Spoilers The Matrix Resurrections discussion and reviews

Yeah, I loved the fuck out of it. Lots of meta ideas (especially the commentary on corporate pseudo-innovation predictably based on safe and repeatable rather than thinking outside the box), a direct shot at modern consumer culture, and the appeal of "normalcy" in the face of uncertainty, and the culture of oppressed sameness instead of fighting to truly be free because it might change things, and people fear change.

I loved everyone in it, Bugs is certainly my favorite new character, but WOW was it awesome to see Neo and Trinity, especially Trinity, back in full form and breaking the mold they'd been subject to for so long.

Great job, Lana. This one's going in the collection.

 

I've had a couple more days to digest this film, and I can't really work out if I love it or hate it. It's certainly a divisive one this, The Last Jedi/Star Trek Into Darkness of the franchise for sure - both of which have heavy doses of nostalgia (especially STID) and try turning things on their head somewhat.

I like Johnathan Groff who played Smith - I thought he did well trying to step into some massive shoes, but I couldn't quite get his motives, or why he was even there in the first place given his virus like behaviour in the originals - which he remembers. Like Khan in STID, maybe he should have been a new character. Same with Morpheus - the actor did very well but I struggled with why he was there (but a little less than Smith). I think all the cast did a fine job on the whole, though I thought Lambert Wilson was wasted and was basically a shouty cameo that added nothing to the film.

Also, if this film is set 60 years after the originals and we see Niobe as an old woman, why have Neo and Trinity not aged a similar amount? Was this explained in the movie? I can't remember (I know it would be difficult to have 85 year olds doing what they do in the film).

The action scenes I'm undecided on too. I felt that they weren't as crisp or coherent as the originals, and the film lacked a sequence that had that wow factor that the first three did. That being said I don't think they were bad by any stretch, they were still good, but when you're following such illustrious predecessors (say what you want about the sequels but the action scenes in both are still awesome and more than hold up today) I kind of expected more.

I'm kind of feeling that this film doesn't justify it's existence enough, and deep down I feel like it's maybe the worst of the four - but that's not to say I didn't enjoy the hell out of it, because I did. I'm a little torn on it, and I absolutely need a few more rewatches, which can only be a good thing right?

 

This is The One sequel i will offering two blue pills to so i never have to see it again, a snooze fest which is how Reeves seems to have gone through the whole movie. lol

 

I need to look at it again. It also wouldn't hurt to brush up on the other films including the Animatrix. But from my one viewing I wasn't that impressed. I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't love it. I do rank it second live action to the first Matrix and third overall, when I include the Animatrix. I rank it so highly because I felt it handled Neo and Trinity better than I recall Revolutions did. I liked that they got a do-over.

As for Resurrection the film itself, it felt lacking in a grand, immersive vision and the special effects and fight choreography were also surprisingly subpar.

Spoiler

I did like the glimpses we got of the future city and also the machines came across well. I did like the idea that some machines and humans were now working together. I also was okay with how Neo and Trinity were brought back, though I don't see why the machines would really do so, but I get it, they had to make the film work.

I thought some of the meta stuff was okay, but they couldn't tamped down on the comedy. The end credit scene was totally unnecessary. Even though it would've been more divisive than it already is, I wish that they had really had it all be in Tom Anderson's mind. I found many of his therapy sessions interesting, and I think it was a missed opportunity to really upend the franchise.

Overall I thought the casting was okay. I do wish Fishburne and Weaving had returned. I liked Neil Patrick Harris and he delivered my favorite in the film, however I was so used to seeing him in other things, I couldn't buy the role he was in for this movie. I wouldn't have minded if they had put Jonathan Groff in that role instead. They might as well had Yahya Abdul-Mateeen II playing another character instead of Morpheus.

Overall I thought this was a missed opportunity to move beyond Neo and Trinity and focus on Niobe, Bugs, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas's character, Jonathan Groff, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II playing a not-Morpheus character. That's a good group of actors that you could build a revived Matrix franchise around.

