The Matrix Resurrections — Review Thread

I haven't rewatched any of the movies in over 10 yrs.

Really wanted to go all-in on the feeling if being lost in the dense mumbo-jumbo.

About an hour in, and I'm really digging it so far, but I'm very confused.

I enjoyed this quite a bit.

The hammy stuff worked well in context, and I had a few good moments think about free will, humanity, and stuff. Groff and Harris were great. One cameo actor from a sequel steals the damn show.

The last 5 minutes is kinda cringy, but it makes sense as a reflection of the filmmakers transition. Doesn't really knock it back too much for me.

8/10.

I enjoyed it quite a bit. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings to sort through to figure out exactly where I stand but I was pretty well captivated from beginning to end. I was certainly wrapped up in the romance story elements and I also loved seeing how the world and characters have grown since Revolutions. In general I love how the movie manages to critique the endless regurgition of franchise IPs but still offers a thoughtful continutation of the characters and world.

There are some elements I'm not completely sold on, like the handling of Smith or how on the nose some of the meta elements are, but these too have their positive virtues. Really, it's hard to be too down on anything in The Matrix Resurrections. Even if it isn't the perfect film experience of the original, the movie is so consistently creative and thoughtful and interesting.

Hard to rank with the rest of the series (I will forever be a card-carrying sequel fan) but I had a great time. If nothing else I suspect I'll be thinking about it for a while.

I liked it

I dunno, it could have been much better. I found myself a lot more interested in "Smith" and NPH/Machines as characters than this non-reboot/reboot. A lot of cringe moments, too. Did Trinty's return have to be followed by her being called a MILF?

**/****

If anything, I see this as a positive.

When it comes to films that truly were transcendent, influential, pop-culture phenomenons, a movie that will undoubtedly come up fast is The Matrix. Since releasing in 1999, it's almost impossible to accurately say just how much has been influenced by the sci-fi blockbuster that redefined action filmmaking forever. It's a movie that I myself have seen countless times, and like all true masterpieces I pick up more of the many intricate details that the Wachowskis ensconced in their incredible world building every time I revisit it. Naturally, sequels followed, and I recently revisited them too before seeing the fourth installment. The sequels have their fans, but I'm not one of them. Gone was the noir-leaning style, the clever practical effects work, and most importantly the heady but always accessible plotting in place of several scenes of irrelevant side characters pontificating in endless platitudes and lazy CGI that felt far, far away from what made the original so mesmerizing. Still, The Matrix is a franchise ripe with possibilities and lore - as explored in the superior to the sequels: The Animatrix - and with the surge in popularity surrounding America's sweetheart Keanu Reeves coupled with the string of box office bombs and critical flops by the Wachowskis since The Matrix Revolutions, we finally reached the inevitable: a fourth installment. 

Despite my indifference towards Reloaded and Revolutions (the latter of which is a pretty terrible movie) I was very intrigued by what Lana Wachowski (Lilly sat this one out) had drubbed up in the nearly two decades since the third film. I was certain that it would follow the trend of most reboots where it's a glossy retread of the original, and I was absolutely wrong on that front. Wachowski quite knowingly bucks this trend outright, electing for a lot of meta conversations about the struggle for artistry against a corporation's financial interest (here she calls out Warner Bros. by name) and the incessant debate from critics and audiences alike about their interpretations of said art and the constant dig for alternative meanings and overanalyzing that's likely driven her a bit mad. For some this sequence will annoy, but I found it to be far and away the most interesting part of the film and perhaps the only intrigue generated in the picture's entirety.

Neo (Keanu Reeves) is not Neo anymore but is back to being Thomas Anderson. He's a top game designer who has put his "experiences" from the original trilogy into the most popular games in the world, literally called The Matrix. The meta overload is a lot to ingest, but its jarring nature impressed me instantly and I knew that whatever the rest of the film plays out as that The Matrix Resurrections at least presents the most philosophical existentialism to chew on since the original. Wachowski, whether it be from bitterness at having to make this movie due to the numerous flops since or the agony of living under the shadow of her magnum opus that she'll never top, is aware of what the fans want in a fourth installment and gives everyone the finger, Neo-style. Wachowski had the nerve to purposefully subvert everything people have dreamed another visit to the Matrix could bring, and despite the movie itself being an almost total failure I have to really applaud her for going this route. The problem with being snarky towards the Hollywood machine and the overly knowing tone that Resurrections takes is that it doesn't actually do anything to distinguish itself in the end, and as the movie plods along it becomes clear that as groundbreaking as the original film was, Resurrections feels stale and behind the eight ball every scene after its fun early diatribes. I had this same problem with the Deadpool films, where they were so quick to point out the generic elements that its peers take on while at the same time falling prey to many of those exact same conventions and tropes. Resurrections doesn't ever really become a blockbuster in the traditional sense, but it doesn't present a lot to grab onto either.

