Based upon characters and situations created by The Wachowskis
Screenplay Written by Lana Wachowski & David Mitchell & Aleksandar Hemon
Directed by Lana Wachowski
** (two stars)
RATED R
Maybe I should not have taken the red pill this time...
In this current age of sequels, prequels, reboots, reimaginings and so on, I suppose it was only a matter of time before audiences were given an opportunity to return to The Matrix, and as with most of the retreads that are flowing in our direction, I was housed with a mixture of fatigue and curiosity. As envisioned by the Wachowskis, the bracing, game changing "The Matrix" (1999) and its two sequels "The Matrix: Reloaded" (2003) and "The Matrix: Revolutions" (2003), weaved a heady plot about humanity enslaved by machines within a virtual reality system while in reality being utilized as a power source and the band of freedom fighters, led by a potential messiah figure named Neo, determine to defeat the machines and reclaim our humanity.
It was psychedelic cyperpunk merged with classic mythology, anime, philosophy, religion and spirituality, S&M fetishes, martial arts, machine gun ultraviolence, and even a love story all filtered through deliriously staged action and fight sequences plus bar raising special effects. Much like the first film's main character as portrayed by Keanu Reeves, we were all jet propelled into a wildly terrifying new cinematic universe that served as a warning about our reliance and continuous immersion into technology at the expense of our human interconnectivity. While it is easy to say that we did not necessarily need a new installment, especially after the series felt to reach a natural (if slightly open ended) conclusion, there is something to be said about how the Wachowskis' story could be revisited, especially as we witness how our societal relationship to technology has deepened profoundly in the 18 years since the third film.
While it has its moments as well as a promising beginning third or so, Lana Wachowski's "The Matrix: Resurrections," the fourth chapter in the series feels more like an addendum at best and an anti-climactic afterthought at worst. It is not a bad film but it is also not a particularly good one either as it contains quite a number of good ideas which never feel as thoroughly conceptualized as the previous three installments. And for a series that has always prided itself on attempting to wield a white knuckle approach to the proceedings, this new film feels more than a little sleepy by comparison with action sequences that just do not pop and a visual presentation, while glowing with color, feels more than a little artificial, making it at times difficult to buy the fantasy. That being said, at least "The Matrix: Resurrections" feels like an honest film and not a cynical cash grab. Even so, maybe I needed to just take the blue pill and I can have the original trilogy untainted by this lackluster effort.
Picking up six decades after the events of the trilogy, which found Neo (Keanu Reeves) sacrificing himself to essentially forge a peace treaty between humans and machines, Lana Wachowski's "The Matrix: Resurrections" finds Neo as his original alter ego Thomas Anderson as the developer of a successful video game company basking in the success of a trilogy of games entitled "The Matrix," based upon Anderson's dreams or in actuality, his faint memories. Struggling with his sanity, Thomas Anderson habitually seeks the counsel of his therapist (Neil Patrick Harris) who keeps Anderson under the haze of a steady stream of blue pills, although Anderson desperately wished for answers to the source of his fragmented dreams.
Meanwhile, and just as before, all is not what it seems as a new generation of freedom fighters from the Matrix, as led by Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and a new version of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), are on the hunt for the believed to be alive Neo as well as Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), who perished at the end of the Machine War but miraculously exists as Tiffany, the motorcycle riding married Mother of three children in San Francisco.
Once the rebels locate Anderson and he accepts the red pill, once again opening his mind to the realities of the Matrix, its evolution and newfound dangers, including a revamped Agent Smith (Jonathan Groff), the resurrected Neo re-emerges to discern reality from illusion and potentially save Trinity as he submerges himself deep within the Matrix all over again.
Lana Wachowski's "The Matrix: Resurrections" is earnest, affectionate, well intentioned and seemingly heartfelt as there does not feel to be anything remotely mercenary about this venture as it reaches its fourth chapter. In a way, it feels almost lighter in tone than the previous three films. More playful, less urgent and definitely, self-reflexive in a way the original trilogy was not, giving this fourth installment a new level to explore, especially regarding the nature of sequels.
