To me, this franchise is all about how the story tangles with lofty ideas and philosophies. The special effects and action were groundbreaking when the first Matrix came out. The coolest thing I had ever seen to that point. However, in 2021, the action and special effects in The Matrix Resurrections are old hat. We’ve seen it all before, and I think Wachowski knew this and wisely decided to focus on world-building over visuals.
For spoiler sake, I’ll be broad here, but the new world is a definite upgrade. People are still bred to be batteries for the machines. However, the programming has changed, though not necessarily improved. As explained, a significant evolution between humans and machines takes place that’s more intriguing than the genocidal world of Terminator. Philosophically the world has changed too. In the first film, humans accepted the Matrix because the machines realized they had to create an imperfect world to fool the humans. In this “version,” this philosophical idea of exchanging one’s freedom for safety run rampant both in and out of the Matrix. I fear I’ve said too much.
“Lana Wachowski brings unexpected freshness to this new evolution of Matrix stories.”
The Matrix Resurrections does precisely what I want in my sequels. First, it brings back what I loved about the first (to hell with the other two). I’m not just talking about the ample use of footage from it, but we’re retelling Neo’s journey in a fresh way. Second, it expands the world in exciting ways. This new movie universe is more extensive with old and new characters and new technology to combat a more significant threat. But the conflicts are not solely in the Matrix but amongst the humans as well.
Here’s my guess as to why fans might not accept the sequel. I said it earlier. We associate Matrix with groundbreaking visual effects. There aren’t any as nothing we see on screen is particularly new. There’s a moment of “flying” that’s downright laughable, and Neo uses his “powers” by holding his hands out like a stage mentalist. Honestly, the final battle scenes just felt lazy at times. Warning: a few hokey visual effects may spoil your viewing altogether if you let it.
To me, the story is the reason to see The Matrix Resurrections. Lana Wachowski brings unexpected freshness to this new evolution of Matrix stories. The final film is a beautiful blend of what I loved from the past and a new, interesting narrative worthy of being explored.
"…a few hokey visual effects may spoil your viewing altogether..."
I am a die hard fan and could care less of special effects, would prefer an only dialog movie than this, the tone should be of drama and philosophy, not silly comedy, I cannot believe WB let the movie out like this, my only hope now is that they make a Matrix 5 so good we will all forget Matrix 4 existed.
The story buildup is very weak, this movie is one of the weakest in cinematography I have ever seen, even a junior film making student would do better building this script into a movie, and I will agree the script is not horrible when we remove the silly comedy parts.
Did you watch the first three? Do you seriously thing this should even be apart of the same series? This movie was a huge deviation and wasn’t half as clever as it was trying to be. A reboot that couldn’t secure the same actors that was unfaithful to it’s core fundamentals, jamming nostalgia down our throats until we felt sick. The whole thing was akin to a indie fan made, low budget rip off of the original trilogy. Hard to believe critics can be so out of touch…