jchrisobrien (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jchrisobrien) wrote2003-11-07 01:44 pm
jchrisobrien) wrote2003-11-07 01:44 pm
We want Revolution
First off, I enjoyed Matrix Revolutions. I commented earlier that there was no way that I wouldn't see this film, and that I would love it. After being critical of people for hating the film before they saw it, I tried to curb my enthusiasm and see the film with an open mind. Deciding to like something before you see it is no better than deciding you hate something before seeing it. So I waited calmly, at a neutral state, as the green WB logo floated across the screen and the code began to fall.
I thought the train station was an interesting way of starting the movie out. The train station represented this limbo state between the machine world and the Matrix. Neo himself was growing and changing, and pushed himself too hard by stopping the Sentinels at the end of Reloaded. Now, it is unclear where the programs were going to. How could they leave the Matrix? Where would they go? The fact that they were leaving suggests that a connection between the human world and the Matrix is possible, leaving room for Neo's ability to see the machine world. But it could have been done a little better.
The rescue scene: It looked cool, it was a little derivative of the earlier movies, but I think that was part of the point. The emphasis on Revolutions was the world outside the Matrix, not the Matrix itself. There were some interesting visual twists that made it fun to watch, and bullet time wire fu is always fun to watch. Unless it's in House of the Dead, but that's a different kind of fun.
Super Neo: There is not a concrete reason given for why Neo can affect machines in the real world, at least not in the
"The Force is caused by metachlorians" sense. Neo is The One. He has the ability to see the Matrix for what it is and alter the code. I view his new abilities as an extension of that power. In role-playing games, characters start out weak and get stronger. Even in real life, once you learn a skill, the more you use it the better your get at it. As you master a skill, you can see how the principals of it apply to other skills as well. Neo's power is analogous to that. Neo learned that he can bend the rules of the Matrix first. Then he learned that he can break them. In time, the Oracle implied, he could have learned to control machines in the same fashion. But he wasn't fully ready for that, hence his coma. He also didn't have time to fully develop his power, since the machines learned of his existence and decided to wipe out Zion.
Agent Smith: Neo thought he destroyed Smith when he entered him in the Matrix. Instead, Smith was transformed by his connection to The One. Admittedly, this is a "hand waving" kind of explanation. Smith has become the opposite of Neo, the other side of his equation. Because Smith was changed by Neo, he took on some of Neo's abilities but in a different way. When Smith overwrites a template in the Matrix, it becomes him. When that template jacks back into the real world, it is Smith's consciousness that comes with it, not the original user. The movie didn't explain that per se, but that's how I interpret it.
Architect thread: I think what the Oracle was saying is that the Architect can only see one of two outcomes. He is an older program than the Oracle, and is more limited and machine like. The Oracle is more similar to a human mind, and can understand things the Architect can't. I'd have to see the film again to comment further on this point.
The Merovingian: I didn't mind his return. He is the master of information after all, if you need to find something out, who ya gonna call? I was sad that the Twins were gone, and that Persephone has so little do. Now if the Merovingian were gone, already absorbed by Smith, and Persephone was running the show, that would have been cool too.
Story over Reality: Neo in theory could have fired laser beams from his eyes, or simply erased the programs as they came at him. But that would be boring. You could argue that even though Neo knows he can do anything, he still thinks like a normal person and deals with things as a regular person would. He fights all the Smiths for a long time, because he's skilled enough to, but in the end he realizes he's not going to win and gets out. His battle with Smith at the end of Revolutions is more an old fashioned super hero fight like Superman II (oh to see that fight with today's technology!). It shows that Smith and Neo have grown in their power and what they can do.
Hand waving: I understand christianb's point about them not explaining enough of this. I (and no doubt many people) can INTERPRET things, or come up with reasons for them, but the Wachowski's could have used some screen time to flat out tell us this information, instead of just saying "believe it." The Matrix had a lot of explanations worked into the film Revolutions, not so much. It didn't detract from the film, because I could fill in the gaps myself.
Dialogue: It was weaker than the other films. This was the big action part of the movie, but that doesn't excuse them from snapping up the dialogue. I thought Bane's imitation of Hugo Weaving was hilarious. (or was that Hugo's voice?)
Trinity's last scene: Tooooooooooooooooo Looooooooooooooonnng. We know she loves him already. It should have been much shorter.
