Rating: 
Summary: More than an action flick
Review: The only way to appreciate this movie and the trilogy fully is to understand the source of its ideas. As a student of mythology and cognitive science, I knew right away that this film had deep roots in perennial ideas. There is the classic story of the psychological-mythical union of opposites, the power of love, the possibility of artificial intelligence, the duality of mind-body/subjective-objective. All portrayed in the sort of charicatures that are mythic-archetypal icons rather than modern personalities. In other words, you may have to be a bit of a scholar in philosophy, mythology and and modern science to fully understand the craft of this movie and the trilogy.Mythic stories are an acquired taste. They are full of ideas symbolically represented and if you aren't familiar with the symbols the significant of certain things will go entirely unnoticed. The whole trilogy is an amazing study in story form of the possibilities of free will, exploring the boundaries of what consciousness is and the possibilities of technology to radically enlarge our universe. Consider the notion that the real universe, the universe of the the machines and Zion, is only part of the whole or reality. The other part is our imagination. The matrix is only the most insiduous use of virtual technology. If we immerse ourselves willingly in it then we can enjoy the powers that the Zionists had used to desperately pursue there cause. Matrix Revolutions ends with this arrangement as a distinct possibility, that humans are free to live outside of the Matrix. Why not choose to live in both worlds? Neo's sacrifice (both Christ-like and Taoist in its character (remember Luke Skywalker's willingness to lay down his saber?)) opens up possiblities beyond anything most of us have considered. The scene with the Oracle and the Architect shows again how two opposite elements have, after a number of "cosmic cycles" of the matrix simulation resolved a higher balance in the program world between balance and imbalance, between a dynamic (chaos theory, complexity theory) and static equilibriums. This is merely one thread of perennial thought that this movie embodies. It really is a masterwork of myth, philosophy and science fiction. Beside that is does have kick ass action!
Rating: 
Summary: Better than expected...
Review: After reading all the negative reviews, and skipping out on its appearance at the local multiplex, I finally got a chance to sit down and view Revolutions in the comfort of my own home after receiving the DVD as a birthday gift. Naturally, before even pressing play, I had a negative feeling about the film, and was somewhat skeptical as to what the Wachowski brothers were gonna throw my way. However, after viewing it, and letting it sink in a bit, I must say that the film is far better than I expected. Mostly due to the pacing, which is much swifter than the middle installment. While the 2nd film seemed to get caught up in its on existential and spiritual hokeyness, this film seemed to be quite a bit more balls to the wall action and straightforward in terms of plot. Again, the acting leaves a lot to be desired (did anyone buy into Neo and Trinity's 'love'?), and there was the occasional talky nonsense, particularly in the scenes with the 'new' oracle. But the Battle for Zion makes up for most of it, as does the final confrontation with Agent Smith. I must say though, the ending leaves open quite a few questions and is somewhat open ended... but again, would you expect anything less?
Rating: 
Summary: I still have trouble sleeping after matrix 3
Review: I just wish someone could tell me what in the hell the brothers were thinking.Talk about watching paint dry. This movie was so bad I can't stand it. Even after months I still can't believe it. They had so much potental, they had it all. All they had to do was coast to the finish line. But instead they stopped a yard short ran backwards poured gasolene all over themselves and flicked a match...... Just horrible.
Rating:
Summary: Should have been a great series
Review: After viewing this film all my love for the second installment of the film went completely out the door. The worst thing the distributors of this film could have done was end the second film with to "be continued". The third film is bad on so many levels. The film is dismal losing all the glory of the first two films. It loses sight of it's main characters and basically concludes with an ending that negated the whole story line of the initial films. I left the theatre let down that the series I loved so much ended on such a horrible note. I immediately sold back my copy of the second film as I guess (by looking at the ample supply of used Reloaded dvd's) many others did as well. I'll keep the memories of the first film and forget the other two ever happened.
Rating:
Summary: The final thud...
Review: A truly dismal movie, The Matrix Revolutions fails on all fronts, except maybe computer processor time used for the CGI. The Matrix was an excellent sci-fi movie, and the disappointing mess of The Matrix Reloaded at least hinted at something cool happening in Part 3. Well, we've got Part 3, and it stinks. The acting has gotten progressively worse, the effects vary from awe-inspiring to lamer than old Star Trek movies, the story just kind of fizzles out like a bad beer fart, and all the potential plot twist coolness hinted at in The Matrix Reloaded is fortotten about in favor of a straightforward and numbingly dumb ending. This is a bad ending to a series that should have never been made beyond the first film. It is now clear in retrospect that the W brothers really had no clue what to do after cooking up The Matrix, and so just threw together some expensive crap and tied it together with CGI just to turn a buck at our expense. The Matrix Reloaded and especially The Matrix Revolutions embody all the worst things about Hollywood movies: pointless sequels that replace the original sharp plotting with "special" effects and loud audio.
