By rickyjames, Section News Posted on Thu Nov 06, 2003 at 04:08:53 AM PST
Well, I saw Matrix: Revolution yesterday and wanted to put an article here as a placeholder so anybody who's interested could take a crack at discussing the pop philosophy embedded therein. For the record, here's what was said on SciScoop about the second movie, Matrix Reloaded. To avoid spoilers, here's not so much a formal review of the current movie but more like various random thoughts; what are yours?
Relatively little time of the movie is spent actually in the Matrix, and what time is spent there seems almost secondary to the plot so we can have the obligatory guns and kung-fu and Trinity in black leather and shades. Not that I'm complaining about the former and especially not about the latter, particularly while watching her in action and the resulting gunmob ballet when she's a little short on time. The off-screen real-life death and replacement of the actress who played the Oracle is extremely well done and even integrated into the storyline. I could watch a whole movie of the Frenchman mouthing off. It was also a pleasure to watch the gyrocopter pilot from the last two Mad Max movies run a Train in this one.
Back in the Real World, Morpheus is relegated to the role of minor sidekick and that irritating kid who idolized Neo in Reloaded gets the traditional Morpheus role of True Believer. You'd have to be a true believer to get in a roboshell walking machine gun and go up against squiddies with no more armor than those things had - without a little luck, a guy could end up with some really bad facial lacerations from shrapnel. The guys ARE lucky that the women are around, that's for sure; while the guys are tough enough to get the ball to the five yard line against overwhelming odds, it repeatedly takes a woman to get the job done and take the ball the rest of the way over the goal line. In fact, the roboshell gunners and the Battle of the Dock and the intertwined storylines and the overall war to decide the fate of Zion is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, some of the most stunning and gripping special effects ever. But you know what? This (essential) emphasis really makes the movie Zion: Revolution, not Matrix: Revolution, and therein lies the core problem. This isn't a Matrix movie; it's the movie that Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines should have been. It's a GREAT movie. I liked it a lot more than the second one. But it's not got the magic of the first one, not by a long shot.
Which brings us to Neo and Smith. What can I say? You'd have to be totally blind at the end to miss the Christian symbolism that's laid on as thick as the layer of Earth protecting Zion. Trinity gets a glimpse of heaven that renders her immune to pain and remarkably clear-headed, I think. A requirement of Faith is a necessity to accept and understand the ending, which apparently takes place somewhere that is neither Matrix nor Reality but some sort of Psychic Beyond that cares not whether your mind is encased in meat or silicon. Both Neo and Smith have attained that Higher Level Of Consciousness, so naturally they get Down And Dirty there. And in the end, When It Looked Like The Sun Wouldn't Shine Any More, God Put A Rainbow In The Clouds.