THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (2021) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (2021) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   148 minutes

Released         |   25 December 2021

cast

Keanu Reeves ... Neo
Carrie-Anne Moss ... Trinity
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ... Morpheus
Jonathan Groff ... Smith
Jessica Henwick ... Bugs
Neil Patrick Harris ... The Analyst
Jada Pinkett Smith ... Niobe
Priyanka Chopra Jonas ... Sati
Christina Ricci ... Gwyn de Vere
​Lambert Wilson ... The Merovingian

director

​Lana Wachowski

writer

​Lana Wachowski ... (written by) &
David Mitchell ... (written by) &
Aleksandar Hemon ... (written by)
 
Lilly Wachowski ... (based on characters created by) &
Lana Wachowski ... (based on characters created by)

cinematographer

​​Daniele Massaccesi ... director of photography
John Toll ... director of photography

music

​Johnny Klimek ... (music by)
Tom Tykwer ... (music by)​

film editor

Joseph Jett Sally ​

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box office result

Worldwide               $300 million

Australia                 $15 million

North America        $75 million

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movie minutiae

​According to Lana Wachowski, her decision to bring back Neo and Trinity for the sequel was inspired by the loss of both of her parents (who died only five weeks apart), and a close friend. The writing process was her way of comforting herself in the face of death. She also defines Neo and Trinity as the two most important characters in her life. For Lilly Wachowski, however, this sense of loss was part of her decision to NOT return to the franchise. In her own words: "I didn't want to have gone through my transition and gone through this massive upheaval in my life, the sense of loss from my mom and dad, to want to go back to something that I had done before..."

​The song in the first trailer is "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, which was inspired by Lewis Carroll's fantasy novel "Alice in Wonderland". THE MATRIX (1999) features many references to the Wonderland story.

​On her very first day of the shoot in Berlin, Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Sati) had to recite all the lines of dialogue she had in the film in front of the entire cast, in order to take advantage of an authentic sunset that director Lana Wachowski insisted on capturing for coverage. According to Priyanka, the session lasted about 45 minutes, after which time she was exhausted from the stress on her very first "Matrix" installment.

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THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (2021) MOVIE IMAGES

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THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (2021) STORY SYNOPSIS

In THE MATRIX REURRECIONS, return to a world of two realities: one, everyday life; the other, what lies behind it.

​To find out if his reality is a physical or mental construct, to truly know himself, Mr. Anderson will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more. And if Thomas…Neo…has learned anything, it’s that choice, while an illusion, is still the only way out of—or into—the Matrix.

Of course, Neo already knows what he has to do. But what he doesn’t yet know is the Matrix is stronger, more secure and more dangerous than ever before.  Déjà vu.

THE MATRIX REUSRRECTIONS (2021) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 25 December 2021

Pop ​Movee Rating

​For its first forty minutes THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS seems like an unexpected detour from the formula that fans may have anticipated Writer & Director Lana Wachowski to follow in order to reboot this long dormant genre-bending franchise.

Wachowski, with fellow screenwriters David Mitchell & Aleksandar Hemon, appear as though they're going to take the audience down an entirely different rabbit hole and upend the franchise on its head.

In a matter of a few minutes, everything audiences think they know about the Matrixverse is shaken loose and left hanging off the top ledge of the proverbial tall building rooftop. 

All things considered, this is not a bad effort for a franchise that was never as straightforward as what it could have been and, at times (especially in the second film), went out of its way to baffle its audience with pop culture psychoanalysis.

Tearing down the psychobabble and infusing it with Comic-Con Geek sentiment seems very appropriate for a franchise that doesn’t really need a new film.

The most problematic issue for THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS is the fate of Neo & Trinity at the end of the last film…

It’s hard to make the return of the film’s stars, Keanu Reeves & Carrie-Anne Moss, a surprise. At the end of THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (2003), both Neo & Trinity were dead, having sacrificed themselves to secure the future of humanity, stopping the Sentinel attack on Zion.

But what if “THE MATRIX” trilogy was all just one giant computer game?

