By: The Dweeb

April 2004

DVD Features Video: 2.40:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital 2.0, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Revolutions Recalibrated – The making of this final chapter CG Revolution – The incredible special effects arsenal Super Burly Brawl – Behind the final Neo/Smith showdown Future Gamer: The Matrix Online – A look at the Matrix Online multiplayer game Before the Revolution – Matrix timeline 3-D Evolution – Multidimensional stills gallery Theatrical release:10/27/2004 DVD released on 4/6/2004 by Warner Bros. Running time of 129 minutes Starring:  Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Keanu Reeves Director: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski Plot: It is a dark time for the world. Neo is trapped in the “Train Station”, between the Matrix and the Source. Zion is doomed to be crushed under an unstoppable army of countless Sentinels. But it is not only the human race that is in peril. The machines press ever onward against the humans, unaware that one force within the Matrix has slowly been growing, and has taken over that world completely: Smith. There is only one hope for both races, the one force that can stop Smith, and that is Neo. One final battle must ensue. And the outcome of this battle will decide the fate and future of both races.

Ok, here we are, this is it. I’ve waited months to see the final outcome of this story, I’m ready to jack back into The Matrix. I’m ready to see the ultimate kick ass battle between man and machine, and some more mind numbing philosophy. I’m ready dammit! Well? Where is it? What the hell is this? This is not the movie I ordered? Hey! Where is my movie? Sadly, after all that buildup, a fairly good movie in Reloaded, the Wachowski’s have managed to deflate this story into a large pile of celluloid goo. At least there weren’t as many product shots in this one.

This film was very flat, and to be quite honest, really boring! After all the posturing, the mind exploding philosophical talk of what is real, about fate etc. we get none of that. Most of the movie is spent as a shoot em up, that gets old real quick. Even the final showdown between Agent Smith and Neo is not much compared to their last encounter. Heck, I think we maybe only saw a couple instances of the signature effect “bullet time”. The rest of the film seemed to filled with cheese and more cheese. I wanted to see the exciting conclusion, and then it ends? Wait a second, that’s it? I felt cheated at the ending, as most people did judging by the drubbing this film took. Many questions were left unanswered, of course opening up the possibility of even more films. In fact, I thought the whole thing was rather lame and a complete cop out on the writers part. When were the Ewoks going to appear to have a party? Sorry, i hope I didn’t give anything away.

All the old favorite characters are back, sort of. Unfortunately to me, I felt the film did not spend enough time with main characters. We barely see Neo or Morpheus or Agent Smith, they take a back seat to some dumb kid who can’t load a gun worth squat. Then in typical Hollywood shtick he of course goes on to save the day. Who couldn’t see that coming? Way too much time was wasted on the horribly acted Commander Lock (Harry Lennix), or the overly dramatic Mifune (Nathaniel Lees). Yeah yeah, we know your the tough guy. This film suffers because there were too many minor characters getting too much screen time.

Another thing that did bother me, (yes I know the original actress passed away before filming) was the explanation given for the new Oracle. She mumbles something about gambling and losing, but was there really any explanation at all? If they couldn’t come up with something good, why bother mentioning it in the first place.

Once again Warner’s has put out a 2 disc edition of this movie, just like with the other two. The quality of the video and sound are of course excellent. The picture is very crisp for such a dark movie. The second disc is packed with all kinds of extras, very similar to Reloaded. Nothing new or exciting to see here. As far as most DVD’s go, this one is par for the course. No surprises are on here, and you can bet that the box set is not far behind.

Reviewer’s Opinion: RENT IT!!