Infuriation

Impetus: Matrix Revolutions:

Why I dislike Matrix Revolutions:

The biblical allegory in matrix revolutions is weak at best. Christ without a resurrection is a fraud. CS Lewis said it best, if Christ merely died, and there was no resurrection, then Christians believe the biggest lie in history. Without rising from the dead, and also the creation of a new paradise, Christ’s message is no better than the martyrs of any nation or ideology.

Neo makes a truce with the machines, that the oracle hopes “will last a long time”. The architect doesn’t look the least bit unnerved, merely walking away at the pretty display of pixels Indian girl makes. And what of Merovingian? There is word that the others are still around.

Neo’s sacrifice and the sacrifice of the Zion’s fighters is a hollow one. The Machines are not the least bit affected – they still have their fields of human batteries. The architect promises some will be freed (and we can believe him). But only a few would choose to leave the relative utopia of the matrix.

Perhaps the architect was correct all along in his intentions. Neo – the anomaly – must be reintegrated with the source. And he most probably is reabsorbed into the source as he’s ferried away on his arachnid pyre.

It is a very dismal ending to a science fiction paradigm that held so many promises and possibilities.

If I had done thing differently, Neo would have fulfilled his Christ like role, which requires a resurrection, and a promise of a world rebuilt. Neo’s matrix-like powers could carry over to the real world. What new realities could a correct peace (not a standstill ceasefire) bring about between Neo and the machines? A return to the sun, a clearing of the ash and lightning filled clouds that block the sky? Perhaps a return to nature, completely free of machines (contrasting the Councilor’s earlier speech in Reloaded about dependence upon technology).

Yet the inhabitants of the matrix (Merovingian, Oracle, Indian Girl) persist, meaning nothing has changed, a new reality has not been made. And all we have is a pretty sunrise to satiate us, yet another level of control.

It is a full revolution, three hundred sixty degrees, the machines in control as always. Either the Wachowski brothers lack the talent once attributed to them, or they are solid in their purpose, creating what is quite possibly the most nihilistic science fiction trilogy ever.