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 MOVIE
BIASES: C’mon. I’m pre-sold.
MAJOR PLAYERS: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence
Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, and The Wachowski Brothers, all
of “The Matrix Reloaded.”
I’m pretty comfortable being in the minority since,
well, I am one. But I was pretty annoyed at how much I enjoyed
“The Matrix Reloaded” and how many people did
not. Sure it was kinda talky and justifiably confusing as
it’s the middle child of the franchise, but I expected
to be exonerated for my faith in it with “The Matrix
Revolutions.” Well, all I have to say is…it
sucks being wrong. Sort of. Picking up from the very end
of “Reloaded,” “Revolutions” has
our heroes approaching their darkest hour:
The
machines are 20 hours away from reaching Zion, Neo’s
in a coma, and Morpheus’ ship is toast. When Neo does
wake up, there’s soon a fight on several fronts—
the battle to save the free minds of Zion, Niobe’s
rush through a crowded mechanical line to get back to defend
Zion, and Neo’s decision to take on the machines at
their maker in the dreaded Machine City itself.
What should have been the most spectacular, most visually
stunning and story satisfying
“Matrix” has been trumped by its “Revolutions”
predecessor. It’s almost as if the Wachowskis have
shot their load creatively in “Reloaded’s”
ridiculous freeway chase and the “Burly Brawl”
as they call the Neo vs. Smiths extended playground gangfight.
Call it “Star Wars” syndrome but every true
fan knows (or should know) that “Empire Strikes Back”
was the best one. “Revolutions’” first
forty or fifty minutes are very talky without explaining
much while adding new characters and complexities to the
existing ones. The monotony is only broken up with intermittent
been-there, seen-that bursts of action that you’re
left wishing were just a little bit cooler. Some of the
touches on screen seem a tad indulgent perhaps, to the point
where when some people die, you just want to scream at the
screen, “Enough! Die already!” And after pushing
the boundaries of their own cinematic vision in the previous
two flicks, the fight choreography, while always impressive,
feels repetitive and breaks no new ground.
That’s not to say that “Revolutions” is
not without merit. We still have Weaving’s cinder-block
head/style of Agent Smith (“Mr. Aaaaanderson. We’ve
misssssed you.”). Instead of frequently intercutting
the three battlefronts à la “Star Wars,”
the Wachowskis concentrate on each chaotic engagement for
stretches at a time. This is nice if, for nothing else,
breaking the post-Star Wars mold. Like John Woo, they also
find such poetry and beauty in such violence, mesmerizing
audiences with the sound of automatic machine gunnery, an
army of human controlled battle-bots, and the visual rain
of rapid fire. The special effects orgy is punctuated by
a haunting, pseudo-techno score that is so good, it’s
already popular at NBA arenas this season. If Steve Francis
can dunk to this, you know the music’s got heat. Oh
yes, and let’s not forget my newest REEL DEAL Crush,
the Hades-hot Nona Gaye who gets even hotter by getting
to tote a weapon and blow things up. Can Beyoncé
do that? Ha!
Like “Return of the Jedi,” “Revolutions”
wraps up its story for the most part but still leaves you
pining for the earlier episodes. While it sucks being wrong,
I already see that I’m in the majority in my assessment
of this film. And that ain’t all it’s cracked
up to be. Just like this movie.
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