More on the Matrix Reloaded

*** spoilers below ***


I'm not real clear on some points in the film.

Is this what he, the architec, was saying?

Go through door #1 and you can save some of the people of Zion and your programing code will be spread through the Matrix like cremated ashes tossed to the four winds thus generating matrix version 7.0?

Go through door #2 and you can *try* to save your one true love but Zion is totally destroyed?

Is that the situation we are left with in the white room?

By the way, one friend suggested, can we assume the architect is even telling the truth???

By that point of the movie I was not following very well. If we had arrived at that point perhaps 10 to 20 minutes earlier I might have still had the energy and desire to listen more closely!

Also in the prior 6 encounters with the architect, I take it "the One" choose door #1? That is not clear to me?

Seems to me the door #1 isn't all that tempting? If you know that your rebel base is going to be reduced to ashes leaving just a handful of people KNOWING that it is just going to happen again is kind of a futile cycle?

At least door #2 you have the chance to save her and enjoy her... existential live drink and be merry for tomorrow we die but that sure seems better than a futile cycle?

But then, if the architect needs Zion to purge the incompatible elements of the matrix he will always need Zion so choice #2 is even more logical because Zion will exist again unless this is the last cycle of death and rebirth of Zion and the Matrix has acheived perfection. Given the chaos Neo has already caused, it seems unlikely they have gotten to that point yet: humans are always such troublesome creatures anyway.

From the architect's point of view, he is faced with two realities: (1) he needs humans (batteries) to keep the machines running (survival is the prime directive) and (2) some of the humans don't fit into the matrix either consciously or unconscoiously they will be disruptive to the whole system.

I suppose the architect could kill off the incompatible people. Instead, he allows an apocalyptic cult of Zion to go around unplugging people.

I suppose the Zion construction is needed to more effectively "debug" the program. Willy nilly killing off the incompatible people may not improve the next upgrade of the Matrix enough. He has to allow a full blown rebellion to flourish in order to make improvement. Kind of Darwinian?

And of course the whole cycles of death and rebirth sounds so Hindu reincarnation!

And then you have a savior like being in Neo with its Christian overtones or maybe an "enlightened" Buddha like figure. Then of course he has this relationship with an ordinary woman which I guess is kind of Greek mythology where the gods fall in love with mortal women.

So it is pretty typical post-modern, post-Christian American zeitgeist... kind of a salad bar approach to religion...

Of course the final confusion was his abilty to zap the mechanicals hunting them down at the end of the movie which has led some in the fan webpages to speculate that there is a SUB matrix and that the realm of Zion is a sub matrix to control the people who don't fit into the regular matrix.... and so now Neo is feeling his powers in that realm.... of course perhaps he is transcending mere mortal powers in the "real" world in addition to his superpowers in the matrix world....

We await episode 3... and look forward to hours of conversation about the film! 8-)

See the film for the stunning visuals and for the interesting discussion it will provoke about free will and determinism. Nitpicks about the movie: action set pieces are a little too long and that whole sensual stuff in Zion was interesting but even though I'm as hormone drenched as a teenage male, it was still a bit long for my (somewhat older than teenage) tastes. One wonders if there is a plot point to this that has a payoff in the 3rd episode or is it merely for style points? One fan of the movie speculates it is to highlight the raw physicality and sensuality of the "real" world of Zion versus the sterilized drab "matrix" world. Wouldn't it be ironic if the film makers make Zion part of a sub-matrix where the stark contrast is part of the program to fool the people who don't fit into the regular matrix? Hmmmm.....

Sit through the credits to see the trailer for the third film. Alas, the trailers reveal very little but it is fun to watch anyway.