Movie Reviews from Hell
Matrix Revolutions
| Director: | Wachowski Brothers |
|---|---|
| Year: | 2003 |
| Rating: |
 |
If you look at most reviews of Revolutions, you'll notice that there's more empty stars than full. The third film was not recieved very well by critics.
However, from the few people I've talked to, including reading commentary by audiences on various review sites, so far it seems that the public is recieving the film generally well. I've already heard a few people say they enjoyed it much more than the second film.
But, no matter how much I want to "believe" (still not sure if that's just a function of marketing or genuine feelings), I must take a plunge and agree with the critics this time. Maybe I have that feeling in the back of my mind telling me "there's something not right here."
I must admit, I was a bit dissapointed.
From the first to the second film, we lose the whole "mind blowing fascination" feeling we had after watching it. Fine. But the second film still retained the wonderful lighting, great characters (quirky as they may be, but you gotta love em), and that trademark Matrix feel.
From the second to the third film, though, we now lose a lot of the character and lighting too. For the most part, we've lost a large chunk of what makes a film "The Matrix."
In film one and two, we spend most of our time "jacked in." The Wachowski Brothers excel at making the Matrix what it is, and everything that happens inside of it is awesome. There's the action & cinematography, but what I really love about it is the mastery of subtle lighting technique. I particularily love the lighting used on Morpheus when he sits in the dusty red chair in the second film, dealing out prophetic mumbo-jumbo. That was unbeatable.
But in the third release, we spend most of our time outside of the Matrix - in the "real" world of the machines and underground. The "real" world is mostly very dark, with blue lightning, red eyes, and yellow bullet tracers to light the way.
Keep in mind that the use of a dark environment isn't just to reinforce the idea that machines are evil, it makes for much easier (and speedier) post & VFX. In the dark, it's hard to pick out problems and shortfalls in the animation and models on screen. If you watched the same sequences rendered in broad daylight, I bet there would be a slew of problems with them. This drab (and frankly less interesting) lighting is one of the key things I think "flattened" the promise of a deeper rabbit hole.
The second thing is that the Wachowski Brothers tried to hastily cash in on emotional value of the situation. Hastily, I regret, is the emphasis of my last statement, and refers to not only the outcome of this perogative, but the production schedule that led to the outcome.
I think the idea was for us to see the softer side of the characters that we've come to know as dry-speaking, robotically confident people. You've seen a taste of this already in the second film with the people of Zyon, but I'm referring more specifically to Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity. It felt like the Brothers wanted to strip away all the capes and sunglasses and dig into whatever "human" was still left inside of them, to ultimately develop this into a passionate care for the fate of the characters and Zyon.
Too little, too late.
What this did was kill the zeal of the characters and make the fate of Zyon more laughable, on top of the already growing indifference to their cause.
Overall I feel the movie was very flat. After the first 20 minutes, I got this feeling in the back of mind mind telling me that the movie wasn't going to "pick up" in the same way the first two films did.
Further into the movie, I realized that the nagging feeling was the realization that this was an action movie, with spectacular effects sequences. (note period.) On it's own, it would of been far more successful. But the Brothers hit the nail on the head so well with the first film, that it's impossible to ever compare to it with a sequel. I will never forget how I felt after watching the first movie.
I wouldn't have minded if the Wachowski brothers took more time on the third film. I could of easily waited till next summer/fall to watch the third installment, provided they're going to make it worth waiting for.
But who knows? Maybe they were getting tired? Despite the great responsibility they have to their audience, they're already rich from the first two films. Maybe they just wanted to get it done and over with so they could finally enjoy a vacation?