WARNING: DONT read and go back while you have time.
WARNING, big spoiler. DONT READ.
WARNING, big spoiler. DONT READ.
The movie begins with the now-familiar green text and title, and we return the table with Bane and Neo in their comatose states. The camera pans over Bane's head, and dissolves to show the top of a building, Metacortex, which is otherwise empty save for an elderly black woman standing at the edge. The camera leans over, showing us the street below, where an army of Agent Smiths is running around, assimilating people exponentially quick.
The Architect suddenly appears beside the woman, explains that this type of security breach was not possible in the earlier, more perfect versions of the system, and blames her for tainting it. She rolls her eyes and says, "Some things never change." He says "But you have." Now identified as the Oracle, making no excuses, she asks him what they're going to do about the problem below.
Suddenly, there is a loud banging noise and the door to roof bursts open, and an Agent smith runs across the roof towards her with his hand stretched out. He is blocked by Seraph who easily destroys the single drone by throwing him off the edge. "They are weak" Seraph says, "but there is strength in numbers." The camera cuts to the base of the building where the assimilating smiths drop overpowering the humans and begin running into the bottom of the building ("We've found her."
At this point, the camera cuts back and forth between a rooftop conversation with the Oracle and the Architect and the Smith virus running rampant through the building, assimilating people they go and gaining in numbers. The Oracle and the Architect remain calm, slowly walking towards the door, just at the same time as we see Smith approaching it. The Oracle's last words are "I'll talk to him. There's still time." just before opening the door revealing a white corridor. Both of them step through, and the second the door shuts it bursts open, and hundreds of smiths pop out on the empty roof, upset.
We cut to a shot of Zion's council discussing the drilling that continues above them. They are aware of Neo's failed Journey to the source and the effort to stop the war. People begin to panic, but the chancellor remains confident. They make the decision to mobilize every available human in the city to fight the impeding threat. When someone on the council asks the chancellor why he is not worried, he simply repeats the wise words of a man he trusts: "We are still here."
We return to the shot of Neo and Bane in their coma. The camera pans back over Neo's head and dissolves to show him in a Train station. He is disoriented and people are walking past him contemptuously as if he's a homeless person. A little girl, who identifies herself as Rama-Kandra, refuses to ignore him sitting there and tries to make sure he's okay. Her father is noticeably upset at first, but then seems to turn white. His wife asks him what's wrong, and then we cut to the Merovingian's restaurant in Reloaded.
We witness a conversation between the Merovingian and the unidentified man. Mero is screaming, asking if the "software abstraction" known as "purgatory" is indeed possible. The man, a software developer, refuses to talk at first. "I am not going to build you a prison for rogue programs!" He insists. Mero eventually convinces him that it's in his best interest, by showing telling him he's wired a particular piece of food in his restaurant directly to the lifeline of the person most dear to him. "My daughter!" he yells, and Mero smiles. "Everyone stop eating!" the man yells, and the entire restaurant goes silent. People stand there for a moment in disgust, before the man sheds a tear, and Mero sends one of his goons to escort them out the side door, just as he notices Neo enter.
We cut back to the two comatose men lying on their backs. The crew of the ship marches back in, and a pissed Morpheus looks at Bane and says "I'm going to kill you for what you've done!" but another crewmember stops him. "No! Watch this!" The member takes a small pin to Bane's hand and pricks him in the centre of his palm with it. Trinity puts her knuckle in her mouth as neo winces, and a drop of blood suddenly appears in his hand. They explain that it's called Stigmata, and it's something they'd only ever seen in the Matrix before, when two entities become inextricably linked. "How can this be happening? How did Neo stop the sentinels? This doesn't make any sense!"
We cut to a side room where Persephone walks in to talk to the Indian man. She demands the key to purgatory. He sobs for a second, then pulls out a plastic lipstick container and hands it over. She looks confused. "All it takes is a kiss,†he says. Persephone smiles, and runs down the corridor beside a sign that says "Elevator."
Back on the ship, the captain suggests that they kill Bane anyway. He's destroying the matrix, and killing so many innocent humans they've yet to free. Morpheus, no longer clinging to hope that Neo is the one, admits that maybe it's something they should consider, that Neo is likely in a coma in both worlds anyway. Trinity is understandably upset. And there is a moment of tension while they all let the idea marinate.
