The Matrix Resurrections is the fourth film in the Matrix series but this time only Lana Wachowski has returned to direct and co-write the script (her sister Lilly opted not to return) and this time Mr Anderson aka Neo (Keanu Reeves) is now a video game designer with the initial Matrix films now being a series of hit video games he helped make but a new Resistance movement has been looking for Neo and believes he’s still alive after the events of the Matrix Revolutions and it won’t be long before Neo has a choice to make, the Red Pill or the Blue Pill once again.
I can’t say that I was all that enthusiastic about this fourth Matrix film, the first film released in 1999 I think is as mythic and iconic as George Lucas’s original Star Wars movie in 1977 and by that I mean both films created a real mythology and world for their respective generations but unlike George following that up with the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Lana and Lilly Wachowski failed to deliver a good Matrix sequel with either Reloaded or Revolutions.
And now this fourth film is here without Lilly Wachowksi as well as Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus and Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith, only half the band is back in Lana Wachowski, Keanu Reeves as Neo and Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity not a good sign of things to come.
And well its not a complete loss this sequel, a lot of the meta commentary is kinda neat and certainly better done here than in Space Jam: A New Legacy earlier this year but it doesn’t really sustain itself throughout much of the film and its great to see Carrie-Anne Moss back as Trinity even if she doesn’t have as much screen time as she should in this film.
As for the rest of it well you’ve seen it all before, the Red Pill/Blue Pill choice, the Resistance and the Machines, the Jacking In, the big action scenes, the puppet master villain controlling the strings and this time it all feels so bloody repetitive and monotonous and I got a bit bored by it all, I didn’t think it was bad in any way this is a very nice looking film courtesy of cinematographers John Toll and Daniele Massacessi but that’s not really saying much now and a lot of the story beats here I felt were down in the Red Dwarf episode Back to Reality a lot better.
As for the rest of the cast, Keanu Reeves looks and sounds Bored throughout this whole film as if he had put Neo behind him but Lana gave him a pitch he couldn’t refuse so he came back but wasn’t really interested so phoned it in, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II an actor I’ve really enjoyed watching recently just isn’t a patch on Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus and feels more like the Cat from Red Dwarf but he’s the Duke of Death instead of the Duke of Dork, Jonathan Groff just doesn’t really have the same fine art of scenery chewing that Hugo Weaving does while Neil Patrick Harris and Jessica Henwick shine the best out of the newcomers but they also can be a bit dull at times.
But the worst thing about this movie by some measure is the action scenes and this is so disappointing to say given that Lana directed all of the action scenes herself but the way they are edited is fucking atrocious and I sat there in the cinema thinking “Where is Zack Staenberg when you need him” as this films editor Joseph Jett Sally severely drops the ball here, it all goes by so quickly and so fast and looks so blurry that it hurts your eyes to watch them and that incredible high energy action has been such a highlight of this series and to see this movie drop the ball like this is really really disappointing.
And so that was the Matrix Resurrections and look its not awful not in the least for it has its moments and its nice to look at but honestly I wouldn’t bother just watch the first film and leave it at that as there’s very little new here to justify this sequel apart from Lana Wachowski cashing in a long standing IOU from Warner Brothers, 2 out of 5.
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