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

Thanks for the spoiler (n/t)

[Karamchand]

well as i said there's no more text in this posting. just thank you for the spoiler, CN!

I thought Revolutions was very good

[chrisgeleven]

To me, Revolutions has come the closest to accomplishing what the first Matrix did. The plot was so much better, flowed nicely, and the dialog was easy to understand yet had those hidden philosophy messages which is what made the first movie so successful.

The special effects were amazing as well.

What got me was the amazing ending. It was unexpected in someways, but totally made sense when you consider everything that happened in the movie.

Also there still is enough unanswered questions that another trilogy could be created if they ever wanted to. They will probably wait 10-20 years before doing another trilogy if they ever wanted to.

Re:I thought Revolutions was very good

[rjamestaylor]

Last night I took my wife to Matrix Revolutions for our Friday night date (our kids' Mimi is visiting; we dumped them on her). Earlier this week I said I was disappointed that their wasn't a Matrix-in-a-Matrix and that the final was panned as resoundly that it was.

Did the panners SEE this movie? We thought it was great. Confusing to follow -- we purposefully had a movie and then dinner so we could talk about it -- but rewarding and satisfyingly concluding (the whole universe doesn't have to end just to provide closure, people).

The action was awesome, so was the passion and interpersonal storyline. Neo and Trinity, Morpheous and Nairobi (sp?), Link and his wife (names?), Morpheous and Neo and Oracle, Frenchman and his wife/trophy, Agent Smith and Neo, Oracle and Architect, and even Machines and Humanity. Character development was good, too: the young boy rescued by Neo, between I and II, who idolized Neo developed very well, for example.

At the point Neo made his bargain with the Machines and let Smith infect him I turned to my wife, who I met in a 2 year post-undergraduate degree Bible school, and said, "He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf..." (2 Cor 5:21a) and "God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3/partial): that is, Neo localized Agent Smith and, being physically plugged in, even though he could possibly make it into the Matrix without the plugs, he sacrificed himself to terminate the viral agent of death. BTW, If this doesn't sound familiar, look at this:

Although Christ did not have the sin of the flesh, He was crucified in the flesh (Col. 1:22; 1 Pet. 3:18). Thus, on the cross He judged Satan, who is related to the flesh, and the world, which hangs on him (John 12:31; 16:11), thereby destroying Satan (Heb. 2:14). At the same time, through Christ's crucifixion in the flesh, God condemned sin, which was brought by Satan into man's flesh. As a result, it is possible for us to walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us (v. 4).

And there was much other philosophical treats scattered throughout -- love and karma, just words but given meaning by what they are connected with (the latter so very relevant to Slashdotters, especially those remembering Signal11 and the karma whore wars... :-).

In short, once again I think reviews are useless (except in the case of Ben & JLo flicks) and I regret being influenced in the least by the nay-sayers. I think people pan movies like this just because its easier than admitting, "I need to see it again and ponder for a while what it all means."

Unfounded?

[Madcapjack]

From the headliner: 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.

I disagree. The matrix within a matrix theory was well founded, but it proved wrong. These are not the same thing. If I told you I have a ripe strawberry in my hand, you would have the well founded belief that it is red, because ripe strawberries are red. But if it were blue, it doesn't mean that your belief was unfounded, at least until you saw the strwbrry.

Re:Unfounded?

[Anonymous Coward]

If I told you I have a ripe strawberry in my hand, you would have the well founded belief that it is red, because ripe strawberries are red. But if it were blue, it doesn't mean that your belief was unfounded, at least until you saw the strwbrry.

<impression type="Neo">
Whoa..
</impression>

Re:Unfounded?

[cryms0n]

There is no strawberry.

Re:Personally

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately Carrie-Anne Moss's Restraining order against me extends to all movie theatres and video stores in the Tri State area. Now I'll never know the ending!

One missing theory

[adjensen]

Where's the theory that it's all real, the machines wised onto the fact that people were catching on, and modified the Matrix to make the last movie crap and therefore spoil the franchise, ending the crusade for enlightenment?