We inter cut with scenes from the train station. The man tries to snap Neo out of it, but it's obvious he's having difficulty understanding what's going on. A train enters the station and the man's paranoia increases. Rama-Kandra reaches into his pocket and pulls out a ragged metal spoon. Back on the ship, they hold Trinity back in tears as the captain moves towards Bane with a knife. Back in the train station, Neo looks at the spoon. "But how could that be here, in the Matrix?" He feels his arms, and there are no plugs. He concentrates on the spoon, and sure enough, it bends, but at the same time we cut to his body back on the ship, where the spoon is his pocket moves there too. Trinity, shocked, pulls it out of his pocket and watches it bend... "He's still alive!"... The captain looks at Bane, who twitches with excitement: "But so is he."
At this point there are various shots of the war brewing in Zion, and everyone preparing, crying and dealing with their loved ones. Battlemechs are stationed, a very lengthy and emotional sequence.
We cut back to the ship, where Trinity is stroking Neo's had like in the first Matrix and begging him for information. She tells him she loves him, and just as she does, his lips move and say "The Merovingian?" As if he's asking a question.
Back in the train station, we see Neo ask the same question. Rama and her family are helping him remember, but he can barely stand up. All of a sudden the train goes out of service, and the passengers inside all clear out. We cut to the driver of the train who is cocking a handgun and smiling. Neo, upset, asks Rama's father why he would have given Persephone the key to Purgatory, and he says, "I know, it's irrational, but I was threatened with the one I love the most." Neo cools down, and forgives him, saying he understands. All of a sudden, there is a gunshot as the train conductor jumps out shooting.
Back in the coma, both Bane and Neo get a bead of sweat on their forehead. Trinity says something like "I hope you're okay in there."
We go back to street level, where Smith is still assimilating people left right and center. A bead of sweat hits all of them on the forehead at the same time. And they say, "He's fighting..." another says "But where?" and then there's the echo of another gunshot in the subway. They all nod, and make a break for it.
Down in the subway we witness a spectacular fighting sequence between neo and the conductor and some other goons. As agent smith runs faster and faster, neo finds himself with more energy. At first he's losing, but he soon regains his powers, getting better and better. Eventually he defeats them, just as Smith runs down the subway staircase. Rama says, "Run!" to Neo, but he doesn't want to leave them for dead. "She's right... See the Oracle... Italian quarter" Her father says. Neo repeats it aloud, and it echoes back in the ship with Trinity. Trinity jumps to her feet and runs to tell Morpheus. Back in the subway, Neo, concerned about Rama and her family, says he can't leave them for death. Rama says he has no choice, which perplexes him. Then her mother says "Don't worry, we were almost out of here anyway." She opens a janitor's closet, revealing another hall of doors. Neo sees a bunch of Smiths coming in all the entrances to the subway and says to himself "Italian Quarter? That's at the end of the Loop." and jumps into the tunnel and starts running along the track.
There's another shot of the drills getting closer to Zion and the counsel getting all upset, wishing that they hadn't given in to false prophecies. The Kid interrupts them saying "How do you know it's false? Neo saved me!"Back on the ship, Trinity and Morpheus plug themselves in and find themselves at night in the Italian quarter, where Seraph is waiting for them. He takes them down a hallway to see the Oracle, warns them that she has changed. The oracle, back in her kitchen, explains that it's important that Neo is saved. In her usual guessing games, she makes Trinity explain where they need to go next based on the information she has "The Merovingian", Neo's words. Morpheus and Trinity argue over whether or not they can take him on themselves, and the Oracle reminds them that they don't even know where he is anymore. She explains he's in a very exclusive club, but not to worry, because she's sending them with a VIP member. The camera pans to Seraph who smiles. "Neo's in Purgatory." He says. "Let's go to Hell." The oracle asks them to hurry, because she's expecting a guest.
Just as they leave, seconds later Neo arrives at the end of the tunnel, and sees Seraph, Morpheus and Trinity leave her building and get into a black car. He runs to meet them, but they don't notice and drive away. Fed up, he walks into the building they left, where he meets the Oracle, and she says he's right on time, as usual. He asks why she didn't tell Morpheus and Trinity to wait for him. She asks him why he ran down the tunnel instead of flying. He says he can't fly anymore, that he's weak. And then she says that's why she didn't want him to go with them, that there's no room for weak where they went.
He asks her questions about the Architect and whether the Matrix is doomed. She hands him a red pill and says that the threat of Smith is far greater to the robots than the threat of losing the Matrix. He asks her where they'll get their power, and she asks him where Zion gets their power. The earth's core. That's what the architect meant by different levels of survival they'd be prepared to accept. Neo asks if Zion can be saved, and the Oracle says that because he didn't reload the matrix, the robots are going to destroy it.