Rating: 
Summary: BLAH
Review: By the time this superannuated, bloated overproduction finally groans to the finish line, one is left wondering what everyone was so excited about it the first place. When you can't find a plot, resort to the next best thing --- lots of explosions, special effects, and violence. I remember when devotees to this "epic" anticipated "Reloaded" like it was the 2nd Coming. Once "Revolutions" finally was released, the prevailing attitude was, "well we wasted our time with the first two --- we might as well see the damned thing to the end." It almost seemed as though the viewers were reluctantly performing a chore, like cleaning out the refrigerator of all of the old scary experiments nestled on the back shelf. Now the marketers try and tell us this is the "greatest cinematic trilogy of all time." Uh-huh. Sorry folks, that honor would go to "The Godfather," even with the relatively weak 3rd installment of that series. I can only hope that the Geekowski brothers keep their word and do not release a 4th Matrix movie, because this was more than enough.
Rating:
Summary: Oh well... so much for a great ending
Review: I have a certain pet peeve about seeing a story through to its ending. Even if the plot starts to go sour, I want to see how the storytellers wrap things up. The Matrix began so strongly with such great, inventive ideas, you would expect the final installment to at least attempt to offer a satisfying conclusion to the tale. But sadly you get more of a pause then a resolution. In short, nothing changes. There is no real development or evolution of the store. The characters simply perform their appointed duties and the world does NOT change. The status quo remains with little hope that anything tangible has resulted from all this fuss. This movie is cryptically open ended when it should not be. The point of a story is bring the audience to a new place, a new revelation that is a direct result of the actions taken by the characters in the store. This movie fails to do this in every way possible, though it attempts to give the appearance being the final act. Don't be surprised if somewhere down the line, yet another Matrix movie is released, possibly straight to video or at least in the hands of a lower budget studio.
Rating:
Summary: Huge disappointment
Review: The original Matrix movie had an interesting plot, good development of the characters, professionally developed martial art scenes (Yuen Wo Ping directed the fight scenes of many early Jackie Chan and other oriental movies as well as Crouching Tiger besides the original Matrix), was a reasonable science fiction movie, but most importantly was one of all the most interesting philosophy fiction movies ever made (in fact, one of the best Internet philosophy sites is the movie's home web site). The third movie, however, was nothing but two looooong fight scenes. One between the humans and the machines and one between the two main characters. There is little plot or character development. I can't exactly tell you why, but when the humans win, you don't feel glad (early, the human General tells how he expect the war will go, and it goes right to plan. Then, it suddenly ends with a single EMP bomb - why didn't they just do this at the beginning?) and when Trinity dies in the arms of Neo, you just want her to hurry up and die. But worst of all, the only philosophy message is that there is no good or bad, only structure and chaos and that both is needed for a system to "work." Moreover, that we are only slaves to our environment, programming, or "charma" without any real freedom to chose. Thus, the massive unemotional killing of innocent people throughout the movies never gets any justification. There have been many movies that in the end made a better effort at comparing humans to machines (AI or Blade Runner, for example). Adding insult to injury is that so many people are suggesting the ending had some sort of Christian allegory only furthering the evidence that no one understands what Christ was about either. It was more Hindu in flavor in suggesting that just being busy is more important than worrying about being "good."
The first two movies were smart, sharp, exciting and developed some of the most interesting and integrated knotted plots that left us all very excited about the possibilities for the conclusion - that made the third movie an especially huge disappointment. The third movie was terribly predictable - the possible outcomes suggested by fans and many philosophy college courses based on the first movie (even at places like Princeton) were all far better than what the Wachowski bothers came up with. The movie undermines everything we thought the movies were about, leaving one feeling not just bored but betrayed. Yuen Ping was still involved, but he was clearly not used much as much of the fight scenes were computer generated. I could have forgiven much of this movie's other sins if they had just made a decent martial arts movie. It was like watching someone else play a video game that goes on and on. The fight scene between Skywalker and Darth Vader, for example, was far more interesting than the final fight between Neo and Mr. Smith. About the only good thing about the movie was that it was so bad that it left an opening for SOMEONE ELSE to make a fourth movie that brings the main story (and many of the minors ones - like the relationship between Morpheus and his former girlfriend) to a different conclusion. The scariest scene of the movie, however, is when the Oracle suggests we haven't seen the end of Neo.
