Review of The Matrix Resurrections (2021) by Torgnyhylen — 26 Dec 2021

I really like the idea of The Matrix. I enjoyed all 3 even if I can acknowledge that their story choices weren't always the most statisfying to me. I could see the manga and anime influences in their choices and so I gave them a huge pass on all the Judeo-Christian messianic tropes that was the resolution of the trilogy. It didn't tie up all the loose ends... but it did "balance the equation". The animatrix (which was released between 2 and 3) was far more imaginative and did a lot for the world building. Having just recently rewatched all the 3 again in preparation for part 4, I think Reloaded (part 2) is my favourite. It all mostly holds up 20 years later, and while the first fares the worst because we've just seen it (and it has been riffed on) so many times... it's impact is just a little less than what it was. And #3 actually fares better this many years later, as all the questions that were bouncing around my head after #2 have all but evaporated in time... #3 is a tense fun ride. What all 3 of them have in common - regardless of plot - is tight editing, fantastic lighting and meaningful camera work.

So, the last thing I expected for part 4... is for any of those stables to be lacking. I thought that perhaps I may not like the plot or the handling of the resurrections... or all the old cast... or all the new cast... but I didn't imagine that I would be let down by shoddy editing, bad camerawork (especially during the fight scenes) and really awful lighting. The story itself is "meh" - it's a "save the princess" trope, which considering its pro feminist roots feels slightly odd. It doesn't really add to the world building more than a couple of novel ideas... but they're not really explored... just drive by "what ifs". It's incredibly self referential... it's written into the story that it is aware of the first 3 movies, aware of Warner Brothers (the production company) and actively talks about these things at you. It's meant to be played for laughs... but it was a little too much on the side of cringe. It of course also tries to pay homage to itself, by recreating old iconic shots... and all this does is throw a spotlight on the zero iconic shots this movie brings to the table (as well as show us that 20 years later, it's seemingly impossible to improve on those shots). The CGI and the art direction of the machines is top notch. They've defanged the sentinels with a weird drone-like sound effect which them less frightening, but they're hardly featured so fine. The art direction of the live set pieces isn't that great. Busy backgrounds, flat lighting, cut-cut-cut, over blurred images... means you cannot see the story of a fight scene. I wonder if Lana needs Lilly to make a good movie... cos by herself, this move feels exceptionally amateur in places. The big action set pieces are badly photographed, so you don't know the location... and the action on screen is so frenetic you cannot tell who's winning anywhere. They've also eschewed some of the staples of the franchise which made it iconic. You no longer need a hard line to get in and out of the matrix - thereby effectively killing any tension in this act. It seemingly can happen whenever the plot requires it. Thematically, it's the same theme as the trilogy (love conquers all)... which is fine. It's part of the DNA of the show, like the planet killing Death Stars are the DNA of every star wars story. It's fine... just a little on the nose. Fight scenes are a visual cutty mess. It's one of the few sci-fi franchises to feature an incredibly diverse cast, and that remains true which is great. Although one spends so little time with the new cast... they're all just very shallow coded stand ins (20yr old half asian woman with blue hair who is the captain of her ship and the youngest of her crew, who disobeys direct orders because she always knows best, never gets court martial although is threatened with it constantly, plays by the rule of cool, and just kinda stumbles harmlessly through the plot when she is required to with a loyal crew who will follow her to death... because?) is just presented as fact that we must accept. Keanu and Carrie are fine... not great. There's not much for them to do in the script. It's supposed to be about their love for one another, and while they do have chemistry... they're both in the 50s... and that romeo and juliet stuff just rings a little false. The movie's plot doesn't help here... with weird contrivance heaped upon one another until it just leaves no air for it to work. And then suddenly through the power of script writing, it does work. Neo spends most of the movie casting the "shield" spell, and there is a reversal of "Who Can Fly Now"... which isn't explained and feels little pandery. It is a badly made, badly told uninteresting tale. I don't think fans of the original will love this... and I don't know if newcomers (anyone under 25) is going to care.