October 16, 2003. Copyright, 2003, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Matrix Revolutions concludes phenomenal movie success story
By Mark Samms

LONDON, October 16, Graphic News:  When it comes to eagerly-awaited sequels, Matrix Revolutions is right up there with Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Indeed, producer Joel Silver (Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Predator) was quoted as saying: ÒWe wonÕt even have to advertise the third film. WeÕll just tell people the date and theyÕll come.Ó

His confidence is understandable, given the success of the first two movies in the trilogy.

The Matrix set the scene in 1999, when computer hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves), discovers that life on Earth is nothing more than an intricate charade Ð the Matrix. It has been created by an artificial intelligence to placate humanity, while far in the future the machines have enslaved mankind for use as a power source in the Òreal worldÓ.

Neo is identified as ÒThe OneÓ by the rebel warriors Ð the much-prophesied saviour of mankind. He joins forces with Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), as the battle against the machines begins.

The trilogy is the brainchild of brothers Andy and Larry Wachowksi, who decided to film the second and third instalments back to back. In one of the shrewdest moves in cinema history, they released Matrix Reloaded earlier this year and crammed it with questions that demanded to be answered. It was good against evil and man against machine against a background of quasi-religious symbolism.

It also had a classic, if rather corny, cliff-hanger of an ending with the machines moving in for the kill, and when the producers let it be known that Revolutions contained action sequences that would surpass even the ground-breaking, budget-busting special effects of the first two movies, the trap for cinema-goers was well and truly set.

The internet has been humming with hypotheses for months, but the film-makers have given away precious little except the tantalising tit-bit that one 14-minute action sequence alone Ð claimed to be the most complex ever filmed Ð cost $40 million.

However, as The Matrix grossed more than $450 million and the two sequels are forecast to burst through the billion-dollar barrier, this expenditure is unlikely to cause many sleepless nights for Silver and his fellow investors.
 
Like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, the Matrix movies have gained greater credibility with audiences because they were carefully planned to be part of a series and are not merely half-hearted spin-offs intended to cash in on the success of the original. 

Reloaded ended with the words: ÒTo be concludedÓ. Millions of film fans around the world are eargerly awaiting the imminent arrival of that conclusion.

Release dates

Oct 27: U.S. (world premiere)
Nov 5: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, U.S.
Nov 6: Argentina, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, South Korea
Nov 7: Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, Greece, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Turkey, UK
Nov 20: Hungary, Slovenia
/ENDS