Matrix Revolutions is a fitting end to the Matrix trilogy. Every plot point is not resolved explicitly and this is more of a gift than a curse. At the same time, Revolutions is not as consistently stylish, engaging or groundbreaking as the first and second movies. It's certainly a movie you'll begin to appreciate more the day after you see it, but not likely one you'll want to watch repeatedly for its visceral thrills. There are substantial issues with the narrative that feel like opportunities lost, yet, in the end, it is a clever and appropriate conclusion to the saga of the Matrix. h3. *** Spoilers ***

h3. "Quelle bonne surprise, n'est pas?" You've had six months to noodle over the events of Matrix Reloaded and you've just endured half an hour of pre-feature advertising in expectation of a definitve ending to the Matrix trilogy. As a final statement on all the issues and puzzles raised in the saga, Matrix Revolutions is probably not what you were expecting. I have a feeling that the harshest critics of this movie were looking for a movie entitled Revelations or Resolutions. Instead, Revolutions doesn't wrap up the Matrix saga with an explanation writ in ALL CAPS on a neon billboard. In fact, what is left unstated or rendered ambiguous by Revolutions is probably the most redeeming part of this movie and the series as a whole. Once you don't confuse the purposeful lack of explicit answers with your other gripes about the movie--Revolutions is not as astounding for action scenes and stylish cinematics as its predecessors--this is the type of movie that's best left to bounce around in your head before you pass judgement on it. Your mind doesn't have to be made entirely decided for an ending to have done its job. h3. "I don't have time for this shit." There are two types of flaws in Revolutions. The first is due to the inevitablity of diminished returns affecting a trilogy such as this. Particulary, the fight-scenes suffer from unexceptional intensity not just because they're not as groundbreaking but also because they are not able to convey developments with characters or the plot that are as striking as in the past. Once Neo plunks the three agents in Reloaded and stuns us with his Superman schtick, we are all aware that all his subsequent entanglements are no-brainers. It's not quite a story-telling failure but rather the type of scenario that makes you just shrug your shoulders at the Wachowskis' lack of options. The second variety of flaws in this movie are not so easy to dismiss; they are pure failures in storytelling and are garrishly inconsistent with the better engineered elements of the film. Most of the action outside of the Matrix is too conventional or repetitive to sustain fascination: the traditionally gritty battle for Zion, the Hammer's interminably long "dash" home. Much of the sticking points with the drama simply represent opportunites lost or pacing squandered: the Merovingian and Trainman's lack of impact, Trinity's prolonged death, overplaying Kid and Zee's exploits relative to characters which obviously were more interested in--heck, is Morpheus even in this movie? What's doubly frustrating is how these poor decisions and sloppy executions made it into the same movie that put together such cinematically honed and conceptually tight scenes as Rama-Kandra's elucidating exchange with Neo. I don't care much about excruciatingly elongated fights in the real world. Was the battle for Zion a spectacle? I suppose so, but that doesn't mean that it didn't take long before the point was made and the visuals simply weren't interesting anymore. Why? Because the unstated star in each of these movies is the Matrix itself damnit! Yes, you have to convey important plot points in the real world but the real payoff, both visually and intellectually, occurs in the digital thought experiment that is the Matrix. There's no outstanding reason why so much of Zion's plight couldn't have occurred off-screen and given us more time inside the environment that contains the style and substance for the trilogy's action. This is why the whole tone of the movie is incredibly subdued until Neo finally confronts the machines: the adventure of discovering the ontology of the Matrix is what fuels our captivation with all the concepts explored by the movie. A few thouasand humans being repetiously slaughtered by sentinels is not rewarding. It is in examination of the nature of the relationships between humanity, the machines, the One and the Matrix where these movies are engaging. h3. "I only ask to say what I've come to say, after that..." Many people seem to be thinking that the ambiguities with the ending serve as good hooks for another sequal, intended or not. However, I'd have to disagree. Are all potential tensions resolved? No, but then it's all a matter of scope. The war is over. Humans are, in a sense, still born into slavery for the purposes of the machines, but the most simple ontological issue is now ensured: choice. Reality is consensual. If you consider the now explicitly indeterminate universe in which the Matrix exists to be irksome then you probably were expecting some clear delineations to be made between the virtues of either possible world. Virtue, however, is not the issue. As before, the Matrix trilogy keys on the factors governing choice in any ontology, not the nature of the values inherent to each choice you may possibly make. What do you know? We become acquainted with Rama-Kandra's gentle resolve through Karma, Smith's inevitable drive for nihilsim, the Architect's commitment to balancing the equation, the Oracle's commitment to unbalancing the equation and Neo's imperative to define his purpose. There is even more upon which Revolutions draws upon by reference or allusion for you to piece the themes together and that is the point: Don't expect precise, shrink-wrapped answers for all your questions. Honestly, if the Oracle told Neo that "yah, that funky, blowed-up-sentinels-real-good-thingy you did in the real world was because you are directly connected through telepathy/by a higher level matrix/by the fact you're a program to the source," would you really be happy? Would it be worth it if three movies of theories, hooks and suggestions ultimately led to such a trite answer? No, and that is why Revolutions, and the saga as a whole, succeeds. There is enough material in this movie that you can intelligibly consider the ramifications of multiple explanations for many theories. Could there be a Matrix within another Matrix? Is Neo a program? Did Neo balance the equation with Smith through his own doing or did break the equation and thus compel the machines to reboot the matrix and allow choice? Is it acceptable that the Machines weren't obliterated and continue to breed humans as coppertops? Would you chose to live in the post-war Matrix? How many better compliments are there for a story besides that it is rich enough for you to still think about it and continue to be engaged with its ideas? h3. "It is done." Matrix Revolutions is a fitting final chapter even if it is not as exciting as its predecessors. It addresses the key issues in the trilogy, but, unlike The Matrix and Matrix Reloaded, it just isn't a flick I am itching to watch again scene by scene. In the end, the most admirable part of these movies is that they encourage you to work out concepts and theories through consideration and dialogue with yourself and your friends. The degree to which these movies have inspired the public to enthusiastically embrace philosophical thought is a miracle that I have yet to observe even in university class rooms.