I just watched The Matrix Revolutions yesterday; so in some way, this post is a sequel to previous post. I started by interpreting the film as an anime story, but I found this approach not so successful this time. Maybe I'm getting less imaginative.
On the other hand, I did get some new understanding of the film on this rewatch. I didn't understand where the revolution is in Revolutions. I thought the film ended with just another cycle starting. But yesterday I thought maybe Neo did do things differently from previous Ones. Maybe in previous iterations Smith didn't get free. Maybe Neo (and everyone else) is actually tricked by the Oracle just to make some changes to the Matrix (the next to final scene suggests that there are some changes that the Architect is not happy about). However, I don't agree that the change is a revolution, though. To me it is simply a change. Perhaps my understanding of the word "revolution" is warped?
Anyway, the film further downgraded my impression of Neo as a figure. I thought he was the center of the Matrix storyline. I think the Oracle is actually the central figure. Neo is just an actor in her plan.
All in all, I think Revolutions fails as a film because it fails to convey so many things essential to understanding the story.
The biggest thing it fails to convey is the "revolutions" to the Matrix in the end. It could have shown people who want to be free actually get freed. Or a short scene of the freed people restarted human community in the real world. Perhaps even communication between friends, some of whom want to be free and others choose to stay in the Matrix?
Another big thing it fails to convey is the Smiths as an unstoppable threat to the Matrix and, therefore, the machines. So what if he infects everyone in the Matrix? What can the Smiths do to actually crash the Matrix? Divide by zero?
And perhaps what happens to Neo at the end adds to my questioning Revolutions' quality as a film. So the trilogy hooks us to this main character, Neo, and you cannot give him a satisfying end? Why?
On hindsight, perhaps Revolutions was one of the films that made me cynical about films with good-looking visual effects.
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