There bloody well is a spoon, I can see it.

Do you remember the Matrix? Seeing it for the first time?

Focus on that for a second. Not the third one. Keep that out of your thoughts, come back to me and remember how it felt after watching the first instalment. The one that was cool and blew your socks off.

Not the sequel. Not yet. Keep that man in a room gibbering nonsense away from your thoughts too. He will only confuse you at the moment as you try to recall the coolness of the original Matrix. Just let it slide for now. The first Matrix.

Don't let the third one ruin it for you either. You wouldn't let Jar-Jar ruin A New Hope, would you? So just let your mind return to 1999; black coats, Martial arts, lots of guns, bullet time, hacking reality, Anime and Kung Fu film references. It was good, right? It took a little bit everything that was kinda cool and mixed it up into the best film of the decade. Maybe I am over egging the film there a tad, but all the same it remains one of my favourites.

I'm going back there. But this time it will be different.

The first Matrix will still be cool and I will pretend that there are no sequels. I'll just watch it as a standalone movie. Then there will be a sequel, which will also be cool. It will have some great scenes and it will spend lots of time in the Matrix with Neo kicking ass. Sure there will be some stuff that doesn't make sense all of a sudden, there will be a few Chinese dudes for some reason and when the guy at the end shows up I will just absorb his nonsense - serene in the thought that it will all make sense in the end.

This time it will. This time it will be different. I am re-writing the trilogy. Matrix Revolutions will no longer mean something revolting. I will call it Matrix Evolution and it will make some kind of gorramn sense! I am going to try and summarise the films in order to prove some kind of point about the story in the end. It has been on my mind for a long time and every time I watch the series of films I hit the wall of the third film and must finally set down what should have happened.

The Matrix

Watching this again was great. I am always struck by the various scenes and how well they roll along with the main story. I like all the references held within it and they in turn bring fond memories. Oh, how young everyone was. The full and sensible breakdown can be found here, without my rambling fervour: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix

It starts with the introduction of Trinity and the Agents - the first inkling of cool, super powers, renegades and hacking. A teaser start. A nice action sequence and the first view of some bullet time. Then we are introduced to Neo/Anderson and the whole section showing him as the geek Everyman; the dull job, the hacker subculture, the disillusionment with normal reality and the quest for Morpheus and the Matrix. There are a lot of nice moments but all very small scenes, never wanting to drag the plot down to far taking us all the way to the critical scene of the red pill and waking up.

Here is the fundamental premise of the film. Everything he knows as reality is a construct and in the real world the machines rule humanity as their masters. With this little twist the film has an excuse to introduce any little chunk of weirdness and wonder into the plot. Now we can have the kung fu and learning montage without taking any time at all. The rules of reality are just code to be hacked and on the flip side, with 'The Real World', we have grungy rebels fighting for the last of humanity.

Key plot points here are the machines won, humanity is enslaved. There was a first Matrix which failed because the human mind would not believe in it, and successive Matrix versions where things were altered in order to promote control. There was also an original 'The One' dude who freed the first human. Someone had to wake up first right? ( Then that first one woke others up, who ran off to create Zion presumably - there are some glaring problems with that but we can let it slide for now. After all that first must have a) had help from the Oracle and b) must have woken enough up in one go to actually get anywhere or do anything with the ancient human technologies... I digress). The Oracle and the prophecy of the One who can control the Matrix and free humanity is also key.

So after a range of exformational conversations and introduction of this setting there comes an extended action sequence. A betrayal. Morpheus sacrifice. Neo starts to believe and shows he could be the One. The rescue of Morpheus. The love of Trinity. Leading up to the final boss battle. Agent Smith, who has shown himself to be a little bit rogue, goes head to head with Neo and forces Neo into being the One by killing him. He takes the Hero path into death and back to reveal his true powers and goes on to blow Agent Smith to pieces.

This is the big set up. Now Neo is set to start freeing others and reclaiming humanity much as the prophecy claimed. Cue Rage Against the Machine and the desire to wear big boots and black shades.

That was the first film and I have no problem with any of it. It made loads of awards, 86% of critics gave positive reviews. All is well. I watched it many times without worrying that a sequel would happen and when I finally learnt that there would be another film, how could it possibly live up to that? I was eager to know...

