icking right up where The Matrix Reloaded left off, Revolutions finds our heroes in a world of trouble. Yes, Trinity (Moss) was brought back to life, but Neo (Reeves) is in a coma, and Niobe (Smith) and her ship are missing. Worse yet, the machines are headed for Zion, threatening to destroy the last human city.
On board The Hammer, Morpheus (Fishburne) and Trinity get a message that the Oracle (Mary Alice, replacing the late Gloria Foster) has news of Neo. In the matrix, she tells them Neo is trapped between the real world and the Matrix in a place called The Train Station. Trinity and Morpheus discover The Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) is keeping Neo captive and, with a little brute force, convince the nasty Frenchman to let Neo go.
Once they're reunited, Neo asks to be taken to see the Oracle. He discovers that even as the machines threaten Zion, Agent Smith is taking over the matrix. Both worlds are in danger of being wiped out forever.
Back in the real world, the crew of The Hammer have found Niobe and her ship. Neo decides that while the others head toward Zion, he must take one of the two ships and go to Machine City. Niobe agrees to give him her ship, while she pilots The Hammer along a dangerous path with hopes of using an EMP to stop the machine sentinel army from wiping out Zion.
As the machines break through to Zion, the sentinels swarm in, wiping out the human defenses, while The Hammer speeds toward the city with the only weapon that might stop the overwhelming forces. Meanwhile, as Neo and Trinity head off to Machine City, they discover Agent Smith has a little surprise waiting for them.
The Matrix Revolutions DVD two-disc set includes some nice bonus features. "Revolutions Recalibrated" is a behind-the-scenes overview with some cast interviews, "CG Revolution" offers insight into the special effects, and "Super Burly Brawl" features three video streams running together. Other features include a 3-D timeline, concept art, storyboards, trailers and info on the Matrix Online multiplayer game. The DVD also has "Follow the White Rabbit" features, which explore "bullet time," the creation of the army of Agent Smiths and the stunt work involved in creating The Matrix.
Breathtaking visuals, incomprehensible story
When the first Matrix came out, it was thrilling. The story took us into an impossible world and provided some of the coolest movie moments of all time. The Matrix Revolutions spends a lot of time mucking up the story with lots of incomprehensible stuff before finally getting down to business. The Merovingian, the Trainman and even the little girl program add nothing to the story, which is about the machines' attack on Zion, Agent Smith's attempt to take over the Matrix, and Neo's efforts to stop both things from happening.
However, once the story finally does get started, there are some incredible moments that are very worthy of repeat viewing. At the end of it all, while the story makes little sense and some of the actors could have put a tiny bit of emotion into their characters, the film still has some very cool and unforgettable moments. The sentinel attack on Zion with the humans struggling against an overwhelming force is breathtaking, and Neo's final battle with Agent Smith, while hundreds of Agent Smiths look on, is spectacular. And then, of course, there's Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith, who's a delightful bad guy, even if he doesn't get enough screen time.
As far as the rest of the DVD features go, the big missing component is commentary by the Wachowski Brothers. Sure, the actors are around, and Reeves, Moss, Weaving, Fishburne and Smith all talk about making the film. The "Revolutions Recalibrated" behind-the-scenes documentary is nicely done and provides some excellent insight. As for many of the other bonus features, while there are some moments that do stand out, such as Weaving discussing the making of his duplicates, much of the rest of it melts together and isn't distinctive enough.
One feature promotes "Future Gamer The Matrix Online," which introduces the multiplayer game also created by the Wachowski Brothers. While it does appear as a sequel of sorts, with gamer action continuing where Revolutions left off, it's still a shameless advertisement. Despite that, there's a lot of background in the bonus features that fans will find fascinating.
