Review of The Matrix Resurrections (2021) by Dharma — 22 Dec 2021

Being released near Spider-man No Way Home shows two different trajectories for 2 different franchises, a 'creative' auteur lead like the Matrix or the MCU, also led by Feige, a 'business' auteur. The Watchowskis did not expect their Matrix to become a cultural phenomenon.

As such, both of its sequels fell into the usual trap of topping itself. They both failed miserably. This time around, Lana sans her sister attempt to provide a follow up, serving their exact sensibility and commentary to today's audiences.

The result is a divisive response. Where are all the old casts? Where are the so called bullet time level innovations? Guess what folks. There is none of that here. The action sequences are surprisingly very lukewarm.

There is no attempt to top the previous efforts. Even Watchowsky in a meta way commented about it. Yet, what we cannot deny is that this is a labor of love for all involved, and seeing Reeves and Anne-Moss back again, and the surprising and heart felt storyline is worth the price of admission for old fans like me.

The original Matrix is more like a thriller, and when this Matrix is in that mode, it delivers that suspense. So to summarize, it is better than the previous two efforts but is not the original, which is a 'one in a million' kind of film.