why i didn't like the matrix trilogy

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Post originally by Michael P. O'Sullivan at 2004-01-01 04:13:40
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okay, i have seen many a person question me on my distatse for the matrix trilogy. i have to admit that, for a little time, i really souldn't figure it out myself. most people simply suggested that i "didn't get" the religious "undercurrents", undercurrents which i found to be so obvous that i felt like i was being struck by them. I knew quite simply that this was not it. i feel that i have a better understanding of religion than most, especially concerning easter philosophy (when i was younger i pursued Buddhism) and gnosticism.
For a while i thought that maybe it was because i din't play the video game "Enter the Matrix". then i watch ed a friend play it. that didn't solve any of my problems.
i discussed my dissappointment with the trilogy with my brother and a friend and talked about the back-seating of supporting cast members such as Morpheus and the Deus Ex Machina that Neo seemingly became in the second film. Both of these points were argued and we both figured out that these weren't the core issues at hand.
then, about two weeks ago, i finally figured it out.
In the first film it was established that the ability of the awkened humans as they became more self-aware in the Matrix would be to manipulate the Matrix. We saw this first at the end of part one when Neo destroyed Agent Smith. It wasn't this moment that was Neo's first manipulation of the Matrix. it was directly afterward, when he breathed in and, as he did so, the Matrix took a "breath in" with him. subtle? yes, definitely. But, that's the point. He was coming into his own and taking his first breath as someone who was awakened. It echoes many of the thoughts behind yogic breathing exercises and breath meditation.
The scale was set. Neo would be capable of twisting the Matrix, transforming it and manipulating it like an artist manipulates paints.
But he never did.
Instead, Neo simply did more of the same things he did in the first movie. Again he fought a bunch of bad guys. again he killed some agents. again and again with no evolution in his abiity as, truly, the matrix Messiah. only once did he realize his true aptitude in the films and that was when he healed Trinity.
so, in conclusion, my problem with the film isn't any of the reasons that you listed but simply that it didn't go far enough. the first film set up so many high points to follow up on in the second and third, practically none of which where hit. It's an astoundingly depressing thing, especially since i have often listed the matrix as one of my all time favourtie films, a moniker which will not be attached to its sequels.
still, i do agree with you the Wushu RPG is a great game and system and perfectly encapsulates everything that you need to play the Matrix. Just as you state, the system encourages the "upscaling" of ideas during conflict, awarding the player with extra dice the more he develops the ideas and the better his description. If only the trilogy itself could have followed this form.
good luck with the developments. fun article. and i enjoyed the stuff you wrote for CP2020, which was the first game that i had ever ran a campaign to completion in.

laters,

-m

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Post originally by Patrick Riley at 2004-01-01 10:18:13
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I mostly agree. The first Matrix, as a stand alone movie, was good. I would say great, but the whole battery concept was lame. Ending with Neo becoming the messiah was the correct place to stop. As you say, the religious "undercurrents" were not "under" anything--they pretty much smacked you in the face.

The plot of the second movie was Neo walking around (the only emotion Keanu can convey on screen) while NPCs told him stuff that may or may not be true. How would you know if some dude calling himself the Architect is telling you the truth about the designation of two doors? The Oracle lied to him in the first movie, so why believe everyone else?. Neo was more confident, but he was still bewildered. And the combat scenes went on and on and on and on and on without actually advancing the plots or characters.

I have not seen the last movie.

My problem is what once you start questioning what is reality and what is the Matrix, then I stop caring. The filmakers have a blank check to pull reality out from under you at any time and change things around, like saying Zion is not real but part of a higher layer of the Matrix.

I do think the setting could work well as an rpg. After seeing The Matrix, I immediately thought of Mage (though I could never stomach its "reality by consensus" any more than I can stomach the batteries). But if I was to run it as an rpg, I would not follow the later movies at all and work from the basic kernel of an idea that was presented in the first movie and take it in my own direction.

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Post originally by Count_Zero at 2004-01-02 09:56:34
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Well, frankly, my explination that why Neo isn't doing anything he hadn't done before can be summarized by a quote from Link: "He's doin' his superman thing".

Neo, since he is "The One" now has, for all intents and purposes, godlike powers. He hasn't had the chance to really experement with those powers yet. So, assuming from the first scene we see him in "The Matrix" that he is a bit of a geek, what would he do with those powers?

Answer: Do his Superman thing. Regenerate, fly, see through walls, and try to keep doing the tele-frag. Neo now, basically, has the powers of a system administrator, but he doesn't have the experience to use his powers effectively. Unfortunatly, he doesn't have the experience to be able to effectively "edit" the Matrix's "registry". So, he has to learn how to handle his new-found powers by the seat of his pants, with no one to help him learn.

