*Spoilers* The Matrix Resurrections Discussion

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I just got back from seeing the Matrix Resurrections and just wanted to know what everyone thought of the movie? The last Matrix move was released back in 2003, man I feel old :wink:

Everything written after this are spoilers for the movie. If you haven’t watched it yet. please do so (I know you guys in the US have to wait till the 22nd). I would give it a strong 8/10 and am looking forward to the next one in the series.

Summary

The Good

  • Fantastic to see Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss back. They played their roles very well as much more aged versions of their characters from the previous Matrix movies.
  • Great look into the world after the conclusion of The Matrix Resolutions. Loved all of the advancements that humanity has made since cooperating with the machines. This alone made it worth watching the movie for me, just seeing more of the real world.
  • Neil Patrick Harris as The Analyst (basically The Architect from the Matrix Reloaded and Resolutions) was a great choice. He played such a menacing and calculating villain - just like a machine.
  • Bugs (played by Jessica Henwick) was a great character addition in my opinion. Not an overly annoying or pretentious character and she could hold her own in a fight.
  • The return of multiple characters from previous Matrix movies was a fantastic nod to fans. My favourite one had to be The Merovingian, very funny that he was reduced to an Exile program compared to his grand stature in the previous movies.
  • In the first Act, I was never sure if Neo was in the Matrix or in the game he had himself created. All of the flashbacks to previous movies were awesome. It kept me guessing where Neo was (did he just dream the events of the previous 3 Matrix movies or something like that).
  • Programs allowing to physically manifest in the real world - again a neat concept.
  • The machines go to war with each other - I thought this was a cool idea and hope it is further expanded upon in the next movie.
  • Trinity can now fly. What is not to like? :wink:

The Not So Great

  • The fight choreography and bullet time was alright, nothing really memorable, especially when compared to the Dojo fight in the Matrix 1 or The Burly Brawl from the Matrix Reloaded.
  • Agent Smith (played by Jonathan Groff) is back for some reason. I couldn’t work out why. In the Matrix Resolutions, the machines wanted Neo to get rid of him from the Matrix, otherwise Smith would infect The Machine World. It seemed the machines put him back in the Matrix after they made the 2.0 version? Jonathan’s acting was alright, but alas he was no Hugo Weaving.
  • I have no idea how the machines revived Neo and Trinity. Probably through black magic. Trinity dies pretty hard near the end of resolutions with multiple poles stuck through her body. Guess with a little duck tape, you can fix anything? :wink:
  • The intentions of The Analyst. I might have to rewatch the movie, but my understating is he was experimenting with Neo and Trinity to keep them together, but just enough apart to experience yearning. 99% of people are similar and thus it generates more electrical impulses and thus more power for the machines.
  • It is a real shame that Laurence Fishburne couldn’t come back as Morpheus. We got Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who wasn’t bad, maybe a bit more of a ‘swagalishous’ version of Morpheus.
  • The remix of Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Wake Up’ for the credits - blasphemy :wink:

Conclusions

What I was hoping for was an expansion of the Matrix universe and that was what I got. I’m definitely happy with that and hope they make another two movies (judging from the open-ended conclusion, it looks like they will). I really hope if there is another Matrix movie after this, that they massively improve the fight choreography, that was the part I felt lacked the most.

8/10 - looking forward to what they do next.

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I haven’t seen the movie yet, but now that i know it’s out, i’m going to have a look and let you know later on.

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Definitely worth a watch if you are a Matrix fan. It is sitting around a 7/10 on IMDb, so not terrible by any stretch of the imagination.

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I enjoyed watching it, but did find the later 2/3 of the film increasingly dull. It loses focus after a promising start, which nicely questions whether the original films ever happened. I would say that this film is equally enjoyable and totally forgettable. If you want a much stronger experience, considering watching Black Mirror or Love Death Robots, which stay fun and to-the-point.

If you haven’t seen them… the John Wick films are all made by the original Matrix team. They are much much much much better than this + include Laurence Fishburne. It is interesting that this same team was not able to bring the same choreography to this film after spending so many years making top notch action sequences. Just watch this extensive club scene battle… it is both action and art house thanks to the amazing lighting, direction, editing, choreography, music, and sound

Consider how the original Matrix literally looked so amazingly good with it’s use of green color palletes and angles…

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This new movie is just okay, because it feels like less of a Matrix experience and more of a team deciding their bold decision of questing everything must become yet another battle in a random warehouse. If that is the point… I guess I’ll just re-watch the original. My .02 and I wish you a great day.

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Couldn’t agree with you more about the point of it losing focus after a promising start. I was genuinely unsure of where Neo was for the first act of the film, but after that it does peter out after the second act.

I have heard good things about Black Mirror and it is written by Charlie Brooker and I do love his writing.

The same goes for John Wick, I knew there was a fandom behind the movies, but didn’t know they were done by the original Matrix team.

Thank you for the suggestions and I definitely do want to check out John Wick now that you said it also has Laurence Fishburne in the movies.