Enter the Matrix and Animatrix

With a new film looming and lots of nice teaser art the Wachowski's launched a wide range of cross media, meme splices. A website full of clips, stills, and wallpapers but more interestingly philosophical text and essays. There was a comic. Plus a computer game and an animated collection of short stories.

The major theme of these was to begin setting out some of the back story leading up to the sequel. Clearly the plot was already beginning to creak under its own weight and needed to loosen its belt into the mediaverse.

Though some of the back story was a primer on the historic theme and narrative behind the original war, one major strand concerned the tracking of a new character, Niobe, and her relationship with Morpheus and her links to the main plot.

Whilst Neo is running/flying around the Matrix kicking software and agents "up in the head" as it were, there is something going on in the 'Real World'. Another hover craft, the Osiris, discovers that the machines have abandoned finding the access codes to Zion and instead have decided to dig their way in. This discovery is logged but before the crew can make it out alive they are attacked only managing to hide this news somewhere in the Matrix itself. Niobe, is the next craft in line to go after it and through the 'Enter the Matrix' game, the data is recovered and presented to the council.

There is also some other stuff in there that attempts to smooth the transition from Matrix to Matrix Reloaded, such as the Merovingian attack on the Oracle, which changes her appearance and other Frenchy/Keymaker/Vampire nonsense that is really just interesting filler background, expanding upon but never introducing anything vital or meaningful to the overall plot.

The game had exclusive footage and though some of it was certainly cutting room floor stuff ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCbL781RxIM ), it was used well. Though the content was not always what you'd expect …

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bcXWKi1h6Y).

Sometimes it was really exclusive and made for the game, for instance - compare...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ek7meST7J4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvFtVmwgtDg

Matrix Reloaded

There are lot of problems with this movie but I am still happy enough to just let the film wash over me and give it the benefit of the doubt. I am still under the impression that the Wachowski brothers can do no wrong. They did the Matrix, so how could they possibly deliver a screaming sack of 'Revolutions'?

The sequel opens with Trinity and an action sequence. Nice start. Then, of course, Neo wakes up and that bit was all a dream - one of many that he has been having. Morpheus and crew contact Niobe and in a common secret location in the Matrix, a whole bunch of captains learn of the last transmission of the Osiris and the dig, dig ,dig it approach of the machines. Morpheus is more concerned with the Oracle and see's anything that does not progress toward that as distraction - he convinces someone to stay behind and get the message when it arrives.

Back to Zion we go which leads us into a long set of plot that basically entails teaching the audience that Zion is a good place, something worth saving, that the people in Zion are good people worth caring for and that Neo and Trinity are getting it on. I don't think it needed the sweaty dancing boob scene but others may feel that was their favourite bit. Other background plot points show that Niobe and Morpheus used to have a thing going on, that her current partner hates Morpheus and is planning his own 'sensible' counter attack.

The plot is so dense, like a stodgy old cake story. This description is already for too detailed for a summary but all the little plot points do need to be made.

So a message does come through from the Oracle, and in delivering that message one member of the Caduceus crew meets Agent Smith, who has gained the power to become other avatars in the Matrix - he takes over the avatar of Bane and then loads up into the 'real world' (Note that if we accept the films as they stand and go on to the end, this makes no real sense at all).

When Neo meets the Oracle he discovers that there are a number of rogue programs that do not work for the main Matrix system, that one of them (Merovingian) is holding another one (Keymaker) prisoner, who is the only one who can help Neo enter the mainframe of the Matrix - which is apparently what he will need to do in order to end the war. This scene ends with the many Agent Smiths attack, which is a whole heap of CGI kung-fu and for all its enthusiasm, does not hold up too well any more. It does show that Agent Smith is akin to a virus within the Matrix and is taking over everyone, which must mean that the sleeping population are no longer enjoying the wonderful Matrix experience, right? It can't be a good thing for anyone.

Strangely enough I can bypass and gloss over the best part of the film, a huge chase scene, the best fight scenes and the most interesting characters by stating: They go get the Keymaker.

