Some critics have claimed that nothing really happens in the Reloaded film, that you could watch M3 straight after M1 and be happy. Not me. As well as some exciting villains and an awesome motocycle chase; there's some serious plot thickening going on in here! I guess those critics were thrown by the action in the trilogy and missed the essence of it, perhaps they thought the essence was 'evil machines trying to finally kill off all the 'free' humans out there in Zion'? Which of course isn't the case, and the machines, I'm afraid they're the good guys...
I'd say there's one crucial scene in the second film Reloaded, which gives way to a lot of information and uses way too many long words, such as 'ergo'; and we'll come to that scene in a bit.
When I say 'one crucial scene' I of course mean 2. Without these 2 scenes Reloaded well and truly is 'bullet time' fight scenes and explosions galore, a non required action film in the middle of the trilogy. This second scene I mention actually occurs first, and so I shall summarize it first!
Neo meets the Oracle: ... after learning that 'you only truly know someone, when you have fought them'.
- I like that.
Essentially what we learn here is that the Oracle is not human, she is in fact a programme from the machine world. This leaves Neo with an interesting dilemma. Can he trust the instructions for ending the war against the machines, given to him by a programmme written by no other than... the machines? It's a toughie, but as the Oracle says, he's already made the decision, now he's here to try and understand it. The Oracle believes that humans and machines need each other, symbiosis. That peace, and not victory is the only lasting way forward. We also learn where ghosts come from.
Further down the line, somewhere after Neo kisses another woman, a vampire is shot dead, and a decent amount of explosions occur, Neo finds himself in dialog, with the Architect. He does surprisingly well at following the programme 'bound, to the parameters of perfection's,answer, to the question 'Why am I here?' Indeed the Architect explains how Neo is here, and also who he is, or rather which 'One' he is. If unlike Neo, you did not follow, I will try to summarize, so buckle up:
Neo's life is the end result of an anomaly, from an unbalanced equation. The anomaly - choice, the equation - the foundation of the Matrix.
As the anomaly and therefore Neo, was expected, the Architect can and has lead him down the garden path or rather the rabbit hole, and into a room with 2 exists, lots of Tv's and the old man himself. Thus the Architect has explained how Neo is here.
The Architect then comments on how quickly Neo 'twigs on' to him not answering his question, compared to the others, the 5 predecessors before him. Whilst the other's were in denial of the 4,3,2,1 before them, Neo states that either no-one in Zion told him this, or that no-one knows. (A thickened plot, me thinks) He also points out that choice is the problem, the anomaly.
The quest of creating the perfect Matrix is then explained to us. The first Matrix the Architect made was perfect and peaceful, his only flaw was filling it with imperfect humans, his second attempt was based on our world history, but again, failed. He looked for help from a less intelligent, more intuitive programme - the Oracle, her suggestion, choice. Together they create a Matrix which is accepted by 99% of the human race, on an almost perfectly balanced equation, with the one anomaly of choice. The 1% that rejected the Matrix, 'whilst a minority, if unchecked would constitute an escalating probability of disaster' - This being Zion, an ever-growing population of 'freed minds'.
Finally the Architect answers Neo's question. 'You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed' and that his role as 'The One' is to fancifully copy the code he is carrying by visiting 'The Source' and then select 23 people from the Matrix to repopulate Zion once it is destroyed. Failure to do so will result in the end of the human race, even those still plugged into the Matrix (which I don't understand).
Of course, in order for the anomaly to be well and truly present, Neo is given the, choice, of 2 exits. One which leads to The Source where he can do as he's been told, or the other which leads to Trinity who entered the Matrix allowing Neo into this, epic, dialog but is consequently dying from the bullet of an agents gun. He of course has no choice due to the chemical chain reaction spurred from an emotion 'designed to override logic' and the more generalised love of his species.
Unlike his 5 predecessors, he rebels, hoping he can save her as well as Zion. An unknown 'lucky move' for everyone. Everyone but Smith...
That's it folks!
I'm tired.
