Action-Adventure New Matrix Movie in the Works with Drew Goddard Writing, Directing

[flickchick85]

I love Goddard but I hate this.

 

[Lily Adler]

I love Goddard but I hate this.

 

[StarLord]

I'm not excited about this, but I hope they can make the action and fight scenes at least resemble the first 3.

That garbage in Resurrections looked just as hokey and cheap as those Anderson Resident Evil movies.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Animatrix was pretty damn good. I'm on board with others taking over.

 

[Lily Adler]

Animatrix was pretty damn good. I'm on board with others taking over.

A live action version of The Last Renaissance would be pretty cool and freaky.

 

[BatLobster]

A live action version of The Last Renaissance would be pretty cool and freaky.

Let's hope we don't live through it in the next five years or so.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

Curious if Neo & Trinity will be in this.

 

[#root]

At this point, I’m like yeah sure whatever. You never know when someone is able to make an idea work but at this point, these constant new entries into old franchises is just… old. Goddard is an interesting choice though. Curious to see what his idea is. This is a pretty ambitious endeavour for only his third movie so I hope he’s able to handle the pressure and deliver.

I would really like for Jessica Henwick and Yahya Abdul-Mateen to be back though and get more to do. Wouldn’t mind if Neo & Trinity got to rest for a little bit.

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

I'm curious what direction Matrix 5 is going to take.

 

[Mani-Man]

I need to see the direction on this first, but im open to it.
I liked Resurrections, but i can see why it didnt hit the notes for many.

Its hard to follow up on the Trilogy because how do you move forward with this IP?
Thats a hard question...we will see if this one can answer it.

 

[samsnee]

Curious if Neo & Trinity will be in this.

It’s supposed to be in an all new direction. But whether it will refer to them at all is questionable

 

[Karelia]

Tbh, I ended up enjoying Matrix 4 after a few watches, but there's so much missed potential within it. I will most likely watch this, just because of my love for the franchise. Unless the trailer just completely turns me off lol.

 

[Gothamsknight]

The Animatrix proved that there's still plenty to do in this world. If you ask me, I think it'll be all new characters. Definitely hard to imagine without the Wachowskis involved, but I'm hoping for something that feels like a worthy addition. I know a lot of people hate the sequels, but I felt like each sequel broguht something interesting.

 

[Zantera]

Having slept on it I think the only way they can get me on board or hyped for this is to completely separate it from the original films. Heck set it in an earlier version of the matrix or something. If they go the route of trying to get Reeves, Moss or Fishbourne on board with this then my nostalgiabait alarms will go off and my interest will drop significantly. But maybe that's the plan who knows? I just feel like a "brand new fresh idea for the franchise" is either that, or it's digging up the old stuff to hook people with the nostalgia and I can't take much more of that.

 

[Closerframe]

Honestly, like Blade Runner, The Matrix has so much potential for new stories and characters. Personally, I don’t think Neo and Trinity should comeback. Move away from the prophecy and do something new.

 

[Da-Scribe]

There’s just a lot of ways this can go. Will have to wait and see. I like the director though so that’s a plus.

 

[Airwings]

Mind as well keep milking franchises while they still can, I guess.


Would never happen in a million years and on the off-chance he was even offered, I'd doubt he'd be interested.

I was wishing a fantasy scenario

 

[samsnee]

Having slept on it I think the only way they can get me on board or hyped for this is to completely separate it from the original films. Heck set it in an earlier version of the matrix or something. If they go the route of trying to get Reeves, Moss or Fishbourne on board with this then my nostalgiabait alarms will go off and my interest will drop significantly. But maybe that's the plan who knows? I just feel like a "brand new fresh idea for the franchise" is either that, or it's digging up the old stuff to hook people with the nostalgia and I can't take much more of that.

I agree with making it completely separate but I wouldn’t want it to be some kind of prequel. Star Wars is constantly doing it now instead of expanding forward and I just don’t care for that approach.

 

[Filmfreak]

Honestly, like Blade Runner, The Matrix has so much potential for new stories and characters. Personally, I don’t think Neo and Trinity should comeback. Move away from the prophecy and do something new.

The way Revolutions ended they shouldn't have come back for the previous one either.

 

[BatLobster]

Part of the genius of Resurrections' meta aspects is how it kind of preempts a lot of the typical studio franchise reboot tropes that WB may have done without a Wachowski involved.

A Force Awakens style reboot with a new cast of characters with story beats vaguely mirroring the original? Welp, Resurrections already pretty much did it. And your new young protagonist is named...Bugs. Any stories moving forward with her cannot escape her name itself containing a meta joke about being a Warner Bros IP. Yet, Jessica Henwick is great and she's actually a cool and refreshing character in that universe. That's all kind of interesting.

