Posted on 11/07/2003 6:23:33 PM PST by softengine
The Matrix: Revolutions" opened Wednesday in a first-ever worldwide debut on 10,013 screens in more than 94 countries and in 43 languages, including Hungarian and Turkish, and has already pulled in over $43 million.
Needless to say, the film – the third and final in the "Matrix" series which has brought its creators Andy and Larry Wachowski something like a half billion dollars, throwing in DVD and sundry auxiliary sales – can only add to that figure, possibly setting a record for the movies.
The critics, at least the American ones in major media outlets, were lukewarm to downright scornful. Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post called it "a soggy mess" "with a laughable ending." A.O. Scott in the New York Times found "all the bombast (referring to "the bright light and big noise"), which may raise an honest goose bump or two, cannot dispel the overall atmosphere of exhaustion." Entertainment Weekly rated it only a C+.
Variety's Todd McCarthy wrote: "for anyone inclined to take the Wachowski Brothers seriously, a stronger sense of dramatic resolution and cosmic synthesis wouldn't be too much to ask for."
Imagine then my downright astonishment when some 10 to 15 minutes from the end – which I guess I will be honorable and not reveal – I see on the screen the figure of Keanu Reeves, previously viewed seated in a chair in a no-man's land between the machine world and the real world, standing against a tall cross his arms outstretched. Almost simultaneously, he turns into a molten-gold Christ on a molten-gold cross with vast clouds of roiling molten-gold clouds swirling around him.
How else can anyone read this unambiguous reference to Christian iconography? Add to it the fact that Neo (Reeves) has been down in a deep pit battling and getting really badly beaten by his nemesis the omnipresent Mr. Smith, who, it becomes clear, the Wachowski Brothers have cast in the role of Satan.
The brothers have had their fun, of course, playing around with cultural and mythic references throughout. There is an almost obligatory pulling of the forelock to Buddha (come to think of it, didn't Reeves play the sainted Oriental himself a few years back?) and to Indian religion with talk of karma.
But from the first "Matrix" film, the brothers indicated the path for Neo to follow. The audience need not take the red pill to follow him down the rabbit hole to discover his destiny. Part One makes much of Neo (his computer-screen name) being the Chosen One who should lead his children out of Zion. Part Two played around with elements from Greek mythology like Persephone – who, after all, was brought down to live in Hades at the side of the underworld god Pluto. In Part Two, the persona of Pluto is assumed by the Frenchman, called the Merovigian, and here the brothers are really being playful.
The Merovingians, who can be encountered in the pages of that best-selling "The Da Vinci Code," were Frankish kings who reigned in France A.D. 428-751, supposedly descendents of the progeny resulting from the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. You can see what playful lads the Wachowskis are.
Throw in the detail that Neo and his faithful Trinity (interesting choice of a name) head for the crucial meeting with the god of the machine in a ship named Logos ("the word," that is used to identify the truth that Christ was bringing to men) and you see the Wachowskis are leading us.
I confess there's something ironic about all this that tickles me. There's poor Mel Gibson having to buck slurs and slander for telling the story of the last day in the life of Christ straight from the Gospels, and here are these two brothers from Chicago tossing around Greek mythology, Alice in Wonderland, and virtual reality, making untold millions and yet ending almost on the same image: Christ on the Cross.
Exactly. The Oracle alluded to as much. ;-)
I gave Matrix Revolutions a solid 4.5 stars, BTW. The critics and I almost never agree. They much prefer some deviant liberal message to be shoved down our throats. I prefer otherwise.
MM
Exactly. The Oracle alluded to as much. ;-)
I gave Matrix Revolutions a solid 4.5 stars, BTW. The critics and I almost never agree. They much prefer some deviant liberal message to be shoved down our throats. I prefer otherwise.
MM
The way the film ended leads me to think there will be a 4
(at least it's my assumption that we will see another movie picking this theme up again)
Ok, I'll bite.... is that bad?
No, you don't HAVE to see the movie, but I usually prefer to use my own judgement on these types of matters.
Come on, why would you not see the movie if you are interested in whether they did this right?
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