I tried to do a final QC tonight but was completely dissatisfied with the first half hour.
Neo's reason for jacking in seems tenuous, the Matrix being overrun with Smiths seems a little too quick (but could almost be believed), the transition into the rebuilt Matrix seems a little too quick, there's a nasty sound before Bane gets confronted at the conference table (I can't get it out because it hits over his first sentence), Neo in his room has that abrupt looking up with meaningful music (for no particular reason).
I'm feeling like I should rip this apart and re-cut it, but I don't know where to go with it.
I do like the whole Battle of Zion and the Hammer coming in hot. I think that came out 10x better than the original.
I'm not sure I like Bane's last line of "It isn't over Mr. Anderson" since it's really an empty threat.
The end although not perfect isn't so bad, and probably can't be done much better without some serious added CG work.
I'm low on ideas and horribly burned out on this project. I think I'm going to sleep on it. I think the problem is Reloaded came out far above my expectations and this is somewhat below it making it seem far worse.
I've been toying with the idea of scrapping the complete retooling of the plot and just doing something similar to Reloaded: editing for themes and ideas, not the story. Unfortunately that still leaves Trin dead and Neo probably dead. I just don't want that.