Then also, were rumors of a young Morpheus prequel before Lana took control of the project. Welp, now you've already kind of done "young Morpheus" with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

You can't even really do "BULLET TIIIME!!" again without becoming a punchline to a joke setup in Resurrections, let alone the fact that it's been ripped off enough in endless other things anyway.

I think overall if you want to do a continuation from Resurrections, with or without Neo/Trinity returning, the mythology was left in a funky sort of place where a by the numbers reboot/requel isn't going to work. Or at the very least, it will make that sort of thing all the more transparent. I think that could be a good thing though, if it necessitates some really interesting ideas for how to move forward. And absent of knowing whatever Goddard has in mind, there's no point in me speculating whether or not that's the case. The things that would appear as possible red flags to me would be if there are signs that this movie is going to ignore/sidestep Resurrections, or be some sort of prequel. I'm a strong believer in working within the continuity you inherit when working in a franchise, regardless of the reception of previous films were. I'm not saying it should be something that won't make any sense unless you've seen all three Matrix sequels, but I would hope for a continuation and expansion of the lore, otherwise what's the point? That's the main advantage of being a sequel, IMO. It's a rich universe/concept that you can dig deeper into and get weirder with.

 

[Filmfreak]

I didn't even mind the movie that much when I first saw it but eventually my problem with Resurrections is that it thought it was much cleverer than it actually was.

Lana had an idea for a cool 10 minutes short and expanded it to an entire movie. The film at its core doesn't do anything particularly good outside the meta gimmick and playing with nostalgia and even those are very debatable. The acting wasn't good, the drama wasn't good, even the action for the first time was very poorly made. And it's one of those cases where it feels they thought "we can't actually make a good film but it won't matter because... we'll be self-aware and meta!".

So yeah, even if they did a commentary on corporate and colourless movie franchises it doesn't change the fact that it still felt like one (to me). In fact it's probably worse because it felt pretentious that it somehow was above that. I guess it's all a matter of how much one likes the execution of that idea.

 

[BatLobster]

I didn't even mind the movie that much when I first saw it but eventually my problem with Resurrections is that it thought it was much cleverer than it actually was.

Lana had an idea for a cool 10 minutes short and expanded it to an entire movie. The film at its core doesn't do anything particularly good outside the meta gimmick and playing with nostalgia and even those are very debatable. The acting wasn't good, the drama wasn't good, even the action for the first time was very poorly made. And it's one of those cases where it feels they thought "we can't actually make a good film but it won't matter because... we'll be self-aware and meta!".

So yeah, even if they did a commentary on corporate and colourless movie franchises it doesn't change the fact that it still felt like one (to me). In fact it's probably worse because it felt pretentious that it somehow was above that. I guess it's all a matter of how much one likes the execution of that idea.

Where I kind of disagree is I think what made Resurrections unique and special is...the meta thing is a big part of the film (especially the first act), but it's not ALL the film is. I think it's also very much a totally sincere, heart on its sleeve romantic story about two dead lovers reuniting, which Lana has outright said was her working through the grief of losing her parents. It's also a commentary on where we are now with social media and how that's become our modern day matrix. The trans subtext is still very much there if you're looking for it. It's a lot of things, just like The Matrix always has been. And I think it's a unique combination of things that only Lana would've attempted, which makes it feel a lot more personal than your average franchise blockbuster these days. Even though not everything works in the film and the action is admittedly average, that alone counted for a lot in my book.

I think a big part of the journey of the movie mirrors what Lana likely went through wrestling with the idea of knowing that WB was going to make another Matrix movie with or without her, processing how she felt about that and ultimately finding her own way back to that world and adding an epilogue to the trilogy. There are satirical elements, but you can't classify it as a satire. Once Neo gets unplugged again, it pretty much becomes more of a straight Matrix 4 and the tone becomes a lot less cynical. It's definitely a weird movie, but I'm glad it exists.

 

[Filmfreak]

Where I kind of disagree is I think what made Resurrections unique and special is...the meta thing is a big part of the film (especially the first act), but it's not ALL the film is. I think it's also very much a totally sincere, heart on its sleeve romantic story about two dead lovers reuniting, which Lana has outright said was her working through the grief of losing her parents. It's also a commentary on where we are now with social media and how that's become our modern day matrix. The trans subtext is still very much there if you're looking for it. It's a lot of things, just like The Matrix always has been. And I think it's a unique combination of things that only Lana would've attempted, which makes it feel a lot more personal than your average franchise blockbuster these days. Even though not everything works in the film and the action is admittedly average, that alone counted for a lot in my book.

