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| 11/6/2003 |
| Matrix III: Don't you know that you can count me out |
A Movie Review
by Wes Bennett
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“Matrix: Revolutions” has got to be one of the biggest cinematic disappointments since “Austin Powers III.” Simply put, this movie is painful to watch. It moves at a snail’s pace and features some of the worst dialogue I have ever heard. Many will claim that the second film was a let down. While I can respect that opinion, “Reloaded” was an highly entertaining film that is in a different league than “Revolutions.”
In the third installment, the epic war between man and machine continues as the Zion military battles to hold back the Sentinel invasion. The rogue program Smith is beyond even the control of the Machines and now threatens to destroy their empire along with the real world. With their backs against the wall, Neo and Trinity choose to travel into the heart of Machine City. Neo's destiny and the fate of two civilizations are dependent on the outcome of his epic confrontation with Smith.
The opening hour is consumed by endless scenes at Zion where the humans prepare for the imminent arrival of the sentinels. Everyone is whining endlessly about life, death, and love as if this is the last chance to make a big speech before the end of the series.
The exciting martial arts duels and huge highway chases that fueled "Reloaded," are gone. Instead, the big action showcase is the sentinels' invasion of Zion, a monotonous half-hour display of computer-generated effects that becomes boring after awhile. Even worse, Neo is strangely absent during this entire sequence.
The series has reached such a level of joylessness and uninspired self-seriousness, that it’s complex mythology ceases to intrigue me in the least. The sequels have definitely cheapened the original’s legacy. The Wachowski brothers lost track of whatever it was that fused the action to the mythology. In the action scenes the audience is not emotionally involved. In the exposition scenes the audience is asleep.
Die hard fans who have taken the time to contemplate the philosophical implications and themes will be let down by the ending which provides a feeble attempt to squeeze a tangle of heady philosophy into a tidy bag of cheesy Christian symbolism. The ending is so simplistic and yet indecisive that you can't help but feel disappointed on a number of levels.
Perhaps the "Matrix" franchise was not meant to be made into a trilogy, and its continuation has a certain sense of being a tag-on to an idea that was complete unto itself. You begin to suspect the Wachowskis never had two viable sequels to "The Matrix." They had one, and then decided for whatever reasons to stretch it into two parts.
This is a film that didn’t work, and failed to even entertain me on a very basic level. To me this is comparable to “Goldmember” in it’s ability to ruin a solid franchise. I’m sure some fans will still like it, but the rest of us will be massively disappointed.
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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