What can I say about the Matrix Revolutions? That is the question I have been pondering since Lacey and I went to see it last night. First of all, the trailers kind of worried me, as did the reviews. I know I shouldn’t listen, but I do. Anyways, my expectations were down, because of those reasons, and since Reloaded didn’t live up to them initially (even though I loved the movie). And my gut reaction after 99% of this film was: “WOW…fantastic!” I mean, it was just brilliant. And then came the last five minutes. I had high hopes for the ending. I thought maybe there would be some Usual Suspects magic, or some cool Sixth sense-ish twist…only on a much grander, play-with-your-mind, Matrix, trilogy scale. That is what I have come to expect from the Matrix…I wanted to be both happy and shocked. I was neither. I won’t give away the ending, but let me just say that I have decided (sort of) what to say about the movie, bottom line: The Matrix Revolutions is a fabulous movie, with an intensely unsatisfying and cheeseball ending.
I have never been very good at explaining movies. So I will let others do that for me. I am very curious to hear y’alls’ thoughts on the ending, the conversations in the movie, the underlying imagery and meaning, etc., etc. So please weigh in. What I am good at is analyzing a movie, purely from a “technical”/enjoyment standpoint, and comparing it to what I have seen before (which is quite a bit). So I’m gonna do that.
Aside from the last five minutes, I loved the movie. Whether or not, however, it can still be redeemed, is still in question. Can a bad ending ruin a movie? I’m still not sure (I’m curious to hear your thoughts). Regardless, the imagery, dialogue, story, special effects, soundtrack, cinematography, and even acting were top notch. I think the critics (for the most part) are nuts. I loved the differing plotlines, the dialogue that made you think (who cares if it’s pretentious and confusing?) and that everything is a metaphor or an homage (either to the first Matrix or some other movie). Sure they borrowed from other movies…but what movie doesn’t? And yes, they mix up a bunch of different philosophies and religions…GET OVER IT! Can’t we still get our own meaning from it? As for the special effects, they were numerous. But I didn’t think they overwhelmed the story. There was a good mix of storytelling and flat-out testosterone. Anyways, I really enjoyed the movie, I thought they did a great job with it, right up until the end, where I was extraordinarily disappointed. I could expound upon this, reveal the conversation between Lacey and I where she brought up some good points that made me reconsider (somewhat), and discuss everything under the sun, but I can’t do that without putting in some major spoilers. And I don’t want to do that. So let’s hear it. What did everyone else think?
WARNING!
If you read the comments to this post, and have not seen the movie, be very careful. Major Spoiler Alert!
1. I enjoyed it.
2. The dialogue blew, like, really really blew.
3. Trinity's death should have been half as long
4. I think the gospel is all over that film, simply 'cause, well, it can't be helped, at least not in a Western film (though I'd argue in any artform).
5. The trainstation scene was ridiculously cool. They coulda milked that for a half n' hour.
Posted by: JosiahQ at November 6, 2003 01:51 PMJosiah, I would only take issue with #2,3. First of all, Trinity's death seemed pointless to me. But if she's going to die, it seemed ok...perhaps a little too long, but not bad. Second, what was wrong with the dialogue? My only complaint would be that "G-D" was thrown in WAAAAYYY too much. It was like they had to force it in there. What was your beef with it?
Posted by: UJ at November 6, 2003 02:01 PMHey, I'm a Honi's Blog regular and found this link on her blog... I cannot claim all the credit for what I am about to write, so hats off to Nathan B. for pointing out a few of the more minor details that I didn't really realize. So here we go, first review is the spoiler free review of mine that has to do with no indepth plot stuff:
The Matrix Revolutions, spoiler free review:
This movie was NOT what I expected. I liked it much, much better than the 2nd and not as much as the first. The first, after all, is the king of the Matrixes. The second, well, sucked. The 3rd was a happy medium, but was an ending to a story.
In the 2nd, there were a TON of fight scenes, and by the end I just wanted them to get to the point. I was sick of them and I was sick of the blatant computer animation. In the 3rd, there are only 3 REALLY noticable places where that happens, a very good improvement from the 2nd. In the 3rd, I felt like the fight scenes took on a more original twist to them and I did not grow tired of them like in the 2nd. Additionally, there were a lot of other TYPES of fight scenes - it was not just a car chase or "kung fu."
The overall feel has changed drastically since the first... they go as follows:
Matrix: Philosophical Action Shoot-Em-Up
Reloaded: Piece of crap
Revolutions: Sci-Fi Epic
Revolutions did not end like I thought it would... more on this in the Spoiler-Filled review... The ending caught me by a bit of a surprise. The thing about the ending you had in mind, Josh, was that that was THE expected ending. There's a 2nd matrix, it's a dream world, all that stuff, when in all reality, it ended in the only possible way to end consistantly. (more on this later)
So an overall ranking scale for the spoiler free view on the Matrix:
Matrix: 8.5
Reloaded: 3-4
Revolutions: 6.5-7
Next post: Spoiler Filled Review. DON'T READ THE NEXT POST IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN THE MOVIES!
-PR
Posted by: PR at November 6, 2003 08:26 PMSPOILERS BELOW!!
Once again, most of this is wording from Nathan, do I can't claim much credit.
The ending was ONLY possible through the way they ended it. Think about this for a minute and hear me out. Also remember that the directors are pagans who imbibe in in learning epistemology and religion.
Neo from the beginning is extremely blatantly a Christ-figure (obviously from a pagan worldview). The movie could not have ended without Neo dying. This is one of those rare times when they actually MEAN for him to be the Christ.
