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The Matrix Revolutions (Full Screen Edition)

The Matrix Revolutions (Full Screen Edition)

List Price: $19.96
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The abridged version...
Review: Having just written the OED on "Revolutions" (the "Big Picture" a phrase my retirement from business exempts me from most gratefully; you've no idea how many execs nearly became castrati because they wouldn't stop blithering cliches...), I realize I left out some details.

First: Larry Fishburne (that's what he called his sixteen year old self on "Apocalypse Now") brings is classy classicim to a role that could have easily given vent to an actor's worst temptation to overact (for an example of overacting, see Diane Sawyer's attack piece, er, interview with Mel "I Made 300M bucks and you can kiss my..." Gibson.

He brings the gravitas of Henry II (whom he's played on Broadway) and the humanity of the best of officers compounded with the desperate dedication of the fanatic. A bravura performance.

Jada Pinkett Smith brings a gritty, edgy performance to balance Neo's omnipresent calm exterior. I found her performance most enjoyable. She really made me believe she was piloting a hovercraft down a tiny maintenance shaft. Even with the age difference, I saw some real chemistry between her and Fishburne, age difference not withistanding.

Captain Roland is played wonderfully as the frustrated commander who knows he's in over his head yet refuses to recognize it. Fine acting.

Finally, the man who played Bane has not received his critical due. The fan reviewer who pointed out his mastery of Weaving's gestures was dead on the money. But it was more uncanny than that. It shows an eye for detail, for he captures not just Smith's vocal and facial expressions, but his gestures and body language; even the contempt seems Smith's. I hope we can expect big things from this actor in the future.

"The Siege" is one of the best of a spate of intense battle scenes from the last decade plus, from Omaha Beach in "Private Ryan", to the "final" confrontation in "The Patriot," to the final shootout in "The Usual Suspects" to the two big heist scenes in "Heat," the entrance in to the hell of German-occupied Stalingrad at the beginning of "Enemy at the Gates." Those were even more overwhelming because something very much like them (we can forgive Dean Devlin's ignorance of the rolling fire technique used by British platoons instead of the "all at once" volleys we see in "The Patriot"; this gave the Brits the advantage of pouring constant fire into enemy lines--as they did to Old Guard at Waterloo--who had to stop, unload, en masse and then fire en masse; the British weren't the best soldiers in Europe for two hundred years for nothing!).

Yes "The Siege" is stunning, overwhelming. But how else could an attack by a quarter million murderous robots be?

Never look for reasons to hate a work of art. If that's what you're doing, then you're running an agenda, not appreciating art. If you don't like it, fine. Cogetn criticism can make even the dedicated fan appreciate his favorite work of art. But in this case, there is too much good and too little bad for the latter to matter.

