Coverage:

In a signature scene from the original "Matrix," Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) hands Neo (Keanu Reeves) a red pill and offers to show him how deep the rabbit hole goes. He adds, "Remember. All I’m offering is the truth." Well, in "Matrix Revolutions" the audience needed some kind of a pill, because the truth is, the rabbit hole didn’t go very deep. A disappointing fact about a super-chic, sci-fi flick that spawned countless rip-offs, imitators and set the bar for other action flicks. The main problem with "Matrix Revolutions" is we’ve seen it all before — dodging bullets in slow motion, running up walls and antigravity kung-fu moves, which would make Bruce Lee, salivate. The series is a victim of its own success and cutting-edge innovation. The writers/directors Wachowski brothers had taken their audience to the mountaintop with mysticism, wire-works and special effects, and then ran out of gas upon reaching the summit. "Matrix Revolutions" does manage to answer all the questions fans might have had about the first two installments, and the cunning Mr. Smith (Hugo Weaving), the glue that holds this vehicle’s wheels on, gets his comeuppance with next to nothing screen time. The crux of the movie hinges on the last vestiges of mankind desperately fighting the final battle to keep the machines from annihilating Zion, mankind’s last stronghold. The battle that rages on for too long and the film’s suggestion of martyrdom and peace leaves the audience ambiguous to the human’s plight and gleefully cheering when Mr. Smith makes an appearance. Because you know something exciting is going to happen. Although there are several visually stunning scenes, such as a mystical train station where Neo is trapped between dimensions and the final battle between good and evil, "Matrix Revolutions" is over bloated and cliché riddled. It’s a tragedy that the movie, which managed to keep its own style, despite hundreds of imitations, just couldn’t seem to get out of its own way.