Matrix review - LOTS OF SPOILERS

[myz_lilith]

A lot of the problems of Matrix Reloaded (some of which were, to be fair, the result of it being the second in a trilogy rather than out and out flaws) were dashed. The most sweeping thing being that for myself, I sat and watched Reloaded analytically. There were several pointes where you could nod and say "Mmmm, that was clever" or "That scene was nicely done" but I was never anything other than sat in a cinema watching a film. Whereas Revolutions swept me up and took me for a ride. As it finished I had that moment of "waking" back into the real world, and that's one of the highest pieces of praise I can give a film on it's first showing.

The impetus was suddenly on action again rather than talking. The point where I knew we were back on the ride and accelerating came with Neo trapped in a place he suddenly couldn't control, and Morpheus and Trinity following Seraph to a meeting with the Merovingian to try to bargain for his freedom. The Merovigian demands the eyes of the Oracle in return. I sit there thinking "OK, so first they'll have to do this, but before that can happen someone else will demand something else, and on and on we'll waltz" At which point Trinity grabs the gun, announces there's no time for that shit, and either things happen now or everyone dies. Fuck the quests, fuck the carefully placed word, fuck the raised eyebrow and the knowing smile, fuck the deliberation of the dance. This was going to be a headlong rush down the rabbit hole without a guide, a light or a prayer. This was going to be FAST.

Maybe most importantly, the sense of the invulnerability of the main characters that damped the tension in the second film was gone. You believed they were terrified. You believed they could be hurt. You believed they could die. You believed they were dead.

The fighting in Zion was suddenly vital again rather than simply filling an irrelevant background to the actions of the big saviour. For a large chunk of the film Neo and Trinity were absent from the action and you didn't even miss them. You didn't notice. You were too busy gripping the edge of the seat and living the battles other people were fighting. There was actually a sense that ~everybody~ mattered. Of course you knew (or hoped) at the back of your mind that at some point Neo was somehow going to play a crucial role or else what was the point of having a hero... but there was a genuine fear that there might be nothing left to save. Even though you know films just don't work that way, it still felt possible, which is what counts.

The visuals were stunning, as was probably only to be expected. But the CGI wasn't only incredibly beautiful, it ~worked~. It was part of the action, imbedded in the script, rather than fighting against it. There really were some stand out moments though - the blinded messaiah, the pulsing aerial ballet of the Sentinals, the contrasting visions of the city. This was countered by some stand out moments of excruciating cheese in the dialogue and acting alike, but then it wouldn't quite have been the same without them.

Of course, if you're talking about the Matrix then at some point you have to mention the "intellectual" aspect. Anyone who expects some kind of major philosophical revolution is of course going to be disappointed. The films were never going to be an instant PhD in Twentieth century philosophy and to be fair I don't think they ever had any pretensions at anything beyond a simple "what if?" premise - it's only the over-hyping of the over-enthusiastic that caused the "they're not actually that clever at all" backlash. Cinema is after all a medium of dreams rather than dream-analysis, ideas rather than theorums, suggestions rather than investigations. But with the revelations of the "meaning" of the film at the end in mind, then looking back throughout the trilogy the overall philosophy felt solid, rather than patched together or lumped on at the end, which for me was the important thing. And of course it didn't hurt at all that, to my mind at least, it was an idea I personally subscribe to. Life as choice, and choice as life. The idea that it might be possibly to live by or for love, hope, fear, belief was crushed with a sneer. What was left was that life is the choices you make and the consequences they bring. Everything else begins and ends there.

It was also a major plus that these ideas of the self existing purely in terms of choice were acted out rather than talked out, climaxing wonderfully. The final battle was stunning. The build up was amazing. In spite of the adrenaline that had flowed beforehand, there was still a sudden hit of "this is it!" And again, all of the tension was back. Instead of being a melee, it was back down to Neo against one Agent Smith. The choreography and pacing built tension which kept on rising - each time the combatants crashed to a stop your heart stopped a little. And crashed is an understatement, with the shockwaves battering the cityscape below, above and all around. The peripheral visual imagery was astounding as well. In one brief sequence I picked up references to conception, evolution, DNA, a brief nod to Akira, and the original classic number streams of the Matrix. And the climactic combined victory and defeat tied all the strands together, even the pompus messaianic overtones, in a way that felt ~right~

The only thing we ever actually possess in this world is the choices we make. Even the kind-of-a-happy-ending final scene didn't grate too badly as it left the flims with the same choice they entered on. You could still choose the red pill or the blue pill. And you'd still never be sure that you made the right choice. Which is, after all, kind of the point.

Of course, when I watch it again I might change my mind and decide it's crap ;-) But right now I'm still feeling the buzz and I very much doubt it.