Yeah, I've got to object to Keanu's full-backal nudity. I know some of the ladies may have appreciated it, but fair's fair. If I can't see Carrie Ann Moss's bottom, why should you get to see Keanu's bottom?
Still, an enjoyable film nonetheless. I was struck by the similarities to The Invisibles comic book by Grant Morrison, even more prominent in this film than the previous one. Morpheus is King Mob, Neo is Jack Frost/Dane McGowan, and The Architect is a dead Ringer for Sir Miles Delacourt even if Agent Smith fills the Sir Miles role better. The thematic parallels that struck me in particular are the notion that the forces of control are just as much prisoners of the system as the people they attempt to control; and that those who oppose the system are actually making it easier for the system to control them by putting themselves into a nice little cubbyhole labeled "rebel" and thus defining themselves in ways predictable to the system.
Further, the concept of the cyclical nature of the Matrix is similar to the looping structure of the Invisibles VR game created by King Mob in the final "Glitterdammerung" issue (perhaps the screens in the Architect's chamber displaying Neo's multitudes of different reactions to his revelations are not potential responses that have been anticipated, but replays of all the previous times The One has made it this far... As the Merovingian said, "It's all a game...").
The behavior of the free-willed programs (The Oracle "loves candy", the Merovingian is a hedonist of the highest order, Persephone longs to know a taste of the love Neo has for Trinity, and Agent Smith eagerly cuts his hand in a human body to experience authentic pain) is becoming more humanlike while the human Elder Councilman becomes curiously accepting of Zion's dependence upon machines for survival (Could he have been "The One" in the previous version of the Matrix?) and speaks in the same riddles about the importance of knowing and understanding the reasons for things as The Oracle and The Merovingian. This immediately reminded me of Morrison's key theme in The Invisibles that both sides of the conflict are the same, and the struggle is a rescue mision for all, not just one's own allies.
Still, I confess to not having wrapped my head around it entirely, and I fully expect that I must one day watch all three films at once to fully appreciate what's going on. It also reminds me that I'll have to read the entire six-year run of The Invisibles in one sitting as well.
