HipsterZOMBIEJoint Movie Review: Matrix Resurrections
HipsterZOMBIEJoint Experience
3 min read
Messy. Convoluted. Unnecessary. These 3 words make up the latest sequel to the newest entry into the Matrix franchise, “Resurrections.”
The film is produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski. It is the sequel to The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and the fourth installment in The Matrix film series. Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lambert Wilson, and Jada Pinkett Smith reprise their roles from previous films in the series, being joined by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The film was produced by Village Roadshow Pictures and Venus Castina Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
The film goes out of its way to completely retcon the original trilogy just to pretty much do it all over again. It’s not a retread per se but more like a really bad cover song. The film wants to be smart and very meta with its first 40 minutes but comes across more like a bad SNL skit making fun of the previous films.
Also I’m not sure why Warner Bros is continuing to allow their movies depict them as a greedy/buffoonish studio (Space Jam: A New Legacy did it earlier this year) but maybe it’s some kind of commentary but the director about who it’s the worst run studio in Hollywood.
The film also fails to bring back fan favorites like Hugo Weaving and Laurence Fishburne and instead replace them with two actors that are supposed to be Agent Smith and Morpheus but instead are just absolutely horrible.
As for the plot of the film, it’s all over the place.
Set sixty years after the events of Revolutions, the film follows Neo, who lives a seemingly ordinary life under his original identity as Thomas A. Anderson in San Francisco, but when a new version of Morpheus offers him the red pill and reopens his mind to the world of the Matrix, which has become more secure and dangerous in the years since the Smith infection, Neo joins a group of rebels to fight a new enemy.
The film completely retcons the trilogy in a way that seems borderline disrespectful and offensive to long time fans.
Keanu Reeves is especially wooden with his acting here as jokes fall completely flat and he feels like he is sleepwalking through the role this time.
The best new character introduced is Jessica Henwick’s (Iron Fist) “Bugs” character who at least bring new blood to this franchise and a character I would love to see more done with than Neo.
Overall the film wants to move the franchise forward but all it does is remind us the reason why the franchise has seen better days.
Despite some thrilling action scenes, even the wire-fu and bullet time here seems passé. Over the past two decades we have seen these once groundbreaking special effects perfected and done better in other films.
In closing, the worst offense a sequel can commit is to prove unnecessary it is. The Terminator and Predator franchises have been doing committing that crime for years. Now the Matrix has become a franchise still clinging to its glory years while producing lackluster sequels.
HipsterZOMBIEJoint Experience says pass on Matrix Resurrections.
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