The Matrix Resurrections
Director: Lana Wachowski
Screenwriters: Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell, Aleksandar Hemon
Cinematographers: Daniele Massaccesi, John Toll
Production Companies: Village Roadshow Pictures, Venus Castina Productions
Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures
Release Date: 22 December 2021
Runtime: 2 hours 28 minutes
MPA Rating: R
Availability: Theaters, HBO Max
Synopsis
It’s time for us all to get plugged back into the Matrix in Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections. We start the story with one Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), a successful yet jaded videogame developer best known for his “signature creation”, The Matrix. When his snaky boss Smith (Jonathan Groff) informs him that their higher-ups – literally Warner Brothers – have tasked Anderson with delivering a reboot of his masterpiece, he begrudgingly obliges. However, frequent visions and random interactions with the mysterious figures Morpheus and Bugs (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jessica Henwick, respectively) lead Thomas to believe that his world may not be as real as he once thought. It’s now up to him to decide whether to remain sedated in the dream or have his eyes opened to reality.
Analysis
[***SPOILER WARNING: I can’t see any way of talking about this movie without discussing major plot details. If you don’t want to be spoiled, make sure to skip ahead to my conclusion.***]
I was surprised by the number of new elements that this film introduced to advance the franchise. For starters, it was nice for the story to actually build upon the original trilogy rather than simply start from scratch. Having a machine civil war over limited resources culminate in a new Matrix and some machines joining the humans to create the underground city of IO (aka “New Zion”) is a natural consequence of The Matrix Revelations. And rather than being superfluous, these events are foundational to the plot and provide the necessary context for understanding many characters’ motivations. Secondly, humans’ and machines’ use of new tech made the world feel like 60 years actually had passed. For instance, I really enjoyed watching Sequoia (Toby Onwumere) provide real-time assistance to rebel fighters in the Matrix via hologram and thought the way that sentient programs like Morpheus and Sati (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) interfaced with the real world was pretty creative. On top of that, adding new Matrix elements like teleportation mechanics and “primal” programs from the old Matrix – such as The Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) –provided a nice change of pace to actions sequences that took place there. Thus, it was comforting to know that the events of the original trilogy clearly made a difference in this world, and the addition of new technologies made the world fresh and dynamic.
The caliber of acting displayed here is also fantastic. First on the list is Reeves’s turn as a much more vulnerable Thomas Anderson / Neo. By coming across as forlorn and manic, Reeves strongly conveys how emotionally traumatized Neo is by the events from his past. You can still catch shadows of doubt and grief in his speech and fighting style even after he’s red-pilled. His character certainly evolves throughout the film, though, so we still get “cool and confident” Neo by the end. But regardless, Reeve’s performance brought a lot more pathos and humanity to the character of Neo, and rather than seeing him as “cyber Jesus”, I was instead able to empathize with a character who’d clearly been through a lot. However, I have to say that my favorite character was hands down Henwick’s Bugs. The fact that Bugs is capable, caring, and very inspirational, in addition to sometimes acting rashly given her inexperience, is what makes her instantly likable and relatable. This is obviously how the screenwriters wrote the character, but Henwick’s ability to effectively embody these attributes truly fleshes out Bugs and makes her authentic. This authenticity is why I found scenes where Bugs gets way in over her head simultaneously nerve-wracking and hilarious, and why I rooted more for her than anyone else when she was working with a group. Bugs feels distinctly fresh in a franchise that gravitates towards more melancholic and cool characters, and fingers crossed that more Matrix movies come out so that we can see more of her. But don’t take my highlighting of Reeves and Henwick as proof that the rest of the cast wasn’t amazing. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II marries the “coolness” of Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus with some swagger and humanity, and Carrie-Anne Moss brings a lot of nuance to Trinity while still capturing the character’s badass nature – despite having a criminally small amount of screentime. So because of how stellar everyone’s performances were, I became emotionally invested to the point where I never stopped worrying about characters’ wellbeing.
All that being said, the lack of an overarching theme to drive the plot confused me. The movie is part meta-commentary on The Matrix franchise and reboots, part analysis of what sedatives Americans are taking today to stay in “our Matrix” (e.g., being absorbed in screens, living a very structured and mundane life without question, etc.) part critique of the patriarchy, and part discussion of free will, amongst other topics. Because there are so many concepts the film is interested in exploring, it doesn’t analyze any in depth; instead, the movie presents as a loose collection of ideas that have been haphazardly thrown together and forced to cooperate. And despite the film having an obvious conclusion, it doesn’t deliver a verdict on any topic that’s particularly nuanced or interesting. Thus, the lack of a coherent message made it difficult to figure out what I should be feeling by the time the credits rolled.
Additionally, the film suffers from trying too hard to stick to the Matrix formula. Once again we have Neo learning the truth about his reality and choosing to take the red pill; then joining a ragtag group of freedom fighters – who are again based out of an underground city – to take on The Matrix; somewhere along the way realizing that he has “special powers”; going head-to-head with a variety of adversaries, most notably his nemesis, Smith (this time the “agent” is silent); before the story culminates in a bombastic third act fight where the heroes (and symbolically free will) reign supreme. The action, while impressive, doesn’t really innovate on the type of action seen in previous Matrix movies. And on top of all that, the movie expects the viewer to already be familiar with the original franchise by having Neo’s relationship with Trinity play such a pivotal role. Now it’s clear that by introducing new characters and a new dynamic between the machines and humans, Wachowski / Warner Bros. are at least interested in taking the franchise in a new direction. However, having the plot closely revolve around Neo and Trinity signals that Wachowski / Warner Bros. prioritized bringing back the diehard fans rather than setting a new path for the franchise to go down. So in the end, there’s nothing “so new” about the movie’s plot that Matrix fans won’t be able to pick up on the obvious similarities between this entry and the first, and newcomers will likely be lost by not having watched the first three.
Conclusion
In summary, The Matrix Resurrections makes for a fine watch. Building off the original trilogy and showcasing great performances breathes life into this film, yet it handicaps itself by trying to be too deep and too tied to the franchise’s past. But while the movie has its flaws, it certainly isn’t your run-of-the-mill cheap and hollow franchise reboot; the heart of this film is evident in the actors giving it their all, its earnest attempt to speak on a number of topics, and even the film’s decision to rely on practical effects heavily. So I’m sure you’ll have an ok to fairly enjoyable time watching this movie, but feel free to check it out on HBO Max rather than in a theater.