It’s funny how hard people are being on the third Matrix installment. Boring, they say. Tedious, they say.
Well, I’m going to risk pointing out the obvious here and then tonight I’ll go see it and see if my theory plays out.
I think this movie is going to be every bit as good as the first two. I think the problem people are having isn’t with a bad movie. It’s that they already know the world. The exploration and wonder is gone. Just like a video game, once you’ve explored the world all you have to do is pull all the pieces together, and that’s more or less just work so you can see how it all comes out in the end.
That’s my theory. Well, there’s another part to that theory which holds that all sequels are subject to the same jaded critique. Not that there aren’t all sorts of bad sequels out there. It’s just that we already have more than half the exposition out of the way. We get a few twists and turns based on the groundwork that has already been laid, but how much WOW can you pack in without fundamentally changing the story you worked so hard to set up in the first place?
Matrix:Revolutions isn’t here to lay new ground. It’s here as the finale to the trilogy (or the Prologue & Part One & Two if you will).
I guess I’m lucky enough to have a very flexible imagination. My suspension of disbelief is a force unto itself. Rather scarily so, sometimes. I can go into a movie and where everyone else is shredding it I’ll be sitting back and enjoying something I knew perfectly well wasn’t going to be trying for any academy awards.
Look at Pirates of the Caribbean. I don’t know if anyone had anything really positive to say about it. Me, on the other hand- I knew it was a summer movie. I knew it was relying heavily on Johnny Depp & whatsisname for star power. I knew that aside from some wikkid visual effects there wouldn’t be much you could say in favour of the movie critically.
But I thoroughly enjoyed it. A good swashbuckler. Satisfactory summer fare.
Look at it this way- Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels was in & out of the theaters with barely a ripple, and it went on to become a monster cult flick strong enough to spawn a very popular sequel.
The sequel, mind you, was panned by most of the original movie’s fans.
I think they could have done better. It didn’t have a complete feel to it… too many missing parts.
Mind you, they could have done a lot worse too.
COMMENT:
I still stand by my hatred of “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Depp looked like he was trying to surpress a GHB flail throughout the entire film.
I fell ASLEEP at it, dammit! Maybe your ability to suspend belief is actually a poorly-installed crap filter. :)
You know I jest, and I love, and I love some more. Love, love.
Good points about peoples’ expectations at sequels, though~!
Well, I was right. The movie delivered wikkid action and stunning effects. I’ll grant you that at times they tried a bit too hard with the effects, knowing they had to deliver something new. That said, I really enjoyed it, in spite of a fairly predictable ending. And I’ll even say it: the death? I’m kinda glad it happened. A bitter taste to the miracle is a good thing.
I’m not so sure I forgive the loose ends though. Like most of the reviews I’ve been reading I’m a little resentful they found it necessary to go that way. I mean, sure, you could argue that the whole point was that it’s a never-ending cycle (no, that’s not the spoiler it looks like), but I just don’t think it was necessary. They could have tied it off and left us satisfied.
On the whole, I recommend. All you have to do is go in knowing it is what it is, and you’ll enjoy it. I was happy to get some nagging questions answered.
I may not see it again in the theatres, but in a few years when we’re all raving about what a brilliant trilogy it is (having forgotten the grumbling we’ve been doing right now) I’ll be happy to watch it again, maybe even a few more times.
That was the POINT Jester! He was supposed to look like he was a tick away from DDTs =) I thought he was awesome.
I got just about everything I expected out of revolutions. I didn’t see the big holes Chu was talking about. This isn’t the type of movie to be watched only once. Pardon me for going here but: Stairway to Heaven wasn’t a song made to be heard only once. Understand? There is so much symbolism in that song english students have done their thesis’ on it.
I don’t wish to draw a direct comparison, so I shall leave it there, but you have to remember the creators of this movie have run it over and over and over so I doubt they left holes. I don’t think things were absent, I think there were just things that I missed. I look at it like the puzzle is there, I just have to figure it out.
Then again I loved ‘Dude Where’s my Car?’ and there wasn’t anything to figure out there, and that was the point.
*points at gurton*
Yeah! What he said!
I’m trying to not spoil anything… but the one thing that people didn’t like about reloaded is that it leaves you with so many questions and then they’re not answered in revolutions… they just go, unanswered.
In a couple weeks we have to have this conversation again, because all of my important questions were answered. There were a couple big ones left open, but that was intentional so I just shrug.
hmmmm, I have yet to see the second movie in this trilogy, and have few memories of the first. So when I do get to see the second and third installments, it will be on the basis that each movie has to stand on it’s own as a complete piece. Nice that it has referrence to the others, but much more important that each film is a complete story. But, I will prolly rent Scarey Movie 3 before anything else :)