I saw The Matrix Revolutions last night with my buddy Kevin at the King of Prussia Megaplex. Prior to attending had dinner at Champs where we spent mealtime leering at our waitress Jody and imbibing nutty beer. I was actually more guilty of the leering. The line to enter the 7:40 PM showing had already been let in the theater. We ended up sitting in the back section but we had rail. Having rail is good because you don’t have anyone to kick in front of you. Some high school kids were sitting behind us and the girl behind me was constantly bumping into my chair. She needed rail. Oh, and now I’m having a random thought. When I used to do project work for The Big Computer Company in Houston, we’d often play Quake II after 5 PM and spend it entirely in The Rail Room. Nothing was in there except a spiral walkway and rail guns. If you have the means, I highly recommend letting me shoot you in the rail room with my rail gun. It’s not as good as having rail at the movies, but close. Unless I kill you a lot. Then it sucks to be you.
Back on topic. The Matrix Revolutions is yet another film that requires both multiple viewings and time. The viewings so that you can catch all of the information streamed to you. Time so that you can think about what you saw and draw your own conclusions. There aren’t a lot of movies that defiantly leave questions unanswered or vagaries unresolved with the sole intention of making you use your brain. We tend not to think about our films anymore and that’s a problem. It’s safe to say that *all* of the negative reviews that you’ll read about the film (go to Rotten Tomatoes to see them) were written by folks who didn’t bother to reflect. They wanted their Hollywood ending and when they didn’t get it, they go off and write eye-catching headlines for their reviews (like ”The Matrix Revolutions Sucks” — Rolling Stone). If you’re worried about liking the film then just wait for it to come out on DVD. Friends of mine did this for Matrix Reloaded and we’ve since had lots of cool conversations about its meaning and interpretation. This used to happen to me all the time while I was majoring in English. I guess I miss that. If you’d rather see Bruce Willis blow up some bad guys then this film isn’t for you. If you like philosophy or any form of intellectual stimulation then this film is for you. In summary: Great film. Can’t wait to see it on the IMAX next. Thinking about naming my first kid Neo.