Luckily for them, this Keymaker also knows exactly how to get to the Source and what they need to do to gain access. I could bypass another chunk by just stating 'that's what they do' but certain points should be mentioned in the process. Niobe is there to help and takes out a power station. Everyone who played Enter the Matrix feels all smug at having played through that level, everyone who didn't is robbed of a good scene and just gets to see Niobe press a button. The other crew there to help are attacked in the 'real world' and killed, forcing Trinity to go in and save the day. Here is the point at which we see that Neo's dreams were actually visions of the future, meaning he has powers comparable to the Oracle. Neo, meanwhile is aided by Morpheus and the Keymaker to enter through the special door - into the Sources cupboard. I say it's a cupboard because they attend a small death scene for the Keymaker at the bullets of Agent Smith before going through another door to the Source.

I think its quite clear no one liked this next scene. It is important but not the way to do a end a film, I will quote from the Wiki entry rather than trying to explain it my way.

Neo meets an anthropomorphic program called the Architect, the Matrix's creator. The Architect tells Neo that there have been multiple versions of the Matrix and multiple versions of the One, a computer anomaly used as a means of control. Because humanity rejected the "perfect" Matrix as well as the dystopian Matrix, the machines realized that humanity needed to be offered the power of choice in order for them to accept it. The current Matrix is flawed and remains an unbalanced equation. The One is the sum of the remainder of that flaw. The One's purpose is to return to the Source, resetting the Matrix to its prime program. Afterwards, he will choose 16 females and 7 males to repopulate Zion and provide another round of humans for the "rebellion". Otherwise the unresolved error will spiral out of control, destroying the humans connected to the Matrix, which coupled with the battle at Zion will result in the extinction of the human race. Neo retorts that the machines need humans to survive and will not allow this.

The bit I highlighted in red was in the film but was nonsensical gibbering. It doesn't really make sense or say anything directly unless you analyse it within an inch of its life. Ultimately is comes down to this: each time the Matrix is set up there is a 'rebellion' secretly controlled by the Matrix to give the human population the myth of their own choice. Neo is supposed to 'reset' the Matrix and save a handful of survivors, but because of his love of Trinity he decides to save her and allow humanity to be destroyed.

Back in the real world Neo tells Morpheus that the prophecy was a lie created by the Matrix as a means of control, at which point the Machines turn up and destroy their craft - don't worry, Neo and chums flee the craft first but being chased by huge Sentinel machines gives Neo the feeling that something is different, that he can feel the machines and proceeds to destroy them with an EMP-like super power before collapsing in a coma.

As a final denouement, the crew are rescued by another captain who tells them that the counter attack plan against the drilling machines went disastrously wrong when an EMP was triggered too soon. A massacre from which there was a lone survivor. Cut to Neo lying comatose next to an equally comatose Bane/Agent Smith.

That was the sequel. It was not as impressive as the first film, because this is always the way with mid trilogy films. So many questions and thoughts. So many thought that they burned my mind trying to work out what would happen. I think I could subliminally see that the story arc was going off the rails, too many loose ends, and unknown elements appearing, but I didn't want to believe it. It had to make sense in the end.

Matrix Revolutions

What actually happened was not good. I have always felt so let down by a plot that bore so little relation to my view of a series that I feel that now I should strike it from the record. Start again.

Matrix Evolutions

The film begins where The Matrix Reloaded ended. Bane and Neo are both unconscious, but Neo shows neural patterns suggesting he is in the Matrix. Morpheus decides to start a search for Neo within the Matrix.

Seraph contacts Morpheus on behalf of the Oracle. Explaining that the exile programs are attempting to leave the Matrix to a secure area controlled by the Merovingian, they must go there if they are to learn more about Neo and in order to meet with the Oracle. Seraph, Morpheus, and Trinity pursue the Trainman to Club Hel to confront the Merovingian. The Merovingian demands "the eyes of the Oracle" in exchange for information but with the warning that the information they desire will be their undoing. Trinity loses her patience and provokes a Mexican standoff, forcing the Merovingian to stand down - before information can be given, however, the Club is attacked by multiple Agent Smiths. The Merovingian and crew leave via their secret doors, Trinity manages to go with him as he is the only source of information on Neo. Morpheus goes with Seraph and escapes to meet with the Oracle.