Sentinel/Dock fight: I felt such a feeling of doom when I saw all the APU's preparing for battle. I mean, I saw the Animatrix, I know what happened in the first war. It was going to be a slaughter. That was a very resonant part of the film. Why did the Sentinel's act that way? Two words: Dramatic tension. The machines behaved very much like insects, down to pulling people apart instead of shooting them. Many insects travel in swarms. Seeing this onrushing wave of machines just fills you with dread. The fight could have been over in about two minutes if the machines fought "realistically". The could have burrowed all that way down and then dropped a nuke or bio-weapon. Boom. Everyone's dead. Yawn.
Messages: There was a little too much repetition of the message, and not enough exploring of the message. I think there was more exploration of it in Reloaded, but I've had the benefit of viewing it more often. More viewings of Revolutions will be needed. I do think there was a fair bit of filler space. More time could have been spent analyzing some of their thoughts and themes.
The aftermath: The Architect was in a bind: Smith had the power to overwrite the Matrix (the Architect’s creation) and was a threat to the machines. Presumably he could have killed everyone in the Matrix, cutting off their power supply or destroying the machines somehow. Neo made a bargain that he would help destroy Smith, in return for ending the war. Humanity started the war, and humanity made the overture to end it. The architect agreed to the bargain. Since he was willing to kill everyone to win the war, it was probably a relief to only have to sacrifice a handful of people in the tanks, as opposed to all of them. Zion will rebuild and go on, and people can begin the long road towards continuing the species. Presumably they will continue to test people in the Matrix, showing them reality and seeing who wants to leave, and who wants to stay. They just won't have to worry as much about Agents and the like.
Matrix 7.0?: The Matrix is restored at the end of the movie. I didn't think that it was all Shiny Happy all the time, it's back to how it normally was. Which includes beautiful sunrises. People will still live, grow old, and die "in the Matrix", some will choose to leave, some will choose to stay. The Matrix has always been "better" than the real world. Morpheus' quest was to tear down the Matrix, but Neo saw that that wasn't possible. It was foreshadows in Councilor Holland's speech to Neo at the beginning of Reloaded. We need the machines, the machines need us. Neo made it possible for the machines AND the humans to live their own lives, w/out having to kill each other.
I think that the more I see Revolutions, the more I will like it. It is not a perfect film, but so few films are. It's more ambitious than most action movies, and while it is not the pinnacle of what science fiction could be (as I stated in an earlier post) it is still a decent, if perhaps over hyped, science fiction film.
I thought the train station was an interesting way of starting the movie out. The train station represented this limbo state between the machine world and the Matrix. Neo himself was growing and changing, and pushed himself too hard by stopping the Sentinels at the end of Reloaded. Now, it is unclear where the programs were going to. How could they leave the Matrix? Where would they go? The fact that they were leaving suggests that a connection between the human world and the Matrix is possible, leaving room for Neo's ability to see the machine world. But it could have been done a little better.
The rescue scene: It looked cool, it was a little derivative of the earlier movies, but I think that was part of the point. The emphasis on Revolutions was the world outside the Matrix, not the Matrix itself. There were some interesting visual twists that made it fun to watch, and bullet time wire fu is always fun to watch. Unless it's in House of the Dead, but that's a different kind of fun.
Super Neo: There is not a concrete reason given for why Neo can affect machines in the real world, at least not in the
"The Force is caused by metachlorians" sense. Neo is The One. He has the ability to see the Matrix for what it is and alter the code. I view his new abilities as an extension of that power. In role-playing games, characters start out weak and get stronger. Even in real life, once you learn a skill, the more you use it the better your get at it. As you master a skill, you can see how the principals of it apply to other skills as well. Neo's power is analogous to that. Neo learned that he can bend the rules of the Matrix first. Then he learned that he can break them. In time, the Oracle implied, he could have learned to control machines in the same fashion. But he wasn't fully ready for that, hence his coma. He also didn't have time to fully develop his power, since the machines learned of his existence and decided to wipe out Zion.
Agent Smith: Neo thought he destroyed Smith when he entered him in the Matrix. Instead, Smith was transformed by his connection to The One. Admittedly, this is a "hand waving" kind of explanation. Smith has become the opposite of Neo, the other side of his equation. Because Smith was changed by Neo, he took on some of Neo's abilities but in a different way. When Smith overwrites a template in the Matrix, it becomes him. When that template jacks back into the real world, it is Smith's consciousness that comes with it, not the original user. The movie didn't explain that per se, but that's how I interpret it.
