# \[The Matrix Series Question\] Was Neo Utilizing His Abilities To Their Fullest Potential? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109 "2010-02-15T20:06:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/1 "2010-02-15T20:06:24Z")
Well? Was he? Surely instead of flying at a very high speed to various places, he could have just teleported there right? Surely instead of having to take the time to stop the hail of bullets in the first and second movies he could have just stopped the bad guys themselves from moving and killed them at his leisure, right? Or maybe he could have just flicked his wrist when he was being swarmed by Smith Clones and had them all burst into flames? It seems to me that his ability to alter The Matrix to his whim has a lot of room for creativity and fun. Or are there actually limits to his capabilities? Or did the Wachowskis just not want to do that or what? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/2 "2010-02-15T21:13:02Z")
No. The entire movie was poorly thought out. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/3 "2010-02-15T21:14:27Z")
They attempted to imply that Agents (And neo) couldn’t so much _break_ the rules as merely _alter_ them or _bend_ them. And Neo didn’t _know_ his potential immediately. It was a gradual _thing_\* [sub]\*One last italicised word for good luck[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/4 "2010-02-15T21:43:53Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > They attempted to imply that Agents (And neo) couldn’t so much _break_ the rules as merely _alter_ them or _bend_ them. And Neo didn’t _know_ his potential immediately. It was a gradual _thing_\* > > [sub]\*One last italicised word for good luck[/sub] Actually, I think Neo was supposed to be able to break the rules. As for the second movie which I had the misfortune of watching, they mention that all the other agents had upgrades and Smith had some of Neo’s coding in him from the first movie when Neo flew inside of him and tore him apart from the inside. Anyway, because of that Smith had new powers, and I’m guessing maybe they offered some protection from Neo. ---
**Author:** ![ProfessorX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@ProfessorX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ProfessorX)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/5 "2010-02-15T22:18:27Z")
Yeah, Neo was able to break the rules, but he didn’t know it immediately. Since he was The One, the rules didn’t apply to him at all and he could break them once we had a reason too - as you saw when he saved Trinity in the whole “hallway of program backdoors” scene with the key maker. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/6 "2010-02-16T01:48:55Z")
Yep, the line from the first movie was “I’ve seen an agent punch through a concrete wall; men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air; yet, their strength, and their speed, are \*\*still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong, or as fast, as _you_ can be. \*\*” ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/7 "2010-02-16T03:04:50Z")
Yes, that line from the first movie is exactly what makes me believe he wasn’t using 100% of his abilities. The Agents are based on rules, Neo’s abilities aren’t restricted by them. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/8 "2010-02-16T04:04:27Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Yes, that line from the first movie is exactly what makes me believe he wasn’t using 100% of his abilities. The Agents are based on rules, Neo’s abilities aren’t restricted by them. I liked the first Matrix film and was looking forward to the sequels, and it sounds small because they’re are other more important problems with those movies, but this has always been my biggest problem with the sequels. Neo can apparently disregard the rules of the Matrix, but chooses to bend them to extreme degrees instead, just like any other member of the resistance, though on a different level, (Trinity, Morpheus etc..) It always seemed so limiting. Others can jump long distances but he can “fly”. Neo should have been able appear anywhere he wanted at the speed of thought. Neo is essentially a god in the Matrix but chooses to act like Superman instead, he could have been so much more, and I think it would have made for a more interesting series. ---
**Author:** ![justafriend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@justafriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justafriend)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/9 "2010-02-16T04:06:56Z")
That really pissed me off on the sequels. You mean to tell me that you find out your entire world is fake, you can do whatever you imagine (_literally_) and all you can think of is to punch harder? What a waste. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/10 "2010-02-16T04:14:00Z")
Well remember, this is common in fantasy and sci-fi with god-like beings. Give them the ability to do whatever they want, and you don’t really have a story. Matrix Reloaded start… Neo “Whoa, I’m a god. I can do whatever I want. Let’s see, I hereby set every human free. OK, mission accomplished, knarly man.” Matrix Reloaded ends… ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/11 "2010-02-16T04:22:19Z")
