Matrix Revolutions
If the critics are anything to go by, the revolution has come and the directors of the Matrix trilogy, the Wachowski Brothers, are to be first against the wall.
Matrix Revolutions, the final film, has already been dismissed in a variety of ways - it has too many vague verbal tongue twisters on the nature of free will, too many pointless plot diversions (last time it was a rave, this time a visit to an S&M club) and too much style, not enough content.
Those disappointed by Reloaded but expecting a saviour for the series in Revolutions will, alas, find that the hero Neo is not the one we were looking for after all. The original Matrix may have been a cultural coup d'état, but the victory was short-lived; a brilliant concept was spread too thin over subsequent sequels.
The Matrix observed astutely the dilemmas of modern humankind in a near post-human age, exploring the elusive notion of truth and the role of religion and belief in a society where we, not God, re-create the world in our own image. But it was always going to be hard to live up to the hype.
Perhaps we've paid the price for expecting film makers to provide us with the answer to such problems. All they can do is present us with some contemporary axioms, wrapped in psychobabble: 'It's not what we choose, it's making the choice that matters'; 'It's not what you believe, but having belief itself that counts.'
This is why trust in Karma and Christ are equally valid views for the denizens of the new Zion, the last human city of the Matrix world. And while its narrative insists that religious beliefs are part and parcel of being human, it is only the energy we expend in following those beliefs that gives them validity - not that they relate to one true over-arching story.
In the first film, Neo had to make a literal leap of faith within virtual reality. He fell flat on his face. It seems that in proffering incomprehensible and overtly simplistic solutions to life, the universe and everything, the Wachowski brothers have ultimately done much the same.
Jason Gardner
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.