It’s here that Wachowski gets to pull the rug out from under the audience.

Between 2003 and 2021, the internet has fundamentally changed the way people interact with the world; especially the way in which they entertain themselves.

What if Thomas Anderson was actually a real person - a computer game designer - who created “The Matrix” as a sprawling, online creation that served to entertain millions of gamers around the world?

What if Thomas had become such a victim of his creation that it had led to years of mental anguish caused by his inability to distinguish fiction from fact?

It’s easy to see where this is headed, but the first section of THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS frames the exploration into Thomas Anderson’s state-of-mind as a Meta trip down memory lane, allowing Wachowski to selectively delve into the first three films, slicing and dicing them into a highlight reel of vignettes that tap directly into Anderson’s fractured/fracturing psyche.

This may sound deadly serious, but Wachowski keeps it pretty light. In some scenes, the tone is downright comedic.

Unfortunately, the end of the First Act sees Wachowski revert the story to something more like the first three films.

It’s hard to play mind games forever and, eventually, RESURRECTIONS sets a course that moves it back into more familiar “Matrix” territory.

Die-hard franchise fans will be excited to hear this but viewers with only a passing interest in the series may be less enthused by this development.

For all the build-up through the first forty minutes, there’s not the expected payoff over the next hundred.

Everyone knows that Keanu Reeves doesn’t possess an expansive emotional range but his performance in RESURRECTIONS is even more low-key than usual. There are moments where this method works, especially in a number of scenes with Carrie-Anne Moss, but in more scenes than not, he seems disengaged with events around him. Fortunately, his fight scenes help compensate for his acting shortcomings and remind everyone why - as John Wick - Reeves remains an audience drawcard.

Carrie-Anne Moss is much better in her return as Trinity…

The first part of the film places her in a very different life to the one she had in the original trilogy. 

In RESURRECTIONS she’s a married Mom with two kids and goes by the name Tiffany. Moss brings a quiet strength to the scenes in which she’s called upon to do some real acting and she even helps lift Reeves’ performance to help sell the resurrected relationship between the film’s central characters.

In addition to Moss, Jonathan Groff and Neil Patrick Harris make the biggest impression from supporting cast members.

Others don’t fare as well…

Of particular note is the appearance of The Merovingian played by Lambert Wilson, who appeared in THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003) and THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (2003). 

Viewers who recall the character being a little hard to fathom in those films will not be disappointed by his appearance in THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS.

Not a single friggin’ word he says makes sense. It’s like Wislon did some serious mind-altering drugs just before the scene was shot and Wachowski thought it would be a great idea to film what happened next…

Then, there’s Morpheus…

Anyone paying close attention to the film’s trailers will have worked out by now that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is playing a version of Morpheus. Fans of the Laurence Fishburne version will (probably) be extremely disappointed at what Wachowski fashions for the character in this fourth film. 

The character’s opening scenes are a great “Gotcha” for fans, but - again - viewers not familiar with the “mythology” will struggle to understand the significance of his transformation. 

Upon reverting to more familiar territory (that is, referencing the first film all too frequently), Wachowski goes so far as to recreate key scenes from the 1999 movie. The most notable is the martial arts lesson room where, in the original film, Reeves & Fishburne got their Kung Fu on!
 
Wachowski tries a slightly different version of the same fight with Reeves & Adbul-Matten but it feels reductive.

And, so it is, for almost two-thirds of its running time, THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS feels reductive.

It’s not unenjoyable.

Quite the opposite.

It’s a lot of fun. But, it’s dumb fun that auidences have seen before.

For the most part, Wachowski fails to move the franchise forward. Instead, she gets stuck in the  past, tying up loose ends from a story that’s nearly twenty years old.

Fans will love this film but there’s not barely enough of them to justify any further journeys down the already well-worn path of this particular rabbit hole.

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS MOVIE (2021) USEFUL LINKS

The Matrix Resurrections (2021) - IMDb
​The Matrix Resurrections - Wikipedia
​The Matrix Resurrections - Rotten Tomatoes

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