Dysmey Post Archive > Pages for 2003 > Mid-Autumn 2003 Edition

Mid-Autumn 2003 Edition

The first frost of the autumn came on a Friday morning, covering all exposed surfaces with a white glaze. I had to scrape off the windshield for the first time in a long while. I also had to drive slowly at first. If the speedometer is not warmed up it goes whacko, its needle rattling at mid-speeds and then coming loose with a wheeze to the other end of the dial at around 50 mph (80 kph).

I was up till midnight because I went to this month's WhoNet meeting in Indy. Shown was "Destiny of the Daleks", that Doctor Who serial every Whovian loves to hate for reasons of continuity. Afterwards we split up, and I went with one group to TGI Fridays, where I had the sirloin and very tasty mashed spud.

After I got home I looked up at the midnight sky. The full moon was overhead in the south, bathing the cold with a frosty light. Mars, now its usual dim self, was in the southeast. Orion made its first appearance this winter season in the southwest, with Sirius low on the horizon. The next night would show the moon a dull dark red from a lunar eclipse.

After watching The Matrix (more below) I went to Radio Shack for some telephone cable. I used it Sunday to run a new line between the north socket and the interface box. Madre and Vickie helped test the new line. It works.

The Matrix Revolutions

On Saturday I went to Muncie to watch The Matrix Revolutions. Every review I read, and every person who saw the film, say the same thing: the effects rock, the dialogs suck. I saw the film anyway.

The film carries the basic themes of Neo's rise and Zion's fall from the last film. Neo is still comatose at first as he wakes up in a subway station. It turns out to be a door between the Matrix and the realm of the machines. And Neo is trapped there—its scruffy boss is in the Merovingian's pay—until Trinity 'persuades' le bon monsieur to free Neo in return for not having his head popped open.

It unfolds that:

• Neo finds he can enter the Matrix without plugging in, and can see machine life with his eyes closed. The latter proves useful after his sight is destroyed in a fight with Bane, a Smith-possessed human.
• Speaking of Smith, his replication mania of the last film continues as he absorbs everyone in the Matrix within reach. Even the Oracle does not escape, although absorbing her becomes part of his downfall.
• As for Zion, the drills started in Final Flight of the Osiris make their way down into the city; the sentinels pour in like tap water on full; and there's lots and lots of shooting.

Apart from all that, it would be telling to give away the ending, but I can tell you these without giving out too much:

1. Neo and Trinity travel to the Machine City. In the Animatrix this city is called 01.
2. Neo advises Trinity to fly their hovercraft through the dark sky to evade 01's massive defenses. In doing so Trinity becomes the first human in centuries to see the blue sky, complete with crescent moon.
3. The Oracle looks somewhat different to elude her enemies. (The original actress passed away during filming.)
4. Given the way Bane talks during his interrogation, you'd think someone would have recognized Smith in there.
5. The Kid, introduced in the Animatrix and overly fawning of Neo in the last film, proves himself a hero in the fight for Zion.
6. Niobe flies a hovercraft like my sister drives: it makes the passengers (and the sentinels, no doubt) queasy.

Neo does the expected messianic things, which annoyed most of the reviewers. Well, yeah, of course Neo does messianic things: He's a messiah. C'est son métier: Interceding with the machines not just for humanity but even for themselves against an ever more powerful Smith is what Neo does.

Finally there's the big fight between Neo and Smith in the now-stormy Matrix. It is so amazing what rain can do when kung-fu fists fly. And the end comes about surprisingly; it starts when Smith, without thinking, quotes the Oracle:

For every beginning there is an end.

And it does end…in a way that leaves Smith in horror, and the film ends on a hopeful note.

There were plenty of seats in the theatre for the Muncie showing of the Matrix Revolutions because the last film leave a lot of people (including my sister) so disappointed that they've chosen to pass on this.