enough with the matrix, already
listening to: Casanova from the album "Country Life" by Roxy Music (testing kung-log's iTunes thing)
Instead of thinking about and working on a meaningful final project for my class, last night I went to see the final (hopefully) installment of The Matrix trilogy -- The Matrix Revolutions. Hey, I had to see how it ends!
I don't feel like giving a real review, but I'll say that it is an exciting action movie, if that's what you're into. Unfortunately, when taken in the context of a trilogy, it sucks. I think most of the audience didn't care what happened to Neo, Trinity, and the rest of the gang. In fact some people behind me were cracking MST3K style jokes during the supposedly poignant scene of Trinity's death (oops! I just spoiled the movie! eh, get over it.) We're supposed to believe that Neo and Trinity are bound by some infinite love, yet their characters seem linked only by their mutual affinity for leather pants, sunglasses, and cold stares. If anything, it's a dysfunctional relationship that induces more unintended comedy than empathy.
I actually liked the pseudo-philosophical themes in The Matrix, but Revolutions takes it to a corny, pretentious level. Yeah, we get the whole messiah theme. Just in case you don't understand the message by now, the directors repeatedly pound you over the head with the metaphors. Thanks. Some other reviewers mentioned something about the "guess what I'm talking about" language that the characters loved to use. But I think that innuendo backfires when the audience doesn't care about the characters in the first place. It's hard to be interested in their silly dialog.
One interesting bit was the huge, mechanical, talking Teletubby baby-sun face in the machine city. Just imagine this guy made of thousands of little machines rather than a baby head 
. Pretty scary, huh?
I'd give credit to the special effects wizzes behind this movie. The effects and action are certainly impressive; it's just the character development and plot that stink. That's all. But you can't have everything.
The open-ended conclusion reveals more questions that no one will care about. Will Neo rise from the dead again? (oops, more spoilers!) What will happen to the inhabitants of Zion? Were they really inside the matrix the whole time? What's reality and what's the matrix? Will the directors take a page from George Lucas and create another trilogy in 20 years (The Matrix: Resurrection, The Matrix: Rematerialized, The Matrix: Retarded)?
Personally, by the end of the movie, I was hoping that the earth would be destroyed by the Death Star. At least then we'd have a decent resolution to this charade. Instead we'll be subjected to The Matrix: Resolution in 2025. Either that or we'll be enslaved in a real matrix-like dystopia. I can't decide which is worse.