We cut to club hell. Trinity is disgusted to discover that the twins are alive and well, after their car exploded. They say something about the ability to become invincible is especially useful in the middle of explosions. There is a spectacular battle between them all. It ends on a sad note, as Seraph sacrifices himself to keep the twins visible long enough to die. Persephone, obviously back at Mero's side even makes a couple of gunshots.
Back in the oracle's office, Neo asks why he can only act in the matrix world and has no sensation in the real world. The oracle gives a wonderfully grandmother line about how children never want to take their pills. She says "The red pill, like many important things in life, come in threes." Neo unwraps the candy package from Reloaded revealing another red pill. He pops both in his mouth, and suddenly wakes up on the ship. He sits up, and in a wonderful piece of directing Bane wakes up too at the same time, yet they mirror each other's actions so much that they think at first it's a real mirror of their back. When they realize what's going on, they begin to fight in the ship's hull. It culminates with a blaze of lightning in Neo's face, blinding him. Back in the Oracle's kitchen, Neo says "I've got a problem, someone's fighting me here and I can't see." and the Oracle says, "You only destroyed your eyes in one world." All of a sudden, Neo starts to see things in Code in the real world, and Bane turns into a fire silhouette, revealing his true identity as Smith. Neo fights even harder, and manages to throw him through a hole in the bottom of the ship.
We cut back to Zion, and at this point the people inside are all prepared for battle, and the sentinels are so close that they can hear them. Everyone is nervous and more inspiring speeches are given. There are some wonderful shots of Zion's walkways, full of people. The Kid from the last movie and Animatrix comes back and proves to be a semi-useful warrior, despite coming close to death a few times.
Back in club hell, the Merovingian and Persephone are cornered. Mero dares Morpheus to kill him, that it wont bring Neo back. All of a sudden, Trinity looks at Persephone, and something clicks about the kiss they experienced. "No, but killing her might." All of a sudden Mero starts to sweat. "You wouldn't." And in a swift movie, Trinity says to him "You might not get Jealous, but I do" and shoots Persephone in cold blood.
In the Oracle's kitchen, there's a knock on the door. A bunch of Agent smiths begin to enter, and Neo assumes his battle stance before turning into green code and disappearing. Smith is disappointed at losing Neo, but is all too happy to destroy the Oracle and does so. At the same time, Bane's body, on the ground in the desert of the living turns into code and disappears the same way, separating them into real/matrix worlds.
Back in club Hell, Morpheus and Trinity call back to the ship and are surprised to hear Neo answer (who has re-united with the ship captain.) He gives them the address of a local phone, and they come back out of the matrix and re-unite. All is well, but there's that feeling that they've lost more than they've gained. Neo is still blind, wearing a blindfold over his face. The oracle is dead. Zion is about to be destroyed. They make the decision that the best thing to do is go back and fight the sentinels with the last of the human survivors.
This is where the third act of the movie begins, and there's a spectacular yet horrifying special effects sequence as Zion begins to get destroyed. The ship with Morpheus, Neo and Trinity approaches during the bloodshed helping out the best they can. They begin to lose the battle terribly, being vastly outnumbered and outgunned. Morpheus is convinced that there's got to be a better plan of attack. All of a sudden Neo is stunned with an epiphany. He asks Trinity, to describe what's going on around him and the captain says something like "Hah, you're good, but not good enough to fight without your vision." He insists, and Trinity describes the horror going on. When she stumbles upon the description of three huge power cables, Neo stands up in place.
He demands that they follow them. Trinity asks him what he's talking about, and he explains that the Oracle mentioned it to him. Morpheus, at this point, is terribly fed up. He used to be a believer, but he's seen too much. Things have gotten progressively worse, and he thinks he'd be better serving humanity by fighting than by chasing cables. The ship captain agrees, but Trinity stands by him regardless. However, at this point their ship is so badly damaged that it's almost useless to fight, so they hand it over. Neo and Trinity drop them off where they rejoin the fight on foot, now that the sentinels have started to destroy hundreds of people on the inside of Zion.
Neo tells Trinity to fly close to the cables, and scares her by describing the surroundings in detail. She observes that it doesn't make sense, but nothing has made sense ever since they met. Surprisingly, the sentinels aren't willing to blow up anything even remotely close to their ships, presumably because the cables provide some sort of important capability to them. The cables turn upwards, and they end up flying directly to the surface, in the middle of the desert to a place known as 01. The cables stop at a platform, and the ship lands. Neo and Trinity stumble out in front of an odd green doorway. She knocks on it, but it's solid. Neo, reaches out like a blind person, and is surprised that his hands go right through it, as if it's water. He tells her that he has to go alone. She asks if he knows what he's doing here, and he says he has a good idea. They exchange a kiss, as if it's their last.
