The Matrix Revolutions

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss

RS: 3of 4 Stars

2004 Sci-Fi

Every year, critics go out and destroy one undeserving movie. Last year, it was the concluding installment of the Matrix trilogy. But take another look. On the home screen, it quickly becomes clear that Revolutions is a smart and deeply felt epic. The movie is about squaring up to death. It's about the adolescent drive to tear everything down, embodied by Agent Smith, who sneers, "The purpose of life is to end," vs. Neo's adult desire to make a reasonable accommodation and find refuge in love. Sure, you could put a few checks in the minus column: Laurence Fishburne looks as if he swallowed his character from both preceding movies; Neo and Trinity speak more like mother and son than doomed passionate lovers. But there is far more to marvel at. The movie is a compilation of extraordinary images: the sentinels crashing through to the underground city of Zion; the lovely moment when Neo and Trinity soar above their subterranean world and see the sky for the first time. The disc's extras are predictably and overflowingly complete. The making-of's have the feel of a high school yearbook -- from graduates with lots to be proud of. They should be.

DAVID LIPSKY
(RS 946, April 15, 2004)