'Tis a pity the pedants and nitpickers never figure this out.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Stunning, masterful, best sf films in years...
Review: As with any genre, science fiction (sf) has certain themes which lesser writers have used so often they've degenerated into cliches or parody. Time travel is the most obvious. Berman's Star Trek used time travel so often it's become a joke. That the last two NexGen movies discarded it altogether is proof that this hoary cliche has been exhausted.
The other great theme of the genre is the 'revolt of/from the machines, a time when our own creations would achieve sentience and attempt to destroy us. This goes back to Colossus of the Sixties, Battlestar Galactica in the Seventies and the 2000s. Even the first hacker movie "War Games" central theme was that of a sentient computer run wild, the human element removed from the loop.
The Machine theme resonates more everyday. Technology begins to speed past the limits of the comprehensible, invades literally every corner of our lives, from the most public to the most private acts,
The reliance on ever more sophisticated computers grows geometrically despite the fluctuations of the business cycles. Every year, nearly every day, some new gadget is proffered even if there is tangible reason for its existence or purpose. Even though our most sophisticated computers are still nothing but series of switches which open and shut and greater or slower speed, "intelligent software" that which can "learn" is still really just matter of processor and bus speed. Scientists debate whether such machine intelligence is even possible. Never the less, the reassurances of the eggheads can do little against what the heart fears.
Yet the Brothers W have taken this increasingly hackneyed-but real-fear of our machines and produced the ultimate dystopia. In fact, in a tyranny so foul that even a mind of winter such as Stalin's could never have conceived it. Human beings are no longer valued for anything but units of heat and electricity. The mind is controlled, imprisoned, yet always aware, at some deep level, that the world its senses report isn't real. The Architect confirms this in "Matrix Reloaded." We are cleverly led to infer that the Oracle is in fact an "agent provocateur" whose task is to lead the resistance and Zion to destruction. The Architect also revealed that the Matrix was not two hundred, but more probably closer to six hundred years old. A grim, insane, genocidal drama, Neo learns, has been played on a ruined Earth simply to satisfy a computer's insane compulsion to solve the equation that makes mankind's slavery permanent and irresistible; "inevitable" Agent Smith might say.
In "The Matrix" we are shown a world is a nightmare scenario sending chills precisely because it is so logical. In the "The Matrix Reloaded" the lesson of looking beyond what our assumptions tell us to the real truth and we are left bewildered, like the characters, as to the motives not only of their fellow humans but now even the machines are revealed to be in conflict. It is made clear that machines can't even control themselves. Programs hack each other, create their own "constructs" and in every way add indigestible variables to the Architect's precious equation. Like all evil creatures of genius he lies by telling the truth. But which truth? Which choice?
"Revolutions" moves slowly, with the dynamism of the action scenes and the emotional intensity of the exposition, it builds to the shattering climax that must be. Zion is now directly under attack. As producer Joel Silver reveals in one of the lamer extras, "The Siege" of Zion, 17 minutes of film, cost fifty or sixty million dollars.
And every dollar was well spent. The battle scenes literally overwhelm even on computer monitors or smaller TVs. Add to this the well-acted desperation of the human fighters and you have a battlefield reality nearly as grim as Spielberg's or Arnaud's. The stalwart defense, seemingly succeeding, is crumbled in an instant when tens of thousands of sentinels literally flood Zion's ship dock like mushrooming hordes of locust. If you don't gasp at this, you may have lost your capacity for wonder.
The scene quickly exhausts superlatives. I won't spoil the ending or reveal the fate of any major characters. But in year in which ANY film would have been thrown into the shade by Jackson's completion of the "Lord of the Rings" film, "Matrix Revolutions" shouldn't be overlooked. George Lucas needs a copy of all three of these films immediately. This Star Wars fan-who's already ordered his DVD trilogy of Eps 4,5 &6 (Ewoks are just my cross to bear)-desperately hopes he's seen them. Because the W Brothers have raised the special effects bar in sf so high that only a repetition of Star Wars' groundbreaking, industry-shaking impact can he reclaim his place as Lord of SF films. Right now the title is up for grabs because we haven't seen, and won't for a year, Episode 3.
As much as I love the "Matrix", part of me is still that five year old boy, sitting in a movie theater, in awed silence, as that star destroyer fills the screen in Star War's opening shot. I had never seen anything like and I know I never will. Perhaps the "failed" expectations are ours not, not his. I know that Lucas still has a grand slam left in him, that the "kids" (hell they're my age!) do not have sole possession of the field yet. But if Ep 3 fails to exceed expectations, then the field will be wide open and the Brothers W will have it all to them selves; that and crappy, bloated comic book knockoffs.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Don't worry. It's really good.
Review: I agree with everyone else who disagrees with everyone who has seen the movie and gave it one star because it didn't transport them into a new stage of consciousness.

This is a very good, very cool, fun movie. Good ending to the series. A lot more action and a better story line than the second one, which was pretty darn good, too.

The first is still best, though. The first one gets 5 stars. "Revolutions" gets 4.5. "Reloaded" gets 4.

Go see it at IMAX if you can. Otherwise, buy this DVD NOW!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: should see this movie... but its pretty sucky
Review: The Matrix trilogy isn't an awful movie... but by no means is it a great one. This movie is filled with interesting fight scenes and characters you can love, and love to hate but (which im sure im not going to be the last to say this) the acting is very poor. I found myself zoning out until the next fight scene. and even then, though the graphics were good, you could tell exactly when the cut scenes and where the graphics took over, it lacked a smooth transition. Its a trilogy that needs to be watched, but it shouldnt be highly rated.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: many classic elements
Review: I could be very long-winded about this movie, but I;ll try not to be. In quality it's very comparable to the Star Wars movies: that is, it has some parts that get boring and a number of corny lines. But also like Star Wars, it has an almost classical sense of drama, with very poignant elements. At the end, Neo is blind and alone and has nothing left to lose; even Trinity, whose love literally kept him alive, is gone. It's both sad and strangely heroic. He embodies an uncrushable human spirit in his face-off with the evil program Smith, who tries to strip him of hope and purpose, but in the end is defeated by Neo's final sacrifice.
So, despite the excessively drawn-out battle sequence in the middle (which, cool as it is, is still only a numbing sensory assault after a while), this movie struck me as quite powerful. Deus Ex Machina, the Neo-Smith showdown, and the possessed Bane, all struck me as great story elements reminiscent of Greek myths and various other good literature, which will no doubt make this movie a sci-fi classic. I would also like to add that despite his deadpan acting through most of the Matrix Trilogy (which is obviously intentional, cause frankly how cool would Neo be if he wasn't unshakably calm?) I see nothing wrong with Keanu Reeves' performance during Trinity's death scene. The emotion looked real enough that I felt sorry for him, so maybe he's not the bad actor so many say he is. Anyway, I guess I haven't really been that brief. Just watch it; you might like it as much as me or you might not.
"Why, Mr. Anderson, why?"

