The Matrix Reloaded

Synopsis: The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar are called back to Zion to join the last surviving humans in order to fight the machines that are closing in at a rapid rate. Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) is not convinced that this is the way to defeat them. He absolutely believes in the destiny laid out by the Oracle: that Neo (Keanu Reeves) will save them from annihilation. Against the orders of his commanding officer, Morpheus, Neo and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), go back into The Matrix to battle it at its very source. Here they are faced with enormous problems that will test their physical strength as well as their most precious beliefs.

I had similar reactions as other punters who caught the film over the opening weekend. On initial impression, this film lacks the impact of the first instalment. Action scenes, although impressively executed in both style and state of the art visual effects, seem needlessly drawn out. The taut story-telling evident in The Matrix appears to have lost its edge. It was particularly frustrating to get to the final scenes and be left with "To be concluded" (The Wachowski brothers are not stupid. Frustration heightens expectations and a sequel Matrix Revolutions milked the cash-cow)

This film and its predecessor are to a large extent concerned with uncovering and playing with layers of reality. In The Matrix, we were unplugged in order to see that what we thought was the real world was only a computer generated dreamworld fed into our minds so we could fulfil our purpose: to provide power for the machines that had taken over the planet. In the second instalment, we are introduced to the surviving members of the human race who live in a cavernous location within the Earth’s crust. It’s fairly clear that there is no hope of them ever defeating the machines. If the words of The Oracle are not true, then all hope is lost.

On the surface, it looks like the Brothers Wachowski have seen a few recent sci-fi/fantasy films and shamelessly borrowed whatever scenes took their fancy. I say let them. Isn’t The Matrix one of the most mimicked films you have seen in recent years? What I’m interested in, is where they are going with the unfolding of the story of their trilogy. Sure, much of the dialogue is based around destiny, fate and purpose, and in a film that spends a great deal of screen time focussing on using hands and fists to overcome the enemy, the "philosophical" argument can easily come across as being tacked on as an afterthought. However on closer inspection, there is a complexity to the story that might at first not be apparent.

Neo’s sense of reality is seriously confronted when he meets The Architect, supposedly the creator of The Matrix. But who is tricking whom? The Oracle tells him to trust his own senses. The Architect tells him everything is just a blip in the computer program. Who is he to believe? Neo is given the choice of Trinity surviving, which would mean the death of everyone in Zion, or saving the human race, which would mean the death of everyone in Zion except twenty-three humans chosen by Neo to start the population over again. As a bonus offer, the humans plugged intoTthe Matrix get to live as well. Of course he chooses Trinity. Things begin to look very grim. It is at this point that he realizes that the choices before him had never included Zion being saved. Or did they?  Things are most surely not as they seem.

We are left with Neo in a coma after destroying the machines, lying next to the only survivor of the five humans’ ships suspiciously blown up while defending Zion. It is the Agent Smith doppelganger that infiltrated Zion earlier in the film? The answer? To be concluded (in November this year). Watch out for that connection between Agent Smith and Neo in the third instalment. Will Agent Smith join the humans? Will Zion ultimately be saved? Will Morpheus believe again? Will Neo finally discover his true purpose? We’ll just have to wait and see.

 

 

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