Review of The Matrix Resurrections (2021) by Cattastrofic — 30 Dec 2021

People will say 'oh but enjoyment is subjective', and of course it is. I completely understand that people can sit through something awful, be unaware that it's awful, and then enjoy it, and good for them. But, just because you think something is good, does not make it so. I for one, absolutely **** hated this film. I grew up watching the trilogy, people bash the second and third instalment but at the age of thirteen, the scene in The Matrix Reloaded where Neo fights off a hundred-or-so Smith clones to the 'Burly Brawl' track, is one of my favourite scenes in cinema, to date. The problem with the people enjoying this film, the same crowd who sung the praises of the absolute turd that was The Rise of Skywalker, spout things like 'but you got to see Neo and Trinity on screen again'. You do realise it's possible for you to see those characters on screen, AND for the film to be excellent? The two aren't mutually exclusive?

'Oh how was the birthday party?'

'Oh well the house burned to the ground but there was cake at least'. Jesus christ people. Have some kind of even moderate expectation in an art form worth BILLIONS of dollars. Fans like myself have been waiting some seventeen years for this sequel. So, when you spew absolute crap like 'Oh but the director didn't want to even make a sequel' or 'it advances the story of the trilogy, think about this; it doesn't. The film starts by telling us word for word, that the original three films weren't actually of any significance, they were video games. So, instant recognition for the source material completely pissed up the wall. 'Our parent company Warner Brothers... they want another sequel'

'What!?'

That's a line in the actual bloody film! How much adoration do you feel a director deserves, when they rock up to start filming and their attitude is 'Hmph, I don't like the fact that I'm being made to do this so I'm going to steamroll it'. Let me ask you this; how many sequels have you seen, where actual footage from previous chapters is used over and over again in the new one? No? The director makes you sit through a film, which rehashes scenes you've seen before (Neo fighting Morpheus in the Dojo was an insult and ten times worse than what it was 22 years ago) - THEN shows the original footage alongside it. So you're seeing the same scenes, twice over. What about the establishment of characters? Well, Neo and Trinity are back (which seems to be the ONLY positive anyone can find) but Morpheus and Agent Smith, arguably two of the most iconic hero and villains respectively, nowhere to be seen. Is their absence neatly written so that it at least makes sense? Nope. Morpheus is now a parody of the character he helped establish, and Hugo Weaving has been replaced by... exactly. There's also no lightning fast choreography which was such a huge part and appeal of the original trilogy, camerawork is janky and relies on rapid shot-changes to distract you from the fact that nothing worth seeing is even happening, and the acting is absolutely abysmal. Did you want a sequel which expanded on the franchise, or did you want a sequel which mocks the originals, cancels them out as 'Oh that stuff didn't actually happen', and spend most of the runtime showing you scenes you've seen before, albeit worse? The escape scene with Trinity, red pill/blue pill, the Dojo, Neo discovering 'none of this is real', it was all in the first film.

Oh but because I thought this film was **** I didn't understand it, or I'm 'transphobic' because Lana Wachowski is now a woman. Nope, it's just a horrible film and I could've written something better quite comfortably myself.