I watched Matrix Revolutions. My comment walking out was, “I can’t get no.” As in satisfaction.
The movie just didn’t deliver. It didn’t hold together, it didn’t answer any questions, it didn’t work. It lived up to the hype (or lack thereof).
I’m still trying to pull my thoughts together, so you’ll probably have to listen to more of this over the next few days, but I’m amazed at how such an amazing beginning completely fell apart. When I saw the original Matrix, I was floored. I didn’t expect the sequels to deliver the same jaw-dropping, mind-blowing experience, but I expected something more. What I saw was much, much less.
If Reloaded felt like a video game, Revolutions felt like several different movies, as one of the folks I watched it with commented. It jumped around all over the place, following new characters no one cared about, the dialogue was worthy of George Lucas, and all the loose strings were left flapping in the breeze.
In the end there’s still an intriguing gospel parallel, but it wasn’t worth three movies and a whole wad of cash.
Aside from the plot let-down, the visual effects were overwhelming. The fight scenes that worked in the first two flicks needed the addition of strobe light effects to be cool in the third movie. The result made my eyes hurt. There was simply too much action. I wanted things to tone down a bit so my eyes and brain could catch up. It wasn’t an enjoyable action flick experience.
Maybe I’m getting old, but all the kung-fu, gun-blazing action didn’t do it for me. I wanted Neo to turn the other cheek.
(Nov. 10 Update – You have to check out this Matrix spoof/anti-corporate farming flash movie: The Meatrix. [link via Steve])
Turn the other cheek? You wanted Matrix: Revolutions to be a pacifist movie? Can you please clarify what you mean by that statement so my brain doesn’t have to hurt anymore?
By the end of the movie when Smith and Neo were having the ultimate smackdown I was so tired of the violence I wanted somebody to win without a massive beatdown. It’s not exactly consistent with the rest of the trilogy, but more of a gut reaction after watching hours of kung-fu pummeling.
*Spoiler*
And I know that’s sort of what Neo did at the end, but we had to sit through a ten minute slugfest before he realized it.
I haven’t seen the movie (yet), but that hasn’t stopped me from editorializing about it on my blog:
http://www.knightopia.com/journal/
Huh, indeed.
Wow. You certainly are a cynic, Kevin. I watched it and, since I went into it expecting nothing (after reading reviews), I walked out with a pretty darn good experience. And this is coming from a person who slams virtually every action-type movie she walks into.
I think people’s harsh critiques of this movie are really ticking me off. First of all, I am sick of people that attack it so hard when they themselves couldn’t create anything remotely close to it. You cannot critique The Matrix (any of them) without first admitting that the Wachoski Brothers have created something epic and fresh with this trilogy. It wasn’t full of gimmicks to get us to like it (like most movies now-a-days). It was simply an interesting movie with neat effects that was somewhat thought provoking. Do I think it’s the best movie ever? Nope. Was it worth my $9.50. Yup.
I also think that Christians are having a hard time with the trilogy in general. The first one opened up so many possibilities of Christian ties through symbols that were drawn, etc. Now, after watching all three, the Christian ties are a stretch for the mind. I think that many of my Christian friends are disappointed with the movie because it didn’t deliver on the Christian ties that they were hoping for.
[Warning: I’m about to go on a totally unnecessary tirade. As I began writing this comment, I realized that was going to happen and decided I should just have fun with it. So yes, this comment is over-the-top, and I intended that. I hope no one takes it personally, especially Steph — who is partly responsible for me even seeing the Matrix in the first place. Go Steph.]
OK, Steph, I never said the Wachoski bros. didn’t create something epic and fresh. They’ve done an amazing job creating effects and putting together this world. I’ve gone off before about how amazing the first movie was, I think I’m allowed to critique.
And yes, I am a cynic. If I’m going to lay down good money to watch a movie, I want to be entertained. I don’t want lapses in the plot, and while effects are cool, I don’t pay money to be bludgeoned with action. I expect a lot from my movies, and a lot of the time they don’t deliver. I’m allowed to expect a lot, and I’m allowed to criticize later.
That’s what we do with things we care about. We talk about them, we analyze them, we try to understand what’s going on — or what went right or what went wrong. I like the Matrix story, and since I was disappointed in last two movies, I’m going to talk about it, just like everybody else is doing (which is why Kottke.org has 303+ comments on his entry about the Matrix).
Just because Hollywood delivers an entertaining movie that doesn’t live up to my standards doesn’t mean I should quietly accept the decent movie and move on. That’s what’s wrong with America (OK, now I’m getting warmed up!) — we settle for less. Heck, that’s what’s wrong with humanity. We settle for wars and death and disease and gang-bangers and crappy schools and fatty foods and polluting cars and even so-so movies — rather than standing up and saying enough is enough. Or at least recycling my can, eating a salad, buying a smaller car, encouraging a teacher, and blabbering about how a movie could have been better in my dorky blog that very few people read.
[pause for breath]
As for the Christian elements in the movie, I wasn’t really disappointed. I’ve understood from the beginning that the Wachoski bros. aren’t Christians, and they aren’t making a Chronicles of Narnia or even a Lord of the Rings. They’re just writing a story that happens to pull from all sorts of mythology, Christianty included. My disappointment has little to do with the story going my way (the “Christian” way, if there is such a thing), and more to do with the plot not being coherent. I’m a story guy, and I crave stories that make sense. They can be complex and intricate and weird, just as long as they’re there.
