I finally watched The Matrix Reloaded yesterday night. Well I missed half of the first movie on the plane, so I didn’t expect to understand what was going on in the second movie.
The fight scenes were extended; the plot was thin, yet complicated; and the scene with that architect / Colonel Sanders lookalike was so droning, it almost felt like the beginning of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, because I wasn’t sure when the rambling introduction was going to stop (no offense to Kubrick fans – I just couldn’t survive the first 20 minutes).
The only thing that got me thinking, was why the writers used so many Biblical allusions. Sitting through the credits, names like Cain and Malachi caught my attention. And naming the human settlement Zion – well, well, well.
If you read Revelations you may find a few similarities – the idea of a machine controlling human minds is not too removed from the notion of the Beast, who uses technology in the form of a mark, to control people’s activities.
In both, there is also the presence of prophecy. Differences between those who believe, and don’t. And the arrival of the Chosen One, saviour of the people (Neo / Jesus). Resurrection.
Of course, the similarities stop there. The movie’s setting is too thickly interwoven with other spiritual ideas, to associate merely with one religion. It was like a melting pot of spirituality, mingled with futuristic phenomenon.
I was also reminded of a short story I once studied, EM Forster’s The Machine Stops, which describes the human race as being subject to an all-encompassing structure through which they live their lives. Chaos ensues when it finally breaks down, because almost everyone was dependent on it. Combine that with Orwell’s 1984. A lethal cocktail.
But I still don’t completely understand the Matrix. Somehow, I don’t think I should, and I don’t feel the need to.
[ Want lots of opinions? Head over to Kottke. ]
Comments
Here’s a website you should have a look at on the whole Neo/Messiah comparisons. There’s an interview with the Wachowski brothers in there somewhere. Very interesting:
http://awesomehouse.com/matrix/intro.html
Thanks for the link – it was very thought-provoking.
Check out this [url=http://www.cityofzion.com/] City of Zion[/url].
Sorry, I screwed up the previous comment! 😛
i was waiting for the architect to stop rambling too!!! thot the action scenes were cool but movie on the whole was thin on plot. couldn’t catch half of what the archiect was saying, too fast, too deep and just plain not interesting!!! still will catch the next one, am too addicted!!!
Des, if you couldn’t catch what the architect was saying, read the latest post on my weblog. I put one up to provide an explanation of what really’s going on in the Matrix Reloaded. A lot of folks I’ve spoken to didn’t quite catch the meaning of what the architect was saying or the significance of Neo’s role. It’s not the greatest movie but it’s not a very bad one either. I’d say it’s interesting because of the concepts they introduce.