The Matrix: Resolutions

Slappy White writes "For six months, Matrix message boards were aflame with speculation, theories, predictions and outright psychotic guessing about Revolutions. Now the film is here, and this article has a humorous roundup of some of the popular theories, both those that were close and others that were, shall we say, a little off the mark." I still haven't seen this film, so I'll refrain from passing judgment, but I'm ever so happy the matrix-within-a-matrix theories were unfounded. Update: 11/09 02:38 GMT by CN : Some folks who've never seen the Twilight Zone or even the Simpsons' Treehouse of Horrors thought that was a spoiler. If you're one of those people, I'm very sorry.

Comments

Re:Why The "Matrix-In-A-Matrix" Idea Is Stupid:

[E-Rock]

Well no one seems to have a problem with this in their own theology:
"Who created the universe?"
"God"
"Who created God?"
"No one."
"So if God just is, couldn't the universe just be?"
"No, that's silly."

Re:Understanding the Matrix

[dokebi]

I agree. I think a lot of people are distracted by the eye-candy and bad dialog. But they're are missing lot of the cool ideas in the film. For example, the idea of choice and freedom:
**Spoiler warning**

The matrix was perfected by giving people choices (Oracle's idea). It took away the perfect controllability, but it made people happier because it gave them a sense of freedom. But it wasn't true freedom, because everything inside the matrix was inevitable--choices can be predicted and acted upon. But the Final Choice, the choice that the ONE makes is the one that could un-do the matrix. It didn't happen for 6 previous matricies, but the seventh one it did.
However when Neo chooses to save trinity instead of the rest of the human kind (in the 2nd film), and also when trinity comes with neo in the third one , they do it out of love, but it means that their choices really weren't free. They're bound to the "inevitability" of love. But at the same time, they *are* free to make the choices that could doom them. So there is a paradox that "inevitablity" and "fate", can both come from having free choice and not having free choice. But which one is real?

Also, having peace and war is also matter of choices. The machines choose to honor their bargain, neo chose to (potentially) sacrifice himself to save the machines. So havin pgeace or war is also choices made by the parties (think Israel-palestine).

There are a lot of hard ideas/paradoxes in the film besides, but people should look past the eye-candy and some bad acting and see it's not really that bad of a film at all.

Everything WAS explained

[Overly Critical Guy]

You nailed it.

I'll go even further and say that things were explained. These movies are the most intellectual action movies that have ever been released, and I doubt we'll have the opportunity for such things to be made ever again.

The Oracle said the power of the One reaches to the Source. This is why he can feel anything connected to the Machines, including Smith in the real world. That seemed obvious.

Smith entering Bane is less obvious, but I figure if they can download training programs or connect to a virtual reality, programs can also hijack a brain through those same ports.

As for how Neo actually destroyed Smith, it is implied, not explained...things aren't spelled out for the idiots. You can draw endless conclusions. The Oracle said Smith is Neo's opposite, his negative...1 + (-1) = 0. Or you can say once Neo was destroyed, the equation had to "rebalance" itself again, killing Smith.

Hell, look up what the name Sati means and find out the deeper meanings of that ending.

But people don't look at it that way. The thing I find most interesting is that most reviews say it's better than Reloaded, yet give it a worse rating than Reloaded (RottenTomatoes has Reloaded at something like 76%, compared to the 36% of Revolutions).

People just didn't like that it wasn't a Hollywood ending. I will say that this movie has the most hidden religious and philosophical imagery I've ever seen...it's all way more subtle than Reloaded (who noticed the glowing cross and wings when Neo was killing Smith? Who noticed the Fibonacci sequences in the intro, and the reveal of the Machine City? Who noticed that bizarre "goathead" symbol in the Matrix code when the intro finished?).