Well, that's my theory anyway, nothing else makes a lot of sense. Back to sleep, folks.

Re:Cowboy Spoiler

[Lord Kano]

I guess 4 days was too long to wait to see the movie before slashdot would post spoilers on the front page.

When it comes to X-Men, Matrix or Star Wars, yes 4 days IS too long. You cheap motherfucker. Go catch a Matinee.

Er, really?

[squiggleslash]

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.

They're not unfounded. Revolutions doesn't actually give a straight answer on the subject, nor any other theories.

This is what the above website has to say on the subject:

The Oracle spills the beans. "You have a connection to the Source." Then Neo kind of nods a little, and the Oracle continues to smoke, and they change the subject.

So, there it was all along. Matrix within a matrix --- pfffff. You kids. All this time, it's been as plain as the nose on your face: Neo has a connection to the Source.

The Source. A connection to it. Neo. Connected. Then they change the subject and talk about something else. The Source. Six months' wait.

Great. That says nothing. Absolutely nothing. As I say in my review, the Oracle's comment is an observation, not an explanation. It's like saying that the reason a car will not work is because it will not go. He has a connection with "the source" - and?

Lest anyone think that this is a message backing the Twin Matrix theory, it isn't that either. I thought it was fairly obvious what Revolutions was trying to do: it was leaving all of these questions open. There's room in Revolutions for most of the explanations people came up with. Unfortunately so many people wanted a nice tidy ending with Neo and Trinity living happily ever after and everything "explained" that they've kind of missed it all.

I think it's a good sequel. But then I wanted something other than the usual Hollywood mindless happy endings. YMMV.

Re:Er, really?

[Peyna]

If you're going to argue that there could be a matrix within a matrix you might as well also argue that the whole movie is just a dream, and that this entire world is just a pretend world within another.

While it is indeed possible, there is no reason to believe that it is true, since it has no real bearing on the story. In fact, believing that it were true would make the entire story irrelevant and pointless.

Return of the One

[QEDog]

Neo: Never. I'll never be assimilated. You've failed, Agent Smith. I am the One, like all the ones before me.
Agent Smith: So be it... One.
[rays come out of his hand, electrocuting Neo. One of the Agents turns into the Oracle, she comes, and throws Agent Smith into space, and dies. Oracle dies in Neo's hands...]
[Fade away]
[Drum music in Zion, Zionites having a rave party using Sentinel parts as percusion instruments.]
[Neo burns the body of Trinity, and she appears in yellow vapor form, as well as the Oracle, the Architect and even Tank]

I saw it last night (no spoilers)

[sjbe]

I can't figure out what people are complaining about. It was a great movie, particularly if you consider all three movies to be one story. Granted, you have to like that sort of movie and you have to actually have an attention span, but if you do you should enjoy it. Basically if you like anime movies like Akira or the Gundam Wing series or Marvel's X-men comics (lots of action and some heavy pontificating) it should be right up your alley. I really enjoyed it.

Maybe folks are complaining about the ending. (no I'm not going to give it away) It was surprising and very non-traditional but really good too. I thought it was a great close to the story arc. Leaves future sequels as a possibility too.

Understanding the Matrix

[Dan Guisinger]

I was disappointed at first with Revolutions.

However, last night I watched Reloaded again.
You have to pay great attention during Reloaded to find your answers to the Matrix. They dont make sense if you've only seen movies 1 and 2, but they do if you've seen all 3. In particular, listen to what the architect says.

While some may say reloaded is about reloading the Matrix....note that the Matrix never did get reloaded....but something the architect says makes me think different. And it explains Neo's sudden ability to interact with the machine world outside of the Matrix.

Re:Understanding the Matrix

[doorbot.com]

While some may say reloaded is about reloading the Matrix....note that the Matrix never did get reloaded....but something the architect says makes me think different. And it explains Neo's sudden ability to interact with the machine world outside of the Matrix.

I haven't seen episode three yet, but I'm interested in what you're suggesting... so correct me if this is not what you meant.

