I'm making this post because the other one has isn't much about theory and more about how good the movie was.
At it's most basic element, I believe that Reloaded and Revolutions were about choice. I know that's a pretty broad statement, but let's examine it.
Neo asks the Oracle, "But if you already know, how can I make a choice?" to which she replies "Because you didn't come here to make the choice, you've already made it. You're here to try to understand why you made it."
Smith tells Neo, "We're not here because we're free, we're here because we're not free. There's no escaping reason, no denying purpose - because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist."
The Merovingian states, "Causality. There is no escape from it, we are forever slaves to it. Our only hope, our only peace is to understand it, to understand the `why.' "
The Architect tells Neo, "As you adequately put, the problem is choice. But we already know what you are going to do, don't we?" and "As I was saying, she stumbled upon a solution whereby nearly 99% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level."
Now what can we gather from all thus mumbo jumbo? Basically, it's a blend of the old "Fate versus Free Will" argument and the Hindu belief in Karma. Let's first assume that every decision we make is based on thousands of factors which are beyond our control. This would mean that every decision we make is predetermined by these factors. This is no good, because that means that there is no such thing as choice. Without choice we have no free will--no opportunity to consciously decide our own future. The Hindu law of Karma states, "For every action you take there will be a reaction in the future." This means that when you make a choice, you are responsible for the repercussions. If fate is determining the outcome of our choices, then how can we be held responsible for the repercussions? Thus we get to the Merovingians "why". The purpose of our lives is not to make choices, but to learn to live with them.
The Oracle represents a good example of the "Fate versus Free Will" aspect. In the original Matrix she tells Neo, "would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything... " after he knocks over a vase. Does the Oracle truly predict events, or is she able to see the various factors and influence them to achieve the outcome that she desires? She presents Neo with many choices, to which she already knows the outcome. The fact that she presents them as choices, though, makes Neo believe that he is directly responsible for the outcome, because he "consciously" made the choice. Thus he is able to live with the repurcussions.
The Architect, relying purely on mathematical concepts, could not understand choice as anything other than a variable. In his mind, when one choice is made you simply move on to the next one, then the next one, etc. The Oracle gained the insight that humans must believe they make each decision, otherwise they can not deal with the results and move on to the next one. The Architect states, "...as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level." Thus each human is able to accept living within the Matrix because their minds believe that they choose to live there.
Then we come to Neo. Like the people of Zion, Neo is "flawed" because he chose not to accept the Matrix. He also took the next step and accepted that he could control the Matrix because of the various decisions he had made. While the Architect predicted that this would occur, the belief in choice was so vital to the Matrix's continuaty that he was forced to allow it. His solution? To orchistrate events so that this anomaly would have to choose to return to the Matrix. The success of the Matrix is that those whom it controls believe that they choose to be controlled and therefore accept this fact. Neo chose not to return to the Source, as his 5 predecessors had.
If everything in the Matrix was created with the Architect's precision, then there would always have to be balance. Since Neo tipped the balance, Agent Smith became the counter-weight. In essence, an anti-Neo. Whereas Neo was the ultimate expression of freedom, Smith was the ultimate expression of control. As Neo became more powerful, Smith did also in order to compensate. After he was initially destroyed, Smith's purpose became to eliminate Neo. Since Neo had entered him, Smith gained Neo's belief that he controlled his own destiny.
Now there are two ways to explain the end. Smith assimilated Neo and therefore no longer had a purpose. Without a purpose, he had no reason to exist. Since the machines were now jacked into Agent Smith through Neo, they used his connection in order to delete Agent Smith (they could not do this sooner since Neo freed him from their control). Alternately, Smith could have merged with Neo and then the machines returned Neo to the Source (the power surge we see), taking Agent Smith along with him.
Either way, Neo made the decision to help the machines eliminate Agent Smith at the cost of his own life. Perhaps this was the reason that the machines ceased their battle in Zion. If one man would sacrifice himself for the machines, perhaps they could learn to live in harmony. Assuming, of course, that a whole lot of other people chose to sacrifice themselves by staying in the Matrix and providing power for the Machines. D'oh!
To be honest, I'm not sure where the Wachowski brothers were going with this. Was it to illustrate how the humans' belief in free will conflicted with the machines' belief in predestination? Could machines learn to live for the simple point of living while the humans discover their purpose? Was it to show how the humans and machines learned something about each others' beliefs and therefore gained a greater understanding, allowing them to live in harmony? Who knows!
One thing I do know is that they sure couldn't call this move Matrix: Resolutions. The ambiguity over whether or not Neo was dead or alive bothered me. The fact that the Architect stated he would free those who desired it (If everyone in the Matrix had made a nearly unconscious decision to stay there, then at any time could they not have made the decision to leave? Technically then, he did allow everyone who wished to leave the ability to do so.) was odd, due to the fact that if you freed everyone in the Matrix you would eventually run out of power. I know he said that they had contingencies, but he didn't seem to think too highly of them. Were man and machine therefore supposed to live in a symbiotic relationship with each other? If the little Indian girl was smuggled into the Matrix because she had no purpose, why was she controlling the sunrise? What happened to all the people that Agent Smith assimilated? Maybe we'll just have to wait for Matrix: Tieing up all the loose ends...
