STEVEN HALLMARK

NEO turns to the Oracle and asks: "Where is this going? Where does it end?"

By the time he asks this question I was past caring.

It should have only needed one word to convince the Wachowski brothers not to make the two Matrix sequels.

Highlander.

Look at what a disaster it became turning an inspired, original movie with a cult following into a shoddy franchise.

But they did. And the result is as bad as the Highlander 'series', or the last two Alien films or even the most recent Star Wars travesties.

Just don't do it. The muse has left you now and you don't have the talent to turn a one-off spark of genius into an eternal flame.

There are just too many things wrong with Revolutions.

It starts where the second left off - desperate attempts to recreate the stunts of the original interspersed with shallow, stoner philosophy and a love story between the two leads.

Focussing on the soporific relationship between Neo and Trinity is a huge mistake. Nobody cares about the interaction between those two. She clearly should have died in the second film - but her character and the unconvincing love between the two continues ad nauseum.

Trying to turn it into a war film with the battle for Zion seemed like a good idea and that sequence is quite entertaining. But adding every single war movie clich - right down to the grizzled old drill sergeant with the heart of gold and the too-young-to-be-enlisted baby-faced hero - was just ridiculous.

The only good thing about Revolutions is that my level of expectation had dropped so dramatically after Reloaded that it didn't seem as bad as I was expecting it to be.