I think a big part of the journey of movie mirrors what Lana likely went through wrestling with the idea of knowing that WB was going to make another Matrix movie with or without her, processing how she felt about that and ultimately finding her own way back to that world. There are satirical elements, but you can't classify it as a satire. Once Neo gets unplugged again, it pretty much becomes more of a straight Matrix 4 and the tone becomes a lot less cynical. It's definitely a weird movie, but I'm glad it exists.

You make some thoughtful observations as usual. That's why I ended my argument emphasising that it's all about the execution and how each one sees it.

For me the original Matrix had pretty much everything. It had romance it had high concept science fiction themes, it had style, great action, an iconic villain, social commentary and metaphors, but what made it all work was the unique way that all those things were served and the perfect balance between them.

Resurrections was a continuation but also stood on its own as a soft reboot. I sincerely cannot fathom how anyone not already invested in the universe and the characters would care for them. And they probably didn't because it didn't catch new audience. I honestly couldn't care less for the romance in this particular film, even if I cared about it in possibly all previous entries. The action like I said was extremely bland and the style became very generic. The technical aspects were extremely unremarkable and also they barely added anything interesting to its rich lore.

I can see all these things that you say as scattered pieces but individually none of them pushes any boundaries and collectively they don't fit well with one another.

And I keep hearing that it has a soul but I just can't see it. I don't proclaim that there was absolutely no love in making this (even though what you also mentioned that Lana basically did it because she didn't want someone else to take on it, is not the best of signs to support that argument) but I just don't see any myself. I see this ending being the very thing it makes fun of. Maybe it's the absence of Lilly, the fact that it had been a long time since the last entry, that its whole existence was basically a studio mandate, all of the above or something else entirely. Even if I don't particularly love 2 and 3 either, I can certainly see a vision and I can feel the love, despite the flaws. I wish I could see this for 4 as well, like you guys, but I guess not everything is for everyone.

 

[Lily Adler]

I'd rather he attempted a Ghost in the Shell adaptation.

 

[BatLobster]

You make some thoughtful observations as usual. That's why I ended my argument emphasising that it's all about the execution and how each one sees it.

For me the original Matrix had pretty much everything. It had romance it had high concept science fiction themes, it had style, great action, an iconic villain, social commentary and metaphors, but what made it all work was the unique way that all those things were served and the perfect balance between them.

Resurrections was a continuation but also stood on its own as a soft reboot. I sincerely cannot fathom how anyone not already invested in the universe and the characters would care for them. And they probably didn't because it didn't catch new audience. I honestly couldn't care less for the romance in this particular film, even if I cared about it in possibly all previous entries. The action like I said was extremely bland and the style became very generic. The technical aspects were extremely unremarkable and also they barely added anything interesting to its rich lore.

I can see all these things that you say as scattered pieces but individually none of them pushes any boundaries and collectively they don't fit well with one another.

And I keep hearing that it has a soul but I just can't see it. I don't proclaim that there was absolutely no love in making this (even though what you also mentioned that Lana basically did it because she didn't want someone else to take on it, is not the best of signs to support that argument) but I just don't see any myself. I see this ending being the very thing it makes fun of. Maybe it's the absence of Lilly, the fact that it had been a long time since the last entry, that its whole existence was basically a studio mandate, all of the above or something else entirely. Even if I don't particularly love 2 and 3 either, I can certainly see a vision and I can feel the love, despite the flaws. I wish I could see this for 4 as well, like you guys, but I guess not everything is for everyone.

Thanks, and just to clear...in no way am I saying "people who didn't like it didn't get it", or implying anything like that. To be perfectly honest, it may still be by least favorite Matrix sequel in terms of pure enjoyment. I totally prefer the sleek and precise style of the first three. I think for me it's a mixture of appreciating the overall story Lana chose to tell with it, the go for broke/punk rock kind of swing it took, and her choice to allow the movie to be a product of the filmmaker she is today vs. any sort of attempt to recapture the style of the original films. For me it was a matter of meeting the movie on its own terms and respecting the way it was approached even if it was intentionally quite different than the Matrix I remembered. What the movie might've been had Lily come back as well... that's a big "what if" that we'll never know, but something I've wondered about as well.

The thing about the first Matrix is it was just lightning in a bottle. I think the Wachowskis knew there would be no point in trying to recreate that back when they made Reloaded/Revolutions and Lily definitely knew that when she made Resurrections. And that's one positive thing I can confidently say about this franchise. Regardless of what anyone thinks about any of the sequels, each one of them has its own identity and is adding something new vs. just trying to rehash the first movie. Whether or not it all works, that's up for debate, but I think that alone is quite admirable compared to a lot of other franchises. So I'm just hoping that trend continues with this fifth installment, even if it's a direction that the Wachowskis disagree with. I just hope it's interesting.