Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Now we need him to analyse The Matrix Reloaded. Although, really, I 
> guess there's not much to analyst.

  Reloaded was greatly misunderstood and got a lot of negative hype soon
after release because it was *different* from the illusion people had for
a Matrix sequel. In other words, it suffered from "they changed it, now
it sucks" syndrome (even though they really didn't change anything).

  With time, thought, most people ended up accepting it as an enjoyable
sequel (and moved onto bashing the third film, for similar reasons).

> Neo is invincible. Smith is 
> invincible. And they're fighting... why?

  Smith has gone rogue and he absolutely hates the guts of Neo. Thus he
wants to hurt him bad. It makes perfect sense for Smith to fight Neo.

  Why does Neo fight back? Because Neo has grown cocky. He thinks he is
untouchable (after all, agents can do nothing against him) and invincible,
so he is ready to teach this rogue Smith another lesson in humility. He
ends up getting such a lesson himself.

  Of course later Smith is becoming a real threat to all humanity, so he
has to be stopped, so why wouldn't Neo fight him?

> And they want the Keymaker because...?

  Because the Oracle told them so. Because they need to get to the Architect.

> He makes keys...? That do what...?

  To get to parts of the Matrix not normally accessible.

> So they can meet the 
> Architect...? Who does what...? Babbles some meaningless babble that 
> doens't really mean a lot...?

  Maybe you should start listening to what he says in detail? It makes a
lot of sense when you try to understand it.

  The machines need people to be conscious (the reason given in the first
movie, using humans as energy sources, is completely bogus and AFAIK a
result of executive meddling; the Wachowski brothers originally had a
more logical explanation, but it was scrapped because executives thought
viewers are morons and wouldn't understand it). In order for people to be
conscious and not go crazy (which happens if you keep people locked in
solitary confinement), they created this life simulator. The Architect
was the main developer.

  Now, what the Architect created was a perfect world where nothing bad
happens ever, but much to his surprise people started dying, and he couldn't
understand why.

  He concluded that the simulated world was too good, too perfect, and the
human mind needs problems, confrontations and crises in order to keep sane.
A perfect life seemed to bore people out of their minds, making them
perform unconscious suicide.

  So he created a second version of the matrix, one which was like a
nightmare, with monsters and werewolves and vampires (it's implied that
this is where such stories are from)... And also this was a similar failure.

  A different program, here named "Oracle" came up with the real reason:
What people need is not problems and confrontations. What they need is
choice. If you completely remove the human capacity for true choice, the
mind rebels against the situation in the only possible way it can (by
dying).

  So the third version of the matrix was built with a genuine choice for
all people, even though this choice was to be made at a near subconscious
level: They could choose to escape from the matrix, or choose to believe
the world they were experiencing was real.

  This capacity of making a subconscious choice seemed to be enough to
keep people happy and alive. Of course a few people actually chose to
escape, which is the whole point of the series. The Architect allows them
to escape because else they wouldn't have a real choice. (It's never clearly
explained why this has an effect, but I assume that some kind of supernatural
connection between all human consciousness could be implied.)

  This setup had yet another unexpected side-effect: Neo. (Again, it's not
clearly explained why, but again it could be implied as some kind of
supernatural global consciousness of the entire humanity thing.)

  Neo is the culmination of free choice of all humanity, and Neo must be
given the choice of continuing the cycle (his consciousness is fused with
the "Source" and eventually a new Neo pops up some time in the future) or
try to free the entire humanity and defeat the machines.

  (Apparently Neo must be given the choice only if he reaches the Architect.
If he dies in the process, that's ok. A new Neo is born eventually again,
and the cycle continues. That's why the agents don't have any problem in
trying to kill Neo. Killing him is just beneficial because it gives them
more time until the next Neo tries to reach the Architect.)

  If you think about the above explanation, and then listen to the
Architect's explanation in the movie carefully, you'll see how he is
explaining exactly what I wrote above. Try it. It's enlightening.

> And after that happens, the thing we've 
> been trying to achieve since the film started... What happens?

  Neo chooses to try to save humanity, unlike his predecessors. The reason
is that this Neo is different (he has a girlfriend).

> Not a 
> lot, really...? So... uh... I've just watched several hours of film and 
> I *still* don't know anything I didn't know before. In fact, the film 
> has undone several of the things that were cool about the one before.

  You simply didn't understand. Try it again.

> The first film made it look like Neo had transcended the Matrix and was 
> now an actual threat to the Agents and that big things were going to 
> change. But in Reloaded, it looks like the Matrix is now more or less 
> deserted, other than millions of copies of Smith, so do we even give a 
> **** what happens there any more?

  Aren't you talking about the third movie now? That was not Reloaded.

> ...um, except that's not what happens in Reloaded. In fact, it seems to 
> fall into the trap of constructing a universe which either lacks rules, 
> or at least the rules aren't explained. Why would anybody give a fig 
> about a pair of invincible fighters fighting each other until one or the 
> other gets bored?

  Maybe the point of the sequel was not to repeat the first movie, but
to explain things instead? If you want the first movie again, then watch
it again.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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