Matrix Revolutions Impressions
I saw the Matrix Revolutions last night. Here are my impressions of the film.
Spoilers follow below.
I was a bit apprehensive to go see the movie as the early reviews I had read were largely negative. After viewing it I was presently surprised - overall I found the film to be quite enjoyable. The choreography was excellent and the CGI effects seemed much more polished than the prior film. Watching the final battle between Neo and Smith unfold I couldn’t help but recall the final battle of Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken).
One complaint I keep reading is that the film does a poor job of explaining what is going on and doesn’t expound on some of the themes / ideas it touches upon. I think the overall ambiguity of the film and the ending is why it was a success. As a body of work the Matrix trilogy touches upon a number of philosophical ideas such as reality, meaning, destiny, free will, faith, and love. Since the release of the first film a great deal of speculation has occurred and people have drawn a number of conclusions about these ideas expressed within the context of the movie. Trying to wrap things in a specific and simplistic ending would have been a mistake. Arguably the reason ambiguity makes sense is that these themes are slippery ideas - humankind has grappled with them for ages. Trying to wrap some simple answers up into a typically Hollywood ending would have been vapid.
So what to make of the film?
Leopoldo has an interesting discussion going on here.
I found it interesting that the little girl was born (created) without a predetermined purpose. For a program she seemed quite human like as she was free to determine her own greater purpose. This raises the bigger question of really how different sentient programs are from humanity.
The difference between the “real world” and the simulated reality of the Matrix is never truly clarified. It is worth noting that the train station (limbo between worlds) exists outside of both the real physical world and the simulated world of the Matrix. While it has been largely dismissed I still am not convinced that a matrix within a matrix is not plausible. There is no evidence to show that the “real world” shown in the film is any more valid than the simulated world of the Matrix. The protagonists accept it as the real world simply because they lack the frame of reference to perceive it as anything else. If computers & programs provide a way model to conceptualize the world of the Matrix what is to say that the “real world” can not also be understood given a sufficient model. Is the life of a sentient human any more or less real than the life of a sentient program? Both seem to show a remarkable similarity, however, we simply lack ability to easily classify and understand the human condition. Can we ever truly understand ourselves? Smith’s doubt at the end seems to imply that sentient programs share a similar lack of understanding of their own life condition.
I saw some parallels to Frank Herbert’s Dune chronicles. Neo could see without seeing much like Paul could after being blinded. In the end of the film Smith succumbed to the trap or oracular prophecy just as Paul did in Dune Messiah.
In the end we are left with a world that is essentially back at the beginning. Both the Matrix and the real world continue to exist. Things have come full circle - perhaps this was the meaning of the word revolutions in the title.
Spoilers may follow…I just saw Revolutions yesterday and I was surprised as well. It was better than I expected it to be and was much better than Reloaded, but still not as good as the first one. I think that ambiguity can be a very powerful tool to use in any form of entertaintment, whether it is movies, comics or books, and while I was glad that they didn’t wrap everything up into a nice little package at the end, I left the film feeling that the ending left too many unanswered questions. The first film also ended ambigiuously, but it was done much better. At the end of that film we knew that the story wasn’t complete, and there were still questions, but for me it worked better because the end was really the beginning of the next story. Over the course of Reloaded and Revolutions I felt that there were so many more questions brought up that were just left out there with no real explanation. While the first film only had two hours of questions with no answers, the third one had six hours of questions behind it without enough answers at the end. I thought there was just a little too much ambiguity and I left the movie feeling that there should be another Matrix movie, even though this is supposed to be the end.
In the end, when the Oracle asks the little girl if she did “that,” referring to the sunrise. Maybe I missed something (which is possible since the theatre I saw it in was sold out and I was stuck in the front row with an aching neck most of the time), but when did the little girl get the power to control the Matrix? Can everyone in the Matrix now do whatever they want? If so, I would imagine life would be next to impossible for most of the people in the Matrix. I also thought that the agreement the Machines made with Neo was too easy. Most of the machines we have seen outside of the Matrix do not appear to have any kind of emotions or ethics tied to them. Why, when they were so bent on destroying every free human on the planet, would they keep thier part of the deal once Smith was defeated? The humans are still obviously not going to give up. They aren’t going to just sit in the ground and not bother the machines. Since the Matrix was still there, and people were still jacked into it, the freed humans would continue to try and free them which would in turn upset the machines and we would be right back to square one again, which means that this story doesn’t really have an ending.
I do agree with you in that it is still possible that the “real” world is just another Matrix, though if the writers intended for that I think that they would have worked that at least a little more into the story. I thought a cooler ending would have been if Neo and Smith were caught in an eternal fight. Since they were so evenly matched, and the machines were waiting to see if Neo could defeat Smith, there would be a form of “peace” until the fight was over, but since Neo and Smith couldn’t beat each other they would be caught in a never ending battle.
Overall I did really enjoy it, though. The special effects were amazing and I loved the scene when the machines invaded the dock. That was really cool. But, in my opinion, neither Revolutions or Reloaded were able to match the first film.
To Jonah:
The architect said that all humans that wish to leave the matrix would be allowed. This would mean there is no reason for Zion to free others as the machines will comply. The Oracle questioned his honesty though. Don’t know how they will co-exist, I guess some political negotiations need to be made.
Jonah –
Man I hate sitting in the front row. I remember when we saw the re-release of Star Wars in the theater and we were stuck in the front row far left corner.
Anyways, as far as the little girl is concerned I was under the impression she was born (created?) with no specific purpose thus she had free will like a human. It is kind of implied that she has power to change things in the matrix – much like the individual discussed in the first movie who freed the first humans from the matrix.
As far as the peace goes I agree that seemed a bit off – why would either side give up? What bothered me more was the fact that the sky was OK above the clouds (eerily like Highlander 2). Couldn’t the machines simply build towers and user solar power if they truly needed a power source? This would seem much more logical than going to all the effort of growing and maintaining and controlling human batteries. I guess that wouldn’t make for much of a story though
well i got a thought here it comes: i expected a better ending with some philosophical message, something chaotic or so… i watched the movie and i thought this cant be the end, as this guy said..everything returns to the beggining..and i dont think is a mistake or a bad direction but lets remember that reality is all that we can perciebe …so the people in zion perciebed..or how to write? that world as the real world and the people in the matrix the same so in the end when the machines stop their fight and the peace returns theres that phrase from morpheus who asks himself -is this real?….is this real is the point in everything cause they are not real theyre are inside the universe created by the directors inside this fiction wich if they exidt would be their reality..so i think is like a self destruction of the creation, not a objective ending (althought it seems like one), cause i dont think they wanted to give that ending, because at the end is our choice what we want as real, the little girl creates that because is her choice its what she wants….i have to see that movie again…sorry i havent organized my ideas..