and the subway fight against agent Smith from the previous two Matrix's movies were in my opinion better. I don't know, the whole end fight seemed like a Dragonball Z episode were two superman like characters fight each other without getting seriously injured.
Thank God most of the mumbo jumbo talk from "The Matrix Reloaded" is gone but it still have some pointless and simply weird scene's such as the whole Merovingian/Persephone scene that only felt like a lame excuse to show Monica Bellucci and her cleavage again.
Yet again there is absolutely no spark between Neo and Trinity which makes the whole love story yet again very unbelievable. In the first Matrix movie there was still some good acting and dialog but in the other two it is the complete opposite. Low point when it comes to acting was Clayton Watson who gave a great lesson in overacting.
It is far from a bad movie, it is just not what you should expect from a Matrix movie, in that way "The Matrix Revolutions" disappoints and also the ending is not completely satisfying. Still it is a spectacular movie with some at times impressive special effects and I have to admit that I was completely blown away by it when I first saw it in the cinema (The main reason for this was the Zion fight that was very spectacular to see and hear in the cinema. I would have rated it a 9/10 back then, which is higher as my "The Matrix Reloaded" rating) but once when I saw it again for the second time at home I noticed the many flaws and the unsatisfying things about the movie. This is also why I hardly ever write a movie comment for a movie that I have only seen just once or in the cinema.
Might seem good and spectacular the first time but it gets worser on every viewing.
7/10
Watch trailer
No comments: