The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 32 Days to go: 23
Movie #408: The Matrix Revolutions
Look, everything that’s wrong with The Matrix Reloaded is wrong with The Matrix Revolutions. The metaphors are painfully, hopelessly tortured. The logic is absurd and completely falling apart. The special effects are either overdone or ridiculous-looking or both. The story-telling is obtuse and heavy-handed. The fight sequences are long and boring. Et cetera.
My husband says that the two sequels to The Matrix were actually supposed to just be a single movie, but that the studio wanted it to be a trilogy, and so the one sequel was split into two, which may account for some of each film feeling drawn out or repetitive. He may be right, but I hardly think that’s an excuse for lazy filmmaking. Moreover, have the Wachowskis never heard of a two-hour movie? Both sequels run over that length by an amount that EASILY could’ve been cut from fight scenes alone. I’m not sure the reasoning behind it, but I know for a fact that for some reason a popcorn movie that clocks in at 1 hour, 59 minutes is exponentially more palatable than one that clocks in at 2 hours, 9 minutes. You wouldn’t think ten minutes would have that much of an impact, and yet if that movie doesn’t have something meaningful to say in those ten minutes (and a popcorn movie never really does) then they are ten minutes forever wasted. A person grows to resent those ten minutes.
Rest assured, The Matrix Revolutions has nothing interesting or profound or important to say. Instead it recycles messiah mythology so much that different parts of the film are recycling different parts of the myth, somehow resulting in being both confusing and obvious. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is Jesus, of course, and he sacrifices himself to save those who want to be saved. But first he’s revived from Purgatory (a circular train station) by the love of Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), I guess? And he has to be released by the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), who is the devil lording over his literal den of iniquity? And Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) is like head apostle, building the church of Neo in the center of Zion, metaphorically anyway. And Smith (Hugo Weaving) even literally calls Neo a Messiah, which I guess makes Smith the antichrist? Ugh. It’s seriously so bad and so all over the place and so dumb.
Speaking of dumb, the machine voice Neo speaks to at the end of the film is literally referred to (in subtitles and the credits) as the God Machine, Deus Ex Machina. I mean, that’s basically the Wachowskis themselves throwing in the towel saying, “You know what? Fuck it.” A Deus Ex Machina is a plot device in which everything sort of miraculously comes together at the end exactly the way the writers want it to without having to do the work of actually connecting all your story threads or anything. So to name your final character that is kind of admitting you have no idea where the hell this story is going anymore. It’s hilarious if you do it in Dodgeball; it’s insane if you do it in a movie that’s supposedly taking itself seriously.
I will, however, take a moment to praise The Matrix Revolutions for some things they do well. Once again, diversity gets a big win — across both race and gender lines. And religious lines too if you consider the fact that several of the Zionist (haha) characters don’t believe in Morpheus’s ideology or any of the prophecies. This film even expands the number of ethnicities featured, giving even more prominent roles to various Asians than the last one did. And when they need a super talented pilot that can take a ship through a narrow, harrowing passage at top speeds? They turn to Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith), a woman. Usually even if women are given roles in action movies, they aren’t the specialists or the clutch players, but this movie has a few. Those are all really big deals, and I applaud the film for it. It’s important. I only wish it was done more in films that had a greater positive impact on popular culture, because frankly, this movie is crap.
At least, as the Zionists (haha) rejoice, it’s finally over. Hallelujah.
Viable Option 