Neo visits the Architect and they have a nice chat. The Architect says, "You have a choice," when he really doesn't have a choice; either option leads to reloading the Matrix. Either the Matrix is reloaded "properly" or when Neo walks out the Trinity door, he is essentially reinserted into the Matrix, so after Neo leaves the Architect, the Matrix has already been reloaded; everything the audience sees is now within the realm of the newly reloaded Matrix (thus Neo's supernatural powers in the "real world").

In other words, the beginning of each Matrix is the war between the humans and the machines (as this would make sense considering how the Matrix's origins were described by Morpheus).

But that still implies a multi-levelled Matrix; the "top" level is rebooted, but the lower levels remain intact because the humans do not know about them; thus while Neo has powers in the "real world," and while Zion exists in the "real world," it still seems to imply that there's another "layer" and the humans who think they are free are not, yet a simulated victory against the machines (if that's what happens) would be sufficient to reset the "anomolies."

This would also jive with Morpheus's description of the first "battery" to wake up in the Matrix and lead others to Zion (which must have existed already -- it is far too advanced to be built by so few people).

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.

Some "fun" observations.

[crazyhorse44]

-the "Trainman" was the gyrocopter guy from Mad Max
-the face from Tron
-the "face ship" modelled after the ships from Buckaroo Banzai
-Robotech/Macross mecha
-in the club... "CYPHERMEN" from THE INVISIBLES
-Monica Bellucci is a fox.
-in the Matrix... the programmers are all from India
-the "Merovingians" were a line of kings in Southern France before the Middle Ages who believed themselves to be direct descendants of Jesus Christ. the Catholic Church wiped them out along with the Cathars, Gnostics and the Templars.
-everyone needs to read THE INVISIBLES
-there was more but I forgot it on the way home.

I had it all worked out

[Monkelectric]

I've always said I should be a hollywood writer ... On a long LONG drive to northern california I figured out the only sensible way the matrix universe could work and still maintain total coherency. I was extremely disapointed in the movie when I found out, they didnt even try to explain the whole thing, so here we go for the slashdot crowd:

The universe in which the robots and humans reside is a *simulation* (not another matrix, but a simulation). The robots are vaguely aware of this, and have developed methods which allow them to manipulate the *real* universe a little. This manipulation is how they are able to program "people" and how agent smith is able to download himself into that guy. There would have been a great sub-plot about how the robots discovered this -- through their disection of humans (in the animatrix) they discover the biological equivalent of DEBUGGING facilities in humans. They discover strange indecipherable messages in biological processess. Even a monkey for a directory could have made this a memorable scene.

In retrospect, the point of the second movie would have been to demonstrate that the robots could program humans -- with food. With cookies, with pills, etc etc.

And finally, Neo, while not aware that the "real" universe is also a simulation, is able to manipulate it slightly as well -- this is why he can make shit blow up, and see without eyes.

Hollywood, I am your messiah and I'm unemployed :)

Re:[spoilers] Re:I thought Revolutions was very

[dcstimm]

heh, your so right, everyone that didnt like the movie was expecting some type of hollywood ending like all the machines dieing and Neo becoming a god or something, this is why I LOVED the movie so much, it did totally the oppisite. Most people like walking out of the theater feeling good inside, all warm and fuzzy, like something special just happened. (like in the first matrix)

Also I think another reason people didnt like the movie is because they dont use their imagination. They dont think about what happened, they dont understand the movie. They are expecting everything to be candy coated and spoon feed to them.

Thank you Wacowski Brothers for not doing that!

WARNING -SPOILER!

[be-fan]

Anybody else see it as just straight biblical allegory? I'm not even a Christian, and it seemed rather blatent (even heavy-handed) to me.

