»Revolution premise...«

In THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, the final chapter in the MATRIX trilogy, the rebels' long quest for freedom culminates in an explosive battle. As the Machine Army wages devastation on Zion, its citizens mount an aggressive defense – but can they stave off the relentless swarm of Sentinels long enough for Neo to harness the full extent of his powers and end the war?

This is official stuff and implicitly says that Neo will harness the full extent of his powers and end the war. It also says that the movie will be about an explosive battle, thus making the point of Zion being real irrelevant to the movies current plot.

I guess the real question is why this time is different.

This time is different because the One merged with a program, and made an out of control virus.
This time is different because the love exhibited by the One is specific to one person.
This time is different because the Oracle can't see any further.
This time is different because Kid woke up upon death(IS Kid supposed to be the One in v6.0? But Neo is just a person who believed in Morpheus so much, that he fell for the hype, and partially became anomalous?).
This time is different because an AI(Smith) has to touch the source for a reload.
This time is different because the One has found 01.
This time is different because Persephone is wearing a super-red-hot Vampirella get-up, and fails to tempt the One.
This time is different because we get to see it happen in I-Max.
This time is different because the One is secretly wearing ladies panties(Larry's idea), and this makes him take more risks.