Becoming The Muse

The Matrix Resurrections

 The Matrix Resurrections is a 2021 American science fiction action film produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski. The movie was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on December 21, 2021.

The Matrix Resurrections is the fourth instalment in The Matrix franchise which had originally been branded as The Matrix Trilogy.

The Matrix Resurrections is a sequel to the 2003 blockbuster The Matrix Revolutions which had been the final instalment in The Matrix Trilogy. The Matrix Resurrections is set 60 years after the events of the last movie and serves as a resurrection of the Matrix story….

The premise of the story, is more or less follows what you would expect from a Matrix Movie and for those familiar with The Matrix no further explanation is necessary and for those unfamiliar with it, no explanation is possible without spoiling the plot…

The Good

Nostalgia… The movie uses call-back lines and scenes that will take you back in time to when you first watched The Matrix, a visual orchestra of mind-bending cinematics, that had you questioning if it had a metaphorical meaning which transcended the movie screen, questioning the meaning of reality itself….  And one of the most iconic choices in movie history.

"Nothing comforts anxiety like a little nostalgia"

Its an undying love story… 😍

What would a Matrix movie be without some stunning cinematography?

Watching this movie feels like déjà vu… you have been here before… A glitch in the Matrix.

The movie does not take itself too seriously, it has a whimsical feel and has scenes that break the fourth wall making call-back references to The Matrix franchise and some self-deprecating humour on how the sequel of the Matrix was a corporate imposition by Warner Brothers despite its creators not wanting a sequel.

"That's the thing about stories. They never really end, do they? We're still telling the same stories we've always told, just with different names, ..."

The Bad

From the first moment I heard the idea of a Matrix Reboot Movie, a part of me just knew it would neither hold a candle to the first Matrix movie nor would it make a contribution as profound to the cinematic world as its predecessors and that it would likely be a money-grab-gimmick serving no real purpose.

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See your favourite star suit up again as The Matrix Returns in The
Matrix Rebooted pic.twitter.com/PqyRFZMqrX

— ~B 🇿🇼 (@Beatonm5) October 15, 2019

The fight scenes paled in comparison to the iconic bullet-dodging sequences instead we have some short-lived and oft repetitive choreography that grows old real quick… Maybe the pandemic affected filming and they only had a skeleton crew so they wanted to keep things simple? Look at me making excuses for them.

With a runtime of 2 and a half hours it draaaaags, a lot of time is spent on flashbacks yet none of the characters get a moment to properly shine or build up distinct story arcs or purpose, its all muddled and glossed over to distract us from how it’s not an innovative take but rather a rehash of what we loved about The Matrix.

The Ugly

Morpheus recast as Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and for me, Morpheus will always be Laurence Fishburne just like how Keanu Reeves is forever Neo to me…. Speaking of which anyone else pick up the way Neo was channelling some John Wick vibes or perhaps John Wick is the one who channels some Neo…, I have a crazy theory that in an alternate universe they are the same person.

What if… In an alternate Matrix world Neo is John Wick?
🤔 https://t.co/FMwdjWmAyx pic.twitter.com/ERHSdNNdmW

— ~B 🇿🇼 (@Beatonm5) September 10, 2021

*Fun Fact: did you know that before the pandemic The Matrix Resurrection and John Wick 4 were set to be released on the same day 21 May 2021 which would have been dubbed Keanu Reeves Day

Final Thoughts

I love the first Matrix movie, I have always loved it since I first watched it, even when I didn’t understand what it was I had just watched. I have liked the subsequent instalments of The Matrix franchise in diminishing order and rate The Matrix Resurrection as a better sequel compared to the other 2.

For a Matrix aficionado, there is no way you can not watch The Matrix Resurrection, while its not a great movie, its made up of good ideas some hit and others miss; on how they managed to do a reboot which isn’t a exactly a reboot while tying in aspects not only from the previous movies but from the series Animatrix and The Matrix video games.

Lastly, legen…wait for it…and I hope you’re not lactose-intolerant cause the second half of that word is…dairy, Neil Patrick Harris… that’s all.

Have you watched it? What are your thoughts?

~B