Neo - Christ
Smith - Anti-christ
Machine ruler - God

So when Neo becomes able to do all that stuff in the real world, its like the miracles of Jesus. He can do it because he has "a connection to the source" --- in other words a connection to the divine. When he's fighting Agent Smith, Smith loses when he finally calls Neo "Neo" (instead of "Mr. Anderson" has he had been doing up to this point). That means he acknowledges Neo's status (accepts him as their savior) and is thus destroyed. Of course, Neo dies (sacrifices himself for his race) in a very cruxification-like scene (complete with cross-shaped light right before the end). All that stuff at the end about Neo potentially coming back is an allusion to the messiah.

Or it could be something else entirely. To tell the truth, I don't care. The last two movies are pretty crappy (though I loved the first). The dialogue was truely bad --- those writers need to be shot, and the plot seemed very strained --- a lot of going from A to B because C said to.

and Dragon Ball Z

[zymano]

which alot of the fighting effects came from.

1. The flying scenes.
2. The twins when they power up.
3. Kung fu and the visible impact waves.
4. People crashing through walls.

The only things missing from the film ?

1. Vegita
2. Kama Kama haaa.
3. Spirit Bomb
4. King Kai . Oh wait.....the Oracle...lol.

If DBZ is being made into a movie I recommend the Wachowski brothers.

Re:Question

[rokzy]

yes, so long as:

1. you don't expect them to be the best thing ever like many people (stupidly) did.

2. your life doesn't revolve around you having a perfect understanding of The Matrix and it all being perfectly plausible.

3. you can enjoy a film even if it doesn't tell you exactly what you want to hear and show you exactly what you want to see.

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

[Farley Mullet]

Simply put, the Matrix-In-A-Matrix theory is dramatically untenable. It undermines any possible resolution in the films because there can always be another Matrix enclosing the last, another dream to wake up from, as it were.

For the movie to work dramatically, there needs to be some sort of possible conclusion, either to be achieved or frustrated. Setting the first two films in some sort of "higher-order" Matrix undercuts this in two ways: first, it tells the audience "hey, you know those first two movies? well, it turns out that nothing that happened in them counts, there's no real payoff, sorry about that", thus abusing the audience's investment in the fantasy world; second, it not only leaves open, but implicitly nods to the possibility that the second Matrix is in fact fraudulent as well, and that no matter how many times our heros "wake up", they'll still wake up in (another) Matrix. So the possible conclusion necessary for the narrative in the movie to function properly disappears, and all we're left with is bad acting and gee-whiz special effects.

I guess I'm in the minority here in that I find the pseudo-philosophical ruminations* of the Watchowskis tiresome and adolescent, but even I recognize that they know how to spin a good yarn, and they wouldn't ruin the dramatic structure in such an obvious way.

(*"But, like, dude, they talk about Plato on their website, and that "desert of the real" line is like, from some French post-somethingorother dude, and besides, it's so, you know, eastern." Exactly.)

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:The worst sequel ever

[meta-monkey]

Or, hell, why bother to send robots there in the first place? Why not just drop a damn nuke down the hole? Or pump it full of nerve gas?

Source of a number of complaints...(minor spoiler)

[Dimensio]

I've seen a lot of complaints from people who just didn't like how things were resolved. They didn't have specific complaints about the storytelling, dialogue (which itself is fodder for snide commentary), action or anything but how the story played out. Specifically, they had their own ideas of how things should work out (such as the Matrix-in-a-Matrix) and when these things didn't come to fruition they became horribly disappointed and jaded.

I'm not saying that everyone who hated the movie is like that -- some of them have valid complaints -- but many of the detractors, especially on the Matrix fan boards, have been citing the fact that events didn't work out how they wanted.

Re:post i made somewhere else right after i saw it

[Dimensio]

- people start calling each other by nicknames ('merv', 'trin') in an hour's time

'Trin' was not exactly prescedented, but I can overlook it. "Merv" isn't an issue at all; Trinity was making a snide remark.

- the young indian girl and the trainkeeper seem to have no real purpose

The trainman was somewhat gratituous, but Sati has a level of importance that is implied more than explained. The oracle allowed her old shell to be destroyed specifically because she believes that Sati is important to the future of both the humans and the machines. It's just that there really wasn't any way to develop her much in the movie.

