"Revolutions" & Redemption
Category: Movies...
Posted Tuesday, May 11, 2004 at 05:01 PM [GMT-6]

You shouldn't be surprised to learn that I've been watching "The Matrix: Revolutions" the past two days during my wonderfully boring windtrainer workouts. Indeed, that's the only reason I could remember the short quote for the previous "Name the Movie" quiz.

Anyway, this is the first time I've seen the movie since watching it at the theater, and a couple of impressions stand out.

First, you probably have no idea of how truly insipid the dialog is until you watch it with subtitles. (I watch most DVDs during my workouts in this manner due to the noise of fans, bicycles, knee joints, etc.) Thankfully, the action generally distracts from this aspect of the film, but there are a few places where the action fails and the dialog sonambulizes. (Trinity's death scene comes to mind.)

The second thing I noticed this time around is just how much the climatic battle between Mr. Anderson/Neo and Agent Smith borrowed from the wonderfully cheesy "The Champion," a song written in the 80s and performed by Christian musician and actor Carman*.

If you're not familiar with this song, you've obviously never attended a youth gathering at an evangelical Christian church, where it has been a staple for years. (In fact, the parody site "The Lark News" has an article about banning the song in Iowa due to overuse.) The song is actually more of a dramatic reading, wherein Carman describes the ultimate showdown between Satan and Jesus Christ as a boxing match. Jesus beats Satan up and down the ring for a few rounds, and the angelic onlookers are suitably ecstatic, much to the chagrin of the demonic contingent (portrayed on the recording by Gollum and his extended family: "We hates His left upper cut, we do."). Suddenly, with victory seemingly assured, Jesus drops His hands and allows Satan to land a fatal blow. Of course, we know what's about to happen, but apparently Old Scratch never made it all the way through Revelation and he is aghast -- aghast, I tell you -- when The Ref (aka God) begins the count...only He's counting backwards, and as the numbers roll down, the lifeless body of Jesus begins to stir on the mat, and...well, the rest is history.

The similarities in the battle between the two Matrix enemies, and the fight described in this recording are almost eerie. We see Neo kicking Agent Smith's rear in a mighty way at the start, then they both land telling blows, and, ultimately, Agent Smith ends up standing over Neo's lifeless body. Or so he thinks.

But, amazingly, a Power From Without inexplicably infuses Neo's body and Agent Smith's confused, bitter and helpless rage comes forth in precisely the same fashion as Satan's reaction to the unstoppable resurrection of Jesus. "No! This can't be! This isn't how it's supposed to turn out!" and so on. What a whiner.

So, you've heard it here first, as the Gazette once again unearths a previously unrecognized connection: the Wachowski Brothers are longtime Carman fans. I'm sure confirmation will be found in the extensive additional material on the second DVD; I just hope there aren't any subtitles.

*For the record, I am not one of those who believes that Carman's music is an embarrassment to Christianity. I don't want a steady diet of his stuff, but he's written some excellent songs and I believe he's sincere and effective in sharing the Gospel.