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Maciamo
Nov 15, 2003, 22:44
=> If you haven't watched it yet and don't want any spoiler, don't read this.

As Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions are nothing more than one movie in 2 parts, We'll discuss both together here.

My opinion is that the Computer Graphics and the action was great, but the story is far from perfect. At the end of Matrix Reloaded, I expected a very complex and interesting plot for Revolutions, that could possibly extend to a 4th or 5th episode. Instead, the end has been precipitated by a peace that doesn't make sense. Why would a war that lasted so long come to such an abrupt end just because Neo destroys Smith ? The machines don't have feelings or moral and could very well have made a false promise to Neo and exterminated the humans afterwards. Anyway the victory was certain for them. If they could end this war so easily, why has nobody else tried negotiating before ?

Other things that needed to be thought a bit more properly :

1) Even after seeing Animatrix, we still don't know who built the Matrix, when and why. The architect ? Who is he ? He pretends not to be human, but the Matrix was created after the war between the humans and the machines had started in Animatrix. If Smith could infect the machines, it means that they are also conected to the Matrix.
The fact that Neo get supernatural power in the real world (Zion) and that the Matrix is left to a mysterious human looking creature spoils the realism of the whole story, IMHO.

2) The Matrix world seems so small. Zion and the Machine City seem so near. What happens to the rest of the world ? Is there still nature ? Is everything controlled by the machines ? We never see any ocean. Machines probably can't live in the water if they get shortcircuited by human electric guns. Does that mean that fish and sealife still exist ?

3) If all humans are confined to Zion, which is a closed metallic city, what do they eat ? There are no fields for cereals or vegetables inside Zion. I haven't seen any animal or source of water either. If humans can't go outside Zion safely or the Nature has been destroyed, they should have all died of hunger.

4) Machines supposedly get their energy from the humans in the red capsules, as we have seen in Animatrix. But why would they want to kill people in Zion if they can just capture them to use their energy. Then, as a human life is limited, what will happen to the machines once their human prisoners have all died ? They should try to keep humans under control but free to reproduce in Zion rather than exterminate them, which would amount to suicide.

5) There is not enough iron or metal in general on earth for Machines covering the entire globe - especially if they built such huge "metal cities".

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Now a few questions of a few details I haven't fully understood.

a) Why does Sati have to go to the subway/underground station ? What is her role in the story ? Is she a kind a "back-up copy" of the non-infected Matrix that the oracle has made for the time when Smith would be deleted ?

b) How could the "train driver" access the world between the Matrix and the real world if it was only a programme inside the Matrix ?

c) Why would the "architect" come to talk with his own "oracle programme" (that he made and controls) at the end ? Is he also merely a part of the Matrix rather than a creator from outside ? It doesn't make sense.

Twisted
Nov 16, 2003, 00:12
The Architect is an Artificial Intelligence programme that designed the whole Matrix and has no physical body at all.

The Animatrix (and the first part of the Matrix) made it quite clear that the machines created the Matrix. Originally these machines were robots, used as slaves by humans. Eventually they developed an AI-conciousness and demanded the same rights as humans.

Naturally Humans didn't accept that and the robots were exiled to what is now the Machine City. The robots declared war upon the humans and to cut off their main powersource, the sun, by scorching the sky.

Then the machines got the idea to use humans as batteries, but as humans resisted, they needed to be kept in the dark. The machines did this by creating the Matrix.

I think Sati is a reference to the fact that these AI-programmes are capable of experiencing love. I suppose that's a key-factor for explaining that the machines are more 'human' then one would think.

The world inbetween the Matrix and the real world should be seen as a metaphore for an offline workstation. One has to 'dial in' before that area can be accessed.

I don't think the Architect designed all programmes running in the Matrix. Many of these, including the Oracle, were probably developed by individual AI's and thus follow their own interests. The machines in the Matrix are not one hive mind like The Borg in Star Trek.

Of course this is just what i've gathered from the movies and one could say the movie has a certain closure. Then again, i do agree that the last two parts were rushed and not as well thought out as the original. But that's Hollywood marketing for you. Mind you, i still don't understand how and why Neo got these supernatural powers in the real world.

I wonder what the theories of others will be.

Maciamo
Nov 16, 2003, 22:29
I've found this forum dedicated exclusively to Matrix discussions, with everybody's theories and questions about the movie. Apparently, lots of people were disappointed with Matrix Revolutions and everyone seems to have different explanations about who is Neo, what is the Matrix or Zion or why this or that happens.

http://matrix-explained.com/php/

Read this for an in-depth analysis (http://www.matrix-explained.com/)

Twisted
Nov 16, 2003, 22:38
Some people have no life... It's a movie!

Want a good story? Read a book!

Maciamo
Nov 17, 2003, 00:19
Instead of reading a book, discussing such issues as free-will and destiny through a movie like Matrix make for mind-boggling logical arguments. Thinking about it alone might be a loss of time, but listenning to how other people feel or reason about it is interesting. Here is how my conception of the movie has evolved since yesterday :

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It seems to me that one key to understanding the logic of the Matrix is that everytime a program (=character) has fulfilled its purpose, it is disappears (=is deleted).

That is why we don't see again the key maker after Neo has reached the Architect, for example.

This is also the answer to whether Zion is real or not. That means that Zion is also part of the Matrix (or another Matrix, whatever) and Neo and Trinity are nothing more than programs. Trinity dies once she has completed her mission to lead Neo to the Machine City, and as everything is pre-programmed, the Matrix knew that Neo was going to reach his goal as well.
In fact, it is not Neo that destroys Smith, but the contrary. Smith's purpose was to get rid of Neo. Once he has done this, it is deleted like any other programs.

End of simulation.

Everything is planned before. There is only one way things can happen. Matrix is the elogy of Destiny under fake apperance of free-will (incarnated by the hero Neo and Trinity, which the audience will follow emotionally).

Some characters like the Merovingian, the Architect, Smith or Morpheus are actually telling the audience that things are pre-destined and they know how everything is going to happen - and indeed it does.

The Oracle is the illusion of free-will (=>choice), but how could she forsee events if the future isn't set in advance. She is just saying that we feel free to choose but in the end our choice will be inevitable, as she already knows what it is going to be.

Matrix is a simulation of "our real world" (the Universe). Nothing is real in the Matrix. All, including Zion, was created to make us understand that freedom is an illusion and predetermination prevails however hard we think.