After the surprisingly negative response to The Matrix Revolutions, I wanted to be the one to defend it. I wanted to be the one to show them all where they’re wrong and show them the depth they all were missing. Unfortunately, I won’t be that one.

Though starting with an amazing original concept and a phenomenal first film, Andy and Larry Wachowski have driven this series into the ground. The Matrix Revolutions is an inferior work to its predecessors in almost every respect. Less interesting in its story, less engaging in its visuals and less intriguing in its philosophy, Revolutions fails to achieve a revolution in any way.

The story takes something of a twist in this episode. While the machines drill their way into the city of Zion, the last refuge of humans, Neo (Keanu Reeves) makes a deal with the machines. If they will stop invading Zion, Neo will destroy Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), whom the machines cannot conquer themselves for some reason.

Of course, Neo doesn’t manage to make this deal until after significant damage has been doen to Zion by the machines and at least a half hour of film has been shot of Mifune (Nathaniel Lees) and other Zionists shooting big guns at the machines. Though certainly expensive to shoot, this scene never grabs your attention like it should. Filled with lots of gunshots and people and machines dieing, the chaos of the whole sequence drowns out the impressiveness of the set.

The one truly redeeming visual aspect is the final fight between Neo and Agent Smith, which does look rather comic book movie-esque, but is far more beautiful than any comic book fight I’ve ever seen. But this classic Matrix scene is too little too late.

Another large part of the film is dragged down by some strange turn of events wherein Neo is trapped in some alternate world and cannot escape until Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and the Keymaster hunt down the French Guy (Lambert Wilson) and insist that he free Neo. This little storyline is uninteresting and completely distracting from the overall story arc.

The Matrix Revolutions doesn’t make use of the symbolic connotations established in the original either. Sure, Neo sacrifices himself for the sake of the salvation of the people of Zions, but it doesn’t go much further.

One thing I do like is a pretty clearly stated theme of agency. The word “choice” must be used a hundred times, and becomes most significant as it allows us to reflect on the fact it is agency that marks one of the defining characteristics of humanity. Human beings, having agency, are able to make irrational, self-sacrificing decisions on behalf of others, while the computer fails to understand any such thing.

Most of my comments here have been negative, but that’s only because I’m comparing the film to one of the greatest sci-fi action films ever made in the original Matrix. Revolutions is still better than your average action flick. Though it seems to have dropped the ball in the end, The Matrix Trilogy is still one that will stand out for years to come.

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