The sequels were a roaring disappointment when they were released. Few sequels have been more anticipated among the cyberati than Reloaded. Perhaps The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, it had been that long since a Sci Fi sequel was this anticipated. (Am I deliberately -- in some Freudian sense of not knowing that I am deliberately -- forgetting about our disappointment at the Phantom Menace?) And we were sorely disappointed. Yet we help out hope and hopped right on Revolutions the instant it was released -- and should not have been surprised to be disappointed again.
What went wrong?
The original Matrix movie was both timeless and timely. It was clever, smart, engaging, well-paced, refreshingly original, and deftly executed. It was a great leap forward.
Reloaded was bloated and only appeared slightly less lugubrious when contrasted with Revolutions.
And yet when one re-watches them, and I have several times now, there is a very good sequel stuck in there. Here's the recipe. Combine both sequels into one movie. Remove 90% of the action that takes place outside the Matrix, especially the silly battle scenes, and those leading up to them. Why? There is a lot of good mythology and backstory to be found in the actions in the matrix in both sequels. It's interesting, complex brain-teasing stuff. And the action sequences, while a little long inside the matrix tend to be both exciting and contribute to the exploration of what the matrix is and how it works -- and how it can be "beat".
On the other hand, all of the silly battles in the "real world" between the machines and Zion -- and the dramatic scenes leading up to them -- are, well, trite, cliched, and take an A- movie (yes, I think it could have been an A-, compared with the original's A+) down to the level of a made-of-TV sci fi movie. Sorry, we've seen "the rebellion" appear in many more exciting and interesting places. (Gosh, Star Wars, anyone?)
Sorry, topics like what the Smiths are up to, how the Architect and the Oracle relate, even the Merovingian, the Keymaker and Seraph, and the lovely little program without a purpose we meet in the station between the worlds, are far more interesting than anything happening in Zion, or in the battles surrounding it.
