(2003) Continued from The Matrix Reloaded when Neo (Keanu Reeves) had chosen (fate or free will?) to rescue Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) at the expense of 250,000 human beings in Zion threatened by the sentinels' machines, the Wachowski brothers provide the conclusion. "We already know that I'm the one that beats you," Smith (Hugo Weaving) informs Neo before adding: "Everything that has a beginning has an end."

With an estimated twenty hours remaining before the machines penetrate the dock, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) requests a search for Neo inside the Matrix, even though he's not plugged in. Seraph contacts Morpheus on behalf of the Oracle (Mary Alice): "You must come at once." Her choice has been to help them and guide Neo; but after all the death and destruction, Morpheus is doubtful: "How can you expect me to believe you?"

Trapped between the machine world and the real world, Neo is befriended by "the last exile," Sati, a little Indian girl with her parents, Rama-Kandra and his wife Kamala, as they wait for the Trainman, who runs shuttles between the two worlds and works for the Frenchman, Merovingian. Rama-Kandra explains to Neo, "Every program [which he calls karma] must have a purpose; otherwise, it is deleted," and though he and his family are programs, he experiences love (a connection) for his daughter.

The Trainman denies Neo entrance onto his train - "Down here, I make the rules…. Down here, I'm God" - while Merovingian bargains with Morpheus and Trinity for their savior, demanding "the eyes of the Oracle" in return. The pattern of love, he says to Trinity, mimics that of insanity.

"Where is this going?" Neo asks the Oracle, who is making cookies with Sati: "Where will it end?" She answers: "You should be dead …," but since he isn't, she explains that the Architect's purpose is to balance the equation, variable by variable, while her purpose, which complements Neo's, is to unbalance the equation.

Death is coming, she cautions, because Smith will soon have all the strength necessary to destroy the world. The power of the One, she tells Neo, extends beyond the normal limitations of reality. However, Smith by means of Bane has crossed over from the machine world into reality aboard The Logos (the divine word incarnate in Christ or the principle governing the existence of the universe). In need of a ship, knowing what he must do, Neo receives permission from Capt Niobe ("I believe in him") to navigate hers to machine city.

Blinded, Neo says to Trinity: "I wish you could see what I see." Meanwhile, Zion's dock is breached, infested with thousands of machine squids overwhelming the human defenses. Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Why does Neo continue to fight, Smith ("your opposite, your negative," according to the Oracle) demands of his adversary - justifying existence by defending peace, justice, love? "Because I choose to," answers Neo.

"Did you always know?" asks Seraph. "Oh, no, no," replies the Oracle, "but I believed." This is the least satisfying episode of the trilogy.

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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