So. Matrix: Revolutions.
Nov. 6th, 2003 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaydeefalls
Okay. Overall, I enjoyed it. I don't think it was a great movie, but it was definitely enjoyable.
Was it a good movie? Hell, I have no idea. Was it enjoyable? Yes. Was it as painful as the second one? No. Was it as incredible as the first one? No. So I guess it evens out to being a decent film. Especially if you don't think of it as a Matrix movie, but rather as a movie that happens to be set in the Matrix universe.
Okay, Revolutions is a war movie, plain and simple. (It helps that I saw it with other members of the cast of Henry V, and we all started reciting the Saint Crispin's Day speech at certain critical junctures.) But, yeah. Format was that of traditional war movie, just presented Matrix!style.
There's a lot of really interesting Christian mythology symbolism going on throughout the movie, and I'm impressed that they included so much more than your average, run-of-the-mill Christ figure. The Frenchman = Satan (love the elevator "Hell" button), Neo = Christ (note his walking-on-water action!), Smith = Antichrist, and so on. I would need to see it again to find all the little references, but there were way more than the obvious ones. Which is cool.
Trinity and Neo had slightly more chemistry than wet gym socks this time, but not enough for me to enjoy the love story. Trinity took far too long to die, and then proceeded to do so in an agonizingly cliched manner.
Neo being blinded was very cool, although the fight with the human!Smith with the darkness and the sparks and the stuff was a bit too reminiscent of certain lightsaber battles in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (note the blue lightning). By the way, kudos to the actor who played human!Smith. He got Hugo Weaving's voice and mannerisms DOWN, yo.
I lurve Hugo Weaving so so so so so much. 'Nuff said.
Let us all mock the way they tried to explain the Oracle actress change. I feel bad for the writers. It was an impossible job, and their explanation was kinda dumb. But amusing!
The ending, while pretty, made me go "Bzuh?" I'm not sure why, but it just didn't WORK for me, and there are a few things I'd kinda like resolved. I usually like open endings, but this one just felt unfinished. Artistic and overly poignant, but unfinished. I dunno. I like all the ideas, and I'm impressed that they killed off Neo (it was so very necessary for him to die that I'm surprised I didn't realize it sooner, and it worked very well, and I'm glad they didn't make it a cheesy happy Neo-rebirth thing).
Other random notes: the Kid annoys me, Morpheus didn't do shit, Link didn't do enough, the commander guy's little war speech was teh grateness omg (also inspired a round of "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!"), I wanted more of the Frenchman and his henchmen dammit, some of the fights sucked ass, other fights were okay but not as good as I'd hoped, machines are scary bastards, why were they fighting in transformers with no protection for the guys inside?, and I LOVE YOU HUGO WEAVING. I think that about covers it.
There are lots of other things I wanted to talk about, but I can't remember them right now. Maybe I'll think of them later. I enjoyed the movie far more than I'd expected to, and I recommend it with a caution not to expect too much. But, yeah, I feared far worse. And there are a lot of extremely mockable things in this movie, but that's okay -- camp, glorious camp, how I love thee.
Was it a good movie? Hell, I have no idea. Was it enjoyable? Yes. Was it as painful as the second one? No. Was it as incredible as the first one? No. So I guess it evens out to being a decent film. Especially if you don't think of it as a Matrix movie, but rather as a movie that happens to be set in the Matrix universe.
Okay, Revolutions is a war movie, plain and simple. (It helps that I saw it with other members of the cast of Henry V, and we all started reciting the Saint Crispin's Day speech at certain critical junctures.) But, yeah. Format was that of traditional war movie, just presented Matrix!style.
There's a lot of really interesting Christian mythology symbolism going on throughout the movie, and I'm impressed that they included so much more than your average, run-of-the-mill Christ figure. The Frenchman = Satan (love the elevator "Hell" button), Neo = Christ (note his walking-on-water action!), Smith = Antichrist, and so on. I would need to see it again to find all the little references, but there were way more than the obvious ones. Which is cool.
Trinity and Neo had slightly more chemistry than wet gym socks this time, but not enough for me to enjoy the love story. Trinity took far too long to die, and then proceeded to do so in an agonizingly cliched manner.
Neo being blinded was very cool, although the fight with the human!Smith with the darkness and the sparks and the stuff was a bit too reminiscent of certain lightsaber battles in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (note the blue lightning). By the way, kudos to the actor who played human!Smith. He got Hugo Weaving's voice and mannerisms DOWN, yo.
I lurve Hugo Weaving so so so so so much. 'Nuff said.
Let us all mock the way they tried to explain the Oracle actress change. I feel bad for the writers. It was an impossible job, and their explanation was kinda dumb. But amusing!
The ending, while pretty, made me go "Bzuh?" I'm not sure why, but it just didn't WORK for me, and there are a few things I'd kinda like resolved. I usually like open endings, but this one just felt unfinished. Artistic and overly poignant, but unfinished. I dunno. I like all the ideas, and I'm impressed that they killed off Neo (it was so very necessary for him to die that I'm surprised I didn't realize it sooner, and it worked very well, and I'm glad they didn't make it a cheesy happy Neo-rebirth thing).
Other random notes: the Kid annoys me, Morpheus didn't do shit, Link didn't do enough, the commander guy's little war speech was teh grateness omg (also inspired a round of "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!"), I wanted more of the Frenchman and his henchmen dammit, some of the fights sucked ass, other fights were okay but not as good as I'd hoped, machines are scary bastards, why were they fighting in transformers with no protection for the guys inside?, and I LOVE YOU HUGO WEAVING. I think that about covers it.
There are lots of other things I wanted to talk about, but I can't remember them right now. Maybe I'll think of them later. I enjoyed the movie far more than I'd expected to, and I recommend it with a caution not to expect too much. But, yeah, I feared far worse. And there are a lot of extremely mockable things in this movie, but that's okay -- camp, glorious camp, how I love thee.
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-06 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-06 04:52 pm (UTC)This is the first thing that was said when we got to the theater and saw the poster. And, as it turned out, the answer is that if Captain Mifune were protected, we would not have gotten to see him die heroically and gruesomely quite so plausibly.
Also: I LOVE YOU HUGO WEAVING is a thought I heartily second.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-07 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-07 12:25 am (UTC)