The Matrix Revolutions

Plot

Neo and Bane lie unconscious in the medical bay of the ship Hammer. Meanwhile, Neo finds his digital self trapped in a virtual subway station—a transition zone between the Matrix and the Machine City. In that subway station, he meets a "family" of programs, including a girl named Sati, whose father tells Neo the subway is controlled by the Trainman, an exiled program loyal to the Merovingian. When Neo tries to board a train with the family, the Trainman refuses and overpowers him.

Seraph contacts Morpheus and Trinity on behalf of the Oracle, who informs them of Neos confinement. Seraph, Morpheus and Trinity enter Club Hel, where they confront the Merovingian and force him to release Neo. Troubled by visions of the Machine City, Neo visits the Oracle, who reveals that Smith intends to destroy both the Matrix and the real world. She states that "everything that has a beginning has an end", and that the war will conclude. After Neo leaves, a large group of Smiths assimilates Sati, Seraph and the unresisting Oracle, gaining her powers of precognition.

In the real world, the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar and the Hammer find and reactivate Niobes ship, the Logos. They interrogate Bane, who says that he has no recollection of the earlier massacre. As the captains plan their defense of Zion, Neo requests a ship to travel to the Machine City. Motivated by her encounter with the Oracle, Niobe offers him the Logos. Neo departs, accompanied by Trinity. Bane, who has stowed away on the Logos, takes Trinity hostage. Neo realizes that Bane has been assimilated by Smith. Bane cauterizes Neos eyes with a power cable, blinding him; however, Neo discovers an ability to perceive the world as golden light. Neo kills Bane, and Trinity pilots them to the Machine City.

Niobe and Morpheus set out for Zion with the Hammer to aid the human defenses against the Sentinels. In Zion, the fatally wounded Captain Mifune instructs Kid to open the gate for the Hammer. When it arrives, it discharges its EMP, disabling the Sentinels but also the remaining defenses. The humans are forced to retreat and wait for the next attack, thinking that it will be their last stand. Neo and Trinity are attacked by machines, causing them to crash the Logos into the Machine City. The crash kills Trinity. Neo enters the Machine City and encounters the "Deus Ex Machina", the machine leader. Neo, warning that Smith plans to conquer both the Matrix and the real world, offers to stop Smith in exchange for peace with Zion. The machine leader agrees, and the Sentinels stop attacking Zion.

The Machines provide a connection for Neo to enter the Matrix. Inside, Neo finds that Smith has assimilated all its inhabitants. The Smith with the Oracles powers steps forth, saying that he has foreseen his victory against Neo. After a protracted battle, Neo—finding himself unable to defeat Smith—allows himself to be assimilated. The machine leader sends a surge of energy into Neos body in the real world; the massive energy burns his body from the inside, killing him. Because Neo is connected to the Source, the energy surge causes the Neo-Smith clone and all other Smith clones in the Matrix to be destroyed. The Sentinels withdraw from Zion, Morpheus and Niobe embrace, and Neos body is carried away by the machines. The Matrix reboots, and the Architect encounters the Oracle in a park. They agree that the peace will last "as long as it can", and that all humans will be offered the opportunity to leave the Matrix. The Oracle tells Sati that she thinks they will see Neo again. Seraph asks the Oracle if she knew this would happen; she replies that she did not know, but she believed.

Cast

Actress Gloria Foster, who played the Oracle in the first and second films, died before the completion of her filming for the third. She was replaced by actress Mary Alice. Her changed appearance is addressed in the films plot.

Production

Filming occurred concurrently with its predecessor, The Matrix Reloaded, and live-action sequences for the video game Enter the Matrix. This took place primarily at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.

Sound design

Sound editing on The Matrix trilogy was completed by Danetracks in West Hollywood, California.

Soundtrack

In contrast to its predecessors, very few "source" tracks are used in the film. Aside from Don Davis score, again collaborating with Juno Reactor, only one external track (by Pale 3) is used.

Although Davis rarely focuses on strong melodies, familiar leitmotifs from earlier in the series reappear. For example, Neo and Trinitys love theme—which briefly surfaces in the two preceding films—is finally fully expanded into "Trinity Definitely"; the theme from the Zion docks in Reloaded returns as "Men in Metal", and the energetic drumming from the Reloaded tea house fight between Neo and Seraph opens "Tetsujin", as Seraph, Trinity and Morpheus fight off Club Hels three doormen.

The climactic battle theme, named "Neodammerung" (in reference to Wagners Gotterdammerung), features a choir singing extracts (shlokas) from the Upanishads. The chorus can be roughly translated from Sanskrit as follows: "lead us from untruth to truth, lead us from darkness to light, lead us from death to immortality, peace peace peace". The extracts were brought to Davis by the Wachowski Brothers when he informed them that it would be wasteful for such a large choir to be singing simple "ooh"s and "aah"s (according to the DVD commentary, Davis felt that the dramatic impact of the piece would be lost if the choir was to sing This is the one, see what he can do in plain English). These extracts return in the films denouement, and in Navras, the track that plays over the closing credits (which may be considered a loose remix of "Neodammerung").

Box office

The films budget is an estimated US$150 million, It grossed over $139 million in North America and approximately $427 million worldwide, roughly half of The Matrix Reloaded box-office total. In its first five days of release, it grossed $83.8 million, but dropped 66% during the second week.

The Matrix Revolutions was released on DVD and VHS on April 6, 2004. The film grossed $116 million in DVD sales.

Critical reception

The film received generally mixed reviews. The film received a score of 36% on Rotten Tomatoes. The films average critic score on Metacritic is 47/100.

Some critics criticized the film for being anticlimactic. Additionally, some critics regard the film as less philosophically ambiguous than its predecessor, The Matrix Reloaded. Critics had difficulty finding closure pertaining to events from The Matrix Reloaded, and were generally dissatisfied.

Conversely, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, despite offering criticisms of his own, on the grounds that it at least provided closure to the story well enough so that fans following the series would prefer seeing it as to not.