Review of The Matrix Resurrections (2021) by Adamendetail — 23 Dec 2021

Honestly, I'm a fan of Wachowski movies. I think they're special filmmakers - unconventional and somewhat profound. From The Matrix to Cloud Atlas to Jupiter Ascending, and even the much maligned Matrix Revolutions I've found them all brilliantly intriguing. However, The Matrix Resurrections is a different movie.

It differs so much from its original trilogy the only commonalities they share are their titles and characters. This movie looks modern, polished, and very in the times - a whole lot more than the trilogy that precedes it but it unfortunately, ends up feeling much cheaper and very conventional.

There's some beautiful CGI and Visual Effects, some of which is entirely impressive. So the movie looks good enough and properly 2021. It also presents concepts that shine and introduce some new ideas or implementations of AI programs in cinema. And this is one of only a few positives the movie offers - positives are few and far between. While, it also does an OK job of representing aspects of our current world within the context of The Matrix.

The movie certainly doesn't take itself too seriously. It does not try to be revolutionary and while that could have been a plus, in the end, it plays out negatively. The plot is weak, sterile and unexciting. Its action sequences are poor and barring the casting of Neil Patrick Harris as The Analyst and Toby Onwumere as Seq most of the cast of the movie while talented - seem completely out of place, and uninspired. As if, they were simply - easy and convenient casting choices.

Every Matrix movie from the original trilogy was about a world vast and deep, with consequences that carried a whole lot more purpose for everyone linked to that world including its audiences, this movie however is based upon simpler, less interesting, less impactful - terms. There's some sprinkling of profundity within The Matrix Resurrections but throughout the movie it seems to be battling with the depths and grandeur of its past so much that it fails, and cannot realize its purpose. It cannot escape the shadow of its predecessors, it does not separate itself from them, and it ends up being worse off as a result.

It tries to do too much and explain too much all in one movie. So much so that this fourth installment alone could be a trilogy of its own, which I think would have helped the story and its characters - but here, everything is rushed and packed into this singular title that just ends up feeling a little ambitious but truly disjointed. While sometimes literally trying to recreate its past.

This is probably not only the poorest Matrix movie but also the poorest and most meaningless Wachowski Movie. Perhaps, the point was to kill any hope, idea, or possibility of the franchise having a future. Because this is a lifeless, conventional, and unfortunate disappointment.