After “The Matrix Reloaded” I read several reviews purporting to explain this series of films in terms of religion (Gnosticism). Don’t worry, I’ll avoid that here.

This film, third after “The Matrix” and “The Matrix Reloaded” — and, one expects (and perhaps hopes), the end of the series — starts out by bringing us up to date on what was going on at the end of the second film. This, of course, slows down the early part of the film considerably, and — remarkably for a Matrix film! — I came close to falling asleep in the first fifteen minutes of the film.

After that, things pick up. Neo (Keanu Reeves) has to take on Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), and also, with Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), find his way out into the machine world and convince the machines to make peace with Zion. Meanwhile, the machines have almost bored their way through to Zion, and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) are racing through various narrow conduits, pursued by machine “squids”, hoping to reach Zion and relieve it. And, over all, we have the enigmatic figures of the Oracle and the Architect …

Does any of this make much sense? Not to me (though in this third episode we seem to be getting back to the concept of a world in which machines have risen and turned human beings into a simple source of energy). I saw it mainly for the fights and the special effects. Hopefully, the story will make more sense to you than it did to me …

(Note: I saw this, as “The Matrix Reloaded” earlier, with several other people, including my daughter Sybil and her husband. We saw both films at the same theater, and had to drive back to Sybil’s home afterwards. After “The Matrix Reloaded” the car was full of discussion about the film. After “The Matrix Revolutions” the car was full of discussion about the weather and other topics. I’m not sure what this means, if anything …)