Matrix Revolutions (possible spoilers)

"Mr Anderson, welcome back! We *missed* you...."

Not so long ago, there was a conspiracy theory posted on the boards. This theory stated, in a nutshell, that the third Matrix film would reveal a dazzling plot-twist - that the machines were in fact the losers of their war with the humans; that the matrix was a holding tank for the machines; that the inhabitants of Zion were merely machines who believed that they were human (very Blade Runner), and that the sentinels patrolling the tunnels were controlled by people, as a way of keeping the rogue machines under control.

It shouldn't be much of a spoiler for you when I reveal that, as far as Matrix Revolutions is concerned, this theory is garbage. It's hardly surprising given Hollywood's tendency towards less controversial endings (yes, even the "independent" Wachowskis have to pander to the demands of studio executives) but in a way it's a shame because you can't help feeling that the plot twist would have made for a far more interesting movie. It would certainly have explained an awful lot: the living quarters' uncanny physical resemblance to a gigantic prison block, for one thing - not to mention the incredibly wooden acting from most of its inhabitants.

But sadly, this potentially fantastic idea is not to be. Having discounted existentialist conundrums and endless postulations on what it means to be human what you're left with in this third installment is the Gripping Finale syndrome, and the stakes are raised tenfold as the war with the machines draws nearer to an epic climax. The threat, in this instance, comes from two parts: the seemingly limitless viral replication of the rogue Agent Smith and, outside the matrix, the imminent attack from the machines, who wish to wipe out Zion to curb the growing threat from the rebellion.

If the machines' attacks can be seen as little more than a sensible cleanup operation - a bug extermination - it's left to Smith to be the film's true nemesis. Hugo Weaving balances his deadpan performance in Lord of the Rings by using The Matrix as an opportunity to ham it up as much as (in)humanly possible. He snarls, yells and howls and, in one scene where he's being particularly nasty, breaks into tyrannical Bond-villain laughter, with wild, staring eyes. It's an awesome moment and is just one of the reasons why he's the best thing in the film, but you can't help being left with the impression that Weaving has been watching a little too much Austin Powers.

The rest of the leads were as you found them last time. Fishburne, when he's not wearing dark glasses, always looks as if he's carrying a dirty secret that he's afraid will be revealed at any moment. Carrie Anne Moss remains icy to the end, except in any scenes with her on-screen lover, where she does at least carry enough emotion to make her worthy of better things than the putrid dialogue she's been given. The supporting cast are good enough for what is an expensive sci-fi movie; Mary Alice makes a convincing Oracle, and her physical differences to the late Gloria Foster are at least semi-explained, unlike many soap-opera actor changes. The Merovingian, unfortunately, makes another appearance, although he's mercifully slightly less annoying this time round.

Reeves himself spends most of the film looking fed-up, although after spending most of the second movie in a state of apparent invulnerability it's nice to see him face real challenges for a while - and, indeed, get his arse well and truly kicked once or twice. If The Matrix was about his awakening and Reloaded saw him stuck in a limbo to a certain extent, Revolutions is about destiny and the full realisation of his abilities. It's a shame that to get to this awakening we have to go through some pretty dire ideology, and patronising notions about fate and realising your place in the world, and the necessity for war and confrontation to defeat evil. Listening to an Indian 'program' talk about how "machines need love as well" had already made me feel uncomfortable, but it's hard to watch the rest of the film's gung-ho attitude towards war without thinking about subtext. For a film in which the characters constantly voice their desire for the end of conflict, they seem to be surprisingly willing to engage in it. And that's another thing - how exactly are this lot going to spend their time if the war ends and they're faced with nothing to do all day?

The action sequences themselves are admittedly excellent - an early reversed-gravity encounter paves the way for the final confrontation in the middle of the pouring rain, in a moment that echoes every Western showdown in cinematic history before turning into a dazzling kung-fu battle. Sandwiched between these is the battle for the dock, in which the machines force their way into Zion while the last alliance of men saddle up in the leftover power loaders from Aliens, in a standard triumph-of-human-spirit-overcoming-the-machine's-precision thing. For all its corny American military sentiment and semi-memorable calls to arms, it looks astounding.

It's a shame that the rest of the film can't match up to this: it takes over an hour to warm up to this point and, for all the excitement of the finale, can't quite recover from it. Reloaded was saddled with structural problems and Revolutions is much the same: unlike its immediate predecessor it does build, but in all the wrong places, and the tedium of the expositional dialogue, while thankfully not as excessive as it was in Reloaded, is nonetheless enough to induce a state of boredom. You don't mind them talking, you just wish they had something interesting to say.

I suspect that for all its flaws, this will do huge business, because merely by the nature of it being a sci-fi trilogy it's already been cited as 'epic'. The common complaints that it doesn't explain everything are not to be heeded (there's nothing wrong with ambiguity and I missed the point at which the Wachowskis were obliged to give full and direct reasons for everything they did) but all the same you can't help thinking that at least one or two loose ends should have been tied up: potentially fascinating characters are vastly underused while other, more irritating ones are exploited to the extent that they're no longer interesting. By the end you're as weary and abused as Neo, and leave the cinema revelling in the excitement of a mid-air kung-fu scrap but nursing your disappointment that this trilogy was somehow less than the sum of its parts. One of the more memorable shots in the trailer occurs towards the end of the film, and features a rain-soaked Reeves, facing the camera, declaring "It ends tonight". To which I believe my response was "Oh, thank God".

(Tuesday, 11th November 2003)