RBC: "Revolutionary" But Cheesy

Well, I finally saw it. The movie that virtually everyone I know who has seen it didn’t like. The movie I was going to go to the theater to see but ended up waiting for the DVD. If you didn’t know by now, that movie is The Matrix Revolutions. And you know what...I liked it.

Yes, I actually enjoyed watching this movie. Was it better than The Matrix Reloaded? No. Better than The Matrix? Hell no. But was I bored? Nope. I came into this movie not expecting to like it too much, especially with all I heard about it. Whatever hype I had for myself before seeing this movie (like when I watched that trailer after The Matrix Reloaded) disappeared over the months after everyone saying the movie was so bad. So, I was pleasantly surprised. Frankly, this movie really isn’t that bad. This year alone I have sat through You Got Served, Good Boy!, and Bring It On Again, among other awful films. So, there was no way I was really going to hate The Matrix Revolutions.

I enjoyed the pace of the film, which was about 10 minutes shorter than Reloaded. I also enjoyed the look of the film, which was stunning at times for me. I even enjoyed the bits of action we see including the Dragon Ball Z-esque Neo/Agent Smith fight. The story itself wasn’t really that bad to me either. Yes, the movie seriously copped out a couple of times. They didn’t even bother to even explain some things fully. Then again, this is in the tradition of anime, which the Wachowskis were clearly influenced by. Some of the best anime shows leave many details up to your imagination. In the same way, shows like the various Gundam series have endings that don’t tie things up neatly.

One thing I can say I did like about the Matrix films is the clear emphasis that everyone is on equal footing. Women kick just as much ass as men or even moreso. Racial and gender boundaries are nonexistent. It’s a nice hopeful vision of the future of human relationships.

So, ultimately The Matrix trilogy isn’t all that bad. I think that The Wachowskis should learn one thing from this...don’t spread yourselves too thin. I wonder how much better both Matrix sequels could have been if they were working solely on the films and not the various extraneous things. I mean, they wrote/supervised The Animatrix, scripted Enter The Matrix, and most likely started to help with the upcoming The Matrix Online computer game in addition to writing, filming and releasing two two-hour plus effects-laden films. Even though there are two of them, it just seemed like it was too much for them. The time that could’ve been spent revising, rewriting, and thinking went to making sure the other stuff was up to snuff. I bet even Peter Jackson would question doing that much in that short a time period. However, I can say that I can’t wait to see what The Wachowskis come up with next. They managed to create one of the most influential action films ever...and given enough time, they could create some truly great things.

Another cheesy thing I saw was The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour. I watched most of it (I left with my dad to take back the videos in the middle of it). It seemed to be both an old-school variety show and a parody of one at the same time. It had an animated beginning, featured the singing of many old variety show favorites (including “I Got You Babe,” the signature song of Sonny and Cher), and silly comedy sketches. Of course, the show was modernized a bit. The punchline in one particular sketch most certainly would not have been done back in the 60s or 70s. But it was an unusual way to show Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson’s talents. I’m not sure I would watch it if it were a weekly show, but given that both of them have separate ABC pilots they are working on, I doubt it will.