The Matrix Resurrections

[TheVileOne]

I guess it could've been worse.

 

[Karelia]

Just added these two to the nerd cave. I got Morpheus too. Gonna add Trinity at some point as well!

 

[Deck Rickard]

I have such mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, it’s paced better than the other Matrix sequels and Keanu gives possibly his best performance in this series. And Bugs is a great addition to the franchise. Most of the other new characters don’t get much screen time but seeing so many Sense 8 cast members warms my heart as a fan. Especially the lovely Erendira Ibarra, who has the best (in Matrix) look in this movie even if she doesn’t do much.

And some of the other things I really like. Reviving Neo and Trinity is good, because it undoes what pissed me off so much about Revolutions. And having them both be “The One” makes sense (even if, grammatically and mathematically it doesn’t lol) since we learned in Reloaded that Trinity was the difference maker for this particular anomaly.

All that said, some other aspects just didn’t land for me. NuMorpheus is interesting at first but as the movie goes on, the plot struggles to find a use for him and it makes you wonder why he was even included in the first place, or why they felt a need to recast. At least if they brought Fishburne back (perhaps de-aged a bit) it might have felt a little less jarring. Or maybe just make Yahya a new character (which is sort of what they did but not quite). Smith is even more egregious though; Groff does what he can but none of it feels earned, if that makes sense. It’s also painfully transparent that they just couldn’t get Weaving back for the role, since Neo sees himself and Trinity as they truly are and not their false DSIs but somehow Smith remains the same.

Speaking of which, I didn’t understand how hiding Neo in a false DSI somehow shielded him from the view of the resistance for so long when they still used the name “Thomas Anderson” and cast him as the guy who developed a game called The Matrix with a main character he based on himself. It seems like it would be pretty easy to figure out. But apparently this movie plays by old school Star Wars rules, where you hide away a character but don’t bother to change his name.

I also felt some other aspects needed more explanation or a better explanation. As far as I can tell, the villains here are just some machines who didn’t like the newfound peace that was reached with the humans and they rebelled. That’s fine I guess but it’s not particularly interesting. They’re just another “First Order,” a carbon copy of the original bad guys only less compelling.

As for the much maligned action sequences; I can see why people found them underwhelming and they kind of were but that didn’t bother me too much. Unfortunately the original Matrix had groundbreaking concepts that have been copied so much since then and I can’t really fault Lana for not being able to revolutionize action sequences a second time. But that said, scenes that were intended to be really intense just became tedious at times, like one in particular that brings back the Merovingian for practically no reason other than to yell some crap about Facebook at Neo.

As for the meta stuff… I liked it for the most part until they brought up “Bullet Time” which was just stupid. No one ever directly referenced that term in the films; it’s a filming technique that was used in the making of the movies. And if Neo had been making Matrix movies instead of video games then maybe the Analyst saying it here might have made more sense but as it stands, it just felt like a movie trying to be too clever for its own good.

Lastly, perhaps the greatest sin of this movie is underutilizing Trinity. It felt like she was barely in it. I liked what we did get but it felt like she was mostly absent from the film. I would have liked to see more of her.

All in all, I had a decent time with this and I’m glad it gave me a happy ending for Neo and Trinity but it probably wasn’t a good idea to unearth this franchise. Honestly, it reaffirms my belief that it never should have been a franchise… not that there wasn’t new territory to mine after the first one but none of the sequels were ever quite able to recapture the magic that made that film an instant classic. So maybe they should have just left it alone.

 

[BatLobster]

I think the idea of this never becoming a franchise was just never a real possibility. After the monster success of the first film, Warner Bros. would have attempted to sequelize it at some point, one way or another...

I'm glad we were able to get a weird, interesting and niche franchise with the original creators involved thus far.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I think the idea of this never becoming a franchise was just never a real possibility. After the monster success of the first film, Warner Bros. would have attempted to sequelize it at some point, one way or another...

I'm glad we were able to get a weird, interesting and niche franchise with the original creators involved thus far.

Oh for sure; it was always going to happen. And I do think that (unlike Terminator, post T2) there were plenty of great places to go with this franchise. I’m just not sure if they found them. But like you said, at least it was the original creators guiding it and not just a greedy studio (which is what happened with Terminator and Alien) so while I might not be a fan of all the choices they made, I at least respect their efforts.

