The Matrix Resurrections

[henzINNIT]

I'll admit I've grown incredibly weary of 'the fanbase' in recent years. It's a short path towards weird demands and staggering entitlement, and finally seems to be ruining not just the discourse but also the media itself in some cases. I thought Matrix fans of all people would be welcoming to a new film that is a bit weird and interesting if not entirely successful. I'm grateful this film exists, that it has some new things to say, and that Lana Wachowski made it.

I don't agree with those who would have rathered the IP was handed to someone else for something more familiar. Zack Snyder? C'mon now. He appears to be a good fit because he's a bullet-time derivative, who milked slow motion to the point of pornographic parody. He's part of the reason bullet time became something mocked in Resurrections.

 

[BatLobster]

I have to say, I completely object to the idea that this movie looks cheap or like a "CW show". Sure, maybe the action itself isn't up the standard of the franchise, but there is a lot of gorgeous, artistic cinematography in this film.

Like...compare some of these shots from No Way Home

Spoiler

with these shots from Resurrections (light spoilers ahead)

Spoiler

Look, I know I'm cherry picking and there are some really nice shots in No Way Home too, but I feel like it averages out into the mediocre overall, whereas I feel there is a consistent richness to the purposeful use of color, framing and using natural light in really beautiful ways in Resurrections. It's subjective, but to me Resurrections is much more of a visual feast with rich imagery and doesn't often fall into the MCU visual muckiness that No Way Home spends a lot of its time in.

 

[DyeLorean]

Cinematography wasn't a problem for me. When I say it 'looks cheap' I meant, mostly, how they staged the action. The slow-motion effects, all that stuff.

 

[JtheDreamer]

Haven't seen this one and don't know that I ever will at this point.

The original is an amazing film, but the sequels were trash and I have zero confidence Lana managed to improve the franchise 20 years later. This one seems like the standard Hollywood fare of taking an old franchise, adding some fresh faces, and basically re-tell the same story again but slightly modified for today's younger audience and their sensibilities. Take for example, I've seen the word "meta" mentioned more than I can count in reviews (especially in posts here).

 

[Karelia]

'The Matrix Resurrections': Hugo Weaving Was Initially Meant to Return as Agent Smith

 

[BatLobster]

Haven't seen this one and don't know that I ever will at this point.

The original is an amazing film, but the sequels were trash and I have zero confidence Lana managed to improve the franchise 20 years later. This one seems like the standard Hollywood fare of taking an old franchise, adding some fresh faces, and basically re-tell the same story again but slightly modified for today's younger audience and their sensibilities. Take for example, I've seen the word "meta" mentioned more than I can count in reviews (especially in posts here).

I would say it's arguably the antithesis to that, even if it may seem like it's that on the surface. There's really nothing that I'd call "standard Hollywood fare" about this. This is not the film that would've been made in a WB board room, trust me on that.

That said, I would definitely hesitate it to recommend it to someone who only likes the first film and isn't a fan of the franchise overall, so staying away from it probably is the right call for you.

'The Matrix Resurrections': Hugo Weaving Was Initially Meant to Return as Agent Smith

NGL, I do think this would've helped give some added weight to Neo and Smith's scenes and some added gravitas to the film. Weaving's absence is felt for sure.

At the same time, I do enjoy Groff's screen presence, it's just a different thing. A little hard to believe it's the same character, but I also kind of admire the film for trying something weird and different. I also find myself thinking maybe it's for the best that the last time Reeves and Weaving share the screen is their final encounter in Revolutions. I probably have the most issues/questions around Smith's inclusion in this. He doesn't entirely feel like a necessary inclusion to me, although I do love the idea that he ends up essentially being Neo's boss in this new iteration of The Matrix. Kind of like a Joker to Neo's Batman who feels like Neo belongs to him as his true opposite. It's very twisted. I'm a bit torn on it.

 

[Karelia]

I know they say in the article they didn't "radically change anything" when another actor took on the role, but if Weaving is there, I feel it may have turned out more differently than they say. I give the guy props for trying something different in the role, but I think he could have just been a new character.

I do agree with the angle of Smith being The Joker to Neo's Batman.

This quote is from a Matrix group I'm in. I kinda like this explanation.

I've always questioned that moment in the first Matrix movie where because Trinity kissed Neo in the real world, it literally saved his life in both worlds. This movie answered the question of why that was. At the time, it seemed completely implausible. Like, how could a kiss do all that? It was a "WTF" moment in the first movie for me, that most other people seemed to ignore or simply accept. "Like yeah, oh okay, that can happen. I guess?" And this movie was, as I think about it, that one single moment woven, I think beautifully, into a two and a half hour love story. And the "power" of their love for one another created something "new" in the Matrix, as in a matrimony of two "Ones" over which no machine or computer had any control, because such a thing had never been considered.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

At the end of the day, I guess I can appreciate the discussions when it comes to this movie more than anything else, but I really do wish I enjoyed it as much as some of you guys did.

