Flaws in the Matrix

Posted on February 25, 2006 
Filed Under Movies, All

NEO

The Matrix trilogy had all the makings of really first rate science fiction: really good techno fluff, excessive action (can you say 20-minute car chase?), a huge special effects budget, and a hip, attractive cast. Other great science fiction movies have certainly had less going for them.

That’s why it’s too bad the ending stunk.

Right through the end of the second movie the Matrix Reloaded, I was pretty stoked about the direction the story was going. At the end, when Neo stops the machine while outside the matrix — I thought whoa, they’re still inside! Awesome twist and good example of machine-think: the machines lets all the humans who realize they’ve been inside the matrix think that they’ve escaped outside the matrix to Zion, while they’re really still inside another layer of the matrix. That’s exactly how a machine would solve the problem. Good stuff.

Their Ending

Then in movie 3 The Matrix Revolutions, things start out well, like when Smith infects a “human.” Good twist: more proof that they’re still in the matrix this would also mean that some of the people of Zion are really programs. So we still have a great tech-wedgie up to this point. But then, at the very end, the story takes a sudden turn from science fiction to magical reality, and it’s a painful switch.

Neo has special powers? Blind but can still see? Is this a Dune ripoff or an homage to the blind messianic Maudib? And then he dies with all the Christ imagery? So for the first seven or eight hours of the series, we have hard-core science fiction. But then in the last 15 minutes we get a pseudo-religious messianic ending and a lead character who has special powers – which were just tossed in there, breaking the internal consistency of the trilogy’s story. To make matters worse, suddenly everyone—like the architect and the Oracle–who represent fundamental opposites just get along and everyone lives happily ever after (except Neo). Pardon me, but that’s weak.

I thought of a more consistent science-fiction ending to the trilogy. Want to hear it?

My Better Ending

Here’s where I would’ve taken it.

In Movie three, I’d keep everything basically the same, except that Neo learns from the architect that Zion is actually inside the matrix. That would explain the need to purge Zion when the matrix is “rebooted.” But here’s the rub: the architect lets Neo see the real outside, and it’s a post-apocalyptic wreck. Some kind of war or environmental wedgie made it uninhabitable many generations ago. And no, not a war with the machines. Too obvious, and I think the Terminator series, and War Games handled that well enough thank you.

Neo’s task? To decide if the world has been repaired to a state where people can be awakened and returned to it. Neo has to decide this, not the machines. The machines have been given all the power except this final decision, as a safeguard. Things are bad, the air is bad, and their life would be rough. So Neo has to choose between two options, each of which will restore balance to the matrix against the mojo of Smith, himself and the rise of Zion.

Option 1: The people of Zion can be led to think they’re escaping from Zion to the surface, while they’re really just being let out of their pods for the first time. If they survive, the rest of humanity will follow.

Option 2: If the earth is not fit for humanity. Then everyone in Zion must be destroyed along with Neo and Smith. This will restore the stability of the Matrix and ensure the continued survival of the human race until it is time to try again.

In Option 1, if Neo and the people of Zion are able to demonstrate for a period of time that the earth is inhabitable, the rest of humanity would follow. The people outside of Zion would then need an explanation for the extremely rough state of the world before they too could be revived. Remember they don’t even know about the Matrix.

So, before the rest of humanity actually reach the surface, the matrix would change and guide the rest of the world through a series of disasters, ending with a world inside the matrix that matches the real post-apocalyptic world. At this point, the rest of the world would be eased out into the real world, and the matrix would end. As with the people of Zion the transition from the matrix to reality must be smooth or risk the sanity of the entire human race. So Neo’s real power is that he can handle the reality of the whole situation and make the fateful decision.

This kind of ending would explain why the matrix was created in the first place. The machines were actually created by humanity to safeguard it through the long sleep while the earth heals. Earlier Neos would have been destroyed along with earlier Zions because Earth was not yet inhabitable. Their destruction is the Architect’s solution for resolving the cyclical imbalances in the Matrix that they represent. This would be a good solid sci-fi ending for a good sci-fi series. It could wrap up either by Neo walking out and falling dead from toxins in the air, followed by scenes of Zion falling to the machines (to suitably dramatic music). Or Neo would turn around and come back and then wake Trinity from her pod.

Comments

4 Responses to “Flaws in the Matrix”

  1. kroch on September 21st, 2006 3:14 am

    Thats a great story, however it would make the Animatrix useless to change
    the history of robot origins. I think everything up to neo having un explained magic powers was great.

  2. steve on September 21st, 2006 11:38 am

    Thanks for commenting. I agree the magical reality ending was a huge disappointment. Not that I have anything against mixing magical reality with Sci-Fi, we couldn’t have Dune without it (phenomenal series of books, horrible movie). But if they were going to throw in a twist like that there should have been more magical reality throughout. To spring an ending like that, which has little relevance to the rest of the movie, is pretty similar to Neo waking up and it was all a dream. They just didn’t give it enough thought.
    Steve (MBE)

  3. andrew on July 24th, 2007 8:38 pm

    me, i didnt understand anything.

  4. steve on July 25th, 2007 7:56 am

    Andrew
    That’s really the problem the story didn’t stick to its wedgie. It was all over the map to the point of making no sense. I think they hoped that it would seem deep, but sometimes the wise man and the fool are hard to tell apart. At least there were good special effects and action sequences for visual appeal.

    Steve (MBE)

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