The Matrix: Revolutions
First, on feature films in IMAX: worth it. I think it's more immersive, and the IMAX transfer process seems to add adequate clarity to make use of the additional resolution of the 70mm IMAX prints over the 35mm standard film size. The IMAX screen is closer to a TV aspect ratio of 4:3, so the film is letterboxed, and I think they may crop a little off the left and right edges to get the best compromise between losing sides of the original film, and taking advantage of the HUGE screen.
Ok, on to the movie itself. I'm totally satisfied. The early reports on the net seem to be somewhat negative, but I can only imagine those reviewers really didn't get the premise of the whole trilogy. The final chapter is a little more of an action movie than the others, but it still has plenty of food for thought.
I think there is very little to critisize in the first 80% of the movie. Kerry found the battle in the Zion Dock to be have too many repetitive gun shot sounds, but I wasn't as bothered by that. At first I felt like the ending was somewhat of a let-down - a little too typical Hollywood. However, on the way home in the car Kerry and I had a great discussion about what different scenes and subplots meant and how it all tied together. Just the fact that we had that much discussion tells me that it was a good way to end it after all.
I'll warn you that if you read past here, you WILL find plot details and spoilers, so don't say you weren't warned.
I was hoping for more clues or information on the matrix-within-a-matrix theory. It seems that the film deliberately doesn't answer that question, however I'm more convinced than ever that that is what the writers had in mind when they worked out the story.
The only alternate theory I can think of is that Neo has some magical perception in the Zion-world, that allows him to interact with the machines and stop them at the end of Reloaded, during the trip to the source in Revolutions, as well as allowing him to see after he is blinded by the Zion-world version of Smith. However, this goes against the idea of the Matrix as a story about a superhero who's powers make sense and aren't magically bestowed on him. In addition to that, if Neo's vision is a magical perception, and the Zion-world is the real world, then why does Neo see yellow code?
No, the Zion-world is really the yellow matrix. The yellow matrix exists to contain and placate those humans that have the mental capacity to see beyond the green matrix.
There are no clues that I can see to what's beyond the yellow matrix. I think that was intentional - a subtheme of "what is real" and perhaps even the main theme of the movie. My best guess is that Zion, the machines and the architect are somewhat equal characters in the yellow matrix. Outside the yellow matrix perhaps the machines have already won, and there is some more sensible reason for the yellow matrix than the laws-of-thermodynamics-defying human battery theory given by Morpheus. Anyway, back to Revolutions.
I had not seriously considered the possibility that Neo was not human at all, but in fact a program, however that seems to be logical now. At the end of Reloaded, the Architect even says that Neo is a program designed to take care of the errors in the equations of the Matrix.
Kerry had a great theory for the way that Smith self-destructed when he tried to kill Neo, which makes more sense if Neo is a program. The Oracle created Smith specifically to be megalomanical and try to take over the matrix. If Smith suceeded he would have taken over the green matrix, making the machine energy source for the yellow matrix useless. She knew that this was perhaps the only way that both the humans and the machines could be dependent on each other for survival, which forced the machines to accept Neo's offer for peace. The chance she took was that Neo would realize that his code could destroy Smith when Smith tried to take him over, and that Smith was right when he said that the purpose of life was to end. The purpose of Neo's life was to end.
I hadn't considered that the Oracle created Smith intentionally as he was, but that explains why the Architect tells the Oracle that she walked a fine line, at the end.
Anyway, I forgot the other stuff Kerry and I talked about, and I'm tired of typing, but I certainly enjoyed TM:R. I'll probably watch it again in the theatre, and perhaps get the DVD box set when it comes out next year, which I can't say about many movies.