Architect thread: I think what the Oracle was saying is that the Architect can only see one of two outcomes. He is an older program than the Oracle, and is more limited and machine like. The Oracle is more similar to a human mind, and can understand things the Architect can't. I'd have to see the film again to comment further on this point.
The Merovingian: I didn't mind his return. He is the master of information after all, if you need to find something out, who ya gonna call? I was sad that the Twins were gone, and that Persephone has so little do. Now if the Merovingian were gone, already absorbed by Smith, and Persephone was running the show, that would have been cool too.
Story over Reality: Neo in theory could have fired laser beams from his eyes, or simply erased the programs as they came at him. But that would be boring. You could argue that even though Neo knows he can do anything, he still thinks like a normal person and deals with things as a regular person would. He fights all the Smiths for a long time, because he's skilled enough to, but in the end he realizes he's not going to win and gets out. His battle with Smith at the end of Revolutions is more an old fashioned super hero fight like Superman II (oh to see that fight with today's technology!). It shows that Smith and Neo have grown in their power and what they can do.
Hand waving: I understand christianb's point about them not explaining enough of this. I (and no doubt many people) can INTERPRET things, or come up with reasons for them, but the Wachowski's could have used some screen time to flat out tell us this information, instead of just saying "believe it." The Matrix had a lot of explanations worked into the film Revolutions, not so much. It didn't detract from the film, because I could fill in the gaps myself.
Dialogue: It was weaker than the other films. This was the big action part of the movie, but that doesn't excuse them from snapping up the dialogue. I thought Bane's imitation of Hugo Weaving was hilarious. (or was that Hugo's voice?)
Trinity's last scene: Tooooooooooooooooo Looooooooooooooonnng. We know she loves him already. It should have been much shorter.
Sentinel/Dock fight: I felt such a feeling of doom when I saw all the APU's preparing for battle. I mean, I saw the Animatrix, I know what happened in the first war. It was going to be a slaughter. That was a very resonant part of the film. Why did the Sentinel's act that way? Two words: Dramatic tension. The machines behaved very much like insects, down to pulling people apart instead of shooting them. Many insects travel in swarms. Seeing this onrushing wave of machines just fills you with dread. The fight could have been over in about two minutes if the machines fought "realistically". The could have burrowed all that way down and then dropped a nuke or bio-weapon. Boom. Everyone's dead. Yawn.
Messages: There was a little too much repetition of the message, and not enough exploring of the message. I think there was more exploration of it in Reloaded, but I've had the benefit of viewing it more often. More viewings of Revolutions will be needed. I do think there was a fair bit of filler space. More time could have been spent analyzing some of their thoughts and themes.
The aftermath: The Architect was in a bind: Smith had the power to overwrite the Matrix (the Architect’s creation) and was a threat to the machines. Presumably he could have killed everyone in the Matrix, cutting off their power supply or destroying the machines somehow. Neo made a bargain that he would help destroy Smith, in return for ending the war. Humanity started the war, and humanity made the overture to end it. The architect agreed to the bargain. Since he was willing to kill everyone to win the war, it was probably a relief to only have to sacrifice a handful of people in the tanks, as opposed to all of them. Zion will rebuild and go on, and people can begin the long road towards continuing the species. Presumably they will continue to test people in the Matrix, showing them reality and seeing who wants to leave, and who wants to stay. They just won't have to worry as much about Agents and the like.
Matrix 7.0?: The Matrix is restored at the end of the movie. I didn't think that it was all Shiny Happy all the time, it's back to how it normally was. Which includes beautiful sunrises. People will still live, grow old, and die "in the Matrix", some will choose to leave, some will choose to stay. The Matrix has always been "better" than the real world. Morpheus' quest was to tear down the Matrix, but Neo saw that that wasn't possible. It was foreshadows in Councilor Holland's speech to Neo at the beginning of Reloaded. We need the machines, the machines need us. Neo made it possible for the machines AND the humans to live their own lives, w/out having to kill each other.
I think that the more I see Revolutions, the more I will like it. It is not a perfect film, but so few films are. It's more ambitious than most action movies, and while it is not the pinnacle of what science fiction could be (as I stated in an earlier post) it is still a decent, if perhaps over hyped, science fiction film.
On how they battle
-sarcy
Re: On how they battle
Puny humans.
Re: On how they battle