Matrix Revolutions

Buy The Matrix Revolutions from Amazon.co.uk or from Amazon.com

Summary

Matrix Revolutions starts where Matrix Reloaded finished - with the Nebuchadnezzar destroyed and Neo apparently in a coma in the sick bay of another hovercraft. Also in the sick bay is Bane, the only survivor from another craft, who has been taken over by Agent Smith.

But something is odd about Neo's brain activity - it is characteristic of someone who is 'jacked in' to the Matrix rather than someone in a coma. The Oracle summons Trinity and Morpheus to tell them that Neo is trapped in a world (apparently consisting only of a subway station) between the Matrix world and the real world. The only way in or out is controlled by the Train Man - a program in the service of the Merovingian who has neither forgotten nor forgiven Neo's previous visit to his restaurant. Trinity and Morpheus need to get to the Train Man or the Merovingian and get Neo out.

Meanwhile, the machines are only hours away from digging through the roof of the rebel stronghold, Zion, deep under the earth's surface. Commander Lock prepares for its defence but holds out little hope. Captain Niobe and her ship, The Logos, are missing but Captain Roland's hovercraft, with Neo and Bane aboard, is searching for them.

Background

The Matrix is arguably the most significant film of the last decade or more. It was always seen by writers Andy and Larry Wachowski as the first in a trilogy.

When they pitched the idea to Warner Bros, they insisted on directing it themselves. The studio execs, still struggling to understand what The Matrix trilogy was about, refused to let two untried directors loose and insisted they direct something else first. The Wachowskis went away and made Bound, returned to discussions about The Matrix and were given the green light to produce the first film.

The Matrix was an enormous success. Made on a mere $63 million, it went on to make Warner Bros $456 million in its first year. Until Harry Potter came along, it was Warner's biggest ever box office success. It generated unprecedented levels of discussion on chat rooms and email lists and a vast amount of commentary on the ideas within it - both at a popular level and in the academic world.

Warner Bros. invested $300 million into making the two sequels, Matrix Reloaded (released May 2003) and Matrix Revolutions. Although Matrix Reloaded was not well received in some quarters, there was still a huge amount of interest in the final instalment of the trilogy.

For links to other Damaris resources relating to The Matrix trilogy go to our Matrix Revelations: A Thinking Fan's Guide to the Matrix Trilogy microsite.

Questions

1. When Neo is trapped in Mobil Ave subway station, he meets someone from the Merovingian's restaurant. Neo is surprised to discover that Rama-Kandra, a program, expresses love for his daughter, Sati. Rama-Kandra tells Neo that 'love' is only a word, 'what matters is the connection it implies.' What does this mean? Do you agree?

2. How do you reconcile Rama-Kandra's apparent love for his child with his willingness to be separated from her because it is his karma?

3. Why do you think Neo is able to exercise some of his extraordinary powers in the real world, and has an ability to 'see' the real world in a similar way to how he could see the Matrix code itself? Has Matrix Revolutions answered any of the big questions about the nature of reality from the previous films?

4. What does the Oracle tell the people who visit her? Does she always tell them the truth? Does she always tell them what the future holds? Why is the plaque above the doorway to her kitchen so significant?[1]

5. The Oracle's statement that, 'everything that has a beginning has an end,' turns out to be an important phrase within the film. Do you think it is simply used as a plot device or are the Wachowski brothers making some statement?

6. How does the Oracle explain Agent Smith to Neo? Why might she be wearing yin-yang earrings? What are the Wachowski brothers suggesting?

7. Agent Smith tells a blinded Neo at one point that he is 'a symbol for all of your kind . . . helpless, pathetic, . . . waiting to be put out of your misery.' What truth is there in this statement? If Neo is a symbol of all humanity, is there any significance in Neo's ability to perceive Agent Smith in another way?

8. In their final encounter, Agent Smith asks Neo why he persists in fighting him when his defeat is inevitable. Why is Agent Smith so dismissive of the possibility of Neo doing it because of some higher purpose, such as love? To what extent is Neo's reply, 'Because I choose to,' a key to understanding the entire trilogy? How is this linked with the importance of belief (e.g. for Trinity and the Oracle)?

9. What has Neo achieved at the end of Matrix Revolutions? At what cost? Is the final state of affairs what you expected? How do you feel about the resolution to the story?

10. The Oracle apparently wants the same as Neo: peace. What is the nature of the peace at the end of the film? What significance is there in the music which plays during the credits with it's repetition of 'shanti' which means 'peace' in Hindi?

11. What elements of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and postmodernism are represented? How are the ideas from these both reinforced and undercut? What do you think is the Wachowski's main message?
     

Footnote

 1. The plaque reads, in Latin, 'know yourself.' This was the inscription over the door of the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. [back]

Back