The Oracle, with a changed appearance, informs Morpheus of Neo's confinement in a place beyond the Matrix, the Merovingian controls the way there but Neo is beyond anyones knowledge. She explains that since Neo chose to save Trinity everything is different and even she is having trouble seeing where events will take them. She informs him that as the One, Neo has developed a wireless connection with the Source. All of Neo's abilities - inside and outside the Matrix - exist because of this connection. She characterizes Smith as Neo's exact "opposite" and "negative", who threatens to destroy the Matrix and eventually the Machine City. She states that "everything that has a beginning has an end", and that the war is about to end "one way or another."After Morpheusleaves the Oracle, a large group of "Smiths," after assimilating Sati and Seraph, arrive to assimilate the unresisting Oracle, gaining her powers of precognition.

Trinity finds herself trapped in a subway station; a transition zone between the Matrix and the machine world, where the Merovingian wil be riding out the virus of Agent Smith. At this station, Trinity is imprisoned with a 'family' of programs, including a girl named Sati, whose father tells Trinity that the station is controlled by a program called The Trainman, an exile loyal only to the Merovingian who exerts complete control over the subway. Sati tells Trinity that to persue Neo will be bad for everyone, Trinity refuses to remain trapped and attempts an escape. The dramatic escape fails and the Merovingian elects to kill her - at which point Neo appears and with greater powers, destroys all opposition and rescues Trinity. Neo does not seem to be bound by the control of the Merovingian or Trainman and is able to remove both himself and Trinity back to the 'real world'.

In the 'real world', the remaining crew of the Nebuchadnezzar and the Hammer encounter Niobe's deactivated ship, the Logos, and its crew. They successfully reactivate the ship and begin to interrogate the now awakened Bane, who claims he has no memory of the events of the earlier battle. As the ship captains plan to return to defend Zion, Neo announces that he needs a ship to travel to the Machine City. The captain of the Hammer refuses to allow it, citing his rights as ship's captain. However, Niobe provides him the Logos, rebuking the captain of the Hammer when he attempts to prevent her from exercising the rights he just extolled.

Niobe pilots the Hammer through a series of service tunnels, which are nearly impossible to navigate in order to avoid the Sentinel army. Shortly after departure, they discover that Bane has murdered a crew member and has hidden aboard the Logos.

They also come to realize that it was Bane who fired the EMP which disabled the human fleet after it had engaged the Sentinel army. Despite this discovery, they are unable to warn Trinity and Neo. Before the Logos can depart, Bane ambushes Trinity and takes her hostage. Neo fights Bane, who reveals that he is Smith. During the struggle, Bane blinds Neo by cauterizing his eyes with a severed power cable. In spite of his blindness, Neo can see the glowing form of Smith and kills him. Trinity pilots them towards the Machine City.

In Zion, the defenders deploy infantry armed with rocket launchers and Armored Personnel Units. The docks are invaded by a massive horde of Sentinels and two giant drilling machines. Outnumbered and overwhelmed by the attackers, the APUs are unable to hold the Dock, and their leader Captain Mifune is fatally wounded. With his last breath, Mifune tells the Kid, who has been rearming his APU, to open the gate for the Hammer. Encouraged by Mifune, Kid pilots the APU and opens the gate with the help of Link's wife Zee who kills a Sentinel and saves him. The Sentinels are on the verge of overwhelming the remaining humans when the Hammer, with more Sentinels in pursuit, arrives at Zion and sets off its EMP, disabling the Sentinels, but also the remaining defenses. Although they have bought a temporary reprieve, the humans are forced to retreat to the temple's entrance and wait for the next attack, preparing for what they believe will be their last stand.

Nearing the Machine City, Neo and Trinity are attacked by the city's largest defense machines, which begin to propel incoming rolled up sentinels. Neo uses his powers to destroy the incoming bombs/sentinels, but the Sentinels soon overwhelm the ship.