Where do we get the information that Neo can do anything? Morpheus, right? He’s quite mistaken about how a lot of things work. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/12 "2010-02-16T04:27:34Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Well remember, this is common in fantasy and sci-fi with god-like beings. Give them the ability to do whatever they want, and you don’t really have a story. This is true, but most settings don’t present a “world” which is completely removed form the laws of physics like the Matrix is being a computer simulation. Saying, (for example), that there’s a “file” that he needs that he has to acquire is acceptable, if we can buy that he can’t write it himself. But the constant fist fights were just unimaginative on a creative level. There’s no reason that he needed to fight a thousand agents at once. All he needed to do was create a thousand duplicates of himself to occupy Smith, or simply hide himself from the machine’s program and go about his business. To me, it seems like lazy writing. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/13 "2010-02-16T04:29:18Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > This is true, but most settings don’t present a “world” which is completely removed form the laws of physics like the Matrix is being a computer simulation. Saying, (for example), that there’s a “file” that he needs that he has to acquire is acceptable, if we can buy that he can’t write it himself. But the constant fist fights were just unimaginative on a creative level. There’s no reason that he needed to fight a thousand agents at once. All he needed to do was create a thousand duplicates of himself to occupy Smith, or simply hide himself from the machine’s program and go about his business. To me, it seems like lazy writing. Well, you’ll have no argument from me that the second movie sucked horribly. And based on the second movie, I haven’t bothered to watch the third. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/14 "2010-02-16T04:38:25Z")
He clearly didn’t use his abilities to their full potential, since he didn’t go through the door to the Source to defeat the machines and win the war at the end of the second movie. Which just underscores the thing about the fistfights: After all the fighting he’s gone through, he’s stopped cold by a computer simulation of Colonel Sanders feeding him some line of BS? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/15 "2010-02-16T04:43:01Z")
I have just finished re-watching all three, and I liked all of them. You guys are making some good points, though - Neo doesn’t have to do anything god-like, but he could have been more creative with how he used his super-special abilities. I was thinking about the timeline, though - he was taken out of the Matrix awfully old, and everything happened in a very short period of time - he may not simply have had enough time to fully digest everything going on. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/16 "2010-02-16T05:17:19Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Well, you’ll have no argument from me that the second movie sucked horribly. And based on the second movie, I haven’t bothered to watch the third. You missed nothing by not subjecting yourself to the third film **Nobody** , truly. There’s a conversation that’s supposed to illuminate everything in the third film between Neo and someone else but it’s completely incoherent and unsatisfying. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/17 "2010-02-16T05:36:47Z")
Everything made much more sense on second watching - I expect it to make even more sense when I watch it for the third time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/18 "2010-02-16T06:10:19Z")
Neo could do anything he wanted to provided that it was visually cool. That was the rule. Teleporting is not as visually cool as flying really fast. Therefore, no teleporting, but flying really fast. Same with fights. The rule in matrix is visually cool. The “Force” in Star Wars and the ability to manipulate it is “the narrative Force”. A character has the magical ability to do impossible things that the script requires. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/19 "2010-02-16T06:28:28Z")
> [@justafriend](#): > > That really pissed me off on the sequels. You mean to tell me that you find out your entire world is fake, you can do whatever you imagine (_literally_) and all you can think of is to punch harder? > What a waste. You really expected Keanu to think of something more elaborate than that? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109/20 "2010-02-16T07:52:42Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Neo could do anything he wanted to provided that it was visually cool. That was the rule. Teleporting is not as visually cool as flying really fast. Therefore, no teleporting, but flying really fast. Same with fights. The rule in matrix is visually cool. > > The “Force” in Star Wars and the ability to manipulate it is “the narrative Force”. A character has the magical ability to do impossible things that the script requires. I’m sure you can make teleportation look bad ass too. I can hardly think of any examples though because it’s such any movies that use it for the reasons you stated. ☹ Something like Jumper would be cool, in a nonsucky movie of course. A random plus is that Keanu wouldn’t even have to pretend to act when teleporting. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-matrix-series-question-was-neo-utilizing-his-abilities-to-their-fullest-potential/529109.md?page=2)