MATRIX REVOLUTIONS

Finally got to watch Matrix Revolutions... after plenty of glitches... First, I can't get anyone to watch with me... Boohoohoo... So I decide to watch myself... but I dun have my car with me! Mum drove it sumwhere! Argh... She returned at 2.15pm, so I decide to go for the 3.30 pm show... Left me home at 3.10... And I was shocked when I reach Bukit Raja... It's fully parked! Not juz the areas where u have those yellow lines, but every possible place to park (illegal) are all taken up! Yikes! So many ppl came to Bukit Raja nowadays... Hmmmm...

So I end up searching for a place to park for about 15 minutes... By the time I found one and parked me car, it's already 3.30! I ran as fast as I can, all the way to the ticket counter... And guessed wat? It's completely sold out! I can't even get a seat! Argh... So I bought the 9pm show's ticket in the end... Blegh...

Went for a swim and dinner with family, then mum drop me at Bukit Raja again... Then shit happens again... I bought all me snacks at 8.55pm, hoping to enter soon... and wonder why theater 1 is not opened yet... I brought up the ticket and... guess wat I see? 2 circles... One, 9.15pm... Dang that ticket guy! He gave me the wrong time! The other circles at 18SG... And I could have swear that I almost burst. This could only means one thing... that guy has doubts that I'm 18! %#@%@#$ I'm gonna eat that guy alive!

And so there I am, standing there staring at the TVs with all those trailers, ALONE... Man, watching movie alone is no fun... Espeacially when everyone around u has companions... Sucky... Well, when the time comes, I gave the ticket receiver both MY TICKET AND MY IC without him asking. Dowan to waste my breath convincing them.



A major disappointment b4 the movie even starts... No The Return of the King trailer! THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS! I feel cheated... Blegh... Anyway, the movie soon started... And I'm actually surprised that the first half of the show can be SO DEAD BORING... No more cool fights... No more cool characters... Juz a bunch of actors and actresses and extras... Oh how I miss all the cool fight scenes in Matrix and Matrix Reloaded... In Revolutions, u juz hope earnestly that they will get over with it... Even the Merovingian ain't so funny anymore...

The second half of the show is far better... Quite exciting and intense actually... but really very un-Matrix-ish... I felt as if I'm watching another movie rather than the conclusion of the Matrix Trilogy... There's some elements, ideas, visuals and plot of movies borrowed here and there... Aliens, Dark City, Dragon Ball (U got that right!), Terminator, even The Return of the King. Still, they're quite enjoyable, and better than wat I expected after reading all the reviews by appaled critics...

But here's a few major gripes I have...

1. The evolution of Agent Smith
In The Matrix, Agent Smith seems to be the leader of the agents who's hunting down Neo... Scary bad guy, that's all. In Matrix Reloaded, he started to replicate himself into hundreds... yet juz a side character, an obstacle to The One who can't fail by harassing Neo... And all of a sudden, in Matrix Revolutions, he became so powerful that even the machines can't control him... But... can't they juz delete the part of the Matrix where all the Smiths are at? Weird... And if Smith really is Neo's arch nemesis, then y his importance wasn't shown in the earlier movies? And y so litttle focus on his "growth" or "evolution"?

2. No more cool slick fight scenes
The main reason I'm attracted to the Matrix and Reloaded is the cool slick kung fu fight scene. The fight scenes in Matrix is awesome, and those in Matrix Reloaded are impressive (Love the Burly Brawl between Neo and the hundred Smiths!)... but all the coolness and stylishness are gone in Revolutions... Even the slow-mo felt... overused... No new groundbreaking effects at all, and not even one match that is as interesting as any the fight scenes either of the early shows. The Superbrawl between Neo and Smith is too Dragon Ball-ish... And unlike the Burly Brawl which slowly increase its momentum as more Smiths gradually appear and Neo getting busier, the Superbrawl is juz interchanging scenes between meaningless flying and spiritless fighting...

3. Detached from the characters
Throughout the whole movie, I dun care that Zion is threahten by the machines, and the lives of all the main characters are at stake. Even after a few main characters die, and feel no sympathy at all... cuz I seriously DUN CARE for them. What if Neo die? Then he die la... I won't shed a tear for him. What if Neo and Trinity are separated? Good for them, yawn. This certainly will not do. One reason why ppl like the original Star Wars trilogy is because they care for Luke Skywalker and his quest to redeem his father... While Neo? Sheesh... Morpheus too lost his authoritative edge... So un-cool...



Oh ya, I also realized that The Matrix trilogy is essentially a modernized and sci-fied version of the Hindu mythology... That's why there seems to be no ending, for it's a cycle... Neo has done his part, and there will be peace... for the time being... And then the whole cycle will start again, and The One is to be sought out again... How do I know? Because I read The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I suspect the Oracle to be a Shiva-ish character, the one who brought destruction so a new world could be created according to Hindu belief... Therefore the Architect must be the one who sustains the Matrix... Brahma? Dunno... I have no idea... I'm not very knowledgable in Hindu myth...

Well, that's about it... Wait, one last thing... The late Gloria Foster as the Oracle is far superior than Mary Alice's portrayal... It's a great loss indeed that the actress died b4 she has the chance to act in Revolutions... Mary Alice juz dun speak her lines clearly, and lack the mother/ grandmother figure... Oh, and The Architect really looks like Colonel Sanders from KFC!!!

Overall, it's not a bad movie, quite good in fact. But seriously flawed, I guess... A decent (if somewhat disappointing) conclusion to the Matrix saga, one that could have almost being the Star Wars of our time... Pity how the Wachowski brothers destroyed their own mythology... Pity...



Consensus from the US movie critics: A disappointing conclusion to the Matrix trilogy as characters and ideas take a back seat to the special effects.