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The Sequel To A Lesser Movie Favorite Movie Quote: "We've been here before, you and I... Look through the soft gelatin of these dull cow eyes and see your enemy." I've repeatedly heard people in the film business talk about what the audience wants out of a sequel, most agreeing that the sequel must be bigger in scale – I believe the phrase is "raise the bar" (which seldom means quality). In lieu of speaking for everyone else, I'll tell you what I want out of a sequel. Assuming the film was good to start with, I want a logical continuation of the story. If there's no such continuation of the story that seems logical – I'm talking to you Highlander 2 – don't do a sequel. While The Matrix certainly didn't close the door on a sequel, it did lead one to believe that, were we to continue travelling in this rabbit-hole, that we'd be going down into a more complex region, not upwards to a slew of mundane answers. In other words, we didn't get anything out of The Matrix Trilogy, from the standpoint of plot, than we got out of The Matrix Single. While that might not be a deal-breaker from for some, it's still disappointing. The Matrix Revolutions, the continuation of The Matrix Reloaded with a sixth month – epic – intermission, feels like you just stepped out to have a smoke when it picks up right on the heels of Reloaded. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is alongside Smith-possessee and fellow coma patient Bane (Ian Bliss) in the medical wing of the Hammer, with Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) fretting and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) contemplating his lost faith. The machines have almost reached Zion to do their smash and grab for humanity's future. It turns out Neo is in a place between the real world and the matrix, a situation that his cohorts quickly diagnose and solve. Neo, with Trinity by his side, needs to go to the Source to try and do what he knows not, while Morpheus and everyone else head for Zion to do what they can to slow down the machines. I love the conversation between Neo and Rama-Kandra (Bernard White) while they wait for the train, as well as Ian Bliss' take on the role of Smith as he pontificates at Neo (leading me to believe that Bliss may have been someone the filmmakers originally considered for the part). The battle for Zion is one of the cooler sci-fi battle sequences that I can recall, with tons of drama and interesting elements; Kid's (Clayton Watson) purpose, Zee (a smoking Nona Gaye) and her bazooka-buddy Charra (Rachel Blackman, proving cute chicks can be metal), as well as big robots slinging lead – all cool. Plot-wise, however, there isn't a lot going on in this movie. A bunch of answers get provided by the Architect at the end of Reloaded that pretty much tell you exactly what's going to happen. After the battle for Zion there's another kung fu fight between Neo and Smith (Weaving) – only this time in the air and during a rain storm – but the damn thing seems to drag on about five minutes longer than it really needs to. What, exactly, do we get out of watching a slow motion punch as the knuckles pat through each individual drop of rain? I hate to say it, but by the end of Revolutions I was tired of Smith, and the symbolism so subtle in the original was just a slap in the face at the conclusion of Revolutions, just as the hint of even more sequels was a slap in the face. The two Matrix sequels wind up extending the first film without really improving it and since the possibilities for what was going on were limitless, people were more than a little disappointed that the answer was ultimately nothing we didn't know at the end of The Matrix. More money was made, some philosophical science got dropped, and there was certainly no shortage of fighting, explosions, and flipping cars. If The Matrix Revolutions had been just a sci-fi action film, I think I'd have been happier, because when you slap that Matrix label on there I expect perfection, as The Matrix was perfect. Is that fair? Probably not, but that's what I believe. email this review to a friend
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May 20, 2008 5:22 PM
I make a point to watch a movie right before I review it. This has lead to both reminders and surprises, and lets me get some distance from the movie so that I can be objective about it. Consider that I loved The Phantom Menace when I first saw it in the theater and thought The Incredibles was so-so. I now think that The Phantom Menace is decidedly mediocre and The Incredibles could be the best superhero film ever made.