Programs that are magnets, robots that are birds, strawberries, the Catrix, Smith isn’t Smith but is Smith but doesn’t look like Smith, “bullet time”, architect to analyst, and coming in the next installment - probably called Matrix Repercussions - I’m expecting Tobias Funke as the Analrapist.
Just got home from seeing this.
It was pretty wretched, and I'd feel sorry for anyone that pays money to watch this.
I don't really know where to start. The plot was a mess, the acting was hammy (Keanu's acting in his early Morpheus scenes was so poor), the stakes weren't even that high, the action scenes were mundane, and half of the callbacks to the original trilogy just didn't land. The Merv was more comical than anything. Neil Patrick Harris as threatening as Barney from How I Met Your Mother. Agent Smith was ok, shame they couldn't get Weaving back. He probably read the script and passed (for good reason). Also, the 'bullet-time' concept - surely even when he's moving that slow (or normal speed for him but super speed for the Analyst), he'd still be able to stop the bullets using his mind or whatever as he's the one?
Part of the reason the original trilogy / first one was so good was the storyline and underlying philosophy. Free will vs purpose, choice vs no choice, feeling vs program, these dichotomies and how they interplay were really well drawn out. Even though the latter two movies weren't great, there's still that same thread that runs through them that we see in the first. This one it feels like they didn't give it any thought as to the deeper purpose and just wanted some token nostalgic hits. Which is a shame.
As other posters have said, there's so many better storylines they could have come up with - why not this is the next iteration of the Matrix (the 8th cycle), but as Neo chose Trinity in the last movie over saving Zion there's an anomaly where everything else is different but he's the same (call it the Matrix Resumes). I mean, I just came up with that in 5 seconds. The whole meta references didn't land for me - I could see what they were trying to do, but they didn't pull it off.
Some funny moments - when Neo and Trinity are on the roof, there's three helicopters, he diverts a missile from one to another which explodes. Then there's like 2-3 minutes of the movie where Neo and Trinity are just looking at the sky and admiring the tranquility with some cheesy dialogue. What happens to the other two helicopters? Do they see the moment and think they'll give them a bit of time as it's a nice day? It's so contrived. Then they come back a bit later when they decide to jump off the building and start shooting again.
Also, what was the point of Agent Smith in this whole movie? He's kept there by the Analyst as his business partner? Surely he knows that? Then he fights Morpheus who is part Smith anyway, so surely they should be sorta evenly matched in the fight?
Anywho, it's probably the worst movie out of the 4 and by some distance in my opinion.
This is now a very personal battle for Neo & Trinity.