Anyway, since the rumor is that they were going to try and reignite the Matrix franchise even without Lana, perhaps it’s glad this movie isn’t a hit. This way, those of us who wanted a more satisfying end for Neo and Trinity at least got that

 

[Erik20]

Just give me a Matrix game based on that tech demo and I'm good. And I want to play as Neo, or create my own character. I wouldn't mind if it's the storyline of the first movie... or maybe make it the game that Neo made in the movie...

 

[TheVileOne]

I have such mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, it’s paced better than the other Matrix sequels and Keanu gives possibly his best performance in this series. And Bugs is a great addition to the franchise. Most of the other new characters don’t get much screen time but seeing so many Sense 8 cast members warms my heart as a fan. Especially the lovely Erendira Ibarra, who has the best (in Matrix) look in this movie even if she doesn’t do much.

And some of the other things I really like. Reviving Neo and Trinity is good, because it undoes what pissed me off so much about Revolutions. And having them both be “The One” makes sense (even if, grammatically and mathematically it doesn’t lol) since we learned in Reloaded that Trinity was the difference maker for this particular anomaly.

All that said, some other aspects just didn’t land for me. NuMorpheus is interesting at first but as the movie goes on, the plot struggles to find a use for him and it makes you wonder why he was even included in the first place, or why they felt a need to recast. At least if they brought Fishburne back (perhaps de-aged a bit) it might have felt a little less jarring. Or maybe just make Yahya a new character (which is sort of what they did but not quite). Smith is even more egregious though; Groff does what he can but none of it feels earned, if that makes sense. It’s also painfully transparent that they just couldn’t get Weaving back for the role, since Neo sees himself and Trinity as they truly are and not their false DSIs but somehow Smith remains the same.

Speaking of which, I didn’t understand how hiding Neo in a false DSI somehow shielded him from the view of the resistance for so long when they still used the name “Thomas Anderson” and cast him as the guy who developed a game called The Matrix with a main character he based on himself. It seems like it would be pretty easy to figure out. But apparently this movie plays by old school Star Wars rules, where you hide away a character but don’t bother to change his name.

I also felt some other aspects needed more explanation or a better explanation. As far as I can tell, the villains here are just some machines who didn’t like the newfound peace that was reached with the humans and they rebelled. That’s fine I guess but it’s not particularly interesting. They’re just another “First Order,” a carbon copy of the original bad guys only less compelling.

As for the much maligned action sequences; I can see why people found them underwhelming and they kind of were but that didn’t bother me too much. Unfortunately the original Matrix had groundbreaking concepts that have been copied so much since then and I can’t really fault Lana for not being able to revolutionize action sequences a second time. But that said, scenes that were intended to be really intense just became tedious at times, like one in particular that brings back the Merovingian for practically no reason other than to yell some crap about Facebook at Neo.

As for the meta stuff… I liked it for the most part until they brought up “Bullet Time” which was just stupid. No one ever directly referenced that term in the films; it’s a filming technique that was used in the making of the movies. And if Neo had been making Matrix movies instead of video games then maybe the Analyst saying it here might have made more sense but as it stands, it just felt like a movie trying to be too clever for its own good.

Lastly, perhaps the greatest sin of this movie is underutilizing Trinity. It felt like she was barely in it. I liked what we did get but it felt like she was mostly absent from the film. I would have liked to see more of her.

All in all, I had a decent time with this and I’m glad it gave me a happy ending for Neo and Trinity but it probably wasn’t a good idea to unearth this franchise. Honestly, it reaffirms my belief that it never should have been a franchise… not that there wasn’t new territory to mine after the first one but none of the sequels were ever quite able to recapture the magic that made that film an instant classic. So maybe they should have just left it alone.

What this reminded me of:

Lego Luke Skywalker: Why didn't you change your last name?

Lego Obi-Wan Kenobi: Why didn't you change *your* last name?!

 

[Gothamsknight]

 

[metaphysician]

Seems we getting so many mediocre movies this day. And then we see Spiderman make 250M opening weekend and you realize why. Because there isnt anything worth checking out other than Spiderman. And it's not like that movie is any great. It's just isnt mediocre and flawed as rest of them.

