Spoilers

Time to end the Matrix then… or so we thought. Yeah why not theyve just announced the names of the new one & i didnt just want to do Potter again, so i thought id watch the film which is a little disappointing at time but that last fight scene is such a huge pay off. So lets go say goodbye?! (i dunno anymore) to Neo.

Yea i had no intention to rewatch all the old matrix films this year but here we are at least it will be fresh when i seethe next one at christmas, if covid lets us all live our lives & we can all be boosted. (FYI this is a 2021 write up which started in 2021 & before i had seen the new one, just so you know people. yea its been 6months since i saw this to finish this type up but so what).

The problem with this film at the time was i thought it was bigger than it actually was & other than the opening bit at the train station & the third act finale scene it wasnt. It just lacked & it went on a bit to long to get to what we wanted to see if im honest.

We spend a whole 30mins watching the cgi fight to save Zion from the robots. I get that this is a huge part of the story i really do & that at the end of the day the gates have to be open to get that ship back in so it can use its EMP to take them out, however. we at no point go back to Neo & Trinity during this. So much so once Zion has stood & had its fight to go back to them suddenly is just like hang on were doing that too. I know we now expect a faceless cgi arm to attack our hero’s in films & this is partly he reason why but to spend so much time on characters we should care about dyeing who in theory in all the films weve met for a total on 15mins upto this point seems a bit of a waste. We know that gate is going to be opened so they can defeat this wave, even back in the 00s, we all knew. Neo had do have his showdown with Smith, so this large fight is just a delay tactic & a waste of time.

We are all here for the Neo v Smith fight tho. & it is the best bit of the film it really is. They got all their toys together & went we are going to do everything we can to make this the most spectacular fight in cinema. & it is worth sticking through the previous 1h40 oh meh & oh really (other than the train scene) to get to this point. Its so clever & so cool & so well shot & it is state of the art for its time & again explains why so many fight scenes now in modern movies happen at night in the dark in the rain, to get the visuals. This film set the bench mark for it & others have benefitted from it. However him turning into a Smith to destroy all smiths & stop the war was a bit like hang on the hell. Especially now we know theres another film coming, it just feels like it lessens the original ending, that Neo risked it all & his life.

The actress playing the oracle dyeing half way through filming both of these is awkward. She spends most of her time going you dont recognise me. This is mainly because in part one she of the back to back film finale she was played by the original. Why if they knew she was old did they not film all her scenes at once? did they do it in story order? Wouldnt it have been better to change her & reshoot the first of the double head bits when shes in that, so then it can be like ahh a new oracle okay, would have made much more sense. Altho i do want those cookies still.

The opening scene with Neo at the train station with the family of programs is lovely, i really like that & how it talks about purpose in life & how things are & what you would do for another, from both the programs & Trinity’s perspective. The nightclub is a bit much after the initial shoot out. I mean i get back then they had to link the films together, but we spend a long time at the club & not enough at the train. It is good tho.

No one else bothered to check where the other guy had gone from the other ship or where the other medical person was before it was too late for him to take out Neo & Trinity. Also his matrix powers which he had used earlier to see stuff which almost killed him in Zion & put him in the coma, can now help him see smith & other random shiz with no consequence. I blinding him is a really weird move to do.

I remember watching this with my sister at one point & Trinity gets speared by all those robot & she goes im dying Neo & he goes no your not & then feels all the metal in her, she laughed her head off & said surely his matrix powers could sense that. & you know what shes got a point. If he can see the smith & the sky above robot city, which was lush by the way. He can sense that Trinity has been impaled because surely he felt the crash impact too.

Morpheus is truly relegated in this film to being the messenger isnt he. I get we have to repair his relationship to Nairobi & she has to shine, but he has very little to do other than co piolet, use an emp & then tell people its gonna be okay, but lets be honest, the kid no one cares about does that to tell them the war is over.

I know i watched this in 2021, by i want to interject something 2022 which isnt linked here. When they recruit people for the war there are people who make shells & are willing to die & are to young for the ones they love & because the robots wont care what age i am if they win will they sir. Weve all recently here in 2022 had conversations like that with friends & family due to the current state of the world, so that scene is more heart breaking now that it was back when it came out or 6 months ago. Weve all had that thought & if you havent you are lying to yourself.

The CGI & stunts & style are what modern action cinema is entirely based on today. They tried it all back then & had the ambition to do it. Without this film we dont get half of cinema today. You can see flaws in it now, but hey someone had to walk before todays films ran (or crawled in some cases{im looking at you Morbius}).

The plot is the same as its always been in the matrix save Zion, prove Neo is the one, kill a smith. Nothing changes. Its just we have a few more cgi set pieces in this one before we get to that point & it does feel a little bloated before it.

So looking back at it as a stand alone film, not the best & also the worst of the original 3 definitely. But in terms of what it has given cinema & the legacy it has created, & that final scene, it is well worth a watch for the spectacle. As Smith said all of me has come to see the show & for the time it was made what a show the grand finale was.