Matrix, Rebloated and Revulsions Michael Buck, mbuck <at> IX . NETCOM . COM
-------------------------------------------- After a four-year wait, The makers of the Matrix belched forth parts 2 & 3 of their epic in the same year.
"Matrix: Reloaded" attempted to continue the original's heady mix of an involving story, backed up by existential musings and invigorating, innovative action. Turning that mixture completely on its head, this sequel had an inconsequential plot, phony philosophy delivered with affected accents, and action scenes so obtrusively placed as to feel like a commercial break from the rest of the film.
The worst mistake this film made was to reveal the human city of Zion, wisely left unseen in the first film. When the ultimate fight for mankind's survival is shown to be no more significant than whether or not a mindless rave party is interrupted, one can't help but begin to root for Zion's destruction. If this is all that's left of human society, let's just pack it in, march off to our little Matrix toilet bowls, and plug in, OK? We don't deserve to live.
To top it off, the film is crafted so that two hours of this pointlessly loud drivel leads inexorably to what appears to be a deleted scene from "Family Affair", in which Jody's id, ego, and superego confront an icy Mr. French, who is apparently sustained by an odd cocktail of heroin and speed.
The best moment of the series concluding entry, "Matrix: Revolutions", comes when Keanu Reaves does his one big emoting scene blindfolded. The filmmakers knew that he'd remind us of Quint's description of a shark's dead eyes from "Jaws", so they tried (unsuccessfully) to spare the audience the pain of sympathetic embarrassment.
For the most part, though, "Revolutions" dwells on the banal Zion portion of the story. Zion's last defense, apparently, is human- operated walking cannons that look like nothing so much as a metallic version of Steve Martin's gyrating "Wild and Crazy Guy" routine. At about this point, I realized that Trinity had perfectly summed up this year's two Matrix films, and in fact, my entire cinematic year, near the beginning of "Revulsions" when she succinctly stated "I don't have time for this shit!".
If one counts this year's two Matrix films as merely the two halves of one story, that could imply that there is yet another Matrix film envisioned as part of the trilogy. As Neo is so clearly a Christ figure, perhaps it is to him I should pray that this never comes to pass.
Michael Buck