Picking up directly where "The Matrix Reloaded" left off, "Revolutions" finds the Machines' planned attack on the grimy industrial city of Zion a mere twenty hours away. With Neo (Keanu Reeves) in a coma, stuck somewhere between the real world and the matrix, Morpheus and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) pay a visit to the Oracle (Mary Alice) in an attempt to garner the answers needed to find him. Meanwhile, soldier pilot Niobe and her crew begin preparations for the wara world-changing battle that the Oracle later assures Neo will, whether good or bad, come to an end.

Under the sickeningly pretentious, hack-induced helm of the Wachowski brothers, that ending cannot come fast enough. The first halfeven more than in "Reloaded"is dedicated to so much drawn-out, unnecessary, needlessly complicated exposition that it quickly becomes both maddening and laughable. While all the talk and questions posed in "Reloaded" were also on the lengthy side, there was at least a semi-intriguing air about the proceedings. "Revolutions" does nothing more than ask a round of new convoluted questions, albeit mo re clumsily, and then doesn't even bother answering most of them. In the grand scheme of concluding trilogies, isn't that tantamount to blasphemy?

For all of its expository elements, viewers of "The Matrix Reloaded" were repaid with two mindblowing action scenesa fight between Neo and hundreds of clones of Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), and a tour de force 14-minute highway chasethat boasted some of the more amazing visual effects in filmmaking history. If only for roughly a half-hour, "Reloaded" at least held the power to inspire, excite, and truly invigorate. The two central action sequences in "The Matrix Revolutions"the extended battle between Zion and the machines, and the climactic fight-to-the-death between Neo and Agent Smith amidst the matrix cityscapeplay like rancid, months-old leftovers. They are all flash and lightning, C-grade genre imitations with nary an original idea or image in their noisy little heads. Not only do they lack even the faintest form of excitement, they are about as incoherent as they are emotionally sterile. You sit in your seat staring at a screen with millions upon millions of dollars projected upon it, and you simply are not for a second led to care at all about anyone or anything onscreen. The situations are often nonsensical, the characters are walking one-dimensional cliches, and their motivations are frustratingly cloudy.

Keanu Reeves (2001's "Hardball") has ceased being cool as Neo and, in the course of the series, has transformed him from oh-so-cool into a thoroughly uninteresting, humorless deadweight. The same goes for fellow leads Carrie-Anne Moss (2000's "Red Planet"), looking haggard and distracted as Trinity, and Laurence Fishburne (2003's "Mystic River"), whose originally badass role of Morpheus has become virtually transparent. These three protagonists take everything so seriously, and talk in such eternally solemn, hushed tones, that they have become enormous bores. The only performers who try to inject anything different into their scenes are Jada Pinkett Smith (2001's "Ali"), who in one shocking moment actually smiles, and Mary Alice (2002's "Sunshine State"), commendably taking over the role of the Oracle from the late Gloria Foster. Alice offers real warmth, sympathy, and wisdom in her scenes, which are close to being the only ones in the entire picture that work.

If, going into "The Matrix Revolutions," you expect to finally find out what role internal controllers Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) and Persephone (Monica Bellucci) ar e playing in the grand scheme of things, or are waiting to discover who the Architect is, or plan on some great truth about life or human nature arising, you are in for a rude awakening. The Wachowski brothers started off "The Matrix" series with a visionary first film that easily could stand on its own two feet, and have proceeded to jerk its audience around ever since. The writing this time around is haphazard, so long-winded and melodramatic it's difficult to believe anyone could take it seriously, while the action setpieces are a bombastic mess. As for the romance between Neo and Trinity, it has been so drained of its passion and the characters' natural chemistry that it no longer holds any value. The Wachowski's have clearly not thought out their story satisfactorily, and have spent a ridiculous amount of time (three films and seven hours, in fact) to tell what ultimately amounts to a simple idea that could have been edited down to 100 minutes (for a sterling example, check out 19 98's similar, grandly superior "Dark City").

"The Matrix Revolutions" is a really awful movie any way you look at it. Whereas the original film held a joy and magic of storytelling, a rare imagination, a sense of wonder, and an undeniable energy, even amidst its many glaring flaws, "The Matrix Revolutions" is totally exempt of these things. It's an eye-candy extravaganza without a pulse.