I am probably going to see The Matrix Reloaded within a few hours, and I expect it to end in a cliffhanger, the same way The Empire Strikes Back, The Two Towers, and X2 did. Neo will undoubtedly prevail in the third installment, leading humanity to reclaim the surface of the Earth and break the bonds of their robot masters. The machines will definitely fall, but the philosophical currents of the story seem to require that they cannot return to their original role as humanity’s slaves now that the machines are sentient beings. The actors hinted at this on Charlie Rose, but I was already beginning to suspect it. Watching our big screen heroes acheive peace with such an irreconcilable enemy as the Agents and the squid/bug machine armies would convey a powerful message of hope that I doubt has escaped the much-lauded intelligence of the Wachowski brothers.