::: the brothers
The tragedy of The Matrix Reloaded is not only that it abandons the savior motif it so obviously advertised in the first film for a bait and switch, but also that the product delivered in the sequel is not even good old Hinduism or Buddhism—or even relativism for that matter—but a vapid and reheated heresy packaged in a smart business suit and sold at a price in a hotel conference room.
::: Click here to read the full text.I love the conversations that have been taking place here...and maybe I'm a bit behind you all. Please don't think I'm simple for asking the following questions about this sequel:
1. Is Zion another Matrix?
2. If so, are certain members of that population not human, but programs (i.e., Morpheus, Trinity, the High Council Members...)?
3. Is Neo a program (called "The One") or is a program attached to him? I think The Architect says so, but I can't really follow everything he says...which he said we wouldn't, incidentally!
4. Who is the French guy supposed to be, anyway? A former "One" who escaped rather than face deletion...and took his Trinity (Persephone) with him?
5. What on earth is going on with Agent Smith? Is he a virus now, whereas before he wasn't? Is he now trying to destroy the machines, too, or just Neo?
6. Who's side is The Oracle really on? Or is she capable of "choosing sides"?
7. Does anyone think that there is really something "supernatural" going on in this film? I mean, I think that Neo is clearly a special "One" of all the "Ones", if you can believe what the French man and The Architect say about him...(and I think that you have to assume that everything the Architect says is true, or else all bets are off anyway). The question for me becomes this: what makes Neo different from the previous 5 Ones? He is different BEFORE he makes the choice to save Trinity instead of going through the other door...did the Architect need to provide that choice to Neo to figure out something new about human psyche and load that info. into the new version of the One? Because otherwise, why did the Architect give him a choice at all? He didn't have to, did he?
Maybe what makes Neo different is that, yes, he is The One according to the Matrix program, but he is also The One in the religious sense that the people of Zion believe him to be, a One chosen by a "god" who really exists above and beyond the context of the Matrix, who has decided to send the people of Zion a true saviour to defeat the machines this time? That is the only thing that would explain Neo's ability to stop the machines at the end of Reloaded, unless, well, see question 1 again.
I would truly appreciate any insights or comments. I feel like I need to at least try to comprehend what the hell was happening before I can participate in the deconstruction of the movie, and its possible meanings and connections.
Oh, crap, you have a point there.
HA :)
Jim
I said 15 minutes of "new plot" the rest was recycled for those who didn't understand the first movie to have another go at it.
HA :) I gave them more credit than that. I said there was 45 minutes of plot.
Jim
I just can't believe that a movie with 15 minutes of new plot and 2 hours of drawn out overdone fight scenes was such a hit?????
Past lives for Agent Smith...
including playing a pretty convincing drag queen in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert."
Ha :)
Jim
in reference to when i said the matrix made thinking cool, i was being satirical, lest we get confused and misread what i am saying:
accepting generic thought patterns, like public education, the nightly news, and basic consumerism is the norm. no one is really saying anything new, or insightful, in the land of the generic, by definition, i suppose.
thinking critically is rare. detached analysis is rare. thinking you are deep, because a hollywood blockbuster introduced you into a world of intrigue, of conspiracy that you wish you were part of is, is no longer rare. theologians, anthropologists, philosophers, and scientists of all kinds, are veterans of the type of thought that the matrix has suddenly made cool. things that are rare:huge genitals, genius, artistic talent, integrity, precious metals and stones. all cool, because they are rare. not rare: looking at basic philosophical questions due to the matrix and thinking you are the deepest and coolest coffee house thinker since sartre.
keeping up the thought, after thinking has stopped being a leather jacketed trend, would prove cooler still, but again, is destined to rarity.
I don't mean to excuse bad writing by the fact that the film is a middle movie, just that if we're complaining because issues aren't resolved and questions aren't answered, we should give the film slack because it's a middle film.
Middle films do seem cursed, though.
Descartes' evil deceiver can certainly serve as a parallel for the AI that created the Matrix, but how far does that parallel take us?
Jim
Well, regardless of how sad or scary it is, 'The Matrix' has spurred the so-called 'MTV Generation' into examining their world with eyes that wonder what lies beneath the surface. Just seeing how people react to ideas about existentialism and the like in casual conversation, you can tell who has seen 'The Matrix' and who skipped it. I'm 18 and I've seen my friends watch 'The Matrix' for the first time, in weeks a lot of them completely changed the way they act, think, and generally live. Their music tastes changed, 'your clothes are differant, you hair has changed...'. It sounds made up, but this movie has changed people's lives in very positive and intellectually beneficial way. More power to the Wachowski Bros.
I found this review to be a quite nice, different and fresh take on the Reloaded Movie.
As a true postmodernist and taking the advice of the silly movie to 'question everything' The first thing I did react to was the first comment on this board. Using the Subconscious as a scapegoat. The unconsius is just a theory and nothing much more. Freud was under the influence of the reductionalism and I would beg to differ of the existance of any subconciouss whatsoever.