What incentive would there be to make and release a bunch of "great" movies at the same time? All they would do is split the audience attendance, because a given person can only sit in one theater at a time ( and in practice, people only go to so many movies so often ). Yes, your "great" movie might draw more revenue in competition to another "great" movie, but its not going to scale well with budget, and doubly so if everyone else also does the same thing.

There is a *reason* studios space out their releases and generally avoid putting a "major" movie out at the same time as another studio. Direct week-by-week competition is bad for everyone, because in the extreme case everyone is guaranteed to lose no matter how good their movies are, there simply aren't enough movie-watchers to turn a profit if split 4-5 ways.

 

[TheVileOne]

Belfast was a great movie, but very few people saw it.

 

[GothamCity]

Belfast was a great movie, but very few people saw it.

Yeah fantastic film.

 

[Mysteryman]

Belfast was a great movie, but very few people saw it.

Loved Belfast.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

Did u guys see Redlettermedia’s review of the film? They didn’t hate it. They actually echo a lot of the stuff said here as reasons why it’s worth a watch.

 

[BatLobster]

Did u guys see Redlettermedia’s review of the film? They didn’t hate it. They actually echo a lot of the stuff said here as reasons why it’s worth a watch.

I didn't watch it yet but I'm glad to hear that.

 

[DarkKnight88]

They pretty much summed it up.

It's not as bad as people are saying.

It's not as good as people are saying.

It just is ok lol.

 

[BatLobster]

I give the movie as an overall movie a 7.5/10.

I give the movie as an extension of the Matrix lore and ideas from a fan perspective an 8.5

I give the movie in terms of having great ideas, some bold decisions, artistic integrity and a refreshing commentary on the state of pop culture a 10/10.

Overall I think I'm at a point where I love it.

 

[sycamore]

So tired of these reboots. We the consumers should start making Hollywood pay for their lack of imagination.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I give the movie as an overall movie a 7.5/10.

I give the movie as an extension of the Matrix lore and ideas from a fan perspective an 8.5

I give the movie in terms of having great ideas, some bold decisions, artistic integrity and a refreshing commentary on the state of pop culture a 10/10.

Overall I think I'm at a point where I love it.

Same. a solid 7.5/10 for me, which is actually good score. I loved what it added to the Matrix mythos.

 

[-Arya-]

So tired of these reboots. We the consumers should start making Hollywood pay for their lack of imagination.

The general movie going audience doesn’t care about originality or anything other big blockbusters. They want things they’re already familiar with. I’ve already mentioned this numerous times but the box office numbers speaks for itself. This trend won’t go away.

 

[TheVileOne]

The general movie going audience doesn’t care about originality or anything other big blockbusters. They want things they’re already familiar with. I’ve already mentioned this numerous times but the box office numbers speaks for itself. This trend won’t go away.

Except look at this movie.

 

[-Arya-]

Except look at this movie.

This is an exception to the rule.

 

[TheVileOne]

This is an exception to the rule.

Not really. Plenty of reboots or sequel bomb terribly. The King's Man didn't do well.

 

[-Arya-]

Not really. Plenty of reboots or sequel bomb terribly.

My context is this year. The biggest movies were all franchises. Bond, Fast & Furious, Marvel etc… hence general audiences mostly care about big blockbusters.

It used to be the case that movies like…let’s say Shape of Water made almost 200M worldwide. Right now a movie like that is lucky to make 10M.

 

[TheVileOne]

My context is this year. The biggest movies were all franchises. Bond, Fast & Furious, Marvel etc… hence general audiences mostly care about big blockbusters.

It used to be the case that movies like…let’s say Shape of Water made almost 200M worldwide. Right now a movie like that is lucky to make 10M.

How many major movies this year were non-franchise films? What you're talking about is a chicken or the egg situation. Look at Free Guy.

Even a movie like Last Duel is not "original." It's adapted from a real-life event. It's a historical period peice.

 

[-Arya-]

How many major movies this year were non-franchise films? What you're talking about is a chicken or the egg situation. Look at Free Guy.

Free Guy was all about Ryan Reynolds doing his Deadpool thing + being about video games. There were even Avengers references thrown in there. Again that was also a blockbuster movie with a $125 M budget.