Let's start with the action, which most people compartmentalize the merits of the franchise around. The credentials of the original don't need to be listed here, as it's become satirical for years to use the bullet time, back-bending, lobby shootout sequences as backdrops. The sequels, for all of their narrative faults, also offered up some dazzling action especially the freeway chase in Reloaded (which was one of the few scenes that improved for me on a rewatch) or Neo's climactic fight with Agent Smith in the rain in Revolutions. Resurrections doesn't have a signature moment, and even worse what was once fresh is now as stale as can be. The action choreography feels uninspired, and it's not helped by the action being shot in too many closeups and mids that's all choppily edited together. Neo's tricks are the same from before, though now he sort of force-pushes obstacles out of his way over and over with none of it looking particularly good. The first three films all had moments that dazzled the audience, whether it was from the clever fight choreography or the frenetic shootouts or even the silly mech suits from the third film, and in Resurrections there just isn't one. Even the climactic chase sequence through the streets of San Francisco feels like a middle of act two action sequence, and despite the signature horns blaring while cars are flipped over in slow-motion and the bullet time mayhem around everyone, none of it lingers in the mind.

Even worse than the lackluster action is the film's plot line and handling of new characters. If you have to keep asking yourself why all of this is happening and why does it matter, you're not alone. For all the doomsday scenario silliness of the original trilogy, you never questioned that what was at stake was the end of humanity if Neo can't defeat the machines or at least broker the peace that he achieves at the end of Revolutions. That peace has been broken, and while it sort of works for why Neo and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) are back this time around it all feels very forced and insignificant. We're given a lot of sequences of Neo talking with either Smith (Jonathan Groff, who despite his best efforts can't come close to Hugo Weaving) or The Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris) in endless platitudes of what can't be achieved, and then at the mere mention of Trinity and love is able to prove them wrong with some eruptions of his reawakening power. The sequels suffered from this as well, but at least they stacked some fun action in-between. We're not so lucky with Resurrections, which doubles down on the gibberish while not delivering any of the fun.

In terms of these new faces, I enjoyed the performance by Jessica Henwick as Bugs despite her not getting much to do, but found the handling of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) to be extremely clunky and unsatisfying. Abdul-Mateen is a terrific actor, and I can appreciate him attempting to create his own interpretation of a character as synonymous with the franchise as Neo is, but it just doesn't work. Morpheus, for all of his prophetic pondering and spartan use of dialogue to arrive at his conclusions in the original, became a total throwaway in the sequels in favor of forgettable side characters and things aren't much better this time around either. The rest of the cast are members of the ship's crew who you instantly forget the moment they're introduced. We even get a trip to the new sort of Zion to reunite with Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith), but this is perhaps the worst string of sequences in the film. Anytime in the sequels that we weren't in the Matrix was where the films languished the most, drudged down in stupid bureaucracy (the Zion council had to be among the worst ideas the Wachowskis presented) and idle chatter of what should and shouldn't be done. This is the same result in Resurrections, and even worse we're treated to some comically bad moments of the machines that have turned good interacting with the humans that feel straight out of a George Lucas re-edit. 

For all of its musings on forging a different kind of sequel, Resurrections is annoyingly unable to let go of its past. We're subjected to several clip shows from the past three films, all of which feel completely out of place and get downright annoying after awhile. I don't think this would be an issue if, like I bemoaned earlier, Resurrections had anything new up its sleeve to present. Wachowski is sticking to her guns that we all know this can't top the original, so let's give you some fan service callbacks to appease everyone and then just half-ass this new entry. These are the most frustrating kinds of films, where you have actual expectations for where the story could go and the ideas it could chase down only to see none of them come to fruition. The original film was steeped in the last gasp of twentieth century technology, with pay phones and computer hacking at the forefront of communication, travel, and connection. We now live in a world completely consumed by technology, and none of that comes to play this time around. This is probably the most disappointing aspect of Resurrections, in that for all of Wachowski's pontificating about art and impact and retreads that she didn't do anything to bring The Matrix into contemporary society. Isn't control and submission easier than ever now that we're so betrothed to our phones? Shouldn't the machines be able to maintain their power and even be able to show people the real world and the Matrix and push them towards a free will decision of a life of technology and control and image over a real one of suffering and rebellion? These are just simple ideas I've thrown out there, but even still they're more than anything Wachowski attempts, who seems content to avoid this altogether. She can huff and puff about her art no longer being hers and the trappings of Hollywood and success, but in the end she elects for car chases, explosions, and shootouts over the thought provoking ideas that truly made the original film so beloved. The Matrix Resurrections is ultimately not a retread or an assembly-line reboot, but it doesn't bring anything to the table itself either which makes it the most disappointing entry of all despite moments of occasional intrigue.

5/10

SnoBorderZero had the chance to dickdown Jessica Henwick and missed out. His opinion can’t be trusted.

SnoBorderZero: *Spends an hour writing a review to ignite discussion*

Neverending: Yeah but who did you bang?

I'm in the minority, in that I'm someone who actually enjoys the first two Matrix sequels and appreciates what they were trying to do, but for obvious reasons, was never sold on the idea of further films in the series...until the first trailer for this movie came out, and what a trailer it was. It was enough to "free my mind" to the possibility of a fourth Matrix movie and the resulting film, while not living up to that trailer, are still pretty good.