The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie Anne-Moss, Jessica Henwick, Neil Patrick Harris, Jada Pinkett Smith, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Grade: B

I do love that Neo is back, but did we really need a fourth film?

No, we did not.

Summary

In a complete recreation of the opening of the first Matrix, we see a young Trinity about to be detained by a group of officers. Through the wall, the blue-haired Bugs (Henwick) is observing. Sequoia (Toby Onwumere) is her operator, speaking to her from the real world. Outside of the building, a group of agents encounter the police officer that was supposed to watch Trinity. The main agent (Abdul-Mateen II) tells him the cop’s officers are already dead. Bugs and Sequoia both note that the scene that Bugs is watching in the flesh is when this saga all started, but they don’t know why they are seeing it. Next, Trinity beats up all the officers and after hearing that the line was traced, she runs out of the building. Only this time, she’s captured on the roof by the agents. Obviously, this never happened to the real Trinity, so this confuses Bugs and Sequoia, who both assume it’s a trap. Just then, Bugs is spotted and chased by agents, with the main one (that spoke to the cops earlier) leading the pack.

Oh, by the way, he looks like Morpheus.

Though she evades them momentarily, she eventually gets into a standoff with the Morpheus lookalike, with him asking who she is. She says that at this current moment, they’re inside a modal, a “simulation used to evolve programs”. She tells him he’s “digital sentience”. He knows, but he insists that his job is to hunt down synthients like her. Despite this, they both lower their guns, with the man saying this is a secluded room that even the agents don’t know about. Bugs looks around the room and realizes this room is the very apartment Neo (Reeves) used to occupy when he was still “Thomas Anderson” in