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The Matrix
"Enter the Matrix"
Chapters 5-11 of Enter the Matrix video game
Developed by Shiny Entertainment
Released May 15, 2003 |
Ghost and Niobe take on backup missions as
Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity confront the powers behind the fate of
Zion.
Notes from the Matrix chronology
This story
takes place concurrently with the events of
The Matrix
Reloaded.
Didja Know?
The Enter the Matrix video game features 11 chapters
that take place immediately before and during the events of
The Matrix
Reloaded. Chapters 1-4 take place almost immediately
after the events of
"Final Flight of the Osiris" and depict Niobe and
Ghost's mission to retrieve the data left inside the Matrix by
Jue just before her death and the destruction of the Osiris.
As such, these chapters take place just before the beginning of
The Matrix
Reloaded, and are studied here on PopApostle under
the name "Ghost in the
Machine". The remaining seven chapters of the game take
place concurrently with the events of that film and are
dealt with here in this study of Enter the Matrix.
In the
Enter the Matrix game, the player may play as either
Niobe or Ghost. This means that there are two choices for the
main storyline, making it difficult to decide which character's
storyline is "canon". I chose Ghost's path as the main, canon storyline since it
allows him to get into some action, which he mostly misses out
on in the films, unlike Niobe. There are a few Niobe
chapters I have inserted, as they are ones that have her in
action at a removed location while Ghost is elsewhere.
Traditionally, major actors from film projects who are coerced
into shooting scenes or reading dialog for spin-off media such
as video games turn in fairly lackluster performances in said
media because they are not getting paid their normal amount for
the spin-off product. Jada Pinkett Smith (as Niobe) is
particularly bad here.
Since remarking the guns the characters use throughout the game
gets tedious, I will here only be noting the guns models that
have not previously been used in chapters 1-4 of the game ("Ghost
in the Machine").
Characters appearing or mentioned in this game
Ballard
Niobe
Ghost
Corrupt
Wurm
Soren
Roland
Sparks
Philips (SWAT member, dies in this game)
Jacob
Malachi
Bane
Agents
Keymaker
Merovingian
Cain
Abel
Persephone
Cujo
the Twins
Trinity
Neo
Bane/Smith
Lock
Morpheus
Seraph
the Oracle
Agent Smith
Didja Notice?
Chapter 5: The Sewers
View the walkthrough of this chapter at YouTube
Ghost picks up a
Heckler & Koch 33SG sniper rifle from a SWAT team
member he's taken down during the hydro power station chase.
When Sparks sends Ghost off to rescue the unconscious Jacob,
Ghost uses what the game refers to as an SS shotgun. The SS
may refer to single shot, but what model the shotgun is I
don't know.
During his rescue of Malachi and Bane, Ghost uses two MAC-11
machine pistols.
Chapter 6: The Chateau
View the walkthrough of this chapter at YouTube
In a flashback scene, after putting the Keymaker in a cell,
the Merovingian tells him, "Au travail." This is
French for "Get to work."
When Cain and Abel catch Niobe and Ghost in the hallway of
backdoors, Cain holds a pistol to Niobe's head and says,
"Anyone moves, and her brains are a Jackson Pollock!"
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) was an abstract expressionist
painter known for his splashing technique on a number of
paintings.
Cain wields a
Browning
Hi Power and Abel a
Heckler & Koch USP Compact.
The same handful of classical-style paintings appear in the
chateau over and over.
Persephone asks for the same ransom of a kiss from Ghost
that she goes on to ask for from Neo in
The Matrix Reloaded.
In the behind-the-scenes about
Enter the Matrix, the actress who plays
Persephone, Monica Bellucci, says that Persephone is a sort
of vampire who seeks after emotions.
Ghost picks up a Heckler & Koch UMP submachine gun from a
guard in the chateau.
Chapter 7: The Zen Garden
View the walkthrough of this chapter at YouTube
This chapter is a martial arts training session between
Ghost and Trinity. The corresponding chapter for Niobe is
a version of the freeway from
The Matrix Reloaded
(one of the billboards seen along the freeway in the game
reads, simply, "WATCH T.V.", looking rather similar to the
subliminal messages embedded in signage and media in the
1988 cult classic film They Live.)
Another billboard reads, "THIS CAGE, THIS PRISON". This
would seem to be a reference to life in the Matrix, though
what organization would have posted it?
A third billboard advertises Osie's Oranges. In
The Matrix, a
fruit stand called Ollie's Oranges is seen.
Also, many of the same billboards seen along the aqueduct
in
"Ghost
in the Machine" are seen here.
