Okay. The franchise has finished. The hype is over. The matrix has been unplugged and it's fairly safe to say that Revolutions is, at the risk of sounding too technical, cack. That's the third one. Or is it the second? No, hang on, the second is the one with the freeway chase, isn't it? Reloaded - that's it - with the pulse-pounding bike stuntwork scary enough to make Evel Knievel wince. It has its moments. The trouble is, the moves are a bit of a mush now - blurred by the bloated, pretentious conclusion.
Think that's harsh? Well, just try sitting through them back to back. The first is a tight, intelligent, groundbreaking actioner that rattles along like a runaway train and delivers some of the most imitated and awesome action sequences in modern cinema history. Slam the others in the tray after and their flaws become only more apparent. It's baffling to think that the same guys who were behind, say, the "desert of the real" sequence could also be responsible for the Gap advert thrashing of Reloaded's Zion party or that the blokes who thought up Neo and Agent Smith's minimalist subway scrap also have their dabs on the ludicrous, blatantly computer-drawn final showdown between the iconic characters in Revolutions (just because you can do it with bits and bytes doesn't mean you always should, guys).
Definition of a bad sequel? A film that actually makes you love the original a little bit less. Highlander 2: The Quickening used to be easily the worst ever. Revolutions is fighting for it now and there can be only (the) one.
DVD Extras:
Pretty much everything is here. The three films, the Animatrix shorts and even the footage shot for the Enter The Matrix videogame is included on this 10 (10!) disc set. Often it's in a not particularly user-friendly form (the Enter the Matrix bits are numbered, not titled, so it's annoyingly difficult to dip in and out of them), but it's all here. The package's big boast is the sheer number and length of additional documentaries included. You can quibble about the worth of someof them - the tiny one about the Woman In The Red Dress is spectacularly pointless - or argue that you've seen others before (any serious Matrix buff will already have the Matrix Revisited docu) but it's still an impressively overwhelming archive, with insights into the martial- arts, the music, the stunts and just about everything in between. Hell, search hard enough and you'll probably find something on the catering.Everything, then? Well, everything except the Wachowski boys themselves. They flicker in and out of the docs, more often in the background than the foreground, and anyone expecting the Bros to blab on a commentary is going to be sorely disappointed. You get a pretentious written introduction. And. That. Is. It. The writer/directors claim they hate on-set reminiscing, but you might expect some snippets after spending 60 nicker on yet another DVD edition. There are some chat-tracks, though - with one of the new efforts devoted to a bunch of philosophy professors wetting themselves over all the obscure references scattered through the films. It's really hard going. The thing that lifts the whole package into the realms of must-have, though, is the bizarre second track, which comes courtesy of film critics Todd McCarthy, John Powers and David Thomson. We've never before come across a commentary which actually tells you how rubbish the film you're watching is, but that - with no holds barred - is just what these guys provide.They snigger at the Zion sequences, audibly wince at the Neo-Trinity love scene and generally pull no punches in explaining just why the sequels suck. It almost makes it worth sitting through them again. Almost.