Besides, if he knew, automagically, how to use his powers to their utmost, thus making him, for all intents and purposes, a god, then it would make the next two movies (which were meant to be made anyway, as the Watchowski's had always intended the Matrix to be a trilogy) rather boring.

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Post originally by Patrick Riley at 2004-01-02 10:56:54
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As it was, the powers Neo displayed and the endless combat scenes, which only succeeded in making him run away at the end, were boring. Whereas the first movie broke new ground, the sequels seemed to lack any vision beyond making a movie of a computer game.

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Post originally by Lost Cub at 2004-01-02 11:09:05
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Funny thing is, I liked only the second film.

The idea of a reality withing reality has been done to death, and better than in Matrix, which uses it as an excuse to put wuxia-style action in a Hollywood film. And that's what Matrix: Reloaded is all about: wuxia-style action. It isn't a very intelligent film, but it's great fun to watch on a rainy afternoon with some mates and a beer. The rest of the trilogy's all about a bunch of underdeveloped characters hissing random high-school philosophy through their teeth, being as dramatic as the (say) Croatian government when explaining its people how sacrifices will bring future prosperity. And that's not fun no matter how much beer you take.

I also find it a little tasteless, if not offensive when people suggest that accessing the multiple levels of the Matrix trilogy is some big deal. Fine, the film borrows tons of random imagery. So?. When (say) The World of Darkness creates a sociologically intriguing society based on hand-picked, well researched historical and philosophical elements (Empedocles, Machiavelli, Saint-Germaine, Milton, ...), people "don't care for the metaplot". When Matrix just throws in everything to fill space between fights - check out the depth of it, man! Dead Neo looks like Tyrael from Diablo II, oh yeah! Popular culture! Morpheus quotes St. Augustine? Sweet! Never mind that's about as deep as the assassin's quoting of The Bible in Pulp Fiction. The dudes read books, man! Check it out!

LC

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Post originally by Lost Cub at 2004-01-02 11:11:06
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... the computer game's pretty good, except for the levels with driving.

LC

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Post originally by Ross Winn at 2004-01-02 16:40:07
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extremely interesting and well framed response. thanks for your commentary. i hope you enjoy the column and keep reading!

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Post originally by Todd Falk at 2004-01-02 23:33:45
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Well said, Michael. I'd like to support your statements with some other statements.

In a submissions outline for fan fiction of a game system, would be authors are advised to "not bogged down the stories" with too much backtracking but "write the characters doing what the characters do". Superman isn't much of a character if he's not doing Superman things..neither is Spiderman, X-Men, Ibrahm Gaunt, etc etc etc.

In the first film, we ride along with Neo's journey in Becoming the One. I was very jazzed to see more of the same in the next film(s). Would we see Neo being the One? Saidly we did not...

A major story thread unaddressed...Freeing Minds from the Matrix. In Reloaded, it was mentioned that "in the last six months, we have freed more minds than in the last six years." An entire second movie could have been such a struggle for Neo -- the trials of freeing people from their perceived reality. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard, sometimes you are fought and turned in into the authorities (cue Agent vs. Neo fight scene) There is enough information on ethics, morality, faith and belief about Freeing Minds and reprocussions of making Choices that I got lost in my expectations for Movie 2.

Idea - Neo and crew approaching two different potentials to be freed. One is easy to sway, the other more entrenched their beliefs, etc etc...extrapolate from there. (I'd say the harder to win, the better the find...if it's easy, the goal is worthless.) Agent Smith could have made his return middle of movie, a little Oracle conversation, Neo struggling with "purpose" and getting things done. Maybe Morpheus admonishing Neo "you cannot just snap reality before them...it would unhinge them all and some painfully so. A shattered mind is of no use to us." All the while they are trying to restock their crew on the half empty Neb. The B-story would be Neo and Trinity becoming closer. Another, friction between Neo and Morpheus over HOW he recruits.

Third Movie could have been smaller version of Reloaded and Revolutions.

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Post originally by Ross Winn at 2004-01-05 16:27:26
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what you say could easily have happened, and it would have been a great story. sounds like you have a great campaign in the making. ;)

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Post originally by cthol24601 at 2004-01-08 01:53:22
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Actually the claims to Gnostic and eastern influences in the matrix are rather over-rated. Basically it seems they have grabbed heap of esoteric quotes and names from mythology and chucked them in to appear profound. (not to mention all the pseudo starwars material about bending reality through will power etc) I am reminded of Umberto Eco's axiom from "Foucault's Pendulum" about people who create the illusion of depth through collating enough shallow perceptions they appear to have three dimensions. Whilst in the second movie it looked like they may be going somewhere the third movie made it very clear that they didn't know where they were going at all.

