Review of The Matrix Resurrections (2021) by Not-Important — 26 Dec 2021

This movie was always going to be in a difficult position; given how the story was entirely completed with Revolutions; and in the beginning it feels like the film was built around that difficulty. In the first leg of the film, Resurrections seems like it's trying to be a self aware satire of the industry and tribute to the original film; yet this dynamic fades away quickly, and eventually changes to just a boring, poorly paced retread of the franchise's tropes without any of the charm.

Once the second act starts, this movie just runs out of energy. Story beats from the original film are dug up and re-used in just the right way to feel genuinely pointless without even invoking nostalgia.

The way characters are re-introduced, (especially the ones played by different actors)feels inorganic, and ultimately just comes across as futile. These returning characters feel like bad imitations of themselves, and the actual backstory linking the events of the previous films seems forced; the fact that this was never planned when the original series was made is painfully clear.

Even if you can look past the disappointing plot the action scenes this series is known so well for really don't do much to come across as special in this one. While there are some memorable moments, the spectacle in this movie is at best almost on par with the original series, and at its worst incomprehensible.

TL;DR This movie is competently made, and in the beginning genuinely interesting, but it quickly devolves into uninspired rehashes of what's come before, which fail to ever achieve the same level of significance or even spectacle as the original films.