When last we visited the Matrix, an army of menacing machines was bearing down on the last bastion of humanity, our hero Neo (Keanu Reeves) learned that the Oracle’s prophecies may simply be another system of the machines’ control, and befuddled audiences the world over staggered out of theaters feeling as though they’d just failed a calculus exam. One thing — the only thing, really — that was clear by the end of the kinetic second installment of this mega-moneymaking trilogy is that not even good Will Hunting could compute the Wachowski Brothers fuzzy math. But “Reloaded” was more or less a set-up for “Revolutions,” with a promise that the third act will answer all the lingering questions without inundating us with metaphysical mumbo-jumbo. Well, “Revolutions” doesn’t deliver on that promise.
This isn’t to say part three is a total disappointment. On the contrary, it’s an improvement over — though no less puffed-up — its convoluted predecessor. “Reloaded” featured mind-blowing action and combat sequences, but Neo, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie- Anne Moss) and the evil Agent Smith
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 5, 2003. Read the original PDF.