The Matrix Revolutions
Toward the end of ''The Matrix Revolutions,'' writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski finally cave in to their messianic urges. The fuzzy religious aura that has always surrounded Keanu Reeves's dude avatar Neo hardens into overt symbolism, and the upshot is both ridiculous and entertainingly fruity. True believers will be reaching for the red pill, but it's still not quite enough to convert the heretics.
There were more of the latter after this spring's ''The Matrix Reloaded,'' which dissipated the conceptual genius of the 1999 original into an awkward stew of action set pieces and grad-school metaphysics. ''Revolutions,'' the final installment in the trilogy, parcels things more neatly. You get 45 minutes of the Wachowskis' patented theosophical bong water, followed by an hour of the most muscular, hard-core special-effects rama-lama yet to hit the screen. Only then does Jesus show up.
A primer for those with lives: When last we saw Neo, he had just saved the life of Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and stopped a ravenous mass of robotic ''sentinels'' using only the power of his mind. Since this happened in the ''real world'' rather than in the computer construct of the Matrix, this was, like, whoa. Meanwhile, the underground human city of Zion was under siege by the machine overlords, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) had turned into a rogue program and somehow possessed the real-world body of crew member Bane (Ian Bliss), and the Architect of the Matrix (Helmut Bakaitis) had seriously messed with everyone's head by suggesting that the human insurrection and the coming of a savior had already happened five times before.
All of which is moot when ''Revolutions'' begins, with Neo waking up in a gleaming white train station that is literally in the middle of nowhere. His body is still comatose onboard the good ship Hammer, but his soul is waiting for the express train back to the main plot. This is the most quietly stylish part of ''Revolutions,'' and it makes you yearn for the snap of the original film.
Neo has to contend with the Trainman (played by the skeletal and always welcome Australian actor Bruce Spence), who turns out to be working for the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson). Remember him? The dandified French software program was the best part of ''The Matrix Reloaded,'' and he makes a tart and too-brief return when Trinity, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), and the Seraph (Collin Chou) invade his nightclub looking for Neo. Despite rumors that the Merovingian's wife, Persephone (Monica Bellucci), would have a bigger part in this film, the actress has precisely one line of dialogue. Turns out it's her cleavage that's bigger; the Wachowskis know their fanboy audience.
After conferencing with the Oracle (actress Mary Alice, picking up the role from the late Gloria Foster), Neo decides to fly straight into the machines' central nervous system with Trinity at his side -- love being the one monkey wrench the enemy can't predict. That leaves Morpheus and the daredevil fighter pilot Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) rocketing back to Zion to help the humans' last stand, at which point ''Revolutions'' hunkers down for an extended, noisy, and thoroughly mesmerizing war sequence.
The high points of the first two ''Matrix'' films were the elegant one-on-one fights, and ''Revolutions'' does have a nifty M.C. Escher-inspired shoot-out across the ceilings and walls of the Merovingian's nightclub early on. The final battle is another matter. Seamlessly melding human actors and computer generated sets, it's a massed, Olympian chaos with sudden focal points: the humans encased in giant fighting units that resemble hyperthyroid versions of a kid's Bionicle toys, the gunner captain Mifune (Nathaniel Lees) and the callow Kid (Clayton Watson) struggling to beat back the sentinels, the tough-babe duo of Charra (Rachel Blackman) and Zee (Nona Gaye) sabotaging the massive ''diggers,'' and Commander Lock (Harry Lennix) stomping around in a snit because he knows his wife, Niobe, has the hots for Morpheus.
It all stands to give ''Lord of the Rings'' director Peter Jackson a run for his money, and at the same time it may prompt a viewer to wonder: When did such dank, Wagnerian battle scenes become the gold standard of commercial cinema? ''Revolutions'' bears unbecoming similarities to the story line for the upcoming ''Return of the King'' -- the main struggle is basically a holding action while the lone hero makes his way to the source of evil -- and it suggests that Hollywood fantasy epics are starting to merge into the same movie. You may find yourself pining for people who just sit around and shoot the breeze over bagels.
In a way, that's what ''The Matrix Revolutions'' finally gives you, after Neo has faced Agent Smith for one last rock-em-sock-em rumble and the Wachowskis deliver their ultimate apotheosis. The very last scene of the film is quiet and contemplative and naturalistic. Somehow, it feels less ''real'' than anything that has come before.
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