Unfortunate audiences in Australia were required to front up for an obligatory pat-down for recording devices at midnight. The queues were interminable and there seemed to be an oversupply of bondage and discipline aficionados in gleaming black vinyl and leather.
It all pointed to a great opportunity to nod off and have a bit of a kip during the film and I'm sad to say I wasn't disappointed.
The middle film in the trilogy, Matrix Reloaded rated a three on the patented Pomeranian Snore Scale, and Matrix Revolutions doubled that score, despite my efforts with a couple of No-Doze and a few litres of coffee.
Dear me! With all of the marketing hype and a pedigree including The Matrix - in its time, an innovative and exciting new take on the sci-fi genre - one would think that the Wachowski brothers could come up with a more balanced mix of action and philosophising.
I'm afraid Revolutions is better classified as a drawn-out advertisement for Botox parties. I've never seen a bunch of more expressionless characters, and it beggars belief that they could make it through filming without chemical assistance in restricting displays of emotion.
Of course, Keanu Reeves is a master of the wooden performance, but the irony is that his portrayal of the series hero Neo is dramatically stunted in favour of a drawn-out battle sequence and more of the undergraduate talk-fests we have come to expect after Reloaded.
For those looking for a synopsis, Revolutions doesn't seem to take up where Reloaded left off as logic might suggest. Somehow the clueless Neo is trapped in a subway station with a family of computer programs. Lawrence Fishburne's Morpheous is arguing with his fellow ship captains after losing his own vessel.
The human city of Zion is under attack from giant burrowing machines. And Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving)? Well thanks heavens for small mercies - Weaving happens to be the one redeeming feature of the film as Smith and his clones threaten to take over the Matrix.
In short, Zion is saved at the last minute by the cavalry. Trinity (Carrie Moss) stages one of the longest and eerily painless death scenes in film, and Neo strikes a bargain with the machines, defeating the forces of Agent Smith and opening the way for the terrifying possibility of even more films.
I have to ask, what's the point, other than to encourage a phalanx of geeks to tie up bandwidth on the internet with convoluted arguments about the origins of "The One" and the relevance of characters like the Merovingian, the Oracle and, for God's sake, the Trainman.
If you're headed out to see The Matrix Revolutions hoping for loads of action or expecting a stimulating philosophical excursion, you'll be disappointed either way. On both counts, the film falls down in a confused mess that leaves the audience unsatisfied.
When I saw the film, the closing scenes were greeted with derisive cheers as Trinity died and the Oracle hinted at a possible return of Neo and his expressionless goons.
Ironic, isn't it, that films I actually have to pay to see end up being a chore to endure?