eg The marovingian. A deeply cynical figure of obvious power, lots of references of persephone being once in Trinity's shoes. refernces to a version of the matrix that appeared similiar to White Wolf's World of darkness Dark Ages. ie werewolves, vampires and phantasms as guardians of the social order keeping humanity in place. When one takes into account that the Marovingian dynasty were the forebearers of the Kingdom of France (interesting with the love of french and the french persona the Matrix Marovingian adopts as what I thought was an in joke) prior to Charlemagne, they claimed to be descended from Christ which has links to Neo's role in the films, they formed a secret society called the priory of Zion (again interesting regarding the whol child of zion thing etc) to undermine the new regime. It gave the appearence that the Marovingian and Persephone were once in Neo and trinity's shoes and made the choice of being part of the new Matrix (with exiled programs etc) as the Architects speach to Neo indictated later on.

Ok a lot of interesting material there. Wheted my appetite a little as it created the illusion of an interesting plot and a little research.

Result. turns out to be a coincidence based on the producers thinking the name sounds cool as they are just programs and no reference to previous incarnations of the matrix is made ever again and it is made clear that they were just picked for obscure sounding names.

The same for all the characters. Names are borrowed from myth for pseudo psycho-cultural impact but they go nowhere and have only the barest relationship to any kind of mythology at all if any. Morpheus, Trinity, Niobe etc are all the same cool names with no links to their mythological/historical counterparts. Its all topping to create the illusion of profundity.

Even the gnostic refernces are tacked on. Sure there is a dualism between the world of the spirit and the flesh but that is the same in almost every sci-fi fantasy film ever made and is no more profound than the dualism and manichaen struggles in the heavens, earth and the soul in Star Wars. (if you want a film that really gets into gnosticism and hermeticism watch PI)

In the same way they even missed the basic plot issue set up in the first film. Computers get their power from trapped humans (scientifically dubious but I can let it slide as in the science of "monster's Inc" ;) and the computers are threatened by losing bodies to the newly resurgent free humans. That problem is still there and the fight with Agent Smith is just a side show. he is most certainly not the demi-urge or a Satanic figure just an anomaly that threatens the system and gets in the way of the computers. So we spend all our time in the third flick distracted from actual main theme and much of that time is wasted on an endless battle scene which, while done ok cinematically adds little to the story.

Neo is another matter. All through the first film they make references to the original one who could bend the virtual reality of the matrix at will as he understood its illusionary nature and could reach beyond it to shape it according to his desire. Neo is intimated to have the same abilties when he comes into the fullness of his power. hence the bedning reality when he breaths and focuses at the end of the flick. He can alter time, absorb agents, etc even go beyond death through an act of will. In the second and third he is just Neo as before but has a few extra disciplines (to borrow from Vampire the Masquerade) Now he has the flying discipline and the stop bullts discipline as well as the celerity, jump and strength disciple everyone else freed from the system has.

All in all I ejoyed ther first flick. Felt the second had promise if it went anywhere interesting as it intimated and the second and thrid crashed and burned for me when it was made clear that it wasn't going anywhere and it was all pseudo mythological trappings to look cool and seem profound when the producers/writers didn't know the faintest about what they were talking about.

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Post originally by Ross Winn at 2004-01-08 12:09:02
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You say tomato, and I saw Tomato...

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Post originally by cthol24601 at 2004-01-08 14:50:26
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I'm not sure I understand that? Are you saying its just a matter of subjectivity or that my opinion fits with your interpretation just said a bit differently hence tomato/tomato?

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Post originally by Ross Winn at 2004-01-09 13:53:22
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I am fairly sure the book Philosophy & The Matrix would not have had legs were there not considerable effect.

your opinion may differ.

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Post originally by cthol24601 at 2004-01-09 14:08:37
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Have you read it? My recollection of the book was that almost all the writers hated it and reluctantly saw links or similiarities to Bhuddism and gnosticism etc and certainly not gnosticism in any kind of historical context. In fact, as a fan of the first flick and a person who enjoyed the possibilities of the second when the book came out I thought I'd wasted $40 on a book that did nothing but bag the Matrix as pseudo philosophy and trash it for being violent, sexist, using bad language and being an escapist fantasy for 14 year olds (and all the other things politically correct types go on about - very hypocritical as far as I am concerned given some of the writers responses in other publications to things like Buffy).

