THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Review: You'll Wish You Could Go Back And Take The Blue Pill

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Review: You'll Wish You Could Go Back And Take The Blue Pill

Neo and Trinity return for The Matrix Resurrections, as director Lana Wachowski goes full meta while forgetting to deliver a half-way original or engaging story.

Review Opinion
By MarkCassidy - Dec 21, 2021 11:12 AM EST
Filed Under: Matrix

The Matrix is still (rightfully) hailed as one of the most groundbreaking, influential sci-fi movies of all time. Its sequels, Reloaded and Revolutions, have their defenders, but are generally looked at as inferior follow-ups.

Now, Lana Wachowski (Lilly decided not to co-direct this time) returns for a fourth instalment, The Matrix Resurrections, which fans are hoping will manage to recapture some of the magic of that first film. Unfortunately, this laborious effort never even comes close.

Like so many big studio releases these days, it's very difficult to discuss Resurrections without giving away any plot details, so there will be some mild spoilers here - but nothing that wasn't revealed or at least strongly hinted at in the trailers.

The story begins with a recreation of the opening scene of The Matrix (there's a lot of that), as several agents close in on a woman who looks a lot like Trinity. As the leather-clad lady does her thing and takes out the men in black, one of the agents (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) has a moment of clarity when he encounters an observer names Bugs (Jessica Henwick) who believes Neo (Keanu Reeves) is still alive. The agent - now revealed to be Morpheus (kinda) - takes the red pill, and the pair make their escape.

We then jump to the "real world," where Thomas Anderson (Reeves) works as a world-famous video game developer, known for a best-selling trilogy (can you guess what it's called?). His shrink (Neil Patrick Harris) keeps him on a steady diet of blue pills for what he believes to be psychotic episodes, but is his unexplained connection to the woman named Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss) he meets in a coffee shop part of a delusion, or something more?

The Matrix Resurrections:' First reactions are in - CNN

In this first act, Wachowski goes full meta and seizes the opportunity to take a few digs at major studio IP, the unoriginality of sequels, and audiences' insatiable desire to be bombarded with more of the same over and over again. It works, for the most part... until her unoriginal sequel fully embraces its IP and bombards us with more of the same.

Maybe that's the point, but it doesn't really matter: Resurrections treads over far too much old ground while introducing only a smattering of new elements, none of which are particularly interesting. As the movie progresses, it descends into a series of increasingly drawn-out scenes with a bunch of characters standing around spouting banal, painfully tedious dialogue at each other. The headache-inducing claptrap is occasionally livened-up by some reasonably well-executed action sequences (which might have been exciting if there were any stakes, or we gave a damn about any of the characters), but even they start to grate as we lurch towards a conclusion that can't come quick enough.

The only thing Resurrections has going for it - and this may well be enough for some - is its central pairing of Neo and Trinity. Reeves and Moss are both on top form here, and their scenes together are the closest this movie comes to being emotionally engaging. How did they return after being killed-off in Revolutions? We are actually given an explanation, but it makes very little sense, and the more you think about the implications of what's supposed to have happened, the more ridiculous the whole thing seems.

The Matrix Resurrections is a disappointingly safe, surprisingly dull endeavour that squanders a fine cast and an opportunity to bring fans a worthy follow-up to the superb original. The central romance between Neo and Trinity works well enough, but even then it's hard to care with so much mediocrity going on around them. You'll wish you could go back and take the blue pill.

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ComicBookPsycho
ComicBookPsycho - 12/21/2021, 11:02 AM
Ouch
marvel72
marvel72 - 12/21/2021, 8:46 PM
@ComicBookPsycho -

GhostDog
GhostDog - 12/21/2021, 11:07 AM
Yikes. It hasn’t looked good at all to me.
santoanderson
santoanderson - 12/21/2021, 11:07 AM
A bad Matrix sequel? (pretends to be shocked)
Spidey91
Spidey91 - 12/21/2021, 11:08 AM
god damn. maybe it was a good thing they released this on HBO MAX too.
dracula
dracula - 12/21/2021, 11:08 AM
I knew it
dracula
dracula - 12/21/2021, 11:10 AM
Fogs
Fogs - 12/21/2021, 11:23 AM
@dracula - Same
Gizmoduck
Gizmoduck - 12/21/2021, 11:38 AM
@dracula - these directors have be lauded ever since the matrix. People think they can direct a good film again... Doesn't seem possible. The matrix was the outlier in their filmography.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 12/21/2021, 11:09 AM
The plot sounds dumb
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 12/21/2021, 12:21 PM
@BlackBeltJones -


Sounds like they tried to make a statement about movie making today but ended up doing the same thing they and their studio does🤦



Epic fail🙇
GhostDog
GhostDog - 12/21/2021, 12:33 PM
@AmazingFILMporg - Matrix Resurrections critiquing unoriginal sequels and major studio IPs

EZBeast
EZBeast - 12/21/2021, 11:11 AM
It’s stands no chance against spiderman but if the reviews are garbage it’ll loose to sing 2. What a time to be alive
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 12/21/2021, 11:16 AM
Ror pulled no punches here. I still get to watch this and Hawkeye finale tomorrow which is pretty cool
tmp3
tmp3 - 12/21/2021, 11:20 AM
Someone get my man Yahya better movies than this and Aquaman. One of the most promising new talents in Hollywood and this is what he's stuck with
The1st
The1st - 12/21/2021, 11:23 AM
I think I'll just see it for myself.

pestulio07
pestulio07 - 12/21/2021, 11:28 AM
Eh, I love all three Matrix movies, so I'm guessing I'll probably like this one too. If you are going into this one expecting it to match/surpass the original, I'd imagine you'd hate it no matter what.
valmic
valmic - 12/21/2021, 11:29 AM
I watched it yesterday, its good. might not be the way we all thought a 4th movie would be but it does something different and unexpected.
tylerzero
tylerzero - 12/21/2021, 11:42 AM
Jessica should have chosen Shang-Chi.
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 12/21/2021, 11:45 AM
@RorMachine


Say sike, Ror...
TheBlueMarvel
TheBlueMarvel - 12/21/2021, 11:48 AM
I’m so tired of everyone discounting the sequels , they were great follow ups. People really take on this IP like they created them and are the ones who truly know where it should’ve/should go. Same with Star Wars, ik this reviewer was a clown when he started off with “Everyone know the sequels are inferior to the original”. The first was amazing but the sequels added so many more elements to the lore and were captivating.

My review of this review

3/10

See the movie, make your own opinion
TheDpool
TheDpool - 12/21/2021, 11:51 AM
I'll just have to pretend to understand what happened in the last two movies, and then pretend to enjoy this.
Oberlin4Prez
Oberlin4Prez - 12/21/2021, 11:53 AM
Never been a huge matrix fan, I liked the first one and most of the second, but I’m still wanting to see this. My love affair with Keanu is too great to care about bad reviews
ThorArms
ThorArms - 12/21/2021, 12:01 PM
Yeah the trailers haven't been great. When I think of the matrix I want to be wowed and the trailers haven't done that
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 12/21/2021, 12:24 PM
@ThorArms -


The trailers were awesome💁
ThorArms
ThorArms - 12/21/2021, 3:28 PM
@AmazingFILMporg - really?? They didn't excite me at all. And I actually enjoy all three originals. But to each his own obviously
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