The Matrix Resurrections review: Keanu Reeves, Carrie Anne Moss and Priyanka Chopra among others star in Lana Wachowski's latest addition to the franchise.
The Matrix trilogy has always focused on love.
Despite his humanity-saving, peace-promoting responsibilities as The One, for Neo it was always about the Trinity. His love for her brought him back from the brink of death at the end of The Matrix (1999). Hers is the life he chose to save mankind in the final scene of Reloaded (2003). He is the one who gave his life to fulfill his destiny and help end the war in Revolution (2003). It's a kind, reassuring thought. Even within its endlessly dissected spectacle and spirituality, heady philosophies and grand, good versus evil, man versus machine stakes, The Matrix movies are, at their essence, about love.
The Matrix Resurrection, the fourth part that was supposed to be a trilogy, doubles down on this love story, attempting to once again flip through and question what we know about The One and his journey. It's not about them anymore, it's about them.
Goosebump-inducing familiar scores and now-iconic streams of the Green Code trickle down the screen in the opening credits, throwing us back into the Matrix, where we meet an older, shakier, more precarious Thomas Anderson (repeating the unique Keanu Reeves). See you. role after 18 years). Once again, Thomas tells of his repetitive, empty life, knowing that deep down, something is not quite right about the world in which he lives.
Watch the Matrix Resurrection Trailer:
But unlike Thomas Anderson who was introduced to us 22 years ago in The Matrix, this is not Thomas the Hacker. He is a world-renowned game designer responsible for creating the beloved Matrix trilogy (here a series of games, not movies). Neo lives on (no surprise there) and his mind is once again being held captive by the machines. But to keep feeding her blue pills and assuring that this fake reality is real, this version of the Matrix doesn't deny her past, embraces it. He is convinced that all his memories of the battles of The One and Morpheus and Trinity, The Oracle, The Architect, Zion and Agent Smith, all happened in his imagination. Memories that are nothing but stories from a famous series of games he created and that his fractured, delusional mind has come to believe are real. Also in Thomas Anderson's new virtual prison is soccer mom Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss), who calls herself Tiffany. She is attracted to Thoman for reasons unknown, and like him, she feels as though she is living a life that is not her own.
This insanely good first leg of director Lana Wachowski's film (half of the Wachowski siblings responsible for the iconic first three films)—which I'm calling Metatrix—is easily the most intriguing and promising. Young fans come to Thomas in public places and tell him how The Matrix series changed his life. His cynical business partner Smith (Mindhunter's Jonathan Groff) tells him, "Warner Bros. has threatened to make a sequel to the trilogy". What follows is a boardroom full of people and marketing nerds (including a charming cameo from our own Purab Kohli) discussing the appeal of the Matrix series and where this new sequel is headed. Someone says, "Matrix is Mind Porn". Another insists that it is about politics and religion. "It can't be just another reboot", while someone else adds "all you need is louder action and more bullet time... something to keep the kids entertained".
Thus, among the triumphs of the resurrection are the ideas he seeks. Not only does it constantly poke fun at the nature of the sequels and reboots themselves, it's not just a continuation of the Matrix trilogy, it's all about the trilogy. An audible to The Matrix movies themselves.
And once again, Neo needs to be freed from his fake captivity and free his mind. There are Bugs (an earnest Jessica Henwick) working with this free-of-mind heist. Bugs and his crew have been looking for Neo for years. Helping her out is also a mysterious new Morpheus (a brilliant artist Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). As they try to retrieve it, we are reunited in a changed world. Writers Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell and Alexander Heyman offer promising ideas on how this world expands and the equation that develops between man and machine after the events of the Revolution.
And yet, while I’m still processing much of Resurrections (it certainly and urgently requires a second viewing) and what it really adds to the Matrix legacy, what I can't shake off is what is lost. Aside from the wider plot and familiar faces, it seems to strip away all the specificity that makes these movies the most defining and rightfully celebrated sci-fi movies ever made (I remain a staunch defender of all three). Movies known for intoxicating storytelling that made the originals far greater than the sum of their electrifying parts. The distinct visual style, exhilarating action, philosophical rabbit holes, cyberpunk meets goth aesthetic and thoughtful editing. Even the sound design demanded you feel every punch, kick and backflip. Everything in those films lived in service of and contributed to one of the most distinctive cinematic blockbuster experiences seen on screen.
There is very little of that in the resurrection. The often snappy and distracting editing and action sequences are at their best. Grand showdowns, such as Neo and Smith head-to-head, barely have as much weight and thrill as the scenes from 20 years ago (it's a feat after two decades to somehow step back on the fight scenes). There isn't a single memorable action set-piece on offer here that stays with you. In short, there's a lot of color, a lot of firepower, and a lot of generosity to it all.
I'm sure I'll eventually be told by some write-up or troll that this was intentional in some way, and I've completely missed the plot or the big Matrix-y metaphor staring me in the face. Something about how it really makes me want to respond, and it's really so meta that it's referencing its own shortcomings... or something. I'll leave it for more developed minds to understand.
Resurrection also loses its power by shifting its focus from Neo to the Neo-Trinity love story, without giving much in return. A big part of what makes these films so compelling is Neo and his inner journey of watching a man grappling with the burden of a responsibility he doesn't understand, slowly comes into its own and learns to believe. And he's never been less interesting than a revival. Aside from the early Metatrix parts, where we yearn to see him free, we care about him here only because of what happened before, not because of what unfolded here.
Likewise, the new characters aren't as flashy as they came before. Other than Jessica Henwick's bugs and Yaha's scene-stealing Morpheus, the other characters have little to offer. Priyanka Chopra as Sati and the rest of the crew of Bugs has very little to do. But most of all, as the original movies showed us, even the smartest, most sophisticated action movies are only as good as their villains and here are neither Jonathan Groff the New Smiths or Neil Patrick Harris the Analyst. As come close to Hugo's piercing presence. Helmut Bakitis the Architect's Weaving or Count Cold.
In the end Resurrections works better as a meta exploration of the impact of The Matrix movies than as a satisfying, and more importantly, necessary, follow-up. One that is so busy on us that it runs the risk of giving us a headache. At its best it feels like deja vu - a glitch in the Matrix's legacy.
The Matrix Resurrections
Director: Lana Wachowski
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie Anne Moss, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and others