In fact in that light the book was a big dissapointment as I felt the writers were trying to gain kudos of showing how mature they were for being above such juvenile material. In short the book was a waste of my time reading it. The Simpson's and Philosophy and Buffy and Philosophy were much better books but i think it is in part that in Academia there are trends and fashions about what is and what isn't legitimate escapist fantasy and whatever isn't vogue usually gets dissmissed as pop cultural trash and escapism and what is in vogue gets stuck on a pedestal with huge numbers of articles and conferences written about because its vogue in the academic scene and people enjoy it as light fun. I still find it funny how academics write about the mythological currents in Buffy or charmed when it is almost completely a contemporary creation with no historical background at all and almost no actual myth. D&D and WOD do a better job of drawing on historical mythos that either of those two series.

This is not to say I don't like the shows (or the Matrix for that matter as I loved the first saw possibilities in the second and was very dissapointed by the codswallop of the second) but rather people are very quick to chuck the label of deep mythology, religion and gnosticism on popular culture because they enjoy it and want to legitimise it by claiming some great level of depth or understanding to the material when it is just light entertainment.

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Post originally by Ross Winn at 2004-01-10 19:58:10
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I read several monographs online and saw none of that. I had not bought the book but assumed it was the articles that I saw on the site...

my bad.

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Post originally by cthol24601 at 2004-01-11 00:19:34
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What annoyed me about the book was that it would go along categorising differences and similarities between say Bhuddhism and the kinds of illusionary world portrayed in the matrix etc. Fine and good, some thinsg are similiar some are difference some are out of context some are insightful. Cool. tehn it would sift into a diatribe about how Neo uses violence and swears so it can't be an example of bhuddhist philosophy because a Bhuddhist wouldn't swear like that and they don't condone violence. In other words a very PC way to describe Bhuddhism that ignores their own heritage in the martial arts and military history of Asia (not to mention all the more subversive models of bhuddhism that draw on images of the wise fool and so do swear, drink and joke etc) in order to appear above all this juvenile escapism and icky violence that they are just so much above.

Ticked me off no end.

To be clear I do not think the Matrix is an unintelligent film and the first remains an action/sci-fi film I really enjoy. (By the way I loved the animatrix and thought it was wonderfully insightful and creative) My issues are more that a: people put it on far too higher pedestal and throw around all kinds of assocatiations to make it look much more insightful than it really is like its a work of absolute genius and depth and b: it is clear that the writers lost their way, got out of their depths and began to throw williy nilly associations, names and images together at random to create the illusion that the second (which I felt showed promise if they developed the themes that seemed to be raised) film and the third film (which I thought was a big budget blow up stuff action thing with little depth - not to mention all the scenes and ideas stolen from return of the Jedi of all places) had a lot more depth than they actually did.

About the gnostic thing. As someone who has done research into medieval gnosticism and the gnosticism of antiquity it really feels tacked on to descriptions of the matrix in a very superficial way that does not have all that much bearing on actual gnosticism. The material I was discussing regarding the mythological names and characters that went no where is an example of that. It seems something that is tagged on with very little thought as a way to seem intellectual rather than an actual analysis. A bit like how feminist writers often claim mythological and gnostic references in Buffy as a means of legitimising their visceral enjoyment of the show. If they like the show then fine but I find it sad that people have to legitimise their enjoyment with labels picked because they sound esoteric and your average bod won't know enough to question it.

Where Gnosticism does fit into the matrix, in my opinion, is in the division of the world into the realm of flesh and the soul or spirit (a theme common in cyberpunk since Gibson) in which the divine spark of humanity is trapped in the world of the flesh and that, like manichaen, Cathar and the Ebionite view of the universe a great comsmological accident forced the realm of the virtual(ie spirit) into the realm of the flesh and it is this dichotomy that drives the conflict in the heavens, the earth and in the soul of men and women. Like the gnostics the people in the matrix (and the writers) have a lot of difficulty reconciling the divine and the corporeal.

The other side of the matrix, is that the first one (which I think is great irrespective of my dissapointment of the second two) is that is essentially a film exploring Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation. There are stacks of references to it throughout the film and I think it is certainly the biggest inspiration for the ideas in it, much more than pseudo gnostic references and the grab bag approach to mythology and religion you see around the place. (Neo keeps his disks in a copy of Simulacra & Simulation in his flat for example and Morpheus quotes from it all over the place including the great catch phrase "Welcome to the Desert of the Real". Baudrillard argues that in contemporary society especially the US the world has become a giant disneyland copy of itself in which the simulated and copies of the simulated become more real than any actual real world to those living in it. The real world is a pale ghostly shadow (ie a desert) of the bright copies of the virtual and people look at the real world as a pale immitation of the copied. In fact the real world is slowly being destroyed and cannabilised to form the essence of the new world. This (much more than gnosticism) is to me the intellectual core of the first matrix film and is played out wonderfully by Cipher's rejection of the real and neo's embracing of the virtual and realisation of its virtual nature throughout the course of the film.