Neo walks through the door, and the second he does he finds that his eyes have repaired themselves. He's in a psychedelic hallway that changes color, and all alongside him are weird looking creatures staring at him. He walks the length, and is presented with another green door. He walks through it, and is disoriented when he finds himself on top of a cliff. A huge robot shows up and speaks to him in a metallic voice. In its center is a screen with faces that change depending on what it's talking about.
He tells the robot leader that the Smith virus is endangering both of their species, that although they hate each other they're going to have to work together to defeat him. Neo only wants one thing in return, to leave Zion alone so that he can reload the matrix like he sound have done in the first place. The robots agree, and the sentinels attacking Zion suddenly stop fighting and fly away (there's a huge victory celebration.) At this point, Zion has been ruptured, so Neo has the robots get the access codes from Trinity so that he can relay a message. He explains what is happening, and what he's going to do. Many people disagree, but they admit he had not done it; they all would have died at the mercy of the sentinels anyway (so at least this buys them time.)
Back in the matrix, we observe as Smith has taken over every single human being. There are literally millions of him running around. At first you think he's just destroying things in the virtual world, and then you realize what he's doing -- taking out every single phone except for one.
Neo returns to Trinity's ship and asks her to relay the feed of the matrix to Zion (and to 01) so that people can watch what's going on. She agrees, and he jacks in. Inside the matrix, it's raining, and Neo pops out of a phone booth on a street full of Agent Smiths. Like old war generals, Neo and the original Agent Smith meet in the middle of the road like gentleman. Neo tells him that his reign of terror on the Matrix is over, and a huge battle begins. They fight on the street, in the air and in the facades of empty buildings as the other agent smith’s watch alongside the robots and the humans in Zion. The fight is so evenly matched that Neo and Super-Smith basically tear each other to shreds until they're both barely alive. One interesting thing is that as Neo fights Smith, the other Smiths tend to get hurt too, since they're all connected. Eventually, both of their bodies collapse onto the ground and it looks like they've both destroyed each other. And in a surprise move, Smith gets up to his feet, and picks up a concrete block and starts walking towards Neo to finish him off.
Back in Zion, people can't believe what's going on, that they have to watch Neo die in slow motion. Morpheus tries to jack into the Matrix but can't do it because there are no free connections (the one free one is being used by Neo back in Trinity's ship.) There is a lot of tension, where everyone in Zion cries and says their last words to each other, before The Kid stands up and walks to the front of the crowd. He begins to meditate, and we hear Neo's voice saying "You saved yourself kid." The kid becomes enlightened, and manages to push himself back into the matrix the way he pulled himself out. He walks out of a dark alleyway with a broken piece of metal, smiling. He walks up behind the weak Smith (still making his way towards Neo) and stabs him through the heart, delivering the last blow. All the Smiths fall down dead. He drags Neo's body to the phone and puts his head up to the receiver and Neo disappears, transported back to Trinity's ship.
Trinity kisses him and starts to drag his body outside the ship, back to the green door, but Neo is almost at death. She cries as his heart starts beating slower and slower. All of a sudden, The Kid appears behind her, having gone through the phone as well. "They cured his blindness, maybe they can save him again!" He says, and they push his body through the green wall. Sure enough, Neo falls into tip-top shape on the other side, and walks to rejoin the Robot on the other side.
Sentinels appear, and drop Trinity, the Kid and Neo off back on the platform before the leader. He mentions to them how curious it is that the Kid was able to jump back and forth between Robot and Human worlds, as was Agent Smith. Neo mentions that it doesn't puzzle him, that it's the order of evolution. He mentions that robots and humans are far more connected than they think. That they need each other to live. Humans can't filter water to make it pure, and robots can't make energy without us. The Kid is the next natural step, a being that is useful in both worlds, electronic and physical, and can transcend realities. Neo asks that if the problem with the matrix is choice, why not ask humans to take part? That the virtual world can be as beneficial as the real one. Why not allow them to generate power for you voluntarily, and allow both species to continue along successfully. The Robot makes a sound of uncertainty.
The final shot of the movie begins with the familiar matrix green text, and the world with a semi-blue sky. Neo is standing near a phone booth saying, "I once told you I didn't come to tell you how it was going to end, that I came here to tell you how it was going to begin. Now that the war is over, as we work together, that statement is as true as ever." Neo jumps off the ground and flies into the air, like he does in the end of the first movie, and the camera follows him up to show sentinel and human ships repairing the atmosphere, alongside other flying humans. Cue end credits.