To evade them Neo asks Trinity to fly the Logos into an electrical storm cloud. Their action disables the Sentinels, but also disables the ship's engines. Above the cloud layer, Trinity sees a glimpse of sunlight and blue sky for the first time. The ship then free-falls directly toward the Machine City, falling Neo asks Trinity to trust him - he see's the world around him as Matrix code and uses his powers to control the ship and crash land into a tower. The impact of the collision fatally wounds Trinity, and she dies in Neo's embrace he is able to tell her the truth - this is not the real world He recreates her physical form, tells her he must go alone from here and that he will find her when it is safe - she is then transported away.

Neo enters into the Machine City to strike a bargain with the Machines, personified by the Deus Ex Machina. Neo confirms that the choice offered by the Architect was another form of control, allowing humans who rebelled against the Matrix to enter into a high, more believable version of the Matrix where they could have hope and the belief in their own choice. Neo recognises that he must maintain the Machines because all of humanity are still in the web of the Matrix. Neo warns that Smith is beyond the Machines' control and will soon assault the Source, as he has already made a leap from the Matrix to the real world. He offers to help stop Smith in exchange for a ceasefire with Zion: the Machines agree, causing all the Sentinels attacking Zion to stand down and await orders. The Machines offer a connection for Neo to enter the Matrix and confront Smith but Neo says he is beyond their assistance and then self connects to the Matrix world.

In the Matrix, which is now wholly populated by Smith's copies, the clone with the Oracle's powers steps forth, claiming that he has already foreseen his own victory.The Smith clones stand by and watch while Neo and the primary Smith hold an epic final battle on the streets, destroying buildings, and in the sky, until they finally brawl in a flooded crater. Neo is outmatched by Smith but refuses to give up. A frustrated Smith continues to attack, but when he suddenly repeats the Oracle's words, "Everything that has a beginning has an end," Neo baits Smith into assimilating him. Once the connection is made Neo is able to reverse the flow and take over Smith.

This surge of power spreads through the Smith/Neo and the clones, who then burst with light which ripples through the whole matrix thus restoring The Matrix and its citizens to normal. In the crater full of water, we now see the Oracle lying on the ground. Neo is triumphant and returns to the Deus Ex Machina. It explains that the Matrix is restored but cannot allow the humans to remain 'awake'. Neo states that humanity will no longer be held by the Machines illusion of choice. Neo transports away.

The waiting Sentinels return to attack Zion. Neo, appears and uses some truly god-like powers openly to destroy the Sentinel attack and free the remaining humans. The humans of Zion realise the full extent of what Neo has become, and the implication that they are in fact still within the Matrix is not lost on Morpheus. There is a brief conversation where Neo offers the choice to Morpheus in a reflection of the 'red pill/blue pill' conversation. They both understand that humanity may not be ready but must wake up together in order to survive. Neo adds that this would have to happen with the help of the Machines and that although he could now 'wake' everyone he will seek after a peaceful resolution.

The Matrix ‘reboots’, repairing the damage caused by Neo and Smith's battle, and without its usual ‘green tint’ of letters and numbers. The cat is seen in the same fashion as in the first film, repeating itself, ‘which notes a major change in the system/matrix’ is picked up by Sati. The Architect and the Oracle meet, and agree to unplug all humans who want to be freed, and that peace will last ‘as long as it can.’ Sati, who has created a colourful dawn sky in memory of Neo, asks the Oracle if they will ever see him again to which she replies that she believes they will. Seraph asks the Oracle if she knew all along that this would happen, and she replies that she didn't know, but she did believe.

A short epilogue shows Neo back in the Matrix, making a telephone call promising that he will demonstrate to the Machines that a way forward can be achieved together, whether they choose it or not. He hangs up the phone and joins a figure which could be Trinity, together they fly into the sky.

--

That is my version, I think I am sticking to it. It seems to me to be better all round though I saw no point in reinventing aspects of the film that worked – as you tell the main point is that it seemed everything was pointing to the fact that Zion was a construct of the Matrix. This seems to answer the questions about how the Oracle is able to foresee the future, how Neo or Smith inherit that power, how Neo uses his EMP ability, how Neo is able to have dreams that foresee the future whilst in the real world, how Neo can see Smith within Bane in the real world and how Smith is able to transfer to a human at all. It makes a better use of the Merovingian ( surely his demise or safety is something worth noting ). Finally it allows Neo and Trinity to gain some kind of apotheosis to divinity without melancholy.

I feel better now… what’s next?