The Matrix Revolutions
Nov. 8th, 2003 05:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aruanNot having read any reviews for fear of spoilers, I went into this movie knowing nothing at all but that lots of people were very disappointed by it. I don't know if this was because of the technical/script/production aspects or people's issues with the resolution itself - all I've got is what I got from seeing it for myself tonight.
I can't disagree that this film was a technically inferior product to its predecessors. The first half hour really had me worried - virtually all of the scenes and dialogue were either entirely ripped off or poorly paralleled with stuff from the other films. It also didn't help much that out of the two-plus hours running time, about 3/4 were battle sequences. There wasn't anything original there besides the story.
To that end, over the past few months I've partaken in a lot of speculation and read even more about just what was going on, where things were headed.
We never even came close.
Now, I can see how people would be dissatisfied with this conclusion - legendary hero, epic battle, but no real victory. The machines weren't defeated - and for that matter, when did they start trusting the humans and honoring promises and such? Aren't concepts like that at least beneath them, if not entirely ridiculous? Smith espoused about the quarrelsome, weak-moraled, repulsive creatures we are when he was still plugged in, which would indicate those are the views of the collective machine AI. The tentative foundations of their agreement and the open-ended nature of what could happen in the future would be my biggest problems with this conclusion to events.
Some of the original, deeper themes were also neglected, though I think raising the issue of programs being capable of love (hence Sati's creation) as well as a having a vendetta (Agent Smith) said a lot about them versus all the exploration of humanity that was done in the first film.
I didn't entirely get the Oracle's role in Smith's demise - did she fight the inner battle somehow while Neo fought him physically? And speaking of which, I loved that fight scene. I was appropriately creeped by the legions of Smiths, oohed at the special effects, thought the rain provided fantastic atmosphere, and cannot adore Hugo Weaving any more than I already do.
Speaking of which, Smith stood to destroy the Matrix and therefore seriously hamper the machines' survival in the same way and as surely as the failed versions of the Matrix that people refused to accept. They needed Neo, who's so far been the only one to beat Smith. It would be fair to call him a virus at this point, and the machines simply had no way of expecting mutiny within their own ranks and had no defense against him. The bargain the machines struck with Neo was a necessary evil for them, but much less so than the threat posed by Smith's taking over and very likely wiping out the AI altogether.
Basically, I was satisfied with the conclusion. I understood what had to happen and why, the connection between Neo and Smith that made him the only one capable of defeating him even if I'm not entirely clear as to how that finally happened.
Other notes:
-Why did Neo see the machine city as being made of light? Are we to believe that the AI is as alive as we are?
-The dub job they did for the guy possessed by Smith in the real world was fantastic and creepy as fuck.
-The battle within Zion was all the things an epic battle should be - the good guys were vastly outnumbered and outpowered, there were underdogs who became heroes, close calls, smart tactics, and the day was eventually, one way or the other, theirs.
-I bawled like the little girl I am during Trinity's death scene. I also cried when she gave her, "Six hours ago I told the Merovingian I would do anything to save your life. Do you know what's changed in the last six hours? Nothing," speech. Neo/Trinity is this sacred thing in my heart. I mean, come on, they're fated and shit! (tm![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wearemany)
People went into this (like they did the second one) expecting the first movie. But there was a story here, beyond all the Deeper Issues, a good story that, no, wasn't entirely satisfying in its conclusion, but was solid and whose themes might be archetypal but whose ideas will be the new foundation of philosophy for our increasingly machine-dependant world.
I can't disagree that this film was a technically inferior product to its predecessors. The first half hour really had me worried - virtually all of the scenes and dialogue were either entirely ripped off or poorly paralleled with stuff from the other films. It also didn't help much that out of the two-plus hours running time, about 3/4 were battle sequences. There wasn't anything original there besides the story.
To that end, over the past few months I've partaken in a lot of speculation and read even more about just what was going on, where things were headed.
We never even came close.
Now, I can see how people would be dissatisfied with this conclusion - legendary hero, epic battle, but no real victory. The machines weren't defeated - and for that matter, when did they start trusting the humans and honoring promises and such? Aren't concepts like that at least beneath them, if not entirely ridiculous? Smith espoused about the quarrelsome, weak-moraled, repulsive creatures we are when he was still plugged in, which would indicate those are the views of the collective machine AI. The tentative foundations of their agreement and the open-ended nature of what could happen in the future would be my biggest problems with this conclusion to events.
Some of the original, deeper themes were also neglected, though I think raising the issue of programs being capable of love (hence Sati's creation) as well as a having a vendetta (Agent Smith) said a lot about them versus all the exploration of humanity that was done in the first film.
