The mythical world of the Matrix has drawn to a conclusion and it is not too soon. The creators have run out of juice, ideas and even a desire to take this narrative forward. While Revolutions is a great improvement on the awful clunker that was Reloaded, it is also the most tired of all the films. Being professionals and understanding the nature of myth as they do, the Wachowskis can still turn out a reasonably engrossing tale. But it is done at the cost of originality and creativity. The wheels of their brains spin faster than most people but nowadays the images being conjured up are all derivative. It is a tribute to their memory rather than to their ability. Unlike Peter Jackson who just kept getting better with each Ring, the Wachowski siblings should have stopped when they peaked.

This segment should have been the most mythical of all the three movies for it deals with one of the greatest themes of myth. Any conflict between the Yin and the Yang sides results, not in the complete victory of one side, but in a reordering of reality and a fresh restoration of balance in the cosmos. That is the best that can be done and the mythology of every culture intuitively understands this somewhat chastening truth. Aristotle once said that, "More of the good and less of the evil are gain, and the contrary is loss; intermediate between them is the equal which is just: therefore, justice will be the intermediate between loss and gain." All myths are concerned with this state of dynamic equilibrium, to restore the balance of energies in the cosmos, not tip the scales decisively over to one side. Any story that ends with the complete victory of good is a fairy tale and stories that see evil triumphant are just nasty. In any case, the light and dark are acting according to their innate natures, so it is difficult to draw facile moral conclusions. The Matrix machines use humans as energy sources to stay alive. It is not so different from humans domesticating animals and plants - we did not ask other life forms what they thought of this doubtless laudable endeavor.

The Wachowskis keep all of this in mind and even manage to convey some of that mythic resonance at times. But they trip up over their desire to put everything in. The endless supply of comic books that made up their childhood is now confusing them and they seem to think their hero is Frank Miller's Daredevil. Blinded by fate the hero is given superhuman senses and abilities as compensation. Neo can sense and feel others in three dimensions now and it doesn't help that he is given eye bandages that look exactly like the Daredevil character. Daredevil does not whine, and is not confusedly insecure as Neo is, so the comparison is most inapt. We also have the problem that our hero is so un-likeable he almost destroys the movie. Neo completely lacks the insouciance to be the savior of the world as he never develops the mature awareness needed to deal with this level of power. One longs for Johnny Depp to have played Neo, displaying the many layered, evilly amused awareness that leads to finding humor and potential for transcendence in everything. Depp would have made it a darkly powerful, completely self realized Hero, instead of the dorky earnestness wallowing in loss that became Keanu Reeves' interpretation.

Characters are never fully fleshed out. The gorgeous Monica Belluci is wasted as Persephone in this round, actually reduced to a gratuitous titillating moment, but what a moment it was, people! Jada Pinkett Smith gets to play a jock pilot in the mandatory tip of the hat to the politically correct 'strong woman' role. She looks almost embarrassed. The Oracle sees Mary Alice step in, quite inadequately, to fill the gap created by the untimely death of Gloria Foster and the film twists itself round to explain it away. Agent Smith however remains debonairly evil and is merrily reprogramming the entire matrix to become clones of his own self. It is the one strong concept thrown up by the movie - our evil makes us indistinguishable, it is our virtues that make us unique. Unfortunately this is never fleshed out, in spite of all the possibility. Evil lumps you into a homogenous agglomerate of mediocrity and stultifying banality with superficial glamour. But to be human, to be unique, you need to develop your virtues, your gifts and talents - such as they are.

From an Indian perspective there is a moment of interest in a Hindu family of programs fleeing and hiding their child who has potential to become like Neo. However, there is a great howler in the name they give her - Sati. No Indian parent would ever name a daughter Sati, not even in the Matrix, as she was a mythological character who self immolated out of shame for having a vile father. There is some pseudo -mystical talk of duty, destiny and free choice in this sequence. It is supposed to echo the first exposition of the blue pill / red pill sequence but all it shows is Neo looking even more confused and out of it than the script would require.

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