Monday, March 22, 2010

The Matrix Trilogy

So today I decided to just start writing movie reviews. I know movies can be an incredible waste of time, but gee, I like 'em.

The Matrix Trilogy

My first year at Belhaven, there were several movies being circulated by word of mouth that fit into the "cool, edgy rated R movies that Christians can watch because of the heavy world-view content" cattegory. Memento, which I still haven't seen, was big as was the Darrin Arinofsky film Pi. The biggest by far, though, was The Matrix. Not only did it have revolutionary special effects (even though that whole 360 degree bullet-time thing actually premiered in a GAP commercial), but it had all these pseudo-Christian themes about a savior (although come to think about it Neo and Jesus have very little in common). Everybody was excited because it seemed to be affirming a faith-driven, theistic world-view and hopes were high for the sequel Matrix Reloaded. The day after that film premiered, however, all I heard was weeping and gnashing of teeth. This second Matrix movie abandoned the Christian themes and introduced doubt, revealing that Neo is merely the latest of seven such "chosen ones" that machines introduced to periodically reset everything.

I still think the trilogy is a whole is good and that most people were disappointed because it ended up affirming pluralism rather than absolute values. Many of the main characters -- Morpheus, the Architect, the Marivengeon -- each represented a different worldview. If I remember correctly, the Marivengeon believed in a very mechanical sort of cause and effect sort of world while the architect represents reason and probably utilitarianism. Morpheus and the Oracle are faith (if the architect is the father of the matrix, the Oracle is the mother I think they say at one point. Hmmm...a marriage of faith and reason...). Smith is nihilism. He realizes that in a world such as the matrix where no absolute truth exists, there is no meaning, no purpose, no freewill, and he's slowly infecting the world with this realization. In the big fight at the end, we have the last man, Neo, fighting this doubt and losing because he, too, realizes that Smith may be onto something. In the end, however, he realizes that being able to choose our own purpose makes life worth living. TaDaaaa! And so postmodernism beats out modernism.

I think any film which can mold such heady concepts into an entertaining story form deserves applause whether you agree with its conclusions or not. Even the infamous "rave in the cave" has a purpose in showing a particular aspect of humanity, what separates them from the machines.

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