There is no doubt that in 1999 The Wachowskis created a cultural phenomenon when they released The Matrix to the world. It was a seminal film that caught the world off guard with its ideas and award winning visuals, beating out the highly anticipated first movie in The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy at the Oscars. It can be hard to live up to all that hype and expectations. Over the years since, Lana and Lilly have consistently released films that have underperformed and failed to even come close to the level of critical success The Matrix received. Even The Matrix sequels left people cold with many feeling the concept had been played out by the time part three came along. Still, those sequels made money and Warner Bros. wanted to make more, intent on squeezing every last cent out of this diminishing franchise. The Wachowskis turned them down repeatedly and it seemed like this series was going to be forever wrapped up.
But as the years marched on and more and more financial failures came out of the Wachowski camp the need for a hit, something guaranteed to be profitable, became more and more apparent. Lily Wachowski stepped away but Lana stayed on knowing that a sequel would eventually get made with or without their involvement. With that in mind, Lana, along with two other writers, penned a sequel to a story that had been written with finality in mind. This needed to be a continuation to where part three ended, with the two main characters dead, yet needed to have them in it anyway. The Matrix wouldn’t be the same without Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss). What those writers came up with has the distinction of being original, at least. It’s also outright confusing, not for a lack of massive amounts of exposition to try and explain it all. And for a movie that the creators didn’t even want to make, it leaves things wide open for even more sequels so that Warner Bros. will indeed have the opportunity to ring this franchise for every last penny.
The film opens with Bugs (Jessica Henwick), captain of the hovercraft Mnemosyne, who has discovered a time loop within the Martix that re-enacts the moment when Trinity first found Neo. Shortly afterwards she discovers a program that somehow embodies Morpheus (originally played by Laurence Fishburn in the original trilogy). This version of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a program created by Neo who takes on traits of the original Morpheus. Bugs sets him free of The Matrix simulation and the two flee back to the real world.
Meanwhile Thomas Anderson, AKA Neo, is living within The Matrix, hidden behind physical changes making it nearly impossible for anyone from the real world to find him. In his new reality, Thomas is the creator of a video game based on his vague recollections of the events in the original Matrix films. He sees Tiffany, AKA Trinity, regularly at a coffee shop, but, although he feels drawn to her, has kept his distance. He also is plagued with images from his past life that have left him feeling a break from reality and visits a psychoanalyst who prescribes blue pills to suppress these memories. Recently Thomas has stopped taking them, though. Meanwhile Bugs, along with the new Morpheus, have located Neo and are working together to locate his real body so that they can extract him again and figure out how it is possible for him to still be alive. When this is finally accomplished, Neo sees the body of Trinity near where his was and insists that she too must be rescued, only getting to her will be nearly impossible and risks the safety of all the people who have been living in the real world.
The Matrix Resurrections feels like a film with one purpose in mind, resurrecting a dead franchise, literally. Everything about it is there to bring back the two leads who were definitively killed off last time. It’s like a bad chapter play where the hero goes over the cliff in a car that bursts into flames only to be miraculously saved in the next chapter. By bringing Neo and Trinity back from the dead it cheapens the ending of The Matrix Revolutions. It also handicaps this film into being little more than a greatest hits of the series with call backs all over the place. The worst of this is the crazy action set-pieces that were revolutionary back in 1999 but have been done to death since, becoming a parody of itself. There is nothing special anymore about wire-fu or bullet time. These technological break throughs from the 90’s are commonplace now and no longer distinguish a Matrix film from any number of generic action films.
Recasting also does Resurrections in. With the sixty year timeline jump in the real world it’s obvious why Lawrence Fishburn isn’t returning; that, coupled with the actor’s current age and physical limitations. Bringing in a new, digital, Morpheus and casting a new actor in that role was a wrong choice. Even worse is Agent Smith whose character wouldn’t have the aging issue Morpheus has. The writers were not confident enough in this property to create new characters to be antagonists to Neo and Trinity with the sole exception of The Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris). The Analyst is the single most interesting character in this film for no other reason than how Harris is playing it. His plan is nothing more than a bunch of techno-babble made up to justify bringing Neo and Trinity back from the dead. It all translates into something vague involving the two being close together generating a bunch of energy for the machines. With all that, he still manages to sell this absurd concept and even bring along a bit of menace, too. He’s no physical threat like Agent Smith but he’s a psychological threat and can fully manipulate The Matrix including the ominously named Swarm which turns everyone around them into suicidal assassins, some of which literally fall from the sky in their attempts to dive bomb the heroes.
When Resurrections is delving into new territory it does a good job stringing the audience along. This is The Matrix after all and even the original film was largely absurd but mesmerizing in its ideas and mythologies. It trips up often though when it tries to fall back on familiar tropes. There are also ample moments where there are glimpses of scenes from the previous movie that hammer things home unnecessarily. The call-backs to Fishburn’s Morpheus only serves to remind us of just how much that actor brought to the film and how much he is missed here. Other unnecessary call-backs come early on during a brainstorming session for the new Matrix video game Thomas Anderson is working on. His co-workers, including Christina Ricci in a cameo, start spouting what made the original game so cool, calling out things from the first Matrix movie as if to remind those of us watching Resurrections of what we thought was so cool back in the 90’s. It’s overly self-aware and reeks of desperation. We know what we liked in that film and don’t need a refresher.
This is a disappointing movie primarily because it’s a movie that shouldn’t have been made in the first place. The Matrix Trilogy was wrapped up nicely, the world saved and the two lead characters had sacrificed themselves to make that happen. By bringing them back like this it cheapens that sacrifice and feels like exactly what it truly is, a cash grab. This movie didn’t earn much at the box office, partially because of Covid-19 shutting down theaters and delaying releases but also because only die hard Matrix fans went to see it. Another trip to The Matrix didn’t appeal to the casual viewers out there. Still, as of this writing Warner Bros. has green-lit another film in this series. Hopefully this next time out they can ditch the over reliance on nostalgia and get back on firmer ground.
Release Date: December 22, 2021
Running Time: 148 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Jada Pinkett Smith
Directed By: Lana Wachowski
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