THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS

'''The Matrix Revolutions''' is the third and last film in the ''The Matrix'' trilogy. The film, a combination of philosophy and action like its predecessors, sought to conclude the questions raised in the preceding film, ''The Matrix Reloaded''. The film was written and directed by the Wachowski brothers. It was released simultaneously in sixty countries on November 5, 2003. Despite being the final film, the Matrix storyline was continued in The Matrix Online.
It was the first live-action film to be released simultaneously in regular and IMAX theaters. The Wachowski brothers were present in Tokyo at the opening of the movie, as were stars Keanu Reeves and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Contents

Production

Sound Design

Cast

Plot

Reception

References

See also

External links

Production

The movie was filmed concurrently with its predecessor, ''Reloaded'', and live-action sequences for the videogame ''Enter the Matrix''. This took place primarily at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.

Sound Design

Sound editing on the Matrix Trilogy was completed by Danetracks in West Hollywood, CA.

In contrast to the movie's predecessors, very few "source" tracks are used in the movie. Aside from Don Davis' score, again collaborating with Juno Reactor, only one external track (by Pale 3) is used.
Although Davis rarely focuses on strong melodies, familiar leitmotifs from earlier in the series reappear. For example, Neo and Trinity's love theme—which briefly surfaces in the two preceding movies—is finally fully expanded into "Trinity Definitely"; the theme from the Zion docks in ''Reloaded'' returns as "Men in Metal", and the energetic drumming from the ''Reloaded'' teahouse fight between Neo and Seraph opens "Tetsujin", as Seraph, Trinity and Morpheus fight off Club Hel's three doormen.
The climactic battle theme, named "Neodämmerung" (in reference to Wagner's ''Götterdämmerung''), features a choir singing extracts (shlokas) from the Upanishads. The chorus can be roughly translated from Sanskrit as follows: "lead us from untruth to truth, lead us from darkness to light, lead us from death to immortality, peace peace peace". The extracts were brought to Davis by the Wachowski brothers when he informed them that it would be wasteful for such a large choir to be singing simple "ooh's" and "aah's" (according to the DVD commentary, Davis felt that the dramatic impact of the piece would be lost if the choir was to sing 'This is the one, see what he can do' in plain English). These extracts return in the denouement of the movie, and in ''Navras'', the track which plays over the closing credits (which may be considered a loose remix of "Neodämmerung").

Cast

★ Keanu Reeves as Neo

★ Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus

★ Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity

★ Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith

★ Mary Alice as The Oracle

★ Helmut Bakaitis as The Architect

★ Lambert Wilson as The Merovingian

★ Collin Chou as Seraph

★ Roy Jones Jr. as Captain Ballard

★ Harry J. Lennix as Commander Locke

★ Matt McColm as Agent Thompson

★ Harold Perrineau Jr. as Link

★ Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe

★ Gina Torres as Cas

★ Cornel West as Councillor West

★ Bernard White as Rama-Kandra

★ Anthony Wong as Ghost

★ Anthony Zerbe as Councillor Hamann

★ Nathaniel Lees as Captain Mifune
Actress Gloria Foster, who played the Oracle in the first two films, died before the completion of her filming for the third and was replaced by actress Mary Alice. Her changed appearance is addressed in the movie's plot, and the directors state they had coincidentally explored such a change early in the script's development.

