What's astounding (bordering on miraculous, really) about 1999's The Matrix is that it's at once a distinct work of a singular genre talent and a sublimely structured action film that combines lightning-in-a-bottle synchronicity of craft, subject, and thematic resonance with trailblazing visuals and iconic. . . almost everything really.
What's admirable about the sequels is how they refuse to let such an impossibly large shadow loom over their philosophical interests, their metatextual examinations of systems of control and self actualization, or their huge beating hearts. And as someone who's gone on a bit of a journey with regards to my feelings on this series overall, this is something I was dearly hoping would stay intact for Lana Wachowski's return to the titular computer program with The Matrix Resurrections.
Fortunately, this four-quel is defiantly romantic hope-punk sci-fi adventure that's 100% My Shit.
This is a tricky beast, given how this film is both a deliberate reflection on the original films (especially the first) as well as a direct sequel to the narrative of the trilogy. So, while I'll try to keep this film as "spoiler-free" as possible in terms of Resurrections' big story beats (though I will have to discuss the basic premise), this will mean spoiling the other movies.
Because, as you may have surmised or remember, not everyone makes it out of those movies alive. Namely, the central romantic duo of Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Neo (Keanu Reeves).
Hence the. . .well, the title.
When we're first reunited with Neo, he's once again living as Thomas Anderson, presumably once again trapped in the Matrix (the virtual reality used to keep humans as docile batteries while bodily energy feeds the machines who now rule most of the planet), working as a software designer and pining for a very familiar woman who stops by his favorite coffee shop on the regular. We quickly learn that Neo is once again at the center of a struggle between machines and humans, but (as with many deliberate re-contextualizations) that conflict is quickly revealed to be even less binary than what resulted in the uneasy truce at the end of The Matrix Revolutions. With the help of some new friends, notably Captain Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and a. . . let's say very different Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Neo embarks on a quest to break free of external control and fight to be reunited with his true love.
Lana Wachowski (in her first feature film without her sister, Lilly, as co-writer or co-director) teams with Aleksandar Hemon and Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell for the screenplay, and is coming back to familiar characters and a war they thought was over in a way similar to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but with puckish bent and fiercely subversive design that would make even The Last Jedi blush. The film has A Lot to say about the recursive loop of conflict and the demands of similar stagnant cycles in our media as well as the co-opting of identity and personal narrative by a world bent on regurgitation. However, where most films this meta rely on the armor or ironic distance, this film is absolutely earnest and immediate. There's quite a bit going on here with multiple generations of "freedom fighters" trying to reckon with how, when, or even if struggles for said freedom is ever "won" and how we have to continually evolve our thinking to avoid the erosion of progress. And while I'm not remotely the person best qualified to comment on this, even I could spot the "and you thought the first movie was a trans allegory" neon lights over a few specific moments.
There's also a lot of super-powered gun fights and fist fights and vehicle fights all gleefully diving headfirst into the gravity-defying tools of modern visual effects that the original films helped to pioneer. The action isn't as clear or deliberately composed here as it is the first three films, but ably captures the headspace of the characters (many of them struggling to find or regain their footing, much less use it for flying kicks) and still delivers on some truly spectacular images with plenty of crunchy hits and dynamite stunts that retain far more physicality than your average super-powered blockbuster. There's also some really clever iteration on visual set pieces from the first film, including what's easily the best use of "bullet time" since 1999.
However, the biggest gun and special effect in this film's arsenal is the ease with which both leads slip back into their characters - making them instantly recognizable while also feeling like valid reflections of the time that's passed since last we met. Reeves does some of his best work, combining Neo's "just a guy trying to figure this Messiah shit out" deliberation with a weariness and self-awareness that gets some of the film's biggest laughs, but Moss might be the biggest standout. The Matrix Resurrections is playing a very deliberate chord with where it takes Trinity (and Neo) during the final act of this film, and it feels like the final piece in a symphony reach back to the first scene of the original film.
It's not without it's occasional bum notes - like the other sequels, the structure here is a bit wobbly. And I can easily see some of the narrative leaps this film asks being deal-breakers for some audiences, but I found it to be a heartwarming coda to a story I really love, and one that only strengthens characters I've grown very attached to. Like Spider-Man: No Way Home recently, it succeeds by taking what should be a ludicrously bad idea and doing a much more interesting and emotionally vulnerable version of it.
So, should you watch it?
Well, as the man once said, that's a choice I leave to you.
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