The story surrounds Jason Tripitikas played by Michael Angarano(24, Will and Grace) being bullied by a gang, and his love of Kung fu movies, which he rents from an elderly Old Hop(Jackie Chang), during one particular night, Old Hop is robbed, and in the event of trying to protect Old Hop, he gets hold of an old staff, which transports him into the realm of the magical Forbidden Kingdom, where an evil Jade Warlord played by well known Kung fu Star Collin Chou. The Jade Warlord has taken over the Forbidden Kingdom while the King of Heaven is away.

This magical kingdom has a select number of Immortals, who cannot be killed except by a jade poison dart. It turns out that there was an immortal a Monkey King(also played by Jet Li), who had been challenged to a duel by the evil Jade Warlord, who was growing increasingly bitter over the favouritism shown to the Monkey King by the King of Heaven, as the King of Heaven left the Forbidden Kingdom into the hands of the Jade Warlord until his return, the Jade Warlord saw the opportunity to end the Monkey King once and for all, by attempting to kill him during the duel, just in time before he is killed the Monkey King freezes into stone, and sends out his magical staff out of the Forbidden Kingdom, and a prophecy was born that one will come that will return the Monkey King’s staff to the rightful owner.

Our young protagonist suddenly finds himself in the Forbidden Kingdom, where he, Lu Yan, his associate Golden Sparrow played by the lovely Yifei Liu and a monk known as The Silent Monk (also played by Jet Li) have to get the staff to the Monkey King, however he is still immortalised in stone, in the lair of the Jade King.

The cinematography gives the impression of being in a fantasy world, where everything is possible.

It has some classic funny moments, especially where Lu Yan is trying to summon rain while the stern faced Silent Monk makes a mockery of his attempt.

This is a great action movie with fantastic comedy moments, and the fans are no doubt clamouring for a sequel.

It again stars Keanu Reeves(Point Break, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure) as Neo, Laurence Fishburne(Apocalypse Now) as Morpheus, Carrie Ann Moss(Memento) as Trinity

The war with the A.I. is reaching it’s climax, the last human fortress Zion is under attack by the machines, and unless our protagonists can do something, their life and civilisation will be wiped out.

The antagonist, Agent Smith played by Hugo Weaving(Lord of the rings: The Fellowship of the ring) has somehow managed to get his personality out into the real world, while in the Matrix like a malevolent virus he has taken over everyone, and is waiting for Neo to turn up for their final encounter.

We learn a little about the unfolding in the life of the real world for Morpheus, Neo and Trinity, with people constantly wanting something from Neo in the real world, keeping him away from Trinity more than he would like, to send messages to their loved ones, whose minds haven’t been “unplugged” yet, to constantly protecting his friends and companions from Agents, who like regular software have been given upgrades to combat the threat of Neo. The complicated relationship between Morpheus and his lost love Niobe played by the wife of Will Smith (who was the original choice to play Neo by the Wachowski brothers) Jada-Pinkett Smith is developed a little further.

Less time is given to the other A.I. as was done in the previous sequel, and instead focuses on the main thrust of the story, the war between civilisation and the A.I. and if Neo, Morpheus and Trinity have any say on how it will all end.

The suspense that has been building up for a few years since the original Matrix is well played upon, and the conclusion is a fitting end to the roller coaster of cinematic vision and innovation that hasn’t captured the minds of many movie goers since.

Many saw this final sequel as redeeming some of the disappointments some of the fans saw in the second sequel, and it is not an underestimation to say the Matrix trilogy is to the current I.T. and Internet savvy generation what Star Wars was, to the generation of the late 70′s and 80′s.

The directors Andy and Larry Wachowski better known as the Wachowski brothers have reportedly refused to do any interviews about The Matrix or it’s sequels, possibly to continue and preserve it’s cult status.

As with many sequels, there are never as critically acclaimed or well received by the fans as the originals, and this is no exception. That said for cult fan status it was a long wait, with a superb teaser trailer broadcast during the Super Bowl, that had many fans salivating. This sequel did reveal a little bit more about the composition of the real world our protagonists lived in and the Matrix world the frequented.

In this sequel we are introduced to a whole other A.I. living in the Matrix, Persephone played by the beautiful Monica Bellucci(The brothers Grimm) and her husband Merovingian played by Lambert Wilson(The Lazarus Project, Babylon A.D.), and The Oracle was also revealed as another system of control, unfortunately the original actress Gloria Foster who played The Oracle, died soon after completing her scenes.