Re:[spoilers] Re:I thought Revolutions was very

[ChristianBaekkelund]

Hardly! While they may have been more formulaic, I hated this movie because they didn't really do much of, well, anything! It's all just hand waving and mystic mumbling with no real coherence or depth.

It might be a cop-out just to simply make humans win, robots die....but it's equally a cop-out just to make a lot of vague references to stuff without trying to make any sense of any of it.

Why the smiths died......

[monkeyfinger]

Just my theory here. Think of Smith as a viral network. It absorbs a person or program and adds it to the network, becoming more powerful in the process. The machines need to hack that network and destroy it but they can't because it is no longer connected to them. Neo and the machine mind agreed to work together to destroy smith. When Neo entered the matrix to confront smith he did it by connecting through the machine mind. At the end of the fight Neo lets himself be absorbed by Smith and becomes part of the Smith network. Smith thinks it has won but doesn't realize that Neo is connected to the Machine Mind. Just before Smith dies you see the cables into Neo light up. The Machine Mind is now connected to the Smith Network via Neo and can destroy it from the inside. The Oracle was the key to Neo realizing that he had to lose the fight to defeat Smith. She knew the Smiths were coming to "assimilate" her but stayed there and let it happen. The Smith that Neo fought was the one who had been the Oracle, this is provable because (a) it said the others were letting it fight him because it had forseen itself winning and (b) when the smiths died it was her body lying there. At the end of the fight the oracle/smith said that had forseen Neo was lying there while it said "Everything has to come to an end", but it seemed confused by this. This was a message for Neo from the Oracle. He understood that he had lose the fight and let Smith absorb him into the network thus giving the machine mind the backdoor it needed. This also fits the messiah theme, he let himself die in order to save humanity

Philosophy 101

[Population]

Movie #1
What if what you think is reality is not real?
How would you be able to tell?

Movie #2
What if the person you think you are is not who you are?
Why do you choose what you choose?
Is there a choice?
Can I choose to have really long fight and rave scenes instead of looking at those questions?
How many useless characters can I fit in one movie?

Movie #3
How about if everyone talks about love and we blow shit up?
What if I focus on visual effects rather than story? Will anyone who matters notice?
If I'm out of ideas, can I rip off other movies?
Can I end a series while still making sure that I have an opening in case I need to make another movie to bring in more cash?

They did say why

[KalvinB]

It's because he's part of the source. It's understandable why you'd miss the two lines of dialog where he asks the question you asked and the oracle gives the answer I just gave you considering how every explaination was just a side note between action and reaction shots.

And since he's part of the source, the "real" world (where the escaped humans hang out) isn't really the real world since he can only control what the source controls. Point for "matrix in a matrix" theorists.

I think what's mildly ironic is that the reason people hated Vanilla Sky is because the last 15 minutes they pretended the audience was full of morons and explained everything.

Matrix: Revolutions didn't do that. They gave short stark answers which answered the questions but in a way that left it open for interpretation.

What did Agent Smith do the the Oracle? You get all of 3 seconds of seeing her lying on the ground where the Agent Smith that took on Neo used to be standing. Sure they could have gone into extensive dialog about why he needed her to defeat Neo OR they could leave it open.

They did that with everything. The answers are all there. They just don't spell it out for you. If they had they'd just be wasting time repeating Matrix 1 and 2.

Personally, my theory is that they knew all the neat questions and how to "show" them as is good story telling but couldn't "show" the answers even if they really knew them. That's the standard problem with philosophy. Most of the great writters have a brilliant ability to ask deep questions in interesting ways but they never give you an answer. They just send you back down the mountain to seek it out yourself.

I'll definitly be picking up the DVD when it comes out. I think people went in with a mindset that is was all action and "sucked" and so, like you, weren't paying attention when answers where offered.

Reloaded was the same way. I went in for the action and picked up much more detail when I got the DVD and watched it more closely.

Ben

Not as bad as I feared, but still...

