The Matrix Resurrections
Written by Cameron Geiser
We've been here before. Something mysterious, yet familiar. Déjà vu anyone? The fourth film in the Matrix series is now out in theaters, and before I dive too far into any details, I personally enjoyed the film quite a lot. I knew almost nothing other than seeing the first trailer before taking the plunge — and I recommend that you do the same. Discovering the mystery of what's actually happening in this one is half of the fun, at least in my experience.
So, how is there even a fourth movie in the franchise after the third film, Revolutions, seemingly ended the trilogy pretty definitively? Well, the film does answer that, but the crucial bit here is that Keanu Reeves' Neo is in a very similar headspace as most audience members are at the onset of this film. Confusion, manipulation, choice, mirage, truth, illusion — what even is real, man? Having reverted back to his original namesake in Thomas Anderson, Neo has become a video game designer in a 2021 version of the Matrix in which the first three films of the series were his creation, and they were insanely profitable. There's an awful lot of extremely meta (no, not that one) dialogue about artistic endeavors, about the Matrix IP itself, and about how its creators probably feel about it all. It all has a point in the story that I thought was pretty clever, but if that made you roll your eyes just now reading this, then this film may not be for you.
As the plot eventually opens itself up over the course of the film, you'll discover some interesting world building choices. How has the world changed after Neo's sacrifice in the last film? Why does the Matrix even still exist? And who are these seemingly familiar characters we keep meeting? Well, I won't tell you, but I will say what worked and didn't work for me in this film. The action and cinematography choices all worked for me personally, though there wasn't any particularly huge “wow” factors, it was a lot of rinse and repeat from the first trilogy — but I'm okay with that. That may be a thread throughout most of the film that could let down some viewers. The film does some interesting story things, but nothing groundbreaking.
At the end of the day the story, in my interpretation anyways, is about the rejection of being controlled, or manipulated, and choosing love over corporate bullshit. I smiled quite a bit at several key scenes late in the film that essentially boiled down to the fact that Lana Wachowski still has that rebellious filmmaker spirit, and I'm here for that. Though there are still some of the same issues that have plagued Wachowski films in the past. There's a bit too much over-explanation, things can feel clunky at times like in Cloud Atlas. Occasionally some characters may feel out of place, and a few moments can feel as though they echoed out from Jupiter Ascending. Though, let me be clear, I thought this movie ruled and is in no way as “bad” as Jupiter Ascending.
For their parts, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss were class acts and slipped right back into those roles with ease. Newcomers to the series in Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, and Jessica Henwick were all standouts and had great performances within this new film. The last thing I'll note is that this one is clearly an anti-reboot sequel. It doesn't do what you may want or expect, and I quite enjoyed the rebellious spirit of this film. Go check it out; for my money, it's worth the price of admission.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.