As in the film, duplicate distance signs are seen repeatedly
on the freeway. It's kind of like an old Hanna-Barbara
cartoon where the same scenery keeps going by in the
background! |
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After exiting the Matrix having survived the freeway chase,
Niobe and Ghost consider going back in to aid Morpheus.
Sparks yells at them, "I think you just spent eight of your
nine lives getting out of there and if you turn around and
go right back in, I don't think you're just pushing your
luck. I don't think you're crazy. I think you have a death
wish! A major, full-on Bronson!" From 1974-1994, Charles
Bronson starred in the Death Wish film series.
At the end of the training session, Ghost and Trinity briefly discuss
Kierkegaard. Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a Dutch
social critic and is often called the first existentialist
philosopher.
Ghost also brings up Augustine. Augustine of Hippo (384-430)
was an African Roman Christian theologian.
Ghost tells Trinity he's dedicated to Onanism. Onanism is
another term for masturbation. He cracks "Celibacy is a
hands-on job." During his meeting with Persephone in Chapter
6 of the game, Persephone senses that he has an unrequited
love. In
The Matrix Reloaded,
it is strongly implied that it is Trinity he loves.
Chapter 8: Construction Site
View the walkthrough of this chapter at YouTube
At the opening of this chapter, Ghost tells Niobe they need
to "blow this thing and then get the hell outta Dodge."
The phrase "get out of Dodge" is generally attributed to the
long-running (1955-1975) TV series
Gunsmoke,
a western set in Dodge City, Kansas.
Ghost makes use of
a Barrett M95 sniper rifle at the construction site. He also
picks up a Heckler & Koch MG36 machine gun from a fallen
SWAT member.
The delivery truck seen at the construction
site has the same license plate number, AK966, that appeared
on the GMC SUV Ghost drives in
"Ghost
in the Machine".
Inside the hazmat area of the site, Ghost is
seen to use dual
Glock
18C pistols.
Ghost finds what he calls a "chlorobromo
methane gun or grenade launcher" in the power plant, used to
put out fires where hoses or fire extinguishers can't reach
it. Although a semi-real device, the bromochloromethane it
uses has been banned from production by most nations as an
ozone-depleting chemical. The game also refers to this as a
GP-25 launcher.
Chapter 9: Nuclear Plant
View the walkthrough of this chapter at YouTube
The hovercrafts Icarus, Novalis, and
Caduceus are mentioned at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 10: Chinatown and Finale
View the walkthrough of this chapter at YouTube:
Part 1
Part 2
I have chosen to follow the Niobe path here because we see
here her meeting with the Oracle, mentioned later in
The
Matrix Revolutions.
Sparks directs Niobe to a teahouse at the end of Wo Ping
Avenue in Chinatown to meet Seraph and the Oracle. Wo Ping
Avenue is named for the martial arts fight choreographer on
the Matrix films, Yuen Woo-ping.
When Niobe meets with the Oracle, she finds that the woman
looks different than she has before. The Oracle explains
that she lost her old form due to the machinations of the
Merovingian and her choice to aid Neo. (The original real
world actress who played the Oracle in
The Matrix and
The Matrix Reloaded,
Gloria Foster, died from complications of diabetes during
the back-to-back filming of
The Matrix Reloaded,
Enter the Matrix,
and The
Matrix Revolutions, so new actress Mary
Alice was brought in.)
While being chased on foot through Chinatown by Agent Smith,
Niobe passes the Three Dragons Pub, Khan Teng Sun & Co.,
and Chinese Dragon Laundry.
In the Ghost version of the meeting with
the Oracle, the Oracle tells him "Truth is an event and only
through experience can the veracity of a truth be verified."
Ghost attributes this quote to William James. James
(1842-1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist.
I've been unable to confirm James ever said this exact
thing, but the statement does play to his general philosophy
of truth.
Also in the Ghost version of the meeting with the
Oracle, she goes further into the loss of her old body,
saying that two programs she trusted sold the termination
code of her old shell to the Merovingian in order to save
their baby. The Oracle allowed this to happen because she
believes the baby was important and will change both the
human and computer worlds forever. In
The
Matrix Revolutions,
the baby mentioned here would seem to be the AI child Sati.
At the end of his meeting with the Oracle, Ghost
quotes Nietzsche as saying, "One must want nothing to be
different. Not forward, not backward. Not in all eternity.
Not only to bear what is necessary, but to love it."
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher.
The Oracle responds to Ghost's comment with "Amor fati",
Latin for "Love your fate."
Memorable Dialog
anything for an entrance.mp3
tolerance and patience.mp3
a
hands-on job.mp3
intruders.mp3
losing the plot.mp3
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