Plot

The film's events immediately follow those of ''The Matrix Reloaded'' and assume familiarity with the story of the last two films.
Bane and Neo are both in an unconscious state. The former is said to be merely asleep, whereas Neo's neural patterns are identical to those of people who are jacked in to the Matrix. Morpheus, dispirited after the destruction of the ''Nebuchadnezzar'' and discovering the true nature of the Prophecy at the end of the last film, starts a search for Neo within the Matrix despite his not being jacked in. Neo is in fact trapped in a limbo: a subway station named "Mobil Avenue" that is a transition zone between the Matrix and the Source (the Machine mainframe). At this station, Neo meets a 'family' of programs, who tell him that Mobil Avenue is controlled by a program called The Trainman who, in turn, is an exile loyal only to The Merovingian.
Seraph contacts Morpheus on behalf of the Oracle, who now resides in a different "shell" (see Cast, above). The Oracle informs Morpheus and Trinity of Neo being trapped in Mobil Avenue. Seraph, Morpheus and Trinity pursue the Trainman to secure Neo's release, but he escapes. The trio enter Club Hel to confront the Merovingian for Neo's freedom. The Merovingian demands "''the eyes of the Oracle''" in exchange for Neo's release, and Trinity responds by provoking a Mexican standoff, forcing the Merovingian to release Neo at gun point.
Troubled by new visions of the Machine City, Neo decides to visit the Oracle before returning to the real world. She informs him that, as the One, he has a connection with the Source (the Machine mainframe). The Matrix, and the rest of the Machine world, are derived from the Source as well. Thus we learn that all of Neo's abilities - both in and out of the Matrix - exist because of this connection (although the exact nature of this connection is never explained). This is how Neo was able to stop the machines giving pursuit after the ''Nebuchadnezzar'' was destroyed in ''The Matrix Reloaded'', although the end result of his lack of preparation was temporary confinement in Mobil Avenue. She characterizes Agent Smith (who is also growing in power) as his exact ''"opposite"'', his ''"negative"'' and elaborates on the relationship between herself and the Architect (Tellingly, each of them ejects an exasperated "Please!" when Neo asks them about the other). She also tells Neo cryptically that "''everything that has a beginning has an end''" and warns that Smith's power threatens not only the Matrix but also the Source and eventually the Machine City. The Oracle states that the war is about to end "''one way or another''".
After Neo takes leave of the Oracle, an army of Smiths arrive at her home. They successfully assimilate the unresisting Oracle. Having gained her powers of precognition, the new Smith cackles maniacally at whatever future he is seeing.
In the real world, the remaining crew of the ''Nebuchadnezzar'' and the ''Mjolnir'' (referred to by the characters as "the Hammer") encounter Niobe's ship, the ''Logos'' and its crew. They successfully reactivate the deactivated ship and begin to interrogate the now awakened Bane, who claims he has no memory of the events of the earlier battle. After contemplating his visions, Neo announces that he needs a ship to travel to the Machine City, although he cannot explain why at the moment. Roland, the ''Mjolnir's'' captain, refuses him, but Niobe - who was told by the Oracle that she would have to make a choice to help Neo or not - lets him take the ''Logos.'' Trinity decides to accompany Neo.
The two remaining crews plan to return to Zion and avoid the Sentinel army by piloting the ''Mjolnir'' through a series of service tunnels through which it is nearly impossible to navigate. Shortly after departing, the ''Mjolnir's'' crew discover that Bane has murdered a crewmember and has hidden aboard the ''Logos,'' but they are unable to return to warn Trinity and Neo. Before the ship can depart, Bane ambushes Trinity and takes her hostage. Neo fights with Bane, who reveals himself as a manifestation of Agent Smith. During the struggle, Bane/Smith blinds Neo by cauterizing his eyes with a severed electric cable. As Bane/Smith appears to have the upper hand he closes in on Neo - only to have his attack thwarted and reversed. Neo can ''see'' Smith, the program, in Bane as a fiery form in spite of his blindness. Neo then smashes Bane/Smith's head with a lead pipe and releases Trinity, who pilots them towards the Machine City (presumably 01 described in ''The Second Renaissance'').
In Zion, the defenders deploy infantry armed with rocket launchers and Armored Personnel Units in order to protect the dock from assault. The dock is invaded by a massive horde of Sentinels, as well as two giant drilling machines, igniting The Battle of Zion. APU's fail and the humans are pushed back into the temple. Captain Mifune fails to get the gate open, with his last breath he tells Kid (who was renewing his ammunition supply at the time) to open the gate for the Mjolnir. Meanwhile, as the ''Hammer'' speeds toward Zion it is pursued by a large number of sentinels. Just as the remaining humans are about to be overwhelmed, the ''Hammer'' arrives at Zion and breaks through the gates, setting off an EMP and disabling all electronic equipment in the area. While this finishes off the Sentinels, it also disables the remainder of Zion's defenses. The humans are forced to fall back to the temple entrance and wait for the next swarm that will almost certainly kill them all.
Nearing the Machine City, Neo and Trinity are attacked by the city's defense system, hurling massive numbers of mobile bombs and Sentinels at the ''Logos.'' Neo uses his powers to destroy the incoming bombs, but the Sentinels are too numerous. To evade them, Trinity flies the ship above the permanent electrical storm/cloud cover, disabling the Sentinels but also the ''Logos''' engines. After a brief glimpse of sunlight, the ship plunges into a spire of the Machine City. The impact of the collision fatally wounds Trinity, and she dies in Neo's arms.
Neo emerges into the Machine City to strike a bargain with the machines, personified by the Deus Ex Machina. Neo warns the machines that Smith (who has by now assimilated almost all of The Matrix) is beyond the machines' control, and will soon assault the Source to which the Matrix is connected. He offers to help stop Smith in exchange for a ceasefire on Zion. The second wave of Sentinels attacking Zion instantly responds by standing down while the Machines provide a connection for Neo to enter the Matrix and confront Smith. The world is now wholly populated by Smiths - the one with the Oracle's powers steps forth, asserting that he has already foreseen his own victory.
The city's population of Smiths stands by and watches while Neo and Smith square off. Fighting on the streets, through buildings and into the sky, they finally brawl in a flooded crater. Neo ultimately relents as Smith sees the details of his victory unfolding. Although initially confused and scared, Smith assimilates Neo, whose final words are a play on Smith's refrain from their fights in ''The Matrix'' and ''The Matrix Reloaded'': "It was inevitable." This is apparently successful, the new Smith nodding confidently. Smith has now connected to Neo, who is connected to the Source. In the real world, Neo's body suddenly spasms and stiffens as we see a surge of energy pass into him from his physical connections (presumably enacting the agreement Neo made with the Deus Ex Machina to destroy Smith). The new Smith's body begins to crack, bright light shining through. This soon passes through to the other Smiths, which begin to explode in a similar fashion to the way Smith did in the finale of ''The Matrix''.
With the Smiths destroyed, all the programs and humans that have been possessed by Smith return to normal, including the Oracle. The Sentinels that were about to attack the humans withdraw from Zion; the human resistance cheers in victory, while Link and Zee share a moment of intimate happiness together. Neo, having sacrificed himself to save both the Machines and humans, is unplugged from the Matrix and his body is respectfully carried away by the Machines.
The Architect appears and tells the Oracle that she "played a very dangerous game" by attempting to change the way in which the Matrix functioned, to which the Oracle responds, saying that she understood the risk and knew it was worth taking. She asks the Architect what will become of any humans who want to be unplugged from the Matrix, and the Architect replies that "they will be freed". The closing shot of the film depicts a new dawn on the world of the Matrix, created by Sati. Plant life is shown in the Matrix, and for the first (and last) time the ever-present green tint is absent.
According to the game The Matrix Online, Neo's body, along with Trinity's, although not recycled, were never returned from machine city, a plot point of the game that has yet to be resolved.

