Many of you know how much I love The Matrix series. Not just the first one, which I would rank up there as one of my all-time favorite movies, but I am one of those weird people that absolutely loved the second and third films as well. I was excited, but also nervous about a fourth movie. I kept reading rumors that it was a soft reboot or that it was going to pick up from where the first movie ended and pretend the second two did not exist. I hated those ideas.
Instead, the movie did something that was damn near impossible: it continued the story in a way that makes sense, while at the same time capturing one of my favorite aspects of the first movie. For like the first part of The Matrix, you have almost zero clue what the hell is happening. These government agents remove Mr.Anderson’s mouth and some leather-clad chick does some insane fighting. And then Neo meets Morpheus and he explains The Matrix, but even then…we still do not understand it completely. I remember that moment when Neo is freed from the pod and it just sets in that things are crazy. The new movie does the same thing, but with an interesting twist: we now question whether any of it is real at all.
If you are a fan of the original trilogy, I highly suggest you check it out. Here are the things I loved about it.
There will be spoilers from here on out…
-The entire meta experience. Thomas Anderson is a game designer who made a game called The Matrix and it ended up being the most popular game ever. His boss says their parent company, Warner Brothers, wants a sequel. So many of the fears us fans have about a fourth movie are addressed in these moments.
-It was hard to know whether or not Neo was actually having a nervous breakdown. The scenes with his therapist felt real and it explained so much of what was happening.
-I mentioned an idea back when this movie was announced that it would be cool if the humans inside the Matrix developed their own AI that would challenge the machines. Well I was close. Instead, Neo creates a program that is based on Morpheus and that program escapes into the Matrix and eventually frees Neo. I loved it!
-I also enjoyed how some machines and humans work together now. And that the machines fought each other for awhile (we had hints of that idea in the second two movies).
-The coolest thing though was the final battle and connection between Trinity and Neo. In the end, they are both The One. So much of the these movies is Christian allegory, think about the idea of the Holy Trinity (the father, the son, the holy spirit) and how those three aspects are all God. It is a bit clunky, but I think that is something to think about.
-Agent Smith being back was great. Jonathan Groff was perfect to play the Agent. The moment he realizes he is Agent Smith and not just Tom Anderson’s boss is a great realization. He is still Neo’s enemy, but he is also an enemy of the Analyst.
-And finally we have Bugs. I hope there are more movies made. Expanding the Matrix Universe outward, away from Neo and his story. I would love to see a standalone movie about Bugs. Either an origin (or her early adventures after becoming free) or maybe an adventure after the events of this movie.
I need to watch the movie again. And I need to have fun discussions with friends about different theories.
