2003.08.05: What I think is going on in Matrix: Reloaded
So here's what I think is going on with Matrix II. (SPOILERS AHEAD - DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW)
Disclaimer: though I will be discussing plot points of Matrix II, there is a large degree of speculation going on here too. I leave you to figure out which is which.
Another Disclaimer: I do not think that there are nested Matrixes. (Or recursive Matrixes, or Matrixes inside of Matrixes, or whatever you want to call them.) That story would be boring. The W brothers are better storytellers than that and they are creative enough to not reheat an idea that has been done countless times on Star Trek.
OK. The big philosophical question in Matrix I was "How do you know that this world isn't just an elaborate illusion caused by an all powerful demon?" (Descartes). The big philosophical question in Matrix II is the whole destiny vs. free will question.
All of the rouge programs in the Matrix talk about their purpose. They must accomplish their purpose and it is simply another way of talking about destiny or predestination. (The humans don't seem entirely immune either; Even Morpheus talks quite a bit about destiny and fate.) But apparently (according to the Architect), the people in the Matrix don't respond well to not having choices. So they are given some degree of freedom. All of those little freedoms add up (kind of like a rounding error) to an anomaly which expresses itself as "The One", Neo. While everyone else has only minor free choices, Neo has real choice in a matter of real significance: which door to choose at the end. (As far as I can tell, this is the only real free choice that is designed into the whole Matrix.) The Architect has of course stacked the deck as far as he can to ensure the results that he wants, but he can't prevent Neo from walking out the "wrong" door.
So why am I intrigued by this? Because this time is different than the other 6 times that it happened. Neo makes a different choice. Why? I think that it has to do with Agent Smith.
At the end of Matrix I, Neo dives into Agent Smith and "explodes" him from the inside out. I speculating that that did not happen the previous six times around. By diving into Agent Smith, I think that New and Agent Smith mixed their code up a bit. Neo now has some Agent Smith in him and vice versa. (I think that Matrix III's big philosophical question will be about personal identity.) Agent Smith now shares Neo's free will. That's why he keeps going on about not having a purpose (remember: purpose=predestination). He's just as free as Neo. And his influence now extends to the real world (i.e. he was able to enter the real world and inhabit that guy whose name I don't remember). Similarly, Neo now has power in the real world too. By cross-contaminating their code, they each have influence in both worlds. Now there are essentially two anomalies floating around and they have power in both worlds.
Two jokers in the deck. This should make for a very interesting Matrix III, especially if I am right about the mixing of code and the questions of personal identity.
This kind of musing is exactly why I like this movie. I love to just sit around and try to figure out what is going on (Memento was my favorite film the year it came out). Plus it had some really cool fight scenes. Sure it could have been better, but I love how it plunges me into a world of questions and musings.
(Note: here is a handy transcript of the conversation between the Archtect and Neo, with some commentary thrown in.)
jim says:
When I finished watching the movie, me and my gf got in the car and as we were heading out of the parking lot, I said something along the lines of: "Of course what this is all going to come down to is free will."
So it's funny you say that. :) All the talk so far has been about destiny and fate. The opposite will be what saves them. I don't know how.
There are a lot of theories going on about agent Smith. I don't know what's happening there, but he's obviously a deeper character than he was in the first movie. My question is, given your hypothesis, what's Smith's motivation? If he has an element of free will, what use is it to him to preserve the Matrix and defeat Neo?
Actually, I don't know what I'm talking about. :) I'm very confused.
syndromes says:
It's funny, I do enjoy talking about the film and what took place during it. I find philisophical discussions like this completely intriguing ;)
But man, the movie was soooo boring for me. How those philisophical questions were actually "brought to life", is my biggest bone of contention.
As a point of fact, I enjoy reading yours and others summaries of the movies and their interpretations infinetely more entertaining than the movie itself.
Okay, so to give my own little "aha!" to your summary (which I don't disagree with by the way), at the long-winded speech at the end, The Architect makes a statement that Neo finding love is what apparently makes this "6th take" on The Matrix different, and this is why it makes my head hurt:
In the first movie, Neo dies. Because Trinity decides she loves him however, she's able to bring Neo back to life. Does *that* happen in the previous 5 instances of the Matrix? If not, how does Neo get around dying? Or does the 6th Matrix take a divergent path from the others at an earlier point so that Neo dying is never realized in any of the previous attempts? The reason I pick that instance in particular is due to the reference you made about Neo exploding Smithy. That presumably would not have happened in any previous versions of the matrix because Trinity and Neo didn't fall in love, thus Neo dies, thus Agent Smith is never exploded... But how then does Neo "return to the source" and make his emphasis choice?
Okay, maybe not so deep. I can't tell any more, but you're damn synopsis got me thinking about this, so somehow this is all your fault.
Oh, and one other point that I can't reckon regarding continuity from the first movie. When Morpheus is interviewing Neo in person for the first time, Neo spacks something about not believing in destiny where Morpheus appears to agree. But then they all buy into the prophecy? Is that different from destiny? "There's a difference between knowing the path, and walking it."
syndromes says:
Oh yah, once he gets into the good guys and bad, the URL below and I definately tend to see eye to eye.
http://www.marktaw.com/reviews/TheMatrixReloaded.html
Interesting read if nothing else
eric says:
hm. i thought i left a comment here. i must've hit preview and then never committed it.
the gist was: i think Smith is being set up as an anti-messiah figure. the thing that got me thinking that was was the final shot of Reloaded. shot of Neo lying in sick bay, from above. dolly camera up to see the real-world side Smith, *upside down* on screen. swell music, end of movie. that's a bizarre shot to end a movie with. they wouldn't do that accidentally. he's an upside-down Neo, an anti-savior.
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