Reception

The budget of the movie was an estimated $110USD million, grossing over $139USD million in the United States and approximately $412USD million worldwide,^[1] roughly only half of ''The Matrix Reloaded'' box-office total.

The movie was met with generally mixed to negative reviews from critics. ''Revolutions'' scored only 36% on movie review aggregation site RottenTomatoes. ^[2] Metacritic's average critic score was 48/100 with a user score of 5.2/10 based on 268 votes. ^[3]
''The Matrix Revolutions'' grossed $83.8 million in its first five days of release in the US ^[4]. It had a weaker opening than its predecessor that some have attributed to a more subdued marketing campaign in comparison to the summer blockbuster event, ''The Matrix Reloaded''.
Praise of the movie generally focused on the strength of the movie's action sequences and special effects ^[5][6]. Some considered it "a better movie" than ''The Matrix Reloaded'' ^[7], which some said "raises the bar a notch or two" since the original movie, ''The Matrix'' ^[8].
Common criticisms of the film were that it was anti-climactic ^{[9] [10]} and self-indulgent ^[11]. Nevertheless, critics regard the movie as less philosophically obtuse than its predecessor ^{[12] [13]}, ''Reloaded''. Many critics had difficulty finding closure pertaining to events from ''Reloaded'', and were generally dissatisfied^[14][15]. Its earnings dropped 66% in its second week ^[4].
The films were received in high praise of its conceptual complexity by some scholars and philosophers, as seen in the video ''The Roots of the Matrix''. Philosopher Ken Wilber stated that ''The Matrix Reloaded'' and ''The Matrix Revolutions'' had expanded on the ''"simple dualism"'' of the first film - ''The Matrix'' - thus transforming the trilogy into a piece of "complex literature" with the second two installments of the trilogy.
In Moscow, the film's premiere was accompanied by a demonstration organized by the youth wing of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation who welcomed the film as an allegory for Communism. [1]

References

1. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242653/business
2. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/matrix_revolutions/
3. http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/matrixrevolutions?q=matrix#users
4. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=matrixrevolutions.htm
5. http://spacefinder.chicagoreader.com/movies/briefs/24550_MATRIX_REVOLUTIONS.html
6. http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2003-11-06/film2.html/1/index.html
7. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/146831_matrix05q.html
8. http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1122457/reviews.php?critic=columns&sortby=default&page=3&rid=1140415
9. http://slate.msn.com/id/2090753/
10. http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2003-11-04-matrix-review_x.htm
11. http://www.empireonline.co.uk/reviews/review.asp?id=9633
12. http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/51/film-foundas.php
13. http://www.sunspot.net/entertainment/movies/bal-to.matrix05nov05,0,2967920.story?coll=bal-artslife-movies
14. http://ae.charlotte.com/entertainment/ui/charlotte/movie.html?id=99386&reviewId=13608&startDate=11%2F05%2F2003
15. http://movies2.nytimes.com/2003/11/05/movies/05MATR.html
16. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=matrixrevolutions.htm

See also

★ Simulated reality

External links

★ Official site for the series

★

★

★ The Many Meanings of ''The Matrix'', Larry Wachowski in a dialogue with Ken Wilber.

★ The Matrix Revolutions Explained - a comparative-literature-style exegesis of selected parts of Matrix Revolutions.

★ Lyrics to ''Neodammerung'', including translation

★ The Matrix Revolution October 27, 2000 draft script by Andy & Larry Wachowski