The Matrix Trilogy

Year: 1999/2003 Rating: R Overall Evaluation: 6.0 Significance Suppositions Story Style 5.0 / 10 6.0 / 10 5.0 / 10 8.0 / 10 Click HERE for evaluation criteria.

Style

The style was undeniably cool. Like Star Wars in the 70's and 80's, The Matrix redefined special effects for a generation. It was tight, with a ton of attention to detail. The "R" rating is for violence, which there is plenty of, but cussing is sparse (even "Jesus Christ" is used for a reason here). there is a bit of nudity (two orgy-type dance scenes that are all but pornographic). Many of these elements, like everything else in the series, are there for a reason - but that reason is often obscured.

Story

The plot is built on the basis of a false world created by a computer that is directly fed into the minds of human subjects. Lacking the ability to sense the non-reality of their situation, these humans spend their entire lives in a false world. The hero has the ability to overcome this falsehood and fight the machines who created it. He is challenged by programs and must make the ultimate choice if he is to save the world.

There is a reason that ratings dropped considerably once Reloaded and Revolutions came out. The biggest rift between The Matrix and its two part sequel exists (I include both Reloaded and Revolutions here as they were really just two parts of the same film) is in the portrayal of the hero. I don't have the space or time to do a decent job on all the intricacies (for that see: Matrix Essays), but what it boils down to is that the original carried a much more Judeo/Christian storyline than the sequel(s). The original has the good guys vs. the bad guys motif while the sequel puts the characters in a gray area. The climax left most audiences either irritated or dumbfounded or both. The fact is that the Judeo-Christian / Western worldview is required for good stories. There has to be a hero, a villain, a conflict, a climax . . . these elements reflect reality. Once the trilogy was complete we were left wondering what the heck happened.

[SPOILER WARNING!]

Many Christians thought it was a Christlike sacrificial ending but it differed in significant details. Neo does not so much give his life to defeat the enemy as he reabsorbs into the source to make peace with the enemy. This is eastern pantheism, entrance into the nothingness of Nirvana - not the defeat of death by a sacrifice and resurrection. Neo as a "messiah" figure (as he was portrayed in The Matrix) turns out to be more like an eastern bodhisattva than a Christ. In the end the Matrix still exists (although altered), the machines are still in control (although they "agree" to free those who wish it . . . for now), and we are left wondering what, if anything, has been accomplished in the long run.

Suppositions

This matrix idea is fine as far as sci-fi suspension-of-belief goes. But this is much more than a science fiction action movie and the question that the movie fails to address is how does anyone know they are ever in the "real" world?  How would they ever know that Zion was not just in another level of the Matrix? This question was never answered and the skepticism that it implies is extremely problematic philosophically. Like the Wachowski bros, modern philosophers will never be able to answer the question satisfactorily because they begin with the wrong assumption - that all we know are the ideas in our mind ("start with the mind, end with the mind"). They would do better to follow the moderate realism of classical philosophy which takes its point of departure from reality due to the self-defeating nature of doing otherwise.

Significance

The most disappointing thing about the Matrix is that it presents several false belief systems all at once just alongside the truth. Morpheus is held up as a great man of faith - but it is largely blind faith (this element is portrayed even more strongly by Neo in Revolutions). It is good to see people fighting for what is right - but they never really say it is right, or that the machines are evil, only that they do not like what they have done. This is postmodern ethics at its best. The film never solves the skeptical problem of knowing reality from the false world of the Matrix. It includes a boatload of bad philosophy such as fatalistic determinism, metaphysical idealism, the emergent-mind view of consciousness (required for AI), and essentially ends up in a nihilistic / existentialist view of human nature that itself is swallowed up in order to overcome the system of control. (In reality they simply push the control back one step, and even this is not said to be final). Ugh.

It is really a shame that the Wachowskis decided to go this route. The Matrix could have been such an amazing trilogy if it only reflected the grand story, the meta-narrative, of reality. Then it would have been a satisfying film experience. I appreciate The Matrix Trilogy for bringing these questions to the forefront and making philosophical discussion cool again. It also provides a telling negative example of what bad philosophy does to the story of one's life and worldview.