>>281932
It actually makes a ton of sense. It's just…too esoteric to really be appreciated by a wide audience (or even a slim one).
The best way to put it, I think, is that it felt like at some point they realized the narrative needed one thing, and to continue the strict neo-platonic Christian allegory would require another.
And so they chose the latter one. Which is why the desires of the characters seem totally unrelated to the direction the plot moves. Any impact they have is essentially zero, and their interaction solely there as a continuation from their (well written, I'd argue) development in the first movie. And for cool fight scenes.
Because it is pretty obvious that, once Neo gains his powers to do whatever the fuck he wants, there isn't really any need for the rest of the cast. This is no longer "neo and crew" story. It's just neo. Because anything anyone could do to impact the plot is meaningless compared to what he can do. Their necessity is built upon contrivances.
Take fishborne for example. I heard someone once argue that the first matrix is almost "morpheus journey" rather than neo's. That is how big a roll that character played. In the second one he is basically the B-track used for exposition. Then I think he has 5 minutes of screen time in the third movie.
Which sort of brings us back full circle.