REVISITING THE WACHOWSKIS
PART IV: ‘THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS’
In the days leading up to the release of the new Netflix show Sense8, I’m going to be revisiting the Wachowski oeuvre, one day at a time. I’ll be looking at the movies themselves, as well as the critical reception of each film, and thinking about how this all relates to questions of film criticism at large. You can read my introduction to this little writing experiment here, where I rambled a bit about when I started to have a personal stake in how Wachowski films were being received. Warning: Some spoilers follow.
‘THE MATRIX REVOLUITONS’ (2003)
Directed by: The Wachowski Siblings, credited as the Wachowski Brothers
Starring:
Keanu Reeves as “Neo”
Laurence Fisburne as “Morpheus”
Carrie Ann Moss as “Trinity”
Hugo Weaving as “Agent Smith”
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36%
The Plot
Still in a coma after discovering his mind could influence the real world at the end of The Matrix Reloaded, Neo is trapped in a strange sort of in-between place that looks a lot like a subway stop. His real-world friends (Trinity, Seraph, and Morpheus) enter the Matrix in an attempt to get him back, and after checking in with the Oracle and the Merovingian, Trinity rescues Neo from his coma. Agent Smith visits and infects the Oracle, taking over her fortune-telling abilities.
Back in the real world, the Sentinels are drawing ever closer to Zion. The group aboard the Hammer splits up, with Niobi taking one crew back to Zion, and Neo and Trinity heading to Machine City to destroy the Source.
The Sentinels attack Zion, while Neo fights a Smith-possessed Bane, who blinds him with an electrical cable. Neo continues on to Machine City and, after encountering a giant floating face, has a climactic, rainy battle with an entire city full of Smiths.
What’d the Critics Think?
This was not a well-received movie… at all. Except for Roger Ebert, who said “In a basic and undeniable sense, this is a good movie,” just about every major critic in every major publication hated the way the Wachowskis concluded the trilogy.
Most people were baffled by the third act, which sees things take a largely symbolic turn — to the point where Smith tells Neo “you are a symbol!” as if that wasn’t clear enough already.
Critics had never really been on board with the philosophy of the trilogy, but they had almost always praised the inventive, astounding special effects and action sequences. Here, though, people weren’t even impressed by those aspects of the film. “The computer-generated imagery goes from dazzling to deadening,” writes Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle. “There’s nothing even resembling a surprise,” says Bill Muller in the Arizona Republic. (I disagree with him there… more on that below). Many people noted that, even though the stakes should seem higher — potentially all of humanity could be destroyed — they found it tough to care too much about the characters.
What Did I Think?
This was pretty much me at the end of The Matrix Revolutions, trying desperately to process just how much I disliked what I had just seen. Perhaps “disliked” isn’t the right word. It’s more like… I’m very frustrated by so many of the choices made in this movie. And I think part of my frustration comes from the fact that I was confounded by the movie on a pure “story” level. I’ve read numerous explanations online and talked it over with a few friends, and I still don’t think I understand what happens in the last ~20 minutes of the movie.
But, because I’m trying to be a critical optimist to match the Wachowski’s earnest hope for human potential… I’ll start with the stuff I did like. And there is a lot!
I disagree with Muller that there’s nothing resembling a surprise in The Matrix Revolutions. Like The Matrix to The Matrix Reloaded, there’s an elevation in terms of the stunts and action scenes, which I really appreciated. Namely, during one of the opening sequences, where Trinity and Morpheus are trying to rescue Neo from his coma, they visit a club owned by the Merovingian. The elevator takes them down to the coat check, and immediately the scene explodes into action when the bad guys reverse gravity and start walking on the ceiling.
It’s a thrilling setpiece, a ton of fun to watch, as people flip all over the room, running and jumping from wall to wall to floor to ceiling. You’re never sure whether someone will come around a pillar from the bottom or the top, or which way they’ll fall when they get shot. It’s a nice surprise.
Another scene I enjoyed was the assault on Zion, as the human armies attempt (and fail miserably) to defend the Dock. The soldiers wear mech-suits called Armored Personnel Units (APUs), which look sort of like tricked-out versions of Ripley’s forklift-suit in Alien… except these APUs have giant guns strapped to their arms.
