The Matrix Resurrections: Film Review
I always struggled with The Matrix movies and never really understood or enjoyed them – but that changed when I re-watched them this week. I felt excited to find out how the story would continue in The Matrix Resurrections and I must admit I came away pretty disappointed.
*MILD SPOILERS*
Despite seemingly dying at the end of 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions, Neo (Keanu Reeves) is somehow alive once again. However, he’s living in the Matrix as Thomas Anderson, just like he did before, only this time he’s now a successful game developer who has made a trilogy based on what happened in the first three movies. He thinks the games are inspired by his dreams but soon realises his reality might not be what he thinks it is and decides to discover the truth with the help of Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).
Because of the setup, the film has to re-tread the storyline of the original Matrix movie at the start and it simply borrows too much from the first film. This is supposed to be a sequel but it feels like a reboot of sorts as it retraces its steps and hits the same beats all over again in the first 30 minutes.
So it takes a while to establish itself as a new thing, but even then, it never really levelled up and clicked for me. That’s probably because it only really and truly got going in the last 10 minutes. An amazing, exciting, game-changing moment – that made me go “Oooooh!” – happened and the film ends soon after. So this is clearly the foundation for another trilogy as this is not remotely satisfying as a standalone piece.
The central love story between Neo and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) never really carried any emotional weight for me but I like that it has been a constant throughout the series and has become even more important here. The film is as complex to follow as ever and I struggled to keep up at times (but that’s nothing new!) and came away with many questions. The script is loaded with exposition, as always, with Sati (Priyanka Chopra) and Niobe (a skillfully aged Jada Pinkett Smith) getting lumbered with a lot. There are a few elements of humour and a surprising number of meta references, particularly when the developers discuss making a fourth Matrix game.
The action scenes in the original Matrix trilogy were revolutionary and so effing cool. The stunt choreography was insane, the speedy hand-to-hand combat was jaw-dropping and the slow-mo moments are iconic and memorable. None of the action scenes in Resurrections matched up and that’s probably because they didn’t show us anything we hadn’t seen before (mostly). I wanted to see something new and mind-blowingly incredible but not one action moment delivered that. It doesn’t help that Neo is older and not as capable as he once was.
It was nice to see Reeves and Moss back together, bringing an emotional layer to the story. They only really got to truly shine at the end so I’m excited to see what they get up to next. I was a big fan of Henwick as the super cool Bugs (loved her look inside the Matrix) and I thought Mateen II was the perfect replacement for Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus. I had hoped to see more of him and his fabulous suits though. Without spoiling anything, Jonathan Groff didn’t feel like the right person for his role and he was unable to change my mind. While playing against type failed in that instance, I like what Lana Wachowski gave Neil Patrick Harris to do – it was interesting and unexpected.
I didn’t enjoy or fully understand the original Matrix films on my first watch so maybe I’ll appreciate Resurrections more after another go. While I’m disappointed about this instalment, I have a good feeling about what’s coming next.
In cinemas now