I didn't entirely get the Oracle's role in Smith's demise - did she fight the inner battle somehow while Neo fought him physically? And speaking of which, I loved that fight scene. I was appropriately creeped by the legions of Smiths, oohed at the special effects, thought the rain provided fantastic atmosphere, and cannot adore Hugo Weaving any more than I already do.
Speaking of which, Smith stood to destroy the Matrix and therefore seriously hamper the machines' survival in the same way and as surely as the failed versions of the Matrix that people refused to accept. They needed Neo, who's so far been the only one to beat Smith. It would be fair to call him a virus at this point, and the machines simply had no way of expecting mutiny within their own ranks and had no defense against him. The bargain the machines struck with Neo was a necessary evil for them, but much less so than the threat posed by Smith's taking over and very likely wiping out the AI altogether.
Basically, I was satisfied with the conclusion. I understood what had to happen and why, the connection between Neo and Smith that made him the only one capable of defeating him even if I'm not entirely clear as to how that finally happened.
Other notes:
-Why did Neo see the machine city as being made of light? Are we to believe that the AI is as alive as we are?
-The dub job they did for the guy possessed by Smith in the real world was fantastic and creepy as fuck.
-The battle within Zion was all the things an epic battle should be - the good guys were vastly outnumbered and outpowered, there were underdogs who became heroes, close calls, smart tactics, and the day was eventually, one way or the other, theirs.
-I bawled like the little girl I am during Trinity's death scene. I also cried when she gave her, "Six hours ago I told the Merovingian I would do anything to save your life. Do you know what's changed in the last six hours? Nothing," speech. Neo/Trinity is this sacred thing in my heart. I mean, come on, they're fated and shit! (tm
wearemany)People went into this (like they did the second one) expecting the first movie. But there was a story here, beyond all the Deeper Issues, a good story that, no, wasn't entirely satisfying in its conclusion, but was solid and whose themes might be archetypal but whose ideas will be the new foundation of philosophy for our increasingly machine-dependant world.
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no subject
Date: November 8th, 2003 12:10 pm (UTC)Was it a dubbing? I thought it was Ian Bliss (Bane) doing the greatest Smith impersonation ever. Either way, it was brilliant.
The machines weren't defeated - and for that matter, when did they start trusting the humans and honoring promises and such? Aren't concepts like that at least beneath them, if not entirely ridiculous?
Well at the end, the Architect said something along the lines of "What do you think I am? Human?" The machines will honor peace. Somewhere along the line, the humans will grow to distrust the machines, and like the first time, start another war.
I'm still trying to work out the Oracle. Heh.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: November 8th, 2003 08:19 pm (UTC)Short answer? Yes.
In the The Second Renaissance from the Animatrix they told us that machines weren't just AI they were given the same life force as humans and are therefore completely capable of human emotions etc.
To answer the other question about the peace, I'd say that the machines don't actually hate humans. Again, in the Animatrix we see that they tried to keep the peace but it was the humans who reacted by attacking the machines out of fear. So it's possible that the machines really dont hate humans (or at least not all machines) but since the Agents were programs created for the purpose of hunting down and killing rebels, it fits that they would have a certain level of despise for humans.
as to everything else you said, I completely agree, I really liked the move, am not completely clear on the Oracle/Smith bit, but still liked the ending. Perhaps it had something to do with him not knowing what came next and her saying that you can't see past a choice you don't understand?
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: November 9th, 2003 09:44 am (UTC)I tried to work that out in my head too. So far, what I've come up with is this: The Oracle was a program who saw things, right? So she chose to be 'assimilated' by Smith, knowing that she would be part of the final battle. She was still self-aware or 'self-conscious' when she was part of Smith; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to help Neo.
She needed to be at the battle to help Neo understand the final choice: that the only way he could win was to let go and let Smith 'assimilate' him. Neo couldn't win physically and externally because Smith had gotten too powerful.
Neo had to do it from within, get inside 'Smith' and take him apart from there. Perhaps by being part of the program, Neo was able to instruct it to destroy itself.
In the first Matrix, that's how Neo won against Smith. Smith rushed towards him, he got inside Smith, split him in two and destroyed him.
That's my theory, at least.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: November 9th, 2003 09:56 am (UTC)I don't think all those other programs Smith assimilated (or turned into clones) wanted to be assimilated. Smith simply overpowered them. The Oracle waited for Smith, chose to be assimilated by him and that's how she managed to keep her own identity and remain a self-aware program even though she was part of Smith.
Does that make sense?
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: November 10th, 2003 12:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
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