This week’s film is “The Matrix Resurrections”, the fourth installment in the Matrix franchise. Of course, first question first- why bother reviewing another money-grubbing sequel? Well, the choices this week were the Matrix third sequel, the Sing sequel, the Spiderman multi multiverse sequel, or the prequel to the next Kingsman sequel. So, I chose the most enigmatic of the bunch. Nearly twenty years after the last installment which at the time was billed as a trilogy, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return as the legendary Neo and Trinity, hackers who sacrificed themselves to seal a peace between humanity’s last rebel force and the Machines behind the Matrix. Lana Wachowski, half of the sibling team behind the original films, also returns as director and co-writer. The film starts with some clever writing where we find Neo aka Thomas Anderson working as a gaming program designer. His only recollection of the Matrix is as a popular video game which he successfully designed and marketed. His boss is pressuring Mr. Anderson for, wait for it, a sequel. Problem is, Mr. Anderson is starting to ask himself familiar questions- What is his reality v his dreams? Is he sane or crazy? Does he have free choice or is someone or something controlling everything via an alternative reality? And who is this woman he keeps seeing in a coffee shop who reminds him of someone, but who he has never met? Visits to an analyst played by Neil Patrick Harris offer little help. This renewed process of self-discovery is accelerated by a young team of hackers, led by the strong and charismatic Bugs, played brilliantly by Jessica Henwick. Bugs finds a loop in the Matrix which may lead her to the legendary Neo. If they connect, can they determine if Trinity is still alive and if she is, can they rescue her? This focus on Neo and Trinity is the departure from the trilogy that likely led to Lana Wachowski’s sibling to take a pass. A singular focus on love over all, when the main premise of the trilogy had the characters’ sacrifice of their love for the survival of everyone else could not be bigger departure.
So, on my ski trail rating system, “The Matrix Resurrections” earns my intermediate Blue Ski Trail rating. I’ll admit I enjoyed this film more than I expected and credit the on-going screen chemistry between Reeves and Moss, perhaps the only film stars more recognizable behind sunglasses than without. However, the complete miscasting of Jonathan Groff as a reimagined Agent Smith and a lower caliber of fight choreography result in glitches to this Matrix reboot that can’t be overcome by simply by turning power off and back on. Original fans and cynics may rightfully dismiss this installment as nothing more than a commercial sellout by half of the Wachowski team, but I think the director’s effort was an earnest attempt to convey the premise that despite the revolutions, rages against the machine, esoteric philosophies, and sci-fi special effects, in the end, without connection and love we have nothing. As the hidden end credit dedicated to her parents confirms, Lana Wachowski used the Matrix as a vehicle to propel a new fairytale and give her characters a second chance with the message “Love is the genesis of everything.” And in times like these, is that so bad? But don’t worry, those needing a fairytale buoyed with some alt sci fi bad ass, Ms. Wachowski still finds time to throw Matrix victims off and out of skyscrapers.
“The Matrix Resurrections” is rated R for violence, language and raining Matrix bodies.