I was glad they didn't chump out Neo, but I also wouldn't have minded him playing a smaller role, or them shifting his role with that of Trinity and telling the story from her perspective. Absent that, I would've preferred going with those other actors in the lead.

 

I can't really disagree with anything you've written here. The lack of weaving and Fishbourne hurt the film for me, and yes the fighting wasn't up to scratch IMO. The whole thing felt a bit 'small scale' and less epic compared to the originals, and that's a shame. An absolutely preposterous car chase or massive ruck would have elevated the film somewhat.

 

6

The film wasn't the absolute abortion that parts 2 & 3 were. It had it's moments where I genuinely enjoyed it. However, I felt like I was watching the A-Team or a G version of the original. The exposition was certainly overboard and makes B5 look slim on dialog. I liked the cast for the most part. The new machines were my fav part. I'll give it another watch down the road sometime, but I'm in no rush.

 

I thought it was good but despite it's attempt to be meta it ended up feeling like a fun but standard action movie. It did hurt not having Weaving and Fisbourne back IMO though I did like Patrick Neil Harris as the bad guy. I think the lack of great action scenes also hurt. Nothing in the action that feels special like Bullet Time or the Freeway scene in the second movie. Most fun though is just seeing Neo and Trinity back together and I like the idea of them being together makes them 'The One" and I also liked The Bug character. This actress is great and was like one of the few good things from "Iron Fist" so I can't wait to see what she does next.

 

If this movie didn't get made i don't think humanity might have lost something.

For a good part of it i was actually bored as the movie indulged in its own concepts and meta attempts, some parts were enjoyable though such as showing the machines not be one monolithic block and that developments continued in a way that humans and machines can co-exist but it was not nearly enough to reproduce the awesomeness that was the first Matrix movie. It is however unfair to put it up against the original Matrix but even on its own it was still a mediocre movie that added precious little to the overall universe.

Not having Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving reprise the role hurt the movie badly - the replacement actors did what they could but they simply don't have the gravitas of them.

All considered the movie could have cut a half hour or so, it was needlessly long.

 

I can see the appeal of the messages and statements of this movie but I don't feel like the trappings were up to par. I'll admit to partaking in a little too much xmas spirits but I wish I found the movie itself more engaging and entertaining.

 

Reloaded is still my favourite one.

 

It was great seeing Neo and Trinity together again, especially after the shambles that was Revolutions.

Thought this might have worked better as a streaming series rather a single movie, as they really did have a LOT going on and you could feel the struggle to cram everything in, Like others have said, I was quite intrigued by what had happened in the real world, post-Revolutions, and wished they could have gone into that a bit more.

 

What an odd little film. There was a lot I liked. Some I thought didn't work so well.

I LOVE that Neo basically frees himself from the Matrix this time, by creating the Modal Morpheus. I really enjoyed Neil Patrick Harris as the villain. Jessica Henwick was good. And the Bugs Bunny and white rabbit gags cracked me up. And the new reality of the real world, with machine hardliners doubling down on the Matrix, Zion destroyed because it was blinded by faith and Io being born of coexistence between humans and synthients (which is a great word, by the way). I did like that Neo and Trinity really did change their world, forever. Just not in the way they thought or expected.

All the Sense8 cast members in this took me out of the film. One of them, sure. But at least 3 of them?

The movie doesn't really attempt to make clear how Neo and Trinity being plugged in has somehow prevented people from choosing to see the unreality of the Matrix. We just take at face value that it's somehow important to the plan because the Analyst tells us so.

And there is something darkly ironic about a film built around a villain weaponizing memory to cash in on all the emotional benefits of nostalgia which rehashes so many beats and scenes from it's own prior iteration. I think it was meant to be cutting, but it just felt cynical. Being more upfront about your shameless nostalgia cash grab doesn't make it meta, it just makes you an honest leech.

All told, I'm going to have to percolate on this one a bit. I didn't hate it, but I don't think I particularly liked it either. There was not one single standout action scene, in fact I was honestly bored every time the film did action. But some of the world building was really good and the performances from Reeves, Moss, Henwick and Harris are so good and earnest that it almost redeems the film's failings. Had it leaned harder into reinvention in it's final act I think it could have been brilliant. But it doesn't want to be brilliant, it just wants you to fork over your hard earned cash to push those familiar buttons while it points out that's what it's doing.