Any Christian who’s hoping for the Matrix to be the ultimate retelling of the Christ-story for our generation needs to wake up and smell the post-modernism.
OK, I’m done.
I guess that we disagree on one major point. How do you feel that the plot was deficient? While I don’t think it was the most mind-blowing plot ever, I didn’t find any major holes in it. What did you see?
Also, I wasn’t saying that you can’t critique. You can. Everyone can. I just get ticked off when people don’t comment on any of the good things that happened in the movie and just jump to the bad. It upsets me the same way when the media gives biased crappy news stories without stating a well-researched viewpoint of the other side. I’m just saying that, criticism aside, Matrix Revolutions had many positive qualities as well. I respect the critiques of people who state both, not just one, just as I respect people who have fully researched issues before sharing their opinion.
How did I get you to watch the first Matrix? And why did you even watch the third one if you knew it was going to suck going in? Didn’t you choose that risk, therefore getting what you paid for?
I watched the first Matrix when you and Josh rented it and brought it back to our townhouse at Heritage and asked if anyone wanted to watch it. I reluctantly agreed to watch part of it, despite the mounds of homework I had to do. I was so intent on seeing part of it, that I sat down with a snack intending to take a short break. Two hours later I was still holding my finished snack in my hand, so glued to the movie that I didn’t even bother to set the apple sauce container down. That’s how thrilling I found the original.
I went to the third one because it was inevitable. I’ve learned to never trust the critics, so part of me was hoping it would be good. Although after seeing Reloaded, I didn’t have high expectations. I went to see it anyway because I had to know how it ended. I liked the story enough to want to see what they did with it, whether I agreed with those choices are not.
As for the plot holes, it’s really a matter of not tying things together and explaining things. Maybe not holes in the plot, but definite lapses and rabbit holes (ha, get it!).
Here’s a few of my complaints:
[spoiler warning]
1) The whole thing of Neo having power outside of the Matrix was never adequately explained. It was like he had a wireless connection to the Matrix, but not quite. He could see while blind, but he couldn’t save Trinity. He could stop the sentinels, but only so many of them (within the Matrix the number of bullets never mattered).
2) Reloaded brought up this whole issue of there being multiple “the Ones” before Neo came along. He was the 5th or 6th One. That entire concept was never touched in Revolutions. Why introduce such a mind-blowing concept if it really has no effect on anything? Or is its purpose simply to show the machines’ attemps to perfect the Matrix? That never quite made sense to me.
3) Smith became a mutated virus that took over the Matrix after Neo destroyed him in the original. How and why did that happen? He referred to the Oracle as his mother at one point, insinuating that perhaps the Oracle wrote the “smith” virus hoping to force a showdown with the machines and have a bargaining chip (I read someone else’s thoughts on this, I didn’t come up with it).
OK, there’s three to start with. I have more, but they’re not as important or central to the story. Part of the issue here is that this is a complicated movie. My hat’s off to the Wachoski bros for making movies you actually have to think about. That part is cool. I’m just concerned that even if I think through the complicated stuff, it won’t make sense. That’s a let down.
You said, “I’m just concerned that even if I think through the complicated stuff, it won’t make sense. That’s a let down.”
Wow, I can totally understand how you feel. I don’t necessarily feel that way about The Matrix series, but there are certain movies that I refuse to try to think through because I don’t have faith that the creators/directors actually thought it through and left me with enough evidence in the movie to actually figure out what the reality of the movie world was supposed to be.
I think creative people (being visual artists, musicians, actors & directors, dancers, etc) have a habit of purposefully creating things that are ambiguous because they see art in ambiguity. I really hate that. If you’re going to imply that there is some meaning to be had, then don’t leave even one loose end, because by doing that you’re leading people down a path that has no end, and you’re wasting their mental effort and time.
Having said that, I’m not certain The Matrix necessarily fits into that category. It might, but I’m choosing not to pick it apart because I’m too busy thinking about other stuff. :-)
Well, I’m doing a two parter in my blog about this. The first is already up, and it has my quickie review after seeing it and chatting with Josh and Steph about it in Cali.
I think rather than comment anymore in here, you can read that, and the 2nd part later tonight: I’m addressing some of the reviews you and Eddie have linked to, and I might respond to a few of Kevin’s issues, just because they’re similar to other complaints I’ve seen.
For me, the story ended before Neo flew away at the end of Matrix. From that point on I think I could have imagined better. I watch Matrix and am in wonder how they thought up what they did. That never returned for a second in the sequels. Of course there are neat and stomach gripping parts, but the mystery is gone. It’s like finding a buried box from 100 years ago and opening it and finding a layer of trinkets and personal objects and intrigueing letters, and knowing there’s more underneath that first layer. Then, after going through the first layer and lifting it away, you find they same things, only half of what was in the first layer and maybe some pretty stones. Then moving to the last layer, hoping that’s where the real treasure is, then finding nothing but a piece of paper that says, “refer to level one”. You replace the lid on the box, sit in the sand, and think, “I have better things to think about.”
I liked Revolutions. It made sense to me. I thought it capped off the trilogy well. But that’s just me.