The Ultimate Matrix Collection will be released tomorrow (December 7, 2004), finally completing the Wachowskis' entire sci-fi franchise. For some, the series represents a disappointing conclusion to what promised to be a very good trilogy. For me, the new DVD release at least warrants a second look.

Even for those who detest the latter two films of the Matrix trilogy, the first movie stands as an overwhelming triumph of filmmaking. Though it was not initially successful (due to mild promotion), it soon became a surprise hit that stunned audiences with its winning combination of smooth storytelling, philosophical quandaries, and revolutionary special effects. It was so overwhelmingly popular, in fact, that a sequel was almost doomed to failure. Not only did it have to live up to the hype surrounding the first film, but it also faced the fate that befalls the middle film in any trilogy: the problem of making a movie that contains neither the beginning nor the end of a story, yet satisfactorily progresses the plot.

Given these obstacles, it is no wonder that The Matrix Reloaded fared so poorly with critics. The film introduced the audience to a new setting, new conflicts, and a host of new characters, with no resolution and little clear direction. The heroes of the movie became engaged in long, drawn-out battles that led seemingly nowhere. As a result, audiences became restless with the movie, and understandably so. Without the third film, there was no way of knowing how the endless fighting would eventually pay off.

Richard Slotkin, the author of Gunfighter Nation, proposes that the operant myth of American culture is the Western film. He argues that this myth, which typically involves a rogue cowboy enforcing order behind the barrel of a gun, teaches us that violence solves problems. I submit that this principle not only in Westerns, but in most action films in general (the only thing Bruce Willis is missing in Die Hard is a cowboy hat).

Toward the end of The Matrix Revolutions, when Neo and Agent Smith begin yet another epic battle, my eternally wise wife commented in frustration, "Why are they doing this again? This isn't getting them anywhere." I realized then that this is precisely the point. Throughout most of the trilogy, Neo and company tried to defeat the Matrix through the means of traditional action and Western flicks: physical violence. Eventually, Neo comes to the same realization that my wife did, that fighting is getting him nowhere. It is at this point that Neo changes his tactic, sacrificing himself to destroy the Matrix.

This is the true revolution: an action movie that subverts the violent conventions of a fiction genre and of an entire culture.