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Finale....That's all there is to it
Review: Revolutions provides closure to the series. That's the only purpose of the movie. There are no new special effects that set the movie industry by storm, no suspense, no thrills. One thing that this movie promises is the ending, and some people think it's disappointing. Buy this just for collection purposes.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Matrix Revolutions = 1hr50min fight scene
Review: The Matrix series started out so promising -- the 1st chapter was such a unique idea that the potential directions for sequels were exciting & virtually limitless. The bizarre direction that the Wachowski brothers chose for Reloaded & Revolutions is just baffling. Call me an idiot if you want because it's probably true, however, I know a stinker when I see one.

In Reloaded, we were treated to much more of the outstanding visual effects that were started in The Matrix, but after watching Reloaded for awhile, the movie started to become stale as if the story were really going nowhere. Then came the scene with the architect. How many people, in a theater full of people, could focus on, comprehend, and process the mind-numbing gobblty-goop spewing from his word-hole that was apparently important to the storyline? Sure, you can follow his speech better while sitting at home watching the DVD, but is that why you go to the movies? To wait for the DVD?

While Reloaded was just o.k., it was a gem compared to Revolutions. With this movie, I feel that the series truly went down in flames. The 1st half-hour of the movie involved the gang trying to rescue Neo from some sort of ridiculous virtual train station that had nothing to do with this movie or the series as a whole. Why was this put in the movie at all? Well, the continuous, non-stop, and boring fight scene that made up the rest of the movie only lasted 90min, so they obviously needed some filler material. The extended apocalyptic battle between Neo & Smith was so over-the-top that I started laughing, but even this short-lived amusement faded after the scene went on for another 40 min. The battle for Zion was actually alright, if too long, and the scenes above the surface in the machine city were interesting as well. However, the ending to the movie and the series was abrupt and unsatisfying, leaving very little closure for people who have been big fans of the Matrix series.

I hate to see this happen to a movie series that starts out so promising. All I can say is, if you are a fan of the Matrix, watch that movie again instead of this one.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Horrid film
Review: This was the worse out of all the Matrix movies. I say this because it was like a rip off of the Star Wars series starting with chapter 4 "A New Hope". Same story lines,same hero super powers (holding the hand out and controlling objects) and same dull effects. A lot of blue screen (or chromo effects) in this and they where done very slopply. The bullet time effects was (thank god) at a min. The story line continued to drag along leaving the action to die down. Why was this story line needed to be put into 3 different movies? This movie could have been wrapped up in maybe one or two movies . After a while the action got perdictable. Just a string of hollywood greed and a huge waste of time. Save your money rent it first or watch Star Wars instead !!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful Philosophy
Review: The Matrix series is based off of several philosophical and mystical sources: gnosticism, Nietzche and Buddhism. This movie, is faster, and more action packed, but still covers philosophical questions concerning reality. Philosophy 101 in blockbuster format.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Mediocre Movie, Good DVD
Review: I know a lot of people are passionate about how AWESOME this movie is. I also know a lot more people that think this movie simply sucked. I am in a neutral position about Revolutions. The first hour is good but then the movie gradually decline. People take very long to die, scenes become long and drawn out and lines start to be stupid. I especially disliked The Kid who seemed to cheesy running around screaming "The Wars over Neo Did it Yay!" and other equally bad lines like that throughout. Also things are still not fully explained about Smith exploding. The Wachowski Brothers allude to solutions but people are still confused about the ending. One person that i know actually thought the Matrix blew up!

Anyway the DVD itself is better then the movie. The picture is great and the menus are as good as Reloaded. There are much more featurettes then Reloaded and they are all interesting to watch and informative. The White Rabbit thing was a plus too. So in conclusion if you have the other two movies buy it but otherwise I heard that the box set is going to have more then 9 hours of stuff and explain the Matrix trilogy.


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