Throughout the film, we are given snatches of moments and sequences from the original trilogy as played out as flashes of Thomas Anderson's dreams/memories/flashbacks sometimes playing right alongside the new material, each side commenting upon the other. At times, the technique works well as it allows Wachowski to update us upon characters and events from the first films while circumventing lazy fan service based nostalgia by weaving everything directly intro the narrative as machine based deja vu, which is itself a clever jab at the current Hollywood based machine made culture surrounding the preponderance of recycled material at the expense of anything original. Other times, the technique fails as it does nothing else but to remind us about how much better the first films actually were, including the severe lack of having Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus this time around (which is not a slight upon Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's efforts but honestly, he is no Fishburne).
By now, the pop cultural narrative remains that "The Matrix" is brilliant while the two immediately subsequent films fall far short, a viewpoint I whole heartedly disagree with as all three wove a complete narrative in the three distinct phases of birth-life-death, were consistently innovative (even if exhausting by the third film) and with action sequences that remain some of the best I have ever seen--the freeway sequence in the second film for my money is in the exact same league as the truck chase in Steven Spielberg's "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" (1981) or the apocalyptic white line nightmares of George Miller's "The Road Warrior" (1981) and "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015).
With a bar set so highly, and three times over, no less, anything that doesn't reach a similar height is more than noticeable. The action sequences that made our mouths drop to the ground over and over again are nowhere to be found this time around. The fights all feel like retreads and they way they are all filmed feel shoddy and choppy as opposed to the narrative and visual elegance of the original films. In fact, here's something to chew upon: the downright explosive and dazzling, flat out insane fights of Keanu Reeves' own "John Wick" (2014/2017/2019) series far eclipse anything that can be seen in "The Matrix: Resurrections" and if the original pre-pandemic plans had come to pass--where the upcoming "John Wick 4" and this new "Matrix" would have been released upon the same day--Wick would eat Neo for breakfast without breaking a sweat.
Also, as visually striking as the original films were and remain, there was a gritty, film noir atmosphere which for "The Matrix: Resurrections" has been replaced with a glorious sheen where colors practically dance on the screen yet everything, including the special effects, feel air brushed within an inch of its life, making the presentation look shockingly cheap at times. Perhaps, this aesthetic was purposeful, in order to give Lana Wachowski the benefit of the doubt as well as considering the self-reflexive (yet increasingly muddled) nature of the narrative. Maybe she is offering another commentary upon the nature of sequels as they typically grow brighter but emptier as more installment arrive? I don't know. But, I do know that I felt less immersed and more aware of the overall artifice which kept me from embracing as I had done three times over in the past.
All of that being said, there were elements I enjoyed including the very warm presence of Jessica Henwick as Bugs, the audience surrogate this time around. But most importantly, the love story between Neo and Trinity as portrayed by Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, still possesses a certain pull as the two re-ignite their considerable chemistry with ease and newfound layers of loss, tenderness and melancholy which at least, gives the film an emotional level to cling to.
Even better is Keanu Reeves himself, who strikes some considerably stirring notes as Thomas Anderson rather than Neo. The earlier sequences in the film, with Anderson downing one blue pill after another, hands shaking in his therapist's office, or silently crying while sitting in his bathtub struck me purely and made me wonder if possibly the film was working as an allegory for surviving depression and trauma, because frankly, this character has undergone considerable trauma and then some, making the blurred lines of reality and delusion more precarious. If only Wachowski had followed this thread with a greater commitment, we would have had a greater emotional anchor to rely upon and give some gravity to a film that unfortunately grows increasingly goofy the longer it plays.
That is the general nature of a sequel, isn't it. Something that just doesn't live up to what has come before. In fact, it is all in the film itself as just like Neo, who wants to take flight again, Lana Wachowski's "The Matrix: Resurrections" cannot get off the ground.
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