Morpheus believing a prophecy told to him by the Oracle, that getting Neo to the source will end the war and set them free from the A.I., along with Trinity try to get Neo to the location of the source, battling some nifty Programs along the way, a pair of them having the ability to move through objects and other people(which is plausible as no one in the Matrix is really flesh and bone, but a kind of simulation).

The Wachowski brothers on the few times they did talk about The Matrix, said they always wanted to make a movie that combined their love of Kung-Fu and the Martial Arts with Science Fiction, and The Matrix captures this beautifully.

The interesting thing about the Matrix and it’s sequels is the hidden meanings littered throughout every scene, going back to look at various scenes again, and reading up about it, the hidden religious references combining key aspects of the world’s major religions is quite interesting, from the “Know thyself” writing when Neo first meets The Oracle to his first encounter with The Oracle’s protector Seraph played by Collin Chou(The Forbidden Kingdom, DOA: Dead or Alive) (apparently The Wachowski brothers tried to get Kung-Fu legend and three times Chinese high kick champion Jet Li to play _ but he declined indicating he didn’t want people to ignore the storyline and focus that he is in the movie)telling Neo “you never truly know anyone until you fight them“.

It stars Keanu Reeves(Point Break, Bill and Ted Excellent Adventure) as Neo/Mr Anderson(apparently Will Smith(Independence Day, I. Robot) was asked by the Wachowski brothers to play Neo, but he declined the role saying he wasn’t mature enough as an actor to carry out the role), an I.T. guy seemingly bored with his existence, he is contacted by the mysterious Morpheus played by Laurence Fishburne(Apocalypse Now), wanted by many for alledgedly terrorist activities.

It turns out that Neo isn’t really living in the real world at all, but under slavery, as he and the rest of humanity are under, being hooked up to a machine, providing life source for A.I(Artificial intelligence) that has taken over the planet over a war with humanity, leaving only a few renegades to continue the war against the A.I.

As Morpheus succinctly puts it “What if you were in a dream you couldn’t wake up from, how would you know what is real and what is not?”.

This all makes sense at this point, because as a prelude to this mind boggling discovery, there was an action sequence, where Trinity played by Carrie-Anne Moss(Memento) runs away from a couple of agents, into a phone box, and whilst she has the ear-piece of the phone to her ears, one of the agents runs down the phone box with a truck, with Trinity’s body nowhere to be found in or around the phone box after this encounter(apparently after showing that ten-minute action sequence to their executive producers, they signed up immediately).

Morpheus has been told a prophecy by the Oracle played by Gloria Foster that he will find The One that will put an end to the slavery and set humanity free from A.I., and he believes Neo is that one, however Neo needs some convincing, especially as Morpheus, Trinity and a host of others take him to see the Oracle, to see what predictions she has in store for him.

During this scene an interesting occurrence takes place, that just separates The Matrix from just another science fiction movie, Neo sees a black cat, and sees the cat again, he mutters to himself “deja vu”, immediately everybody in the entourage tenses up and he is asked what he saw, he relays what he saw, and everyone finds a hiding place, weapons at the ready, with Trinity explaining to Neo that deja vu happens when the A.I. change something in the Matrix, and sure enough the antagonist Agent Smith played magnificently by Hugo Heaving(Lord of the rings: The fellowship of the ring), is just around the corner.

It is a ground-breaking story line coupled with some superb action sequences, with great twists along the way makes for a classic science fiction movie.

This time round, the museum is about to be closed, with more interactive virtual tours, and all the models and exhibit are to be shipped to the archives at the Smithsonian, separated from the life-giving tablet, Larry may never see them alive again, while our protagonist Larry is a CEO of his own company and has left the night guard business, by the time Larry tries to put a stop to it, it is already too late and the models and exhibits have already been shipped.

Not one to give up, Larry along with his son, launch an audacious bid to find the exhibits and put a stop to the developments in the museum.

There is a scene reminiscent of the cargo scene in Raider’s of the lost Ark, where the exhibits are being loaded in cargoes, and for a second you could almost hear the same theme music, that was played in Raider’s of the Lost Ark.

Matters are complicated when Kahmunrah(played by the very talented Hank Azariah [The Simpsons], with an impressive English accent) the brother of Ahkmenrah wants the tablet to unleash his army of the dead and rule over the world.

There is a hilarious scene where Owen Wilson’s Jedediah Smith character along with Steve Coogan’s Roman Centurion Octavius go around attacking the enemy, by stabbing them with their little knives, it is an amusing scene, as it is shot with a tongue in cheek attempt at the slow motion battle scene in 300, they are going through the same motions, but the effect since they are so tiny is amusing to the audience, as the enemy only feels little nicks on their feet, it is brilliantly shot.

