I think that everyone who loves films or has seen alot of American or Hollywood movies will be used to films having a happy ending, also that their heroes always win and survive against really unbelievable odds.
This was not the case in the matrix, 1 because (after watching animatrix's Renaissance Part 1 & 2) the humans weren't really the good guys. 2 because both Neo and Trinity died, but Morpheus and Niobe survived. Now I'm sorry for saying this but normally in films it's the black actors that die but in the Matrix 2 + 3 this was not the case.
Overall the films was so different from what people were used to getting, that they rejected the program.
But i think another reason for that was because many film goers will felt that the Wachi Bros lied to us, they tricked us, if they had told us the truth we would have told them to take their films and shove them right up their ass.
The Matrix sets you up for one kind of ending to the trilogy and then gives you another, leaving you to figure out why and what message they were trying to convey. And before you start yes i am aware that some of you GENIUSES probably got it as soon as you saw it. But for those that required more time to dwell on what they had seen, can be split into two groups, those who took the time and effort to gain understanding of the films and those who just could not be bothered.
The latter were the ones making the most noise - as empty vessels do.
Numo
LoL 🙄
Nicely said even if I don't completely agree. I agree that Hollywood-ized movies have a fairy tale way of story telling with stories like this, where as this movie did not.
Also, this movie you cannot simply have a "Good Guy" "Bad Guy" cut and dry, it's all in perspective. Everyone's just fighting for survival and freedom, and this is where Ethics and Philosophy come into play with questions like "Can a machine really be considered a life? If so, do we still have the right to call it property?" and "What is life? Are we not in fact chemical machines made out of simplistic amino acids?" and the ever potent "What is reality?"
The best I've ever heard it put was by the cast and crew of the movies:
You get out of [the Matrix Trilogy] what you put into it.
Yes, I think the critics were ripping the movie apart because of the open, "everyone important dies" ending. However, I also noticed that the dialogue was kinda weak (compared to the pseudo-philosophical speech in M1) and a little too kiddie(ish). Also, the acting wasn't exactly top-notch, but that's just my opinion.
...and Trinity... that scene...
Well, go ahead and call me a sick sadistic bastard, but when Keanu tried to cry convincingly... I kinda laughed out loud. For a couple minutes.... 'till the tears flowed and my gut popped.
But overall, the movie was truly great, I was literally awestruck for days after. Most spectacular sci-fi movie I've ever seen!!!
Although i myself was a part of the heated debates after Nov. 5, 2003, i can safely say that there is no other way to end this trilogy. After all, the trilogy delves into metaphysics, religion, morality, love, ultimate purpose, epic heroism, and many other things and forms too numerous to count (believe me 😉 ) the ending to Revolutions actually showed an end. But we all know that an end is really just the beginning of something else, something better. Everything happened as it had to happen. For instance, Neo and Trinity fell in love. This love saved both of their lives, and forced Neo to make the decision no one else could make. and When there was no more need for their love, when the road has come to an end, one dies, forcing the other to realize that he has, really, nothing else to live for. This allows him to make the decision he must make, and realize the truth, in order to sacrifice himself for the good of both man and machine. It is only when both man and machine can co-habitate that the earth wil return to normal, otherwise there would be a continual power struggle which would end in a similar way, man enslaved without knowing his captors.
Also, looking at the trilogy from a religious point of view, Neo has truly undergone a transformation, moving from a proletariat, one of the masses, to a saviour, and finally ascending and becoming a god. (Realized this with the help of the beautiful lotus imagery at the end of Revolutions...Hinduism) His mind also undergoes a transformation, from being unable to make a simple "leap of faith" to controlling the very matrix itself and ultimately descending into hell and fighting a 'satan' figure, winning through mastery of his emotions and his opponent's. He causes the matrix code to be rewritten on the highest levels, while still doing what he was meant to do, saving humanity. He is the ultimate hero.
If any of this had not been in place, if Trinity and Neo had not died (or ascended, whichever the case may be 😉 ) then the movie would not accurately portray an epic struggle. If they had 'lived happily ever after', which most certainly would have appease-the-masses #1, it wouldn't have made millions think and reason. If the people had all been freed from the Matrix, their minds unplugged, (appease-the-masses #2) it wouldn't have fit with everything we were told in the first two movies (not everyone wants to be unplugged, once a mind reaches a certain age, it has trouble letting go, there are 250,000 people living in a space big enough for 250,000 people). All in all, Revolutions fulfilled my expectations in a finale, and then some. Anyway, thats my two cents, take what you will.