Anyways.. Some of you guys seem to bring on the notion that this is a second movie in a series of three. And granted, this is the case. It does not automatically makes mediocre filmmaking okay and presentable. What I mean by that is well. The first Matrix movie had an beginning, a middle and an ending. All I got from this movie was squggily cloudy notions painted with rainbow colours all over the place without much continuety or value...
Star wars 'the empire strikes back' Stands as a better model on how a middle film should be executed. Altho not a great film and probably the weakest of the three, it still has an beginning, middle and an ending.
The notion that 'matrix made thinking cool' is to me a very sad and scary one. Altho in the harsh perspective it might be true in some form, I do hope it's not. That a whole so called 'mtv culture' had not explored their own surroundings in an descarteian matter is quite strange to me..
seeing the ripples of Descartes and Castandea was by the way my initall reaction to the first film... Seems to me the descartes prespective is forgotten in many cases. In religous overtones the idea that a perverted devil lies to you about everything and such on is pretty good material for interpretation..
I did not pay a dime to see this movie. And i'm glad I didn't. I think that if I did, I would be very dissapointed..
and I did NOT like the lame dialogue/acting...
I'm a Conservative Christian, and I'd like to clear the air. Christians are not the ones who are upset about Neo not being a '1 to 1 metaphor for Christ' as Charles Gibson accused. Neo isn't Aslan, yes, the truth is he's more like Peter or Edmund. But the people who are the most upset about the gaps in the Jesus-Neo conversion that I've talked with are either Agnostic or out and out Atheists. Most of my Christian friends think that 'The Matrix' is about growing up or politics. Ultimately, 'The Matrix' like 'Mulholland Drive' is a cinematic Rorschach, a celluloid inkblot. People see what they want to see. Young people see growing up, philosophy doctorates see a culmination of abstract thought, current event watchers see political upheavals. I think that all of this religious debate is a sign of those searching for the meaning of their own lives and responding to a subconscious suspiscion that religion holds the answer. Whoever brought up C.S. Lewis should recognize that idea from 'Mere Christianity'. But what do I know? I'm just a Baptist Psychology major.
I find it quite amusing that Agent Smith apparently took a day off to read a little Deleuze.
“Exactly like a speed or a temperature, which is not composed of other speeds and temperatures but rather is enveloped in or envelopes others, each of which marks a change in nature.”
Sadly, he has not learned how to fly yet. I would have enjoyed seeing several hundred Agent Smiths chasing Neo through the sky. Regrettably, he is still confined to the laws of the system.
“There are no individual statements, only statement producing machinic assemblages. We say that the assemblage is fundamentally libidinal and unconscious. It is the unconscious in person.”
I like the idea of Neo as a cult, but only insofar as him representing hope as another layer of control. How, after all, if he is flying around could he not be part of that same system? Most religions work by providing a level of hope because hope as a prescription for fear of death is powerful. Neo is “becoming” this perfect hope, by doing exactly what he is meant to do and no more. But isn’t it easier to cheer for the personified (simulated) hope as an underdog? Perhaps we should really be taking the counsel of Agent Smith.
Read --
Looking forward to the expanded review. I think there are some good ideas there that I'd like to see spelled out.
I think the last comment is right. It's not clear that the WB's connection with EST is very meaningful from your article, but hopefully your expanded version will resolve some of this.
I do think, though, contrary to the last poster, that it's very significant that the WBs read Simulacra and Simulation. It's viritually the entire basis of the first film and casts some small light on the second.
Jim
Thanks for the many excellent comments.
After reading this Metaphilm review, I had the impression that it was written from the perspective of a jilted lover...the author seemed angry and betrayed at having noticed the "connection" between the Brothers and Landmark's The Forum. Consequently, "The Matrix" is reinterpreted as the story of Neo's induction into a cult. Is this a valid argument? Sure, in the same way that the case can be made (and has been) for "The Matrix" to be about a wide variety of other (often disparate) things. But this cult interpretation is troublesome. Does the Metalphilm's reviewer have direct personal experience with The Forum? From his/her seemingly caustic reaction, it is unlikely. From my experience in this three-day seminar back in 1994, I observed that while some people came out of it Forum "moonies," others didn't feel it worth their $290, and quickly forgot about it. So that the brothers did "The Forum" means nothing more to me than that they read "Simulation and Simulcra," are fans of Kung-Fu movies, etc. To dismiss "Reloaded" as a plot to impose the tenants of some new religion (Dianetics/est/The Forum) on its viewers deprives we Metaphilm readers of the thoughts of a demonstrably great reviewer. I want a Re-Review!!!
By the way, Landmark Communications is NOT Landmark Education!
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Neo isn't in a cult. He is in the matrix, everything is in the matrix, Zion is in the matrix. In the first movie, when they escape from the matrix, they didn't; it was all in the matrix. This is the "Life is but a dream", what is reality mindfuck seen in other movies (like the last few seconds of "men in Black" , or the conclusion of the video game "Links Awaking"). It also plays into the metaphysical concept of all life being pure energy, guided by some mystical force; the link being that as part of the matrix you are an electrical impulse being guide by a master computer/program/GOD.