The Real Thing

smith_fan

here's that what Vector, a german journalist, wrote:

Compared to this, Reloaded was relatively boring...

That was my first reaction when the lights inside the theatre came back on and a familiar endless list of cast and crew names appeared onscreen. Its a wonderful feeling if you watch a film in the cinema and are blown away in such a manner that you're simply awed for a long time to come. You'll probably notice that whilst reading this review.

The Story, which left so many unanswered questions in Reloaded is brought to a very noble end. Remarkably the ending allows for more interpretation and philosophy. Its true...if "The Matrix" was about the discovery of the rabbit-hole and Reloaded about its exploration, then Revolutions is about the meaning of the rabbit-hole and why it actually exists. There are more references to the first Matrix film, for example dialogs reminiscent of Morpheus' first conversation with Neo or another cool one: The black deja-vu cat :-) I recommend watching it before you see Revolutions, just so you can enjoy these references if your memory is lagging behind.

Neo has become exponentially powerful. So has Smith. He turns out to be absolutely evil. He has now cloned himself onto the entire population within the matrix. As Bane he wreaks havoc in the real world; with near fatal results for Neo and Trinity. Whilst Morpheus, Niobe and the others onboard the Mjolnir return to Zion in order to assist Commander Locke and the zionists in the defense of the last free city, Neo and Trinity return to the surface to the (hauntingly beautiful) machine city "01". The plot divides up into two parts and each part delivers an exciting and diverse contribution to the story. There are a lot of surprises -some of them are jaw-dropping. One small example would be the drilling machines. They're not only capable of drilling Even the squiddies have pretty intelligent tactics.
The supporting roles in Revolutions turn out to be quite important chracters. Rama Kandra and especially his daughter Sati, whom Neo meets during his coma, have an important influence on Neo and his self-awareness. Unfortunately, as we all know, Gloria Foster died, and a replacement for her role as the oracle was needed. Mary Alice brings the oracle back to life. The story has been ingeniously rewritten in order to incorporate this unfortunate cange. Captain Mifune and "The Kid" have a little strife at first but they soon become an strong force against the machines as the battle unfolds. Our Kid also plays a great part in saving Zion.

The special effects are truly the best I've ever seen in a movie to date. I don't want to know how many hours overtime the animators and 3D-artists worked. The result is more than just impressing. It just blows you away! The hordes of squiddies, the blending of real actors and special effects, the superbrawl, the layout of the machine city...I could go on and on! Revolutions is definitely a feast for the eyes!
Also I'd like to note the realistic and very loud sound effects. The explosions still echo inside my eardrums. The sounds have an individual touch to them. Something that gives The Matrix an identity. Similar to Star Wars or Aliens. Those movies also have their own sound effects.

Of course no movie achieves perfection and even Revolutions doesn't achieve it. People who don't like bad reviews should skip this part, but there are still a few down points which I think need to be noted. The dialogs have improved moderately compared to Reloaded, but some of them seem artificial or confusing when a clear straightforward answer is expected instead of more confusion. Even the sad or romantic scenes require more emotion in order to make them seem plausible. Movies like Lord of the Rings seem more able at these kind of scenes. Of course this doesn't make Revolutions look like a bad film. But if more work had been put into these scenes, Revolutions would have made it very very close to the barrier of perfection.

The last thing I'd do is tell you the end of the movie *g*. All I'll tell you is it's no hollywood-type ending. More like the type of ending I had hoped for. Even the last spoken words deliver a very powerful message to humanity. I applaud the Wachowski's with a "Bravo" that comes straight from my soul! They have created a story out of nothing that changes the way we think about our own existence...questions which are asked at birth and answered in death. The directors even managed to pull this off in a very successful film trilogy which stimulates eyes and ears. I know for sure that I'll watch the matrix 50 years from now.

A few final words to those of you who will see Revolutions next Wednesday and especially those who have the possibility of seeing all 3 movies in a triple-feature: You won't be disappointed.

I for one wasn't

--Vector