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

An intellectually bankrupt movie that spends approximately 15 minutes mocking the triviality of video games while stroking it's own nostalgic ego... I've played 1-man video games with more depth than this festering pile of trash. This movie is something, but it isn't good.

In a franchise like this (Star Wars, James Bond, Jurassic Park), you eventually reach the point where you realize that you've watched more bad films than good ones. The Matrix franchise is one excellent film, two middling films, and one utter piece of garbage. You start Matrix Resurrections in the middle of a nostalgia rehash of the original film, and you expect that it's just a plot device that will soon run it's course. And then it keeps going, and before you know it you're an hour into a film that is nothing but nostalgic call-backs to the original film, while trying to pretend that it's somehow not just a pathetic cash grab (that literally reuses footage from the original film).

Keanu looks like he's being held hostage, and like he's saying every line down the barrel of a gun. Despite 22 years of technological advancement, the effects are worse than the original film. If you paused a frame, the new film might look better, but in motion the effects are just jarringly bad. The acting is bad. The plot is stupid. It's really just the kind of film that I can't believe anyone even thought to make.