I just can't forgive or excuse certain aspects of this movie for the sake it of it being different than your typical reboot/sequel and I believe that definitely comes down to the execution.

I felt no passion or energy behind this thing at all and worst of all I just feel like the whole meta direction was a complete waste of potential when they could have easily come up with something more innovative.

So much time has passed since those sequels came out and technology has never been more advanced and mainstream than it is right now with social media, and I'm surprised they did nothing with that at all.

Also, I'm surprised more people aren't critical of Keanu's performance in this. He just seemed bored and lost for a good majority of it and it tells you something when Carre-Ann Moss shows up in her few scenes and out acts him in pretty much every scene their together in which was very noticeable to me from the start.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I'll admit I've grown incredibly weary of 'the fanbase' in recent years. It's a short path towards weird demands and staggering entitlement, and finally seems to be ruining not just the discourse but also the media itself in some cases. I thought Matrix fans of all people would be welcoming to a new film that is a bit weird and interesting if not entirely successful. I'm grateful this film exists, that it has some new things to say, and that Lana Wachowski made it.

I don't agree with those who would have rathered the IP was handed to someone else for something more familiar. Zack Snyder? C'mon now. He appears to be a good fit because he's a bullet-time derivative, who milked slow motion to the point of pornographic parody. He's part of the reason bullet time became something mocked in Resurrections.

Thank you! I think most fanbases these days are reaching a point where its their way or the highway. I attribute a lot of that also to the use of social media and it's influence on everything. Like seriously, someone day said "no human being on earth should be subjected to such disgusting filth" in reference to this movie. I mean, seriously? You almost have to laugh. They also went in to say Speed 2 is better. I mean, ugh...

As for Snyder, yeah hes an atrocious choice. Snyder is an example of a director who would take anything subtle and interesting about the matrix and turn it into the most juvenile thing you can imagine. No thanks.

 

[BatLobster]

This quote is from a Matrix group I'm in. I kinda like this explanation.

Yup, I buy it.

If you've ever listened to the commentary tracks on the trilogy with philosophers Ken Wilber and Cornell West (friends of the Wachowskis who made clear they've talked with at length with them about the films), they very much push the idea that Neo and Trinity are two halves of one essence and basically they're both The One, which is why they both have to die together. Neo is able to make the ultimate sacrifice in the end because Trinity does first. It ultimately enables him to let go at the end when he needs to. I think in the trilogy it was more of a symbolic layer to it rather than an explicit part of the mythology, but this movie makes it more literal. But yeah, the way Trinity resurrects him with a kiss has been there from the very start, and we've all accepted it.

I actually think the way Neo/Trinity's bond was handled in this film was a better use of the "Dyad" concept that Rise of Skywalker tried to use, where they enhance each other's power. It also helps that this is actually a love story worth rooting for, and their bond has been present since the very beginning of the franchise.

 

[TheVileOne]

I would've re-written Smith 3.0 and Modal Morpheus. Honestly, I'm not sure you need Smith in this story at all. Could've worked just as well without Smith and whatever Mateen II was supposed to be doing.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Yup, I buy it.

If you've ever listened to the commentary tracks on the trilogy with philosophers Ken Wilber and Cornell West (friends of the Wachowskis who they made clear they've talked with at length about the films), they very much push the idea that Neo and Trinity are two halves of one essence and basically they're both The One, which is why they both have to die together. Neo is able to make the ultimate sacrifice in the end because Trinity does first. It ultimately enables him to let go at the end when he needs to. I think in the trilogy it was more of a symbolic layer to it rather than an explicit part of the mythology, but this movie makes it more literal. But yeah, the way Trinity resurrects him with a kiss has been there from the very start, and we've all accepted it.

I actually think the way Neo/Trinity's bond was handled in this film was a better use of the "Dyad" concept that Rise of Skywalker tried to use, where they enhance each other's power. It also helps that this is actually a love story worth rooting for, and their bond has been present since the very beginning of the franchise.

Its stuff like this that I think a lot of people unfortunately tend to overlook when it comes to this franchise as a whole. It's true that a lot of the action overlaps the overall meaning of each film for a lot of people. Btw, I've been meaning to watch the films with commentary but still haven't gotten around to it. Think I'm gonna do that soon!

 

[TheVileOne]

The game Thomas Anderson was working on before it got shelved to work on a new Matrix game was called BINARY.

Binary means composed of or relating to TWO THINGS.

You're welcome, world.

 

[Bary]

My main problem with the film was its villain, villain motive and ending. I have zero desire to see where a sequel would even go given how this ends as nothing more then bad fan fiction. I have no issues with the rebooting aspect of the matrix including its meta commentary with warner bros and I actually thought that was the strongest idea in the movie.

 

[BatLobster]

I will say, if there was an area of the film I had a lot of hesitation about, it was the new Morpheus.

