jukebox playin'
dave matthews band - grey street
maybe - emma bunton
lagu zaman - sm salim & ramli sarip
woke up at halfpast eleven juz now, had a revitalising shower & went fer fridae prayers.. Am feeling much better today but my poor mom is feelin' abit ill... so i promised her i'd help out in the kitchen later when she's preparing food fer iftar. hehe.. it's time to do sumthing about my deficiency in culinary skills anyway...
i totally forgot to mention that i caught matrix revolutions at jurongpoint GV on monday evening wif chacha. Had been readin some pretty bad reviews about it in the papers & on websites BUT because i've been following the matrix franchise, i guess it wouldnt hurt to find out what the supposed concluding episode is all about...
DISAPPOinting is just one adjective to describe the show. But then what can one expect from a couple of geek directors (i.e the very ugly wachowski brothers) who havent got much directing credentials to begin wif?? granted, the first matrix movie was an excellent concoction of a myriad of influences ranging frm jap anime to kungfu movies. however, from then on unfortunately, it was downhill all the way. i guess the wachowski brothers had alot of expections to fulfill and being such a massive global hit, it must have been pretty difficult to top the first matrix movie anyway. Reloaded, though it wasnt really ThAT bad, was chokeful wif zen-like mysticism & philosophies that threaten to bog down the movie but thankfully, it did not... mainly because of the colorful assortment of new characters that populate the show [remember the albino twins & vava-voom monica belluci as persephone??]. Furthermore, the CGI sequences were memorably mind-numbing; in a good way of course... and the same can be said of Revolutions.
The special effects are switched on full blast in this third instalment of the matrix storyline and this, it can be said, might be the best thing about Revolutions (the battlescene on zion, for instance was spectacularly done). however, i felt that the final duel between Neo & agent smith was too draggy & uninspired. and why do the characters have to speak so Sloooowwwly??? maybe the directors think it would help audiences assimilate their existentalist ideas better but then i can't help wondering if any of the actors actually understood what they were talking about!?! maybe speaking in low, impassioned tones can be effective at times but to have almost EVERY single character doing it, is i think, abit Too Much! i'm also frustrated wif keanu reeve's deadwood portrayal of Neo, who after three matrix movies, still wears a sotong expression & looks as lost as a schoolboy in a crowded auditorium. (so what does trinity see in him anyway???) And the lines!! they can be SO corny, it's beyond intolerable! .. but i'm glad that some characters were finally fleshed out; jada pinkett smith as Niobe, nona gaye as zee (link's wife) & clayton watson as the kid had relatively small, supporting parts but were convincing nevertheless.
mary alice replaces the late gloria foster (who died of diabetes before she could shoot any scenes fer Revolutions) as the Oracle but sadly, she did not even capture half the charm or pathos portrayed by the latter. It's such a shame that lawrence fishburne (morpheus) & carrie ann moss (trinity) were'nt given more meaningful onscreen time... on the other hand, the opening scenes wif Neo in limbo wif an indian family and the subsequent encounter wif the merovingian (the materialist frenchman) at the bdsm nightclub seem totally pointless & serves nothing more than to extend the movie's playing time. even agent smith (hugo weaving) has been reduced to a raving & snarling caricature.
Above all, matrix revolutions bristles wif frenetic energy at some parts but fizzles out dissatisfyingly at others. All glossy wif lofty pretensions but lackluster in soul, the show takes itself too seriously to ever reach the cult-status level associated wif epic sci-fi faves like starwars... but maybe i'm juz a harsh critic... ;-P
Quoteworthy
"Six hours ago, I was ready to give my life for you. Do you know what has changed in the last six hours?" - Trinity
"No.. " - Neo
"Nothing!" - Trinity
---- schmaltzy excerpt frm matrix revolutions.
