The Matrix Reloaded: Analyzing the Matrix
Watching The Matrix Reloaded really got me to thinking about the story. So, I’ve decided to throw out a few things that occurred to me during the morning drive to work.
Be warned, this analysis is full of spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the movie, it’s probably better if you stay away. Or, check out my non-spoiler review. Fate vs. Free Will
One of the big questions in the world of The Matrix is that of fate vs free will. The Oracle claims to know what Neo will do even before he does. Similarly, the Architect claims that everything that has transpired was fated to happen. Even Morpheus believes all that has happened was predestined as he explains why he must return with Neo to the Matrix.
But is it really fate? Or is it the Machines manipulating human emotion to control their choices? The Architect shows Neo what is happening to Trinity, knowing that his emotions will cause him to choose the path to save her, rather than the path to destroy the machines.
Yet even the Architect acknowledges that their is “an anomaly” in the system: the anomaly of choice. And the only way for the machines to contain the anomaly is to present it with two choices, one of which it simply cannot accept. Save humanity and leave them enslaved in the Matrix while Zion is destroyed? Or save Zion by destroying the Matrix and every human still trapped inside of it?
What has he become?
Agent Smith is back. And there are a lot of him. The big question, as Neo asks, is “what are you?” Agent Smith doesn’t know, but from his actions and the way he reproduces, it is obvious. Agent Smith has become a virus, infecting other hosts and taking over them. The irony in this is that he has become the very thing which he decried humans for in the original movie. And now that he has managed to escape the Matrix, what will he do?
Clearly he is obsessed with destroying the humans, but he doesn’t seem to realize what accomplishing that would mean. His madness, the beginnings of which were depicted during his interrogation of Morpheus in the first movie, has consumed him. Having been freed from the control of the Machines by Neo, he is now a wild program in the Matrix, wreaking havoc where ever he goes, and guided but a singular desire to destroy the infection that is the human race.
What is being Reloaded?
During his discussion with Neo, the Architect reveals that this is, in fact, the 6th version of the Matrix, and that it has reached its end. Once Neo chooses to save Trinity, and the population of humans still trapped in the Matrix, the end is inevitable. The Machines will destroy Zion, a new group of people will be chosen to create the new Zion, and the Matrix will be reset. The whole scenario will begin again. The Architect claims this is inevitable. It is the way the program must end.
Omniscient Machines?
Are the Machines omniscient? The Oracle and the Architect both believe they are. They know all that has occurred, and what will occur, directing the humans and Neo along a predetermined path. Yet neither one seems to realize the extent of what has happened in the Matrix.
Agent Smith is running rouge through the Matrix, forwarding his own agenda for the extermination of human kind. Clearly this is not what the Architect intends. He intends for Neo to choose to save humanity, and for the Matrix to be reloaded and for things to continue as the always have. Yet he appears to have no knowledge of Agent Smith’s actions or plans.
And Neo is responding differently than all the previous “Ones”. Whereas all previous Ones have felt a emotion about being responsible for the death of the human race, Neo feels a love for Trinity and a desire to save her specifically. The Architect comments on this difference and even seems amused by it. But he does not seem to realize the implications of this difference to the grand scheme of things.
How will this end?
The movie ends with Neo realizing that, even outside the Matrix, he can sense the machines. And not only that, he is able to destroy them. What does this mean for the war? What if Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, and the rest attack the Machines from outside the Matrix, rather than from within? The Architect knows the predetermined fate of the matrix. But can he see or control what happens outside in the real world? Neo has gained the ability to shape and control not only the Matrix, but also the machines in the real world. How will this ability help him save humanity and defeat the enslaving machines?
What do you think?
Have any thoughts on my analysis? Insights I might have missed? Share them in the comments section. I’d love to hear what you think.
May 23rd, 2003 at 5:25 am
Matrix Reloaded
After seeing Matrix Reloaded last night, I’m feeling confused feelings. I’m going to do some spoiling, so don’t read this if you haven’t seen it. One question, what is the deal with Neo being able to use superpowers in the…
May 23rd, 2003 at 6:57 am
Matrix Reloaded
After seeing Matrix Reloaded last night, I’m feeling confused feelings. I’m going to do some spoiling, so don’t read this if you haven’t seen it. One question, what is the deal with Neo being able to use superpowers in the…
May 30th, 2003 at 2:43 am
I do not concur with your theory. If you really analyze the dialogue between the Architect and Neo it is appearant that he is just exerting another level of control on Neo. Thus he knows that Neo won’t choose to go to the source and save mankind. He knows that Neo will choose to try and save Trinity and Zion.
We have to consider the fact that even the Architect is lying, in some way. Just another level of control.
Consider the following: how come that the Oracle knows that Neo hasn’t been able to sleep? If she is a part of the Matrix, a program in hiding, how can she know what happens outside of the Matrix? Unless she does not only exist in the Matrix but also in the so called real world.
Hence the question: is the real world actually the real world? Or is it another level of control? Let me know what you think
August 2nd, 2003 at 1:56 pm
My take after analyzing the dialogue thoroughly, is that the ‘real world’ is but another simulation. Everything that has taken place so far, including the 1st movie, was all still inside a computer program.
For Neo to have powers outside the Matrix would be entirely different type of implication, thus I believe that when at the end of Reloaded he senses and fights the machines, he is able to do so because he has come to realize all that he has been told: the freed humans perception that they are in the ‘real’ world is false, they are truly still plugged into the Matrix, just another level or part of it.
What do u think?