I just got back from seeing the Matrix....my thoughts. Not as good stroytelling wise as the first but damn sight better in terms of action. I will not get into priase because we all have enough to give it let's deal with some issues and let me throw my own hat in the ring in regards to the twists and finale.
ZION
I LIKED the rave scene. I know I am in the minority but here are human beings that are facing death. Humans have always tried to savor life one more time before going off to face death. A friend of mine wwho served in Vietnam would tell me that all his buddies before going off on patrol when possible or getting itno some heavy shit would always tried to get laid first. It is a very human thing to do, to feel good, to feel alive one last time. I enjoyed that aspect since this is a machine vs. human story.
I DID NOT like the portrayal of women in Zion. Trace's wife was just so fucking bitchy and unsupportive. Your man is out there doing what he can to keep you safe. Jesus he has to get shit the minute he comes home from you???
Trinity left Neo to his followers, how about being there by his side and helping him out in a difficult position for him. So much for being there for him when he needs you - geez.
FORESHADOWING in Zion. As a writer I saw the gratuitous foreshadowing scene coming from a mile away. The councelor takes Neo down to engineering. The message in the little pep talk "Men and Machines can live together in harmony" REMEMBER This, because this is the key to my prediction about Revolutions.
THE CHARACTERS
Each of the main characters has regressed or devolved in some way that made it annoying some times and the most annoying of that bunch is Trinity.
Trinity - She has become nothing more than a GF now. The hero's hanger on and the requisite damsel in distress....I'm sorry, Trinity a damsel in distress? Trinity was the one that BROUGHT NEO BACK in the first movie, The greatest thing about Trinity in that movie was that she was NOT a damsel in distress. In fact MORPHEUS played that part in the movie. How often do you see women portrayed so well in an action flick??
She was sort of there and I could never shake that feeling and all the huggy kissy shit between her and Neo was so out of character. Finally she was reduced to a plot point in teh movie, soemthing to distract Neo, give him a dilemma. I never once felt in the movie like she was her own living breathing character as in the first one.
Morpheus - He was the black Yoda in the first movie. Now what is he? The black Yoda with an attitude. Does he serve ANY purpose in the movie...seriously ask yourself is there ANYTHING in that movie he did that could not have been done by someone else? Trinity could have fought the agent on the Semi.
Neo - UGH. He had discovered that he was the One. There was a peace there and you could hear it in his voice at the end of the first movie. He was going to start a revolution agaoinst the machines and he was going to see what choice they made. Now what was his main focus...."I don;t know what to do?" WTF?!??!! YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO ASHSOLE YOU'RE THE ONE NOW!!!!
Of all of them this just felt like the writers saying, hey, let's give Neo some angst. BUT HE GOT OVER HIS ANGST AND SELF DOUBT in the FIRST movie asshole.
Was anyone else also upset by the fact that he was reduced to Kung Fuing the enemy. The last movie CLEARLY showed that he no longer even needed to Kung Fu them, he was WAY FASTER than they could ever be. Jesus, he's the one, why wasn;t he teleporting around, looking at an agent and causing him to explode? The matrix is his plaything, he coudl do with it what he pelased and he goes back to Kung Fuing.
"You're telling me that I can dodge bullets?" "NO when the time comes you won't need to....that is until the sequel when the writers will power you down because they don;t know how to deal with you."
In the end the problems with the characters is thus: they each completed their roles in the first movie. Morpheus as mentor, Trinity as love interest and Neo as messiah. There's nothing left for them to grow into and it shows.
MATRIX REVOLUTIONS
This is only my theory, but I think that Neo will be the bridge between man and machine as foreshadowed (and could ya have hit us over the head harder with it?) in the Zion scene when the councilor talks about the interdependence of man and machine. How the machines in Zion work for their better good and they upkeep the machines.
The Oracle also mentioned that one of her motivations was bringing an understanding between programs and humans. Neo will not reboot the Matrix the way the Archtect would like, but he will instead bring man and amchine together in some way, shedding the bionds of control that the machines have over man to craete a more equal society.
Just my take on it. The Matrix will not be destroyed but I wouldn't be surprised that it becomes something more. Revolutions is a telling title, because Revolutions actually change nothing, they just simply end where they began, a revolution is a complete circle. Hence the matrix will still be around but perhaps as the perfect utopia from which it began.
Trust me on this, machines cannot kill man, man cannot kill machines, we're in a symbiotic relationship and Neo as the One will unite them together by breaking the cycle of his previous incarnations.