The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

Movie Info

Resurrected and it feels so bland

Game programmer Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) created a mind-bending, wildly successful video game called The Matrix which blended real world and computers and asked players to image if the world surrounding them is actually reality.  Now Anderson has been asked to revisit The Matrix and the psychological problems that The Matrix created in his life are resurfacing despite the help from his analyst (Neil Patrick Harris).  As Anderson starts to question the world around him again the appearance of a woman called Tiffany (Carrie-Anne-Moss) who resembles her in-game counterpart Trinity further pushes Anderson to the edge…is The Matrix real and how can he be alive if it is?

This whole movie kind of feels like a slo-mo bullet to the head

Directed by Lana Wachowski who helped write it with David Mitchell and Aleksander Hemon, The Matrix Resurrections is a science-fiction action-adventure film.  The movie is the fourth entry in The Matrix series and follows The Matrix Revolutions from 2003.  It was released to mixed reviews and premiered in theaters and on HBO Max due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I liked The Matrix, but didn’t love The Matrix.  It was a fun movie with some interesting concepts, but it was also concepts that had been explored elsewhere (and sometimes to a better extent) wrapped in a glossy, high-octane package of special effects.  The Matrix Resurrections tries to do something different while keeping in The Matrix wheelhouse, but lacks the energy and punch of the original.

Meet virtuo-Morpheus. Kind of like a more helpful Alexa

The story is high concept sci-fi which is both admirable and mind-numbing.  Much of the technobabble of the film comes off as gobbledygook science and that is combined with really bad dialogue.  The story meanders through the first half where Neo must realize he’s in the Matrix (or a Matrix) again and free himself.  Then, in typical Matrix fashion, he and a team must go back into the Matrix to free Trinity…it feels like it has been done before but with more fun.

It is good to revisit the cast, and I still love the chemistry between Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves.  Laurence Fishburne is replaced with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Morpheus and the fun new spirited character of Bugs played by Jessica Henwick.  Hugo Weaving likewise is replaced by an updated version of Smith played by Jonathan Groff and Neil Patrick Harris does his normal Neil Patrick Harris thing.  The film also features appearances by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Christina Rici, Telma Hopkins, and Jada Pinkett Smith playing a really bad old person.

Ever have one of those placed-in-a-simulated-world-and-wake-up-with-armored-helicopters-pointed-at-you type days?

The Matrix was revolutionary.  It pulled a lot of high-end specially effects together and presented them in a slick package that has managed to hold up over the years.  This Matrix lacks the punch…literally.  There are a lot of jokes about the depowered Neo who was virtually a Superman in the original trilogy, but there is a lack of energy all around.  The fights, gunfights, and special effects seem to have less kinetic energy and are also less…special.  It feels like a very average action movie that is trying to imitate The Matrix.

The Matrix Resurrections is the potential start for a new Matrix franchise, but unlike The Matrix which started out on strong legs that stumbled, The Matrix Resurrection starts out on weak legs.  It is possible that a sequel to this movie would improve upon it as opposed to the last time The Matrix reared its head, but with three out of the four movies (we won’t count The Animatrix or the games) being not very good, I have doubts that visiting The Matrix for a fifth time is a good idea.

Related Links:

The Matrix (1999)

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

The Animatrix (2003)