Matrix Revolutions.(Video Recording Review)

MATRIX REVOLUTIONS

Andy and Larry Wachowski (w/d), US/ Aus, 2003, 124 Minutes, Rated M15. ACTORS INCLUDE: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith. DVD FEATURES INCLUDE: Making of Features, Matrix Timeline and Online Game Preview.

2003 was meant to be Year of the Matrix[TM]. Instead, it was the year of the backlash. The sudden move backwards certainly didn't occur in bullet time--Matrix: Reloaded (Andy and Larry Wachowski, 2003) had many people recoil in horror at its unexpected twists and turns. Not that the box office receipts gave a real indication of audience reaction--Reloaded proved to be more 'popular' than the original Matrix (Andy and Larry Wachowski, 1999). The ubiquity of the dollar sign, however, merely signified its own simulacrum and simulation, and had little connection to the reality that would emerge in its place. The second 'intellectual action movie' generally divided fans according to 'intellect' and 'action' aficionados, and invariably set up their united front against Matrix Revolutions (Andy and Larry Wachowski, 2003). Critic Matt Feeney expresses the consensus succinctly: Taken 'in tandem', the two sequels have (allegedly) 'achieved a kind of cumulative badness that will permanently and unfairly stain the reputation of the original'. It was the DVD revolution, of course, that consolidated The Matrix's status as a cultural phenomenon and primed everyone for the resulting backlash. Armed with the knowledge that the original film helped inaugurate and define a digital revolution, the Wachowskis attempted to effect a cultural interface by bringing everything full circle. Matrix: Reloaded (cinema), The Animatrix (DVD), Enter the Matrix (videogame) and Matrix Revolutions (cinema) were all released to supplement our understanding. Unlike much of the audience, though, the Wachowskis were acutely aware of the hypocrisy of raging against the machine with the aid of technological innovations. They also refused to flatter us with the delusion that we would all chose to be 'free' from the construct of a 'reality' of our un/making. The real question remains choosing-and using--our illusions, and reconstructing 'reality' accordingly. Consequently, they chose to honor salvation narratives by underlying the way we prefer others to sacrifice themselves for our own sins of commission and omission. So instead of ...