[Kira]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]HUZZAH! Â It took me two weeks of trying, but I finally got to see [iost_uid0]Revolutions[/iost_uid0] and now I can post here. Â And thus....

[bost_uid0]WARNING: BRUTAL SPOILERS AHEAD[/bost_uid0]

First off, I'd like to say that the best seven minutes of the movie consisted of (1) the [iost_uid0]Return of the King[/iost_uid0] trailer, seen for the first time on the big screen ([iost_uid0]YOWZA![/iost_uid0]) (2) the trailer for [iost_uid0]Troy[/iost_uid0], full of Brad Pitt-y goodness, and (3) the trailer for [iost_uid0]The Last Samurai[/iost_uid0], full of Tom Cruise-y goodness and cool music.

Don't let that mislead you, though: I really did enjoy this one. Â It was way better than [iost_uid0]Reloaded[/iost_uid0] and frankly better than what I was expecting. Â The action was gripping, I actually cared about what was going to happen to the characters (well, most of them), and I could hardly believe it had already been two hours when it was over. Â I went in fully aware that the ending was ambiguous, so I can't say that much was a shock. Â (And I knew Trinity was dead the instant the ship crashed and she flew backwards off the screen, so that wasn't really a shock either.) Â

And, contrary to a lot of what I've heard, I think the ending was appropriate. Â However, I don't think it's necessarily that ambiguous. Â Here's my theory... in [iost_uid0]Reloaded[/iost_uid0] (forgive my remembering any of this wrong, I've only seen it once), the Architect tells Neo that he is not the first One, and this is not the first Zion. Â It's a cycle -- some people refuse to accept the Matrix, they are freed, they found Zion, the One comes, returns to the Source, Zion is destroyed. Â And it all starts over again. Â Normally, the Oracle plays along with all this like a good little program, even helps out. Â This time, she made choices that led to a different outcome: Neo returned to the Source, but this time Zion survived.

The cycle wasn't broken -- in the Matrix, things are right back where they started -- but this time, we got a different outcome.

[quoteost_uid0="JobeGDG"]Beyond the Train Man and his Station (arguably, the best parts of the movie,) no new ideas were introduced. The film revolved around resolving issues from it's predecessors[/quoteost_uid0]
Well, being that this is the third installment of a trilogy, that's sort of to be expected. Â If they threw any more new ideas at us, we'd probably be sitting around scratching our heads in confusion. Â Heck, we're already sitting around scratching our heads in confusion.

[quoteost_uid0="Standback"]I thought Revolutions was a heck of a lot better than Reloaded... it did a much better job of storytelling, with a lot of very dramatic (if fairly cliche) scenes.[/quoteost_uid0]
Agreed. Â I was on the edge of my seat for a good portion of the movie and I have to admit, the swarms of Sentinels actually had me muttering "Holy crap!" on more than one occassion. Â They were creepy in the first and second movies -- this took them to a whole new level.

[quoteost_uid0="Standback"]Neo gets new superpowers! Why? Nobody knows! But they're really cool! "They're from the Source," says the Oracle. "Oh, OK, then, whatever that means," goes Neo. "It's not as if we ever figured out what it was last movie or anything, so I guess we can blame anything on it."[/quoteost_uid0]
This actually makes sense to me. If Neo can tap into the computer processors of the machines (i.e. the Source, as I understand it), and the Matrix is nothing but a computer program, then doesn't it make sense that he'd have a lot of ability to manipulate the program (i.e. do whatever he wants, such as fly)?

[quoteost_uid0="Standback"]Then Smith gets Neo, and dies. Why? Ummm... Hey, look! All the other Smiths are blowing up too! Isn't that neat, fans? What do you mean, [iost_uid0]why[/iost_uid0]?[/quoteost_uid0]
My understanding of this is: Smith takes over Neo. Â Then, Neo takes over Smith. Â Game over. Â Neo took him down from inside his own program. Â The Oracle sort of did the same thing, I'd imagine -- she didn't destroy him, but she [iost_uid0]did[/iost_uid0] manage to survive inside his program once he took her over. Â (Hence how she "spoke" to Neo through Smith.) Â And besides -- so what if there are different interpretations around? Â I kind of like that -- to each their own, and you can understand it, or not, any way you want.

(As an aside, I can't watch any of those Smith take-overs without hearing Sean William Scott's "You'll like being a dude" from the MTV Movie Awards parody of [iost_uid0]Reloaded[/iost_uid0]... if you haven't seen it, get it. Â It's totally hilarious, and SWS does an uncanny Hugo Weaving impression.)

[quoteost_uid0="catalina maria"]I actually thought the movie was great. It bothers me no one else seems to.[/quoteost_uid0]
:::raises hand:::

[quoteost_uid0="Standback"]There's no attribution of Smith's victory to the powers of the Oracle - only of the knowledge that he will be the victor. It seemed he won simply because he was stronger and faster and more in control. You could say, "well, he *might* have used the Oracle's power," but you certaintly have no sign in the film that he *did.* I wish you had.[/quoteost_uid0]
Given that the Oracle is a [iost_uid0]very[/iost_uid0] powerful program, that Smith taking her over was a major point of the movie, and the fact that he kept talking about how he could see what was going to happen, I think it's a fairly good assumption. Â Also notice that once he took over the Oracle, the Matrix went completely whacked (that's when the feed from the Matrix went crazy on the two ships), because Smith has so much power that the Matrix isn't normal anymore. Â They may not have spelled it out for us, but what did you want -- Smith to wear a sign saying "I am using the Oracle's power to wipe the pavement with Neo"? Â Or perhaps we're all big boys and girls and can figure it out.

Overall, I'm quite pleased. Â Mostly because of my cycle epiphany, which gives me at least the illusion that I understood what was going on. Â The delicious evil of Hugo Weaving didn't hurt matters, nor did the (as Opium pointed out) hilarious "Oh $@#&" scene in the train tunnel. Â Not bad for $5.50 on a cheap Tuesday.

And besides -- I would have paid that $5.50 just to sit through the previews.[/colorost_uid0]