i wish her heart was still in rhymin'

I remember coming out of the Matrix Reloaded, one of the most hyped movies of this decade, with one of those "I can't for sure say I like/hate it yet because there are so many things I want to question" feeling. It's the same feeling I had for No Country For Old Men and Scarlett Johansson singing (I don't like the songs (the ones with Tom Waits, not Pete Yorn. Pete Yorn is fucking awesome) but her voice is harrowing and come on, when she look the way she looks it's hard to hate.)

Anyway, the Burly brawl and the freeway chase blew my mind at the time. But it was the speech in that white room with the crusty old white guy that had me and everyone scratching they heads ("they head" ain't no typo. I watched this in Riverside with a Riverside crowd. It's "they head", not "their heads")

The COWG, aka The Architect, gave a speech that somewhat covered free will vs destiny, and used  words such as vis-a-vis and ergo, and yeah. The theater shoulda been passing out dictionaries after each showing.

Thanks to the net, I spent the next few days discussing the film on movie forums and then I went to Borders and read the book Matrix and Philosophy. I woulda bought the book but I think I blew money on Metal Gear Solid 2 for the PS 2 that weekend, so I just read through the book over two sittings while sitting at Borders.

Anyway, after many a debates on the net and a sit down over lemon tea and baked pork chop rice at JJ's Cafe in Monterey Park (if you're HK and you in LA you have heard of this place) with y friend Mike "Snobby music snob/USC Film Student/All around smart guy/wise-ass" L, I understood.

The resistance and The One thinks they're discovering some breakthrough when they make it to the Architect, but really it was planned by the Matrix all along for The One to find him.

You see, when the machines first started The Matrix, they made it perfect (heaven), but mankind wouldn't accept it because deep down there's a bit of evil in all of us. So The Matrix then made second version where things were shitty (hell), and mankind couldn't take it cause we're all selfish pussies and think that the grass is always greener on the other side.

So....the machines decided to create a world with both good and bad, hence the real world. But to keep "The One" in control, they laid down a series of fake clues and paths that leads The One back to the Architect, where he is then given two choices: to save the love of his life or save Zion, aka the real world ("For me giving up is harder than tryin'/Lauryn Hill says her heart is in Zion/I wish her heart was still in rhymin'"--Kanye West in Champion. Hate on Ye all you want, the man makes good music and Graduation is a fucking good album)

The One would then choose to save the real world, thus resetting the Matrix. Basically, the whole meeting between The One and The Architect is a form of control. Each time the resistance gets a bit too strong, they'll stumble onto the Architect and reset everything.

BUT, Neo, aka THE ONE, aka Ted THEODORE Logan, breaks the norm when he chose to save his love over Zion. Hence, the machine's plans were fucked.

So basically, you think you have free will...The One thought he had free will, but it was all a form of control that led him back to exactly where the machines wanted him to.

Throw in the references/sympbolism to Buddhism, Christianity, and all sorts of crazy shit (Neo stuck in the land between Matrix and Real World was called Mobil Ave.... M O B I L = Limbo. Neo was in Limbo)

So where I'm going with this? That all the hate on the Matrix sequels are wrong. The Matrix Reloaded added new depth to the story, turning a simple sci-fi psychobabble-filled one parter into an epic universe that references the complications of religion, destiny, philosophy, and all that other crap. And it gave us Monica Belluchi in this red dress.

(I watched this on IMAX. I think it was my first IMAX film. For first half of the movie I was like "man IMAX is overrated, then Monica Bellucci showed up in this dress and it was then, I understood the greatness of IMAX)

I'm still compiling my list of the Ten Most Defining Film of this decade. I'm asking the snob Mike to give me his films, as well as several other film geeks and some other knowledgeable film industry vets in HK. But in the end I'm gonna look at their list, dismiss it cause I don't agree and then come up with my own list anyways. People that write a long rant and then throw in a IMO are pretentious twats. Everyone deep down, believes their opinions matters more than others. I'm asking them for a list and then I'll reevaluate, give it an educated think and then dismiss it cause my list is better than their list.

Matrix Reloaded is gonna be top five on the Ten Most Defining Films of this decade. I think I should see Where The Wild Things Are and There Will Be Blood before I finalize the list though.

Here's the whole speech with the Architect. WITH CHINESE SUBTITLES for you Hongkies

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H85hdn9a6KM