The images in this movie were obvious, the Wachaoski Brothers could have gotten on film and said it. Smith is a type of Satan, the antithesis of Neo. Think about this for a second:
Smith (Satan) is banished, but spreads through the Matrix (Earth) and is wanting to be king over it. Neo (Christ) comes and defeats Satan in a way Satan didn't understand until it was too late. Neo went to the "Father" to bargain and make a deal to give his life a ransom for many. Well, he did.
The Father even says in the end that he will free those in the matrix who wish to be free. In other words, all they have to do is ask. HELLO?? PLAN OF SALVATION ANYONE? Sure, there's theological flaws with it, but what more can you expect from pagan directors? They have the basic idea down.
The Matrix represents death and slavery - the world existing as they live in it. Neo saves people from it and brings them into new life. Unfortunately, that life isn't Heaven. To the Brothers, Heaven is simply knowing what is real and what is not. :-\
Also, there are people who REALIZE there is a real world (the Gosple), but they love the "matrix" (their sinful lives) too much to even ask to be freed from it and victorious over Sin.
Now to the death's of the movie: Neo is in a crucifix position when he bites it, as a more minor detail (if you noticed) and he "ascends" off into where-ever. There is a bond between Neo and Trinity that is a paradigm for the bond between all the people Neo loves that he wishes to save. The Architect was befuddled by his choice. It's all about choice. No one can fathom the choice or see beyond it.
Remember in the 2nd in the talk with the Architect... the 6 that had come before Neo? Do you also remember that there were false-Christs before the real one appeared? ......... 'nuff said.
Now, one great thing about the movie is this: It doesn't give you the answer to everything. It excites the people who only see a movie for face value. It intrigues people who tend to look a little deeper. It satisfies the people who dig, because answers are there. They give you JUST ENOUGH information to figure things out with exception to few things. For example:
The little Arabic girl... Who was she? Why did she have no purpose and did she need to be bargained for? Then, how did she have the power to give Neo that sunset? Was it her that stopped the rain after she was put back into the Matrix (after Smith died)? Obviously you remember the scene where she's laying on the ground and the black cat (symbolic in the Matrix for de ja vu's and glitches, remember) comes up to her. The rain suddenly stops. I have my own theories on this, but you can speculate for yourself. :)
In conclusion... I would like SOMEBODY out there to tell me that before they saw the 3rd (and after actually seeing 1 and 2 a few times and thinking about it) that they did not EXPECT there to be a matrix inside the matrix. It's because EVERYBODY EXPECTED it. Admittedly, I did too when I first saw the 2nd. However, after I thought about it a long time and saw the movies more, it changed to another theory. I won't get into that now.. anyway, What would have happened if that was the case (Matrix within Matrix)? I would not have been satisfied, because that would have been an ending that I would have predicted. If people know how you're going to end a movie, it loses some of it's value. Hence, the amazing 6th Sense ending. Nobody saw it coming.
I'd appreciate comments on this one. :)
-PR
Posted by: PR at November 6, 2003 08:53 PMPR:
For the most part, I agree with what you (or nathan) has said. However, I loved the second movie, for many reasons that I will not go into here. That is another debate. Anyways, I think you have a lot of good things to say about symbolism, what this and that meant in the movie, etc. I saw most of that as well. It is some pretty blatant Gospel, as Josiah mentioned. What I would take serious issue with is the statement that it ended the only way it could have ended. No. I agree, Neo needed to die. It was his purpose. The entire trilogy pointed to it. Lacey mentioned this to me, and she's right. However, I wanted them to be much clearer on what actually happened. If he's dead, then why did the Oracle say that they would see him again? If he's "alive" (i.e. the Christ symbolism), TELL US! That is the reason it is unsatisfying. How about Trinity's death? What's the point? Finally, I expected the movie to end exactly like it did 1/3 of the way into it. It was obvious!! That is what everything was leading to...and it happened. No suprise. No twist. No nothing. And I have to say, I am one of the ones who did not expect there to be a "matrix within a matrix". I didn't know what to expect, that was the beauty of it...until I saw what they were up to, and wasn't surprised. That is what ticked me off the most. So predictable (within the movie)...so cheesy...so unsatisfying. It's ok to have Neo die, but do it in a way that answers questions and that is not cheesy! I dunno, I just found the end to the Smith/Neo fight kinda lame. Well, I could go on and on, but I don't have time. I have to teach.
Posted by: UJ at November 7, 2003 09:43 AMAmber, Emily and I saw it today, and I think it was alright. I don't think I'd pay to see it again though. It's just ok. But we were trying to figure out what purpose the French man served, like what he symbolized, when it hit me: his wife's name is Persephone. He has the train man working for him. He's Hades. And the train man is the Ferry Man that brings the dead to hell. I thought that that was pretty cool. Anyway, that's my 'little reading into the Matrix'.
I thought Trin's death went on too long as well.
Also, who else thought the Matrix-face-thing looked like Budda? Is that just me..?
I'd agree that the French Merlvingian (???) - a.k.a. 'Merv' was most probably symbolic of Hades. Perhaps the most obvious indicator when you look at the trainman and persephone was also the level they selected in the elevator 'Hell' - the big red button!
I've only seen the first movie twice and the other two once each - so my comments can probably only be taken with a grain of salt because I have undoubtedly missed some details. But I have couple of questions. Perhaps its sentimentality that wants neo to still be alive, but why did the oracle and arabian girl expect to see him again? How human was neo - how much of him was program created by the architect/oralce? And surely the matrix won't just allow anyone to leave it - surely there is an extent to its freeing because it depends on humans for survival?
Posted by: GB at November 13, 2003 12:21 AMJust one thing with PR's comments. Was the black cat symbolic of de ja vu or a change to the matrix? If its a change, then wouldn't the black cat be there because freedom was now a choice in the matric or something along those lines?
Posted by: GB at November 13, 2003 12:25 AM