I mean, really he is playing a new character. This is presumably why the didn't bring Fishburne back, as it's not actually Morpheus as we knew him, but a new program that shares his name and is based on Neo's history with him.

I will agree that the Smith character didn't land right without Weaving in the role. It doesn't help that the character being present doesn't make any sense, and none of his motivations felt true to the Smith of the original films. I think I get what they script was going for with the character, but it's all between the lines and I could be completely off base. This was the most frustrating character in the film to me.

 

More and more I've been thinking that was the point whether a conscious choice or not. I know while watching it at one point I imagined if they had made the movie without action scenes. Maybe after the fifth time or whatever Keanu yawningly raised his hands to stop a storm of bullets. Smith seemed more of a nuisance than a threat. Maybe it's why the action scenes were cut to remove all flow of action, nobody gave a shit, not sure that actually makes it better or not. I find it more interesting than actually entertaining or satisfying though I'm intrigued enough to maybe do a rewatch someday knowing what to expect now.

 

So... the love between Trinity and Neo was so strong that it just made everything click and work correctly?

This would be the bland, un-emotive, love the two of them had like two wet noodles stuck to either side of colander, right?

I really liked the first Matrix movie, it was cool, different, and really seemed to set something up.

The second one was a mess. Good action scenes, but what it continued with the story didn't work and didn't make snese.

The third one was a complete dumpster fire and a mess. Only saw it once.

I may check this one out when I can stream it on Amazon, but right now the stuff I'm seeing on it has me kinda indifferent. It seems like much of it is building on things they *think* happened in the first movies and how they played out and felt.

When, yeah, no.

There was no power romance between Trinity and Neo that transcended all reality and emotion. They barely seemed like they wanted to be acquaintances.

 

You can stream it on HBO Max right now

 

An easy 8. Loved it, but much like when I saw Cloud Atlas the first time, I knew a lot of people wouldn't.

Deconstructing the myth of the sequel is one of those subgenius "people will pay you to tell you what they already know" things but it works, anyway.

I found it interesting that the "Suits"' contingency plan if Neo or Trinity died was to revert to the late 90's matrix. I suppose without a Neo that one could persist. The Suits' domain had been benefitting from misrule of Niobe. She's doesn't rise to antagonist. She doesn't rise to anything. I already said "She sold out humanity for a strawberry" before someone in the movie said the same thing. She got complacent. She got secure and comfortable, and turned her back on all the coppertops still stuck in the Matrix that might have wanted out.


It's easily the most optimistic sci fi movie in awhile. Humans got themselves in the mess they were in by treating AI like slaves, but in the end, being able to re-engineer extinct life with synthiant help left the possibility that the planet could be restored one day.


Questions I wonder about that aren't very important at all:
Is the Matrix Online still part of the continuity? That would make its end the time that the original matrix stopped, due to the inter-machine war. Were there dissidents againt Niobe who wanted to press on for war? She seemed to rule in a very autocratic way, unlike the Zion government.

The room that nu-Morpheus found himself in at the beginning was obviously an allusion to the Keymaker, but if this was part of Neo's modal, how did Morpheus use it to get out, or was that Bugs' going?

Could have done without the Merovingian. His only purpose previously was the information he brokered. Now he was just a broken down boomer railing about social media. Maybe that was the point.

 

I don't have HBO Max.

 

I need to think about it a bit more - there were elements I liked but I found bits of if pretty boring. Some random thoughts:

* Is IO suppose to be tiny? Seemed pretty lifeless
* If your original concept is "everything is a simulation" then it's hard to do anything as elegant when you return to the concept which this struggles with
* They introduce the idea that the Morpheus AI is actually a Morpheus/Smith hybrid (which is why he is Smith at the start) but the idea seems quickly forgotten?
* Does Neo interact with any real people in the Matrix or are they all bots?
* The gun scenes were pretty forgettable
* Nobody dies?

 

I have a question too. How do they jack out of the Matrix?