The Matrix

I just watched The Matrix for the first time last night. When I was in high school, I remember, a couple friends were crazy about the Matrix and would sit apart from the group talking about it. And my friends said that everyone had to see it at least a couple times to "get it." The concept just blew their minds.

Well now I'm twenty-three, which is a lot older than the friends I had in high school, but I can't figure out what is so hard to get. Are there any questions I should be asking, but didn't think of?

Over all, I guess I liked it. The story was well-thought. There were warring philosophies, which the movie choreographed into one cooperative plot. This philosophical war fit well with what God's been teaching me of late: something about our plans and His plans. Also in reading The Immortal Game, I've been contemplating the ideas presented by chess: does fate govern your life, or are your choices supreme? Can you win by intellect, or is there something to be said for brute force? Is it every man for himself, or every man for the collective goal? Should life be lived tactically (moment to moment, choice by choice) or strategically (long term)? How well can any one person's decisions manipulate another's? These were the various positions and questions dealt with in The Matrix as well.

Of course trench coats, leather, and machine guns were rather glamorized. There was violence, and I didn't watch some parts (not because anyone warned me or they were getting too gruesome, but I had been multi-tasking, and felt the long violence/chase series were missable). In fact, I asked my brother what the point of the long fight scenes was, as everyone knew what would be the outcome (of some parts). He told me that the movie makers got their awards and notoriety for the filmography of the sequences and the special effects. I still protest that they did not add to the movie. Anyway, at one point I was also curious whether anyone spoke regular English, or if all the humans used bad language to express themselves. So I'm not really endorsing the Matrix, but it didn't bother me enough to make me dislike the movie.

If I were to identify the central theme of the movie, after this first viewing, I would eschew the philosophical questions and say it was about the power of the mind over the body (and delving back deeply into philosophy, over destiny).

One thing I noticed: it didn't end. The sequel is probably at the library right now waiting for me to watch it, and I might have to get the last one on hold. Do the next two get better or worse?

To God be all glory.