Twenty-Two years after the original hit theaters, the fourth Matrix film, The Matrix Resurrections finally brings Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus back to the big screen.
The Plot – The Matrix Resurrections
Spoiler Free
My general rule for writing movie reviews is anything that appeared in a trailer or in the first act of the film is fair game. In order to give a fair evaluation, one must be able to include some of the story as a context for the review.
However, The Matrix Resurrections is filled with spoilers from the opening scene onward, making this usual approach impossible to maintain. So, this review will be mostly a qualitative review, and hopscotching my way around the spoilers.
The Resurrections
If it’s in the title of the film, by definition it is not a spoiler. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return as Neo and Trinity in Matrix 4.
You may recall that both Trinity and Neo die in The Matrix Revolutions, leaving their whereabouts at the beginning of this film a mystery.
Jessica Henwick joins The Matrix universe as Bugs, as in ‘Bugs Bunny’, the Captain of Mnemosyne. Bugs is a free thinker who isn’t afraid to go poking her head around where she really shouldn’t.
One such head poking bears unsuspected fruit, however. Bugs discovers an old ally with a new face. Morpheus returns, this time played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Thomas Anderson
Neo has reverted to running a company, and reverted to being Thomas Anderson. Like anyone else in a high stress position, Thomas Anderson has a boss, played by Glee alumni Jonathan Groff, and a therapist, played by Doogie Howser alumni Neil Patrick Harris.
Trinity also appears to be alive, but neither Trinity nor Neo knows whom the other is. Even when meeting face to face, they do not recognize each other.
The Good – The Matrix Resurrections
The New Cast
Jessica Henwick as Bugs is the eyes and ears of our movie. She represents the new generation of Matrix fans too young to have seen the original films in the theaters. She also represents the new generation of actors hoping to take the franchise into the next phase of movies.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the ‘New’ Morpheus does a great job channeling Laurence Fishburn‘s original, while bringing a younger energy and slight complication to the character. He also makes the character 36 years younger, and presumably more capable of performing the Matrix-style action scenes the actors themselves perform.
The Extended Cast
Priyanka Chopra Jonas as Sati and Neil Patrick Harris as The Therapist bring further depth to Matrix 4 in supporting roles. Their performances fit well into the existing Matrix-verse, while also giving a breath of fresh air to the franchise.
Jada Pinkett Smith returning in a much bigger role as Niobi; and Lambert Wilson as the Merovingian bring continuity despite nearly two decades since the last film. Neither being central to the plot, but both having the gravitas to carry legitimate credibility in limited screen time.
More Alice In Wonderland
Several new connections to Alice In Wonderland pop up in Resurrections.
The biggest and best actually surprises me that it was not included in the original trilogy. Our heroes are now able to enter and leave the Matrix through windows acting as mirrors; or put more simply, ‘through the looking glass.’
In an era where hardline phones are becoming virtually extinct in real life, trying to justify using hard line phones in the slightly elevated reality of the Matrix world seems harder and harder to believe.
Also, using fellow Warner Brothers Intellectual Property Bugs Bunny as the Bunny to follow down the rabbit hole further makes a lot of sense.
The Bad – The Matrix Resurrections
Too Much Of Everything
The biggest criticism of the second and third Matrix movies, from Dragon Movie Guy at least, was they were much more crowded films. Too many characters, too much world building, too much plot for any one film.
Unfortunately, Resurrections also falls into this trap. While it is possible Director Lana Wachowski is doing all the work to set up a new trilogy in this first film; new characters are introduced one after another, and not given much to do in this particular film.
On top of that, humor is used much more in this film; but because the pacing of the film is so fast, the jokes don’t have time to land. The audience doesn’t have time to receive all the jokes being told, before the characters and story have moved on.
Also, with a run time of two and a half hours, it feels like there are four hours worth of plot crammed into this film. The size of the story being told feels like it would have been better served in a 6-8 episode streaming series, rather than rushing through the story so quickly. Or, Wachowski could have saved much of the story for a fifth Matrix film.
The Messaging
While The Wachowskis have never been shy about ‘sending a message’ through their storytelling, Lana Wachowski lays the preaching on rather thickly in this film.
Much of Resurrections feels like a reflection of the creative team’s sitting in on tons of corporate meetings and therapy sessions since the original trilogy ended. While any good creative uses their real life experiences when making a film, the messaging in Resurrections is over the top.
The scenes with the Therapist are loaded with enough therapeutic buzz words to make anyone’s eyes roll with exasperation and lost patience. The irony of hearing ‘overwhelm’ and ‘triggering’ in this film was enough to make me overwhelmed by exasperation, and trigger my eyes to roll.
Jonathan Groff
Without going into spoilers, Jonathan Groff’s performance and energy do nothing to help or fit in with this film.
Those who love Jonathan Groff’s very stylized performance style will find exactly that in this film. Groff’s emotive and open style of acting clashes with the aloof poker faces that Neo and Trinity bring to the table, and the harder edges and reality of the Matrix world.
While Neil Patrick Harris adapts his acting performance seamlessly into the Matrix-verse, Groff seemingly doesn’t even try. His performance in Resurrections could be cut and pasted into his performances in Glee, and you would barely notice a difference.
The Review – The Matrix Resurrections
George Lucas spent 17 years after the original Star Wars trilogy being told how brilliant he was and how he could do no wrong from millions of fans, while at the same time not doing much actual filmmaking.
The result was Star Wars Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace.
While the Wachowskis have been making films in the 18 years since the original Matrix trilogy, they haven’t revisited the Matrix universe on film, and they too have been near unanimously been showered with praise.
CGI & Digital
The Matrix Resurrections tells a well thought out and solid story. The next generation of CGI is far from ‘photo-real’, but it does make a marked improvement over the Effects in Revolutions.
I do wish the CGI character fights, however, had progressed as much as the skylines and atmospheric effects. The CGI character fights STILL looked rubbery and fake, like a digital voodoo doll being puppeted like a marionette.
The messaging comes across as heavy handed and many of the plot points feel like the Wachowskis spent too much time at their one-percenter Hollywood parties.
Also, shooting Resurrections on digital versus on film may be a sign of the times, but it does not serve the aesthetic of the movie well; especially when intercutting between the original trilogy several times.
Too Crowded
While I had fun watching this film, and I liked many of the new characters; Resurrections is too crowded. Too crowded with ideas, too crowded with characters, and too crowded with plot.
None of the ideas are necessarily bad, but they are entirely too jumbled to tell as coherent a story as the original film. Because Lana Wachowski had to fit four hours worth of material into 148 minutes of run time, the story didn’t have a chance to breathe.
The Grade
Minus Jonathan Groff and Andrew Lewis Caldwell’s crass and raspy-voiced performance as ‘Jude’; Resurrections is a fun, if imperfect trip back to the Matrix.
Worth watching in theaters for hardcore Matrix fans, and on HBO Max or matinee for everyone else.
Additional Information
Dragon Movie Guy The Matrix Resurrections Instant Movie Review
Trailer for The Matrix Resurrections
Nightmare Alley Instant Movie Review
Spider-Man: No Way Home Instant Movie Review
The Matrix Resurrections IMDb Page
The Matrix Resurrections Rotten Tomatoes Page
Dragon Movie Guy Review Nation Author Page
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Score
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Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return in The Matrix Resurrections. Director Lana Wachowski returns for the first of a sequel trilogy in the Matrix Franchise.