Double Four
Posts: 44
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Some impressions after seeing it once:
* Very happy it didn't *entirely* follow that leaked script. I was afraid Kid was gonna take the Akira route (well, since he didn't drop dead, he -- or anyone, even that black cat -- could yet be Matrix God in a sequal. But not now). Oh, and to have done so would have been a f*u*c*k you to the viewers.
* Good thing the theater was dark: the Neo-Trin scenes got my eyes a bit wet. A few people were actually sobbing in the back, yeah. Doubt that will happen again on DVD, though 
* Are the machine swarms a symbol for communism? But then anything borg-like, faceless in huge quantity, is a symbol for communism -- boring.
* Niobe did well.
* I thought the Oracle (sort of) sacrificed herself to sabotage Smith. Apparently a part of her was retained in the Smith copy. But then she popped up again later unscathed, which again makes me wonder what happens to those (humans and AIs) who've been taken over by a program. (Sorry, I've missed all the discussions....)
* The South Asian (presumably Indian) couple humanized the AIs beyond the Oracle, and suggests the Matrix has been a deeply transforming experience for some AIs. (And I don't mean Smith's body-snatching antics.) Again, the AIs are revealed to be highly diverse at least when filtered through the Matrix layer. (After they return to the Source, who knows what happens then?)
* The Trainsman (aka Mr. I Need Dental Work) turned out to be just an agent of the Merovingian, contrary to that script. Merovingian's alpha chick didn't kill him after all -- good, 'cause that would've been too much of a cliche. I mean, that kiss in Reloaded was already cliche-ish.
* Seraph lives. (Lots of characters live...)
* It was nice to see Zion women play major roles in the defense.
* Locke lived. The Council made it. I half expected Locke to hand them weapons and say, "Stop sittin' on your @ss and talk calm -- do some fightin' for God's sake!"
* Locke, ever the skeptic to the end.
* Neo, sacrificed on the Machine cross to save humanity, died a Christ figure. Or did he? The Oracle and the "after-death golden view" (from Neo's perspective?) seem to suggest his consciousness may have survived in some form. My guess is he may no longer be (entirely) human but he's not gone.
* Does that mean a sequal? My gut reaction was no, thanks. But now I am shifting. The thing is, Neo is unlikely to play any role as a human again; certainly whatever love element is introduced won't involve him at all.
* The Architect seems to suggest -- and the Oracle does not disagree -- that the so-called peace is fragile. In effect Neo, the Messiah, has miraculously halted wholesale slaughter but humans remain entirely at the mercy of the AIs.
* It is unentirely unclear how the Matrix was restored to its former functionality. The explanation is metaphorical (but then so is all advanced mathematics when explained to the layperson): Neo was "the remainder of an unbalanced equation" that was the Matrix, and Smith his opposite that tried to balance it. Removing Smith (and Neo) somehow stabilized the Matrix. Does that mean the Architect (and/or the Oracle) have found yet another solution to the equation? Or was Neo returned to the Source and that did it? In any case the solution must be temporary. Is this the Brothers' message? That solutions address existential needs but not more?
* Why "Revolutions"? Who did the revolting? Certainly not the humans. Smith certainly wreaked extreme havoc but that was not a revolution. The Merovingian has a grand plan but I doubt it qualifies as a revolution. The Oracle probably, and her fellow travelers. And...? Unless it refers to a new, "revolutionary" "partnership" between machines and humans. But why plural?
* The Matrix is a symbolic representation of ideas and action, like this GUI.
* WHY was Neo able to sync with the Matrix and destroy Machines without physical means? (Please don't tell me it's psychokinetic power.) MwM does not go away but MwM is a bit cyclical for my taste.
* Smith, the Matrix trapped in infinite recursion? (Yeah, that happens to my programs sometimes.)
* Why did unplugging Neo apparently destroy all the Smiths? Or was it the Oracle? Or both? Are all the Smith copies "autonomous actors" (within the constraint of its standard parameters) or somehow linked to each other's "fate"?
* Deux Ex Machina: was it a collective consciousness? a select clique of AIs? a single AI, perhaps speaking for others? was justice served?
* Questions, questions....
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