Love interest for Larry is provided by the fabulous Amy Adams(Charlie Wilson’s war) who plays Amelia Earhart the first woman to fly across the Atlantic.

Unfortunately the life giving tablet has fallen into the hands of Ahkmenrah who wants to use it to get out of the confines of the Museum and be able to live outside of it’s realms past the sunrise.

Ben Stiller (Tropic Thunder) plays Larry Daley the Museum guard with Jake Cherry playing his son Nick, Ricky Gervais(The Office) plays Dr. McPhee the manager of the museum.  Rami Malek plays Ahkmenrah, Steve Coogan as the miniature roman Octavius, Owen Wilson(The Wedding Crashers) as the cowboy Jedediah.

The always dependable Robin Williams plays Theodore Roosevelt, constantly on horse back and has his eye for Sacajawea played by the lovely Mizuo Peck.

Larry has to prevent many of the animated characters from causing havoc to the museum, notably a Capuchin monkey called Dexter, and he also has to tolerate one of the workers at the musuem Rebecca, who doesn’t take him seriously played by the lovely Carla Gugino(Snake eyes), after constantly having to battle wits with Dexter, Larry is amused when Rebecca the next day describes the Capuchin monkey as one of the most generous creatures.

It stars the lovely Dakota Fanning(The secret lives of Bees, I believe that was her sister in Phoebe in Wonderland) as Cassie Holmes and Chris Evans(Street Kings, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four) as Nick Gant. Two Americans who have found themselves in Hong Kong, in a race against time to find another girl Kira Bird played by the lovely Camille Belle( you might find something about her eyes being strangely familiar, ofcourse she was Evolet in 10,000 BC) in the hope to bring down the secret agency that has been hunting them down, and making their lives and those of their families hell.

They all have special abilities, and this is where it can get a little confusing, Pushers can push thoughts into people making them believe what they want, and do what they want, Movers can move objects, Watchers can predict the future(ofcourse the future is subject to change), Stitchers can stitch people back together that have been injured even those injured by Bleeders, who have the ability to echo high auditory screams that can smash glasses, damage ear drums, blood vessels, and literally move objects and people, Sniffers can literally find anyone just from touching their belongings, just like a dog, Wipers can wipe memories, Shifters can move patterns of light around objects to change the shape and appearance, we get to meet a shifter played by the fantastic Cliff “The Chameleon” Curtis as Hook Waters, and Shadows can prevent people by being found by Sniffers.

From the all action beginning where the young Nick Gant has to run away from the antagonist Henry Carver played by Djimon Hounsou(Amistad, Never Back Down), to the confrontations between Nick and Victor Budarin played by Neil Jackson(Quantun of Solace, Blade: The series), it is a non-stop action flick, with interesting plot twists many are sure to enjoy.

I heard Mickey Rourke due to his extremely realistic performance is to be invited to one of the key invents from WWE where he will wrestle, and I must say the performance is mesmerising, you instantly believe from his visage alone he has led a life where the world has pounded non-stop on his body, from the steroid injections to maintain his performance, to trying to make amends with his daughter Stephanie played superbly by Evan Rachel Wood, and trying his luck with a local stripper, who only sees him as a customer at first, but his lovable heart makes her realise he is one soft hearted ram. Marisa Tomei plays the love interest, and I am not alone wondering how she has the body of a teenager even though she is approaching middle age.

Mickey Rourke does a superb performance capturing the mannerisms and attitudes of many a wrestler, if you are a fan of WWF through the early 80′s through the 90′s you will recognise a few of the cameos and their references.

You will find yourself rooting for “The Ram” throughout, and you will literally be pleading with him not to get in the ring that inevitable one more time.

It is a superb movie that does a little justice behind the scenes of many wrestlers from a by gone era, the haunting score and lyrics of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler” brings it home.

The lead is played effectively by Gerald Butler( Dracula 2000), and the lovely Lena Headley(The Sarah Connor Chronicles) plays his queen Gorgo, David Wenham (Faramir in Lord of the Rings the two towers)plays Dilios, as well as Michael Fassbender(Azazel in Hex) as Stelios, and Rodrigo Santoro(Scarface the world is yours) as the arch nemesis Xerxes.

I was impressed by the direction, and the beautiful pictureque scenery. It seems everybody in there were in tip top physical shape, as I don’t recall a movie where everybody had a six pack. The ability to pump your blood in the mood of the spartans ultimate war with impossible odds against the Persians is what makes this enthralling.