This is Life: Revolutions Around the Cruciform Axis

The Matrix: Revolutions

(Warning: For the two or three of you who haven't yet seen it, spoilers ahead.)

Went to see The Matrix: Revolutions last night. Anna had a candle party to go to at a co-worker's home, and I wanted to procrastinate on my papers some more. (Although, while walking home from the el after the movie, I finally solidified the approach I will take on my paper on Aristotle and free will.)

Like Reloaded, I had heard/read much mixed reviewing of the film. And like the previous film, I found some of the criticism justified. But like the previous film, I found myself appreciating it more than some of the critics.

First let it be said that the original film, The Matrix, set a standard that quite possibly could not have been achieved again. Next, Reloaded suffered from a truly complex plot, introducing a multitude of important characters (necessitating a scorecard to keep up), some pretty glaring technical flaws (especially when Neo does the schoolyard rumble with the many Agents Smith), and that horrid didactic piece with the Architect. (And anyone who's seen Will Farrell do the send up of the Architect from the MTV Movie awards can never watch Reloaded again--at least not that piece--without losing the sense of the mythic.)

The only technical flaws that jarred me out of my immersion in the story for Revolutions were both in the final fight scene: one in which Smith flies through the air and slows and turns, and the one with Neo and Agent Smith where Neo's fist connects with Agent Smith's face.

The storyline flaws were more glaring, however, in this one. It was as though, having introduced all the philosophical and mythic items in Reloaded, they had to weigh getting through the plot versus sustaining the mythic questions. So, we don't have any follow through of how it is that a computer program could love. We just have the mere juxtapositioning between the Indian character (forget his name) who asserts love as a connection, and Smith who nihilistically denies its reality. There's no real explanation how it is that Neo can access the Matrix without being jacked in, nor how Smith can access the real world through some sort of possession. It's just asserted. And I suppose we should have expected the ending we got, based on Reloaded, but it sure felt like someone was trying to tie up loose ends in a hurry.

Even the characters who played prominent roles in Reloaded, fade into the background. The Merovingian and Persephone are mere bit players. Morpheus fades from leadership to end up as Niobe's right hand man. Trinity is reduced to kissing affirmation of Neo's quest.

The mythic elements were much stronger in Revolutions, particularly the Ragnorak-like apocalypse where the machines breach Zion's dome. That was, in my opinion, some of the best special effects I've seen in some time. And the final fight scene definitely captured that mood as well. The descent into hell at the beginning of the movie similarly set off the doom-like tone. (And, by the way, a propos another discussion, the bondage/s&m; themes were entirely appropriate given that this was hell.)

The Matrix Trilogy has been some of the most daring and visionary SF film-making in years. It has flaws and weaknesses, indeed, glaring ones. It would have been interesting to have seen how the final two films would have fared if they'd taken longer to make them. It seems as the the Brothers had a much larger story to tell, and couldn't get it all told. A more disciplined story line--such as the original Matrix had--would have done wonders for the trilogy. Even with all the flaws, in my view, I think it a better set of films than the original Star Wars. After all, we didn't have any Ewoks kicking any Agent Smith ass--and for that we can all be grateful.