[starseeker]

Here's my little "what I might have done" twist on things:

a) The Merovingian would turn out to be in fact a previous version of the one, from "a much older version of the Matrix". Neo is the Matrix 3.0's one, this guy was from an older one. In fact he has better insight into this Matrix than Neo does, as an outsider. He's just decided there's no point to all this.

b) The reason he has is that no one is in fact unplugged - Zion is a spilloff Matrix for the people who must fight the system. In this matrix, the unease they still feel is masked by their fight to save the world, and they are thus rendered harmless. They also remove other disruptive elements from the Matrix, in essence being very unwitting house cleaners. This explains a point never addressed at all - when the one supposedly "work up" and freed the first people, how did they rebuild themselves from the physical state Neo started in? He needed extensive medical help to function again - the first people would have had none. Simple answer - no one has ever really woken up and formed Zion. If someone did wake up, they died. That machine that unplugged them, also took their head off for good measure.

c) Neo, like the previous ones, is in fact a program himself. He has no awareness of this, and his sentient mind fully believes he is human. The Merovingian knows he is a program, and that is a further reason the fight is of little interst to him. Neo, the new one, has no such insight and in any case is built so he will fight for humanity. This is part of his function as the one program. He is "seeded" into the Matrix to bring about a necessary reprogramming, as the system has built to a point of instability where matters must be restarted now in order to maintain full control. (Think Windows box - saving work and rebooting, because you can tell it's about to go unstable on you.)

d) However, the One has a couple unintentional side effects - a) it overwrites a part of an agent program, creating a virus and b) develops a deep relationship with Trinity. Now the @#$@# has really hit the fan, and data corruption begins to take place.

e) The Merovingian, interested in his own existance and well versed in the Matrix, is now under threat from the virus program. He is compelled to prepare for war. He check codes and prepares to isolate certain sections of the Matrix he controls, but then he stops. An amused, ironic smile comes over his face, and he turns toward a door, fishing out a key.

f) Smith the virus corrupts the system - the Matrix more easily, but subtle effects begin to seep into the more heavliy shielded "real world" environment. Initially Zion appears to be helped by this, since the real world programs like the sentinals are not prepared for this kind of attack and are the first things to fail. No one understands it but the conclusion is Neo somehow did it. Big party starts, but then odd things happen - lights begin to behave sporadically, computer systems begin to show flashes of Smith's face, and the weaker people mentally begin to show faint signs of Smith's personality. Neo, as a program, also comes under attack sooner than the human minds but is better able to protect himself. He contacts the machines directly using his still not understood powers and proposes the deal. It is accepted and he enters the Matrix, to deal with the virus at its source.

g) Big fight. Neo holds his own against one of the Smiths (movie fight was OK here, except after crater impact Neo shows brief program characteristics as he rewrites routines to repair and strengthen himself, and gets up stronger). Both programs are rewriting themselves as they fight, and as the Matrix becomes more and more tasked action outside Smith and Neo slows down.

h. (In reality humans aren't power sources BTY - their brains are the hardware of the Matrix. The brainpower not being used in their Matrix existance is used to power the system - the brain being the one thing beyond the machines to duplicate. As their

The sequel to Revolutions is....

[rufey]

The Matrix Online game. Its supposed to be a massive role-playing on-line game where you play against others. More info here and here.

From the latter article I reference above:

"The Wachowski Brothers' vision for The Matrix is one that extends far beyond the theatrical trilogy, and the world they have created is so rich that we've chosen to tell inter-connected Matrix-related stories in multiple mediums," said Joel Silver, producer of the Matrix films. "Our goal in collaborating with Ubi Soft is to create a multiplayer online game that reflects the trilogy's highly stylized storytelling and innovative action, taking fans beyond the boundaries of the movie screen and into a 'persistent world' where they can fully explore the vast realm of the Matrix."

Revolutions wasn't supposed to give you the answers to everything. In fact, at the same time that Reloaded came out, a video game called Enter The Matrix came out, which contains some information pretaining to the Oracle and the family (father, mother, child) you see at the beginning of Revolutions in the train station. You learn who the family is, and, more importantly, what deal the father made with the Mero (french dude) in Reloaded (yes, he's in Reloaded, being led away from the table when Nero, Morpheus, and Trinity approach the Mero in the Resturant in Reloaded). In Revolutions, you only learn of the father's side of the deal. You never learn what the Mero got in return.

