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I saw the movie Matrix Revolutions this weekend. If you’re still planning to see it, wait to rent the DVD. I loved the original Matrix film. It had a slick style and opened a whole can of philosophical problems related to defining reality. The second installment deepened the story and the mystery. It got a little carried away with some of the special effects and seemed to have an utter disregard for the primary premise for the human enslavement in the first place. But at least it had one of the best car chases in recent cinema.

The third, and hopefully final installment, in the trilogy loses its focus entirely. It wraps up the plot, but concludes none of the story. There is no character development, and it gets so lost in surreal special effects that you completely lose interest in the battle scenes. It won’t surprise you that they leave open the possibility for additional movies. Hopefully they’ll come to their senses before then and just finish the tale as a comic book. It suddenly fits that genre better.

Terminator 3 was a least a good throwback to the silly sci-fi flicks of the 50’s, albeit with better effects. The new Matrix takes itself dead serious. Go if you must, but plan to really enjoy the popcorn. It’ll be the most satisfying part.

~ Don’t read past here if you don’t want the plot spoiled ~

A few of the problems I have:

– Humans are required as “batteries” to power the machines. Yet machines have ample power for just about anything. Clearly have levitation technology. Can drill deep in the earth. But cannot launch flying or orbital solar collectors? It’s sunny up there over the clouds! They also cannot seem to tap into the extensive geothermal power which lights up Zion.

– They at least offered that the machines have come to depend on the Matrix to lend them purpose. A nice symbiotic angle and one which explains why power may no longer be the reason for enslavement. But they never developed this. If the “machines” are really “programs” that like to live in the virtual Matrix space, then what is the Machine City all about?

– Why does Neo have powers outside the Matrix? He somehow merged with the machines in the end in order to defeat Smith. (He “ascended”, if you go with the religious allegory, after giving himself to save Zion) But that would confirm the machine’s role as “God”. That was everything Neo fought against. Hardly satisfying.

– Given that Zion had invested a lot of technology in defending itself from machine attack, doesn’t it seem odd they didn’t have a few EMPs around? Hell, I’d have had a couple of guns at the door to get the occasional stray sentinel and a few hundred EMPs to defend against annihilation. But that’s just me.