I actually thought the idea that he was something Neo coded from Morpheus and Smith and the whole modal concept was really neat. The two things I'm still a little unsure about is...if he was a combo pack of Morpheus and Smith, why exactly did the Morpheus side win over when it came to becoming self-aware? Just because? And...why does this new personality who seems absolutely nothing like Morpheus (or Smith), still identify as Morpheus? Why not just assert a new identity of his own? Like, I understand the meta, thematic reason for him to be kind of mocking the previous Morpheus' lines and stuff, but I don't understand what his deal is as his own intelligence and why he has that attitude about it? That's the only area of the movie where I think the meta is pushed a tad too far. I just think I needed more understanding of what is making this Morpheus tick.

I did really dig the idea of Morpheus/programs being able to interface with the real world, so that was really cool to see.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

Anyone find it weird how this movie is basically on YouTube in its entirety through five minute clips — which makes sense, given it was released on streaming — but Dune, also a concurrent streaming release, has virtually no clips on YouTube. So weird.

someone high up is working very hard on behalf of Dune.

 

[BatLobster]

I think this may be the most insightful analysis of the film and what it's trying to say that I've come across so far. I think I got a little caught up in all the commentary the film is offering myself and missed some of the more subtle and beautiful things that the movie is getting at. Highly recommend.

 

[Spidey_62]

I happened to love it! I'm a big fan of the sequels so I was already on board for it going into weird directions. As with any Matrix sequel it's inevitably not perfect as it has a lot of interesting ideas, great worldbuilding, great commentary raising the mirror to our cultural landscape/entertainment landscape- does all that but has to keep breezing on, and other times stops to exposit but above all else

Spoiler

seeing Neo and Trinity get a happier ending this time was just pleasant to see right now. The action is obviously a step down from the previous movies but I don't think it needed to be as extravagant as the previous movies. It was a smaller scale personal love story and it was suitable for what the story was going for. I commend this movie for treading the retread line carefully. I'd be perfectly happy if there were no more Matrix movies after this but we all know (and the movie tells us) it's gonna go on in some form or another.

 

[Neno_Kos]

Anyone find it weird how this movie is basically on YouTube in its entirety through five minute clips — which makes sense, given it was released on streaming — but Dune, also a concurrent streaming release, has virtually no clips on YouTube. So weird.

someone high up is working very hard on behalf of Dune.

For some reason or other Dune isnt really most popular mainstream audience movie. Maybe it's because it's new property. While Matrix has 3 movies and fanbase established. I mean everyone on this earth watched original Matrix.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I happened to love it! I'm a big fan of the sequels so I was already on board for it going into weird directions. As with any Matrix sequel it's inevitably not perfect as it has a lot of interesting ideas, great worldbuilding, great commentary raising the mirror to our cultural landscape/entertainment landscape- does all that but has to keep breezing on, and other times stops to exposit but above all else

Spoiler

seeing Neo and Trinity get a happier ending this time was just pleasant to see right now. The action is obviously a step down from the previous movies but I don't think it needed to be as extravagant as the previous movies. It was a smaller scale personal love story and it was suitable for what the story was going for. I commend this movie for treading the retread line carefully. I'd be perfectly happy if there were no more Matrix movies after this but we all know (and the movie tells us) it's gonna go on in some form or another.

Haha I feel better that others like it just as much as me. I do think it's a fitting conclusion to the whole series and while it will probably go on in some form, this was the end of the wachowskis era of The Matrix. I'm happy she came back to tell a personal story here, and it's almost sad in a way.

Spoiler

one of my favorite scenes is Neo and Trinity on the rooftop. When she starts seeing the golden path, and then her and Neo just leap off of that building. This whole series was about them. Neo breaking the mold of the "anomaly" by choosing to just love Trinity is an example of this. It's been there throughout all of the movies.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Damn this is the only place I can talk about this movie without being told I'm wrong and to stop defending this movie.

 

[Eddie Dean]

I will say, if there was an area of the film I had a lot of hesitation about, it was the new Morpheus.

I actually thought the idea that he was something Neo coded from Morpheus and Smith and the whole modal concept was really neat. The two things I'm still a little unsure about is...if he was a combo pack of Morpheus and Smith, why exactly did the Morpheus side win over when it came to becoming self-aware? Just because? And...why does this new personality who seems absolutely nothing like Morpheus (or Smith), still identify as Morpheus? Why not just assert a new identity of his own? Like, I understand the meta, thematic reason for him to be kind of mocking the previous Morpheus' lines and stuff, but I don't understand what his deal is as his own intelligence and why he has that attitude about it? That's the only area of the movie where I think the meta is pushed a tad too far. I just think I needed more understanding of what is making this Morpheus tick.

I did really dig the idea of Morpheus/programs being able to interface with the real world, so that was really cool to see.

My read is that Neo coded nuMorpheus to shed the Smith side if he accepted the red pill. After Bugs gives him the red pill, the Morpheus coding takes over.

 

[Gothamsknight]

 

[BlackFox]

1 hour before I plug back in. Not sure what to expect.

 

[Gothamsknight]

1 hour before I plug back in. Not sure what to expect.

Eager to hear your thoughts after you watch!