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The Matrix presents a heavyweight universe with a lot of moving parts. Less than half of it is actually demonstrated in that first film, but... as viewers, we get the impression that if we asked the follow-up questions, there would be good answers
And those answers are not required to support the stripped-back story. We don't need to see either the beginning or the conclusion of the machine war. Neo's story is sufficient, it opens, it closes, DONE
But then we get the sequels... Dissecting the sequels is a BIG job. No single thing went wrong there. But they seemed more excited about exploring more of the Matrix universe than about telling the next story
Nowhere is this clearer than in the Architect scene. Here, we learn that Neo exists to encapsulate the errors introduced by the human need for free will/choice, and that he is part of a repeating cycle of destruction/recreation. He then CHOOSES to break that cycle, ending the war
This basic concept is SOLID. This is the core of a single, solid movie. Act one: Neo has questions: why does he exist, and why is the war not over? Act two: Neo finds out he is part of a repeating destructive cycle. Act three: he breaks it
But there's so much other stuff going on in the movies that this solid core gets stuck in a terse infodump with the Architect, without even the compelling CGI Morpheus used for HIS infodumps, or Neo's nervous breakdown reaction
And this other stuff is... not necessary. Mildly interesting but not crucial. The Merovingian and his backstory with Seraph, programs producing children, Zion internal politics, the Kid subplot...
And more to the point: to reveal a fact like "Neo is part of a repeating cycle of destroyed and recreated Zions/Matrices" is easy to do in one line of dialogue. To reveal it through organic storytelling, and to have its revelation have impact, takes screen time and work
Most of a movie, in fact! For me to say "The Matrix is a virtual reality which subdues humans while machines leech their energy" is equally easy. But that sentence is not a movie. I hope you can see the distinction I'm drawing between having the idea and executing the idea
Ideas are cheap and plentiful. Have a million of them. But choose to execute few, well
Build a big universe. Tell a small, COMPLETE story. People are still interested? Find the next story
[looks at own work] Oh, and, uh, there's kind of an edge case where the smallest possible story in the universe you've built involves burning that entire universe down
The Matrix sequels could have been worse. At least they grew the universe. The Star Wars sequels are properly, properly stuck right now
Star Wars is at the other end of the spectrum. It's suffering from a desperately profound failure to build world
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