The only people who will want to own this movie are those who believed the producers' hype that the final battle scene was "the most complicated sequence ever made." I would suggest this is one of the year's top movies to miss. The critics have given the movie a C+ (while giving an A- to the first movie and a B to the second), but the feeling of being sold out leaves me giving it a lower grade. The third Lord of the Ring movie (minus the last 30-45 minutes) is a far better alternative selection (proving that a third movie doesn't have to be this bad).
Rating:
Summary: Lame. A major let-down to the original Matrix.
Review: The first movie of this series was by far the best (as is usually the case for most trilogies). The first one was a 5-star masterpiece: it had plenty of symbolism and philosophy, but most importantly, it left the viewer with lots of questions/unknowns which could be imagined -- giving the viewer a chance to think on their own rather than being spoon-fed.
The first Matrix accomplished all of this while providing a high degree of action and excitement. The Matrix sequels have very little of these components so there is little to no overall quality to the experience, unless you happen to be seeking a brainless action flick.
Besides all of this though, whatever happened to the original concept of computer hacking? It somehow turned into a war movie?!
Philosophy from the 1st Matrix: "How do you define real?" What a great concept to deal with in a movie -- reality studied from within an unreal shell. Brilliant!
Philosophy from the 2nd/3rd Matrix: "Some things change, others don't" -LAME! What has changed here is everything good from the 1st one. What has not: the movie industry dishing out pure garbage as long as it makes plenty of money.
Rating:
Summary: Some considerations about Revolutions
Review: Ok so, I don't want to go into a big "blah blah" statement here. I'll try to keep this short. In the first movie Neo is determined to free all humans from their enslavement by machines.In the end he makes a deal with the source to save Zion after it's pretty much destroyed. His deal is to let the machines continue to use humans as an energy source as long as they leave Zion alone. In the first Matrix Neo is "the one", then in the second he isn't the "one", but one of many. Despite this he manages to transgress part of his humanity and actually has the ability to affect the machines in the physical world. In the third he can destroy the machines, and yet when confronted with the source does nothing. He strikes a deal. In the first Matrix, Trinity is knowledgeble, powerful, a leader if only by example. In the second she's still tough, but nearly gets killed. Neo saves her from her untimely death; a death that would have made sense in the second movie. Trinity would have died for a reason, her personal "greater good". In the third movie she dies, because she dies. Her big kiss off is supposed to be alright because she found Neo. whatever. Mr. Smith is a funny albeit normal agent in the first Matrix. In the second he is freed from the enslavement of the Matrix. That part is still kind of a , "huh?" to me, but it's okay because I love his character. In the third movie ,when it looks as though he could wipe out the Matrix, Neo stops him. Why? Losing all humankind is still better than submission to a force that could destroy you at any given time if you ask me. Besides you'd still have Zion, depending on whether or not they did what I'm about to mention. Zion in the first Matrix is the last bastion of humans that the machines can't get to. In the second we see it, and it's a well gaurded city. We then discover they are drilling down. After the machines breach Zion and start swarming in; the human faction engages in closed combat with them. At a certain point in the third movie they use EMP bombs and it decimates a whole room full of squidies (machines). Why not place loads of these bombs while you have time in the second movie, ahead of where they are drilling, and have your forces fall back. It would have been a lot more economical than wasting complex machinery and human lives on an obviously ridiculous battle. In going to a movie I'm asking to be whisked away for my $9. I don't go to a movie, let alone a sci-fi movie to be let down by a character I've invested time, money and aspirations in. I beleived Neo in the first movie when he says, "I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see". When he agrees to let people stay batteries so that a single half destroyed city can stay intact, I'm heartbroken. I feel sold out. It's the equivalent of Luke Skywalker turning to the dark side and killing all his friends at the end of Star Wars, or Sauron getting the ring of power in the end of Lord of the Rings. Here's a little secret 'tween us; what made Lord of the Rings successful besides it's huge preexistant fan base, was that there was lots of hardship and struggle, just like the Matrix, but in the end even if by happenstance and luck the destruction of the ring took place. We got our money's worth, and our dedication and time spent payed off. I would have loved to see a good third Matrix, but alas I was deeply disappointed. My only regret is that I couldn't give this movie zero stars.
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