The Matrix Resurrections 

The Matrix Resurrections is a 2021 American science fiction action film produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski. It is the sequel to The Matrix Revolutions and the fourth instalment in The Matrix film franchise. Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Lambert Wilson reprise their roles from the previous films, and they are joined by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The film is set sixty years after Revolutions and follows Neo, who lives a seemingly ordinary life as a video game developer troubled with distinguishing dreams from reality. A group of rebels, with the help of a programmed version of Morpheus, free Neo from a new version of the Matrix and fight a new enemy that holds Trinity captive. The Matrix resurrections is ultimately a mixed bag. On one hand the film boasts an interest’s meta commentary with some great shots and decent acting and fight scenes. On the other hand, the content reminders of the franchises past and on the nose nature of the film make The Matrix Resurrections far from the perfect sequel.

Like all things in the Matrix Resurrections the direction is a mixed bag. There are some genuinely impressive moments in the films including some beautiful shots, some impressive special effects, and some solid action scenes. Some other shots are not that impressive though especially the quick cut action fight scenes but there are some differently impressive shots and sequences in the film.

The acting is also very hit and miss. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss do a good job as Neo and Trinity respectively. Due to them playing same characters again they seem very comfortable in their roles and play of each other well. Yahya Abdul-Mateen does a solid job as Morpheus although he doesn’t have much to do in the film and Laurence Fishburne did it better. Neil Patrick Harris does a good job as The Analyst he come across as calm and collected in the begging with an obvious power throughout the film and a sarcastic nature later. The weak link in the chain is Johnathan Groff as Agent Smith. Unlike Hugo Weaving in the original there is no presence or menace to the character instead he comes across as a pale imitation with weirdly humours scenes and no menace in the more dramatic moments that being said him helping Neo and Trinity is a interesting angle for the charter.

The writing is also hit and miss. There are genially interesting concepts and ideas in the film. The meta narrative at play is genuinely interesting posing some interesting questions. That being said a lot of the points being made are somewhat obvious and one the nose with a lot of the subtly stripped away. Also, whole portions of the previous matrix films are repeated within this film. Although that is somewhat the point a lot of it seems to be just using nostalgia for nostalgia purposes. The scenes in Zion I wouldn’t class as great or terrible although the concept of a human machine war with some machines siding with humans is genuinely interesting even if the film kind of glosses over it. As well as this in the real world the film becomes standard matrix affair with none of the meta narrative elements making the film have a weird tone throughout.

The cinematography is kind of a mixed back. There are some generally great looking shots in the film with some impressive imagery. Certain scenes particularly fight scenes are not all that great and lead to the film having some beautiful shots and some rubbish others. The special effects are also meh. Whilst there are some genuinely good effects in the film and some beautiful, impressive, and interesting imagery other effects look flat out bad. Carrying on with my thoughts on the movie being half and half, let’s talk about the editing. Most of the editing in the film is fine with some genuinely interesting editing and transitions in the film. However, in the fight scenes the quick cut editing really makes these scenes worse and doesn’t hand a candle to the original. Finally, the music. Honesty the music in the film is fairy forgettable. The music is fine not terrible it does its job but outside of a good use of Jefferson Airplanes White Rabbit there is nothing to comment here besides a bad cover of Rage Against the Machines Wake Up at the end.

Overall, The Matrix Resurrections is a mixed bag while there are genuinely positive points of praise within the film there are fair to many negatives for me to shout its brilliance. Overall, all then The Matrix Resurrections feels very much like a Matrix sequel, its good but not great.