I really enjoyed the contrast between the APUs and the more fluid, serpentine Sentinels. The APUs have a refreshingly lo-fi, stuttery, almost stop-motion quality to how they’re filmed — I wondered at many different points whether I was watching a scene created with miniatures and mattes, like classic sci-fi B-movies — which juxtaposes nicely with the sleek computer graphics that brought the Sentinels to life. This, of course, is a reflection of the Sentinels being a product of hyper-advanced AI, while the Zionists’ machines are DIY, an army of mech-suits assembled in hiding.
The battle itself is breathtaking in scope. After the initial onslaught of Sentinels and drilling machines, surprisingly beaten back by the Zionists’ defense, they just… keep… coming! Hundreds of thousands of machines attack in waves, joining up to form larger, more destructive units, capable of wiping out a whole bridge full of APUs, or else splitting apart to launch multi-pronged attacks on one person at a time. You really feel the hopelessness of the humans’ position against the machines, making it all the more important that Neo succeed.
…succeed at… whatever it is he’s up to…? After being blinded by Smith/Bane and called “the Blind Messiah,” his ascension to Christ-like status is nearly complete. (Recall the words of the random guy in the hallway at the beginning of The Matrix when Neo hands him an illicit floppy disk: ‘You’re my savior, man. My own personal Jesus Christ.’) But the way he proves that he deserves to be called a Messiah is by having a conversation with a giant floating head (which I’ve seen online named Deus ex Machina, which… I guess at least it’s good to know the Wachowskis are self-aware?). The floating head promises him peace between the machines and humans, and an end to the war, as long as Neo can…— well, we don’t know what Neo’s end of the bargain is, because the film cuts away back to Zion, and then when we return to Neo and the Deus Ex Machina, Neo is plugging himself into the Matrix to fight Smith one last time.
I think this is a crucial misstep that really keeps us from understanding what’s going on, what’s at stake, in this final fight. I’m perfectly willing to admit that I may have misunderstood, misheard, or simply missed a crucial line of dialogue somewhere that would have explained what the terms of the agreement were. But, the way it is now, it seems that Neo saves the world and defeats Smith by… vomiting light…? And in turn, the Deus Ex Machina calls off the Sentinels and… removes the green lens filter from The Matrix?
I just don’t get it. I don’t exactly understand who’s been saved, or how, by Neo vomiting light all over the Smiths, which in turn makes them vomit light and shatter into bits. (Bytes?)
The interesting moment in this final battle between Neo and Smith comes when Smith slams Neo into the ground, borrowing a hole into the road, and Neo still isn’t defeated. Smith is confounded, completely unable to accept what could possibly inspire Neo to keep going. “Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you persist?” And Neo answers… well, watch for yourself.
“Because I choose to.” Everything about Neo’s journey has appeared to be one of destiny, one of fate and prophecy and foretold conclusions, but that’s not the case. At any point, Neo could have given up, could have walked away and decided to forget what he’d learned. He could have taken the blue pill instead.
But, no. He’s chosen this. He has chosen to do what he can to change his circumstances, and the Wachowskis clearly want this to be inspiring. Whether or not it works as well as it could is up for debate. Personally I don’t really know if this is the best manifestation of their optimism for humanity’s potential for change.
Then, after Neo has succeeded, we see the Oracle, Seraph, and the little program Sati sitting on the banks of a river, across from MegaCity. As the Architect promises the Oracle that humanity will be given a choice, and that anyone who wishes will be allowed to leave the Matrix, the sun breaks through the clouds.
Even if I don’t necessarily understand what plot developments got us to this point in the story, and even if I don’t really understand what the Oracle and Sati discuss while they stare out over this cityscape, there’s no denying the power of this image as one of possibility. As someone who is going back over the Wachowskis’ filmography, knowing what’s coming next, this image is one of the most exciting, hopeful ones so far. The colors are, simply, stunning. After four movies full of drab greens, grays, and blacks, the world fully bursts into bloom, and for the first time, there’s a real, palpable sense of joy.
Like the Architect rebuilding, restarting, re-coding and refining the Matrix, the Wachowskis will soon do the same, exploring similar themes and imagery as they refine their storytelling in subsequent movies to get their philosophy across in different, at times better, at times more confounding ways. But, unlike the Architect, they’re not doing it so they can work out the anomalies in their process. They love the anomalies. They want to start with a different set of circumstances each time, and then breathe life into their anomalies, watch them grow, and celebrate just what they are capable of. And personally, I’m more than happy to go along for the bright, colorful, optimistically joyful ride.
Which brings me to Speed Racer…
