The Matrix Reloaded: What Went Wrong? – Wisecrack Edition

Ok, I'm something of a defender of the sequels and I have a few points. First, while there are arguably too many discussions of causality\determinism, every character has a different perspective. Smith is a total fatalist, the Meroginvian sees himself as puppetmaster, etc. And the Oracle, specifically, isn't disempowering Neo - she's crediting him with the power to make choices, but challenging his assumptions about the relationship between causes and effects. Basically, Neo has discovered that enlightenment itself is an illusion, and that merely achieving Oneness with the world/Matrix is just the beginning of a new cycle of learning. Also, the Architect does NOT say that Neo was specifically created to feel interpersonal love. Only that The One is created to feel love in a general sense. Neo is unique in having that sense of love manifest in a love for a single person rather than a love for humanity as a whole. Previous Ones chose to save Zion. Neo chooses to save Trinity. This is a deviation. However, the Architect really doesn't give a damn either way about Zion's continued existence - since it could be rebuilt - so while he has predicted Neo's aberrant choice, he makes no attempt to stop it. From his perspective, he wins either way. But, there's one more deviation: Smith. He shouldn't exist. It's unclear whether the Architect is aware of him and\or how concerned he is about the situation, but Smith is the other monkey wrench in the works. And it's the combination of Smith and Neo BOTH acting in ways which are not according to plan which eventually brings about the end of the world/Matrix and forces a new beginning for it with new rules in place - thus utterly eradicating the cycle everyone had been trapped in. Which gets to my last point: It's wrong to examine Reloaded and Revolutions as separate movies. They're one 4 1/2 hour movie which was released in two parts. They even follow a very classical 5-act rising action/falling action structure when looked at that way, with the Architect discussion and Neo's choice to save Trinity being the Shakespearean climax. The entire point of all the determinism talk in Reloaded was specifically to put Neo in a position to start actually making choices again in Revolutions. Which he does, repeatedly. Thus ultimately giving meaning to his response when Smith repeatedly asks him "Why? WHY WHY?" "Because I choose to." Neo finally broke free of all control systems, and under no compulsion made a choice to do something he believed would bring peace between Machine and Man, even at the cost of his own life. The Ultimate Choice. I'm not saying the sequels are perfect and they almost certainly could have been trimmed by at least half an hour to their benefit, but it's not as cut-and-dried as this video makes it sound.

We didn't come here to make the choice to watch The Matrix Reloaded. We came here to understand why we watched it.

The point was that this incarnation of Neo chose a different path. He goes against determinism in the end. The previous Ones all chose to save Zion because they only experienced love in general. However, this time, the Oracle told Trinity she would love the One, thus having Neo experience personal love, and changing everything. Instead of saving Zion, he goes back to save Trinity and from that point forward, is no longer bound by determinism. It's this incarnation of Neo that breaks the pattern and ultimately ends the war...bc of love. That was the whole point dunno how you missed it. But it's okay, it's a confusing ass movie.

"Sex and death squeezed into a woman's business suit made out of latex" Okay but, GOALS

Hating the Matrix reloaded is just another form of control.

That conversation with the architect was movie gold.

There are two realy good things about Matrix Reloaded : 1. the Twins 2. the Highway scene (featuring the Twins)

11:37 The Architect does NOT say that Neo was designed to feel love, he says that the Ones were designed to feel attachment to the human species, Neo happened to feel love for one person instead of for everyone. As if it was an accident?

This video does a better job at explaining why I like this movie than pointing out what went wrong. I am, however, in the minority of fans who like all 3 movies, not just the first one.

When Neo used his powers in "the real world," I was super excited, because I thought that it meant that they were still in the Matrix, and him passing out was him waking up from the actual Matrix entirely. That would make Zion part of the Matrix, but separate from the rest, as a sort of mental quarantine to hold all of the people that realized that the Matrix exists. That way, you can still use all of the "free" people for energy, and keep them locked in a perpetual war, so they don't realize they are still imprisoned. Instead, it turns out that he's fucking magic, and can control electronics in the real world, which is, as you know, nonsense. Seriously, why was he able to shut down the robots??? I just woke up, so if I sound like an idiot, cut me a bit of slack, lol. quarantine

14 year-old you hated the burly brawl? You must've been one pretentious preteen.

You keep saying things about the plot like they're bad when most are the whole point of the movie. The Matrix is NOT Star Wars. Star Wars is a linear adventure movie with little to no philosophical discussion, classic good vs evil. The Matrix is ABOUT the philosophical journey of Neo discovering his place, breaking the cycle, etc. Each time we get a discussion he evolves a little more until the final "fight" with the Architect where all of what he's learned is put to a simple decision on which door to take. Also, yes Neo has seemingly god-like powers, but he always had to run away from Agent Smith. He wasn't strong or fast enough to defeat him, which challenges his "god-like" powers. The movie was brilliant, it's just not for the simple minded.

The entire first movie was about Neo waking up. This second one is literally everyone telling him he's still in asleep, yet he insists he's woke af. The third is about him accepting he's still asleep and will never wake up and becoming the dream itself. I think the problem with the sequels is that there are two of them. If both of these were compacted into a single sequel, instead of a needless trilogy, it would have worked better. The true problem is Hollywood greed. The STORY of the trilogy is remarkable, but the execution was fluffy.

"You've already made the choice, now you just have to understand it." Actually not just philosophy, but also psychology. We make decisions subconsciously, but then to come to the decision consciously, we gotta talk ourselves into it. Which is why there's the advice of" when in doubt, flip a coin. It won't tell you what you should do, you'll just feel disappointed if it lands on the wrong choice or justified if the flip agrees. "

I wish more movies were as complex as the Matrix trilogy. Such depth, lore and philosophy in one story.

The question isn't whether Neo can break free but rather can we break free? I see the Matrix movies as an exploration into our paradigms of thought. How many things and ways of thinking are we so conditioned to accept that the idea of questioning them never enters our minds.

They either kill Neo, or he makes it to the source. Either way the machines win. They had no idea Neo would help them stop Smith. But choice is what ends up causing the truce. So the theme of the movie which was there is no choice, was proven wrong. So the One's prophecy came true. Through irony. The shit is deeper than people give it credit for.

This entire video also repeats itself half a dozen times.

It's kinda hard to make a movie with meaningful choices with a theme of determinism. Also I love the monologues and information dumps even though they are very confusing in the first watch.

You just reminded me why i love this movie!!!!