I've seen the movie and was dissapointed that it didn't answer my questions and I would probably have to play Enter The Matrix and The Matrix Online in order to grasp some of the answers I was expecting. I'm not a game-playing person and don't necessarily want to play the games.

If you realize that Revolutions isn't going to answer your questions and just sit back and enjoy it, it is actually a good movie. The more I think about the movie (I saw it Wednesday morning), the more I realize that it wasn't nearly as disappointing as I first thought.

I just wish it answered more questions, and, therefore, didn't force me to play the video and on-line games to fully grasp everything.

Re:Personally

[ShadowRage]

I would put a restraining order on her.

Re:Close?

[meta-monkey]

But it's also said they have "a form of fusion." That would lead me to believe that they know of nuclear technology. They at least have to fake the existence of nuclear technology for the humans, as isn't it a nuke plant that Niobe & crew infiltrate in Reloaded?

It doesn't even have to be nukes. Very large conventional explosives (think MOAB) would probably do the trick, too. Even if you can't kill all the humans with the blast, at least you can bury them and prevent them from ever leaving the cave.

The answer is, the machines didn't use nukes or gas or anything because the writers are dense. It's the same reason the aliens in Independence Day didn't just pelt the next planet they want to invade (Earth) with neutron bombs (or even nukes) from space a hundred years before they arrive. And, why did they need to use the human's satelites in order to communicate with each other? Answer, because it's a lot more exciting to see space ships fighting F-15, and hordes of squid robots fighting 'Mechs.

Oh, and those 'Mechs were the stupidest thing I've ever seen. You've got all this metal and armor...but none of it is protecting the freaking pilot. Also, if the Mechs are only going to be on flat ground....why use legged machines? Isn't that just another easy point of failure? How about treads instead.

Finally, in the first movie, the EMP was "our only weapon against the machines." So, now, sixth months later, they realize, "oh, machine guns can blow them up, too." Huh? And since the EMP is so incredibly effective, lets make sure they're only on our ships, and let's not keep any around the perimeter of our base.

Plot holes abound.

Newhart

[Rapier_M]

I was hoping that Neo would wake up in bed between Bob Newhart and the woman who played his wife on his first series.

My idea wasn't used...

[glwtta]

I really wanted to see them introduce two new characters - The Postgres and The MySQL, who team up to defeat The Oracle. Now that a lot of geeks would've been able to relate to.

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?).

They destroyed a potentially awesomeTrilogy...

[danielrm26]

Ok, first of all, let me just feed my ego and post this link. This is the post that I made on the subject right after Reloaded, and in it I pointed out that they *would* do the god, Christ, and reunification of man and machine plot. There, now I feel better. :)

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=65437&cid=60 36 019

That being said, let me just point out the main reasons this Trilogy has been ruined as a major piece of sci-fi. Note that I didn't say it made the thing sucked completely and horribly; there is a difference. The series is still awesome for what it offers, but there were many (including myself) who had expectations of sci-fi (logical) purity. Those expectations simply weren't met.

Some will argue that the Trilogy put forth the ultimate in depth and philosophy, and that the reason so many complain is because they aren't smart enough to get it. This is utter crap. People who believe this have missed the boat, and I encourage them to read something like "The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect" in order to see what true sci-fi is.

In my view the difference is this: while true sci-fi asks you to believe something extraordinary, it takes great care not to break the rules that it lays down for itself. And once you accept the principle thing they are asking you to believe, you can then pursue the rest of the story as if it is more or less true science. *THAT* is, in my opinion, *true* sci-fi.

My contention, and the contention of many others, is that this Trilogy is nothing more than a collection of very cool concepts drawn from mythology and philosophy, wrapped up in an attractive action/marital arts/special effects shell. Again, this is a winning combination if you accept it for what it is, but it should *not* be mistaken for true sci-fi genius. Here's why:

1. The energy source issue is lame at best. It just doesn't work. You can keep a human vegetable alive for years with very little going on in their brain. THEY DON'T NEED THE MATRIX to keep bodies alive. If you grow humans and make them into idiots with a minimal amount of brain activity, you can just feed them for decades and they will produce all the power that they would in the Matrix. The fact that they are living out a 9-5 job in the Matrix isn't going to generate the machines any more juice than just keeping them alive. Hell, even if it DID generate more energy, would it be so much that it offset the expenditure of maintaining the Matrix? I think not. Either way, this power source issue is the ENTIRE reason for the movie. Without the use of humans as batteries there is no Matrix, no Neo, no Zion (read on to see why there would be no Zion). The entire Trilogy rests on the energy issue, and it doesn't hold water.

2. The second major problem lies in the fact that you can't build a f*cking city that deep inside the earth. Ask any scientist who's versed in the matter; it's not possible. Again, they are asking quite a bit of the viewer in this regard.

3. They never covered how Neo, a flesh and blood human, is able to exert control over machines in the real world. You see, what they did was switch everything up on us. This started as a sci-fi movie - the scorching of the sky, the underground city, and the war vs. the machines. This was the plot originally, and I think it was a good one. The fact that there was a false reality where the computers kept humans was very cool, and the fact that you could do cool shit while in the Matrix was cool. But the whole thing was laid out as science. Morpheus asks if Neo thinks he's breathing air in the simulation. Logic guided that. The fact that you have to "believe" about the jump program, again, guided by logic. At that point, they hadn't broken their own rules (even though the initial things they were asking you to believe were massive). The problem, however, is that they ended up, in the third movie, with Neo as a Christ figure who could blow up machines with a mere thought. Huh? How so?

Re:Everything WAS explained (Spoilers, of course)

[Daetrin]

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?

Yeah, subtle like a brick to the head.

Let's start out with Smith-in-hijacked-human-body refering to Neo as some kind of Messiah. Of course the term Messiah, combined with the facts that Neo had just been horibly blinded, if he was really blind he was going to get his ass-kicked, and although Neo dying was a possibility it was way too early for it to happen, immediatly led to the conclusion, "He's going to be able to see with his new and improved real-world mystic powers, just like Paul in Dune." Sure enough, when all seems lost, Neo suprises Smith-3749 with his ability to see, and proceeds to kick his ass.

Having already set up the messianic theme, it was pretty damn obvious when Neo assumes the crucified position during the final fight. Oh look, he's sacrificing himself to save humanity, just like christ! Oh my! Not only is he in a crucified pose, he's got a big glowing cross superimposed on him! And now he's got giant glowing angel wings! And now he's dead and being carried away by a god-like figure, and look! More glowingness and angel wings!

The only way they could have been any more obvious was if the Oracle had extended her final speech a little bit, from "I think we'll see him again someday," to, "I think we'll see him again someday, in three days when he rises again!" I started to groan about the point the blatantly obvious cross of fire was superimposed over Neo, and had a hard time paying serious attention to the rest of the movie while i gagged on the over the top christian imagery.

As for the rest of what you said, i mostly agree. The theme behind Neo's destruction of Smith was pretty clear, but i really would have liked to have known more details. Was it a fundamental incompatibility between the two "Ones," like a matter-anti-matter reaction? Was it Neo acting from within the Smith collective? Was it the Machine acting on the Smith collective with Neo as a conduit? (That last seems possible given the behavior of the machines in the real world when Neo was taken over, need to watch a few more times to be sure.)

The bit that annoyed me was that it wasn't apparent that Neo actually took any action once he sacrificed himself. Although someone else has pointed out that this is consistent with the passive nature of christ, it doesn't really fit with what i expected of Neo, christ figure or not. It was clear after the first half of the fight that Neo wasn't going to win by physically beating Smith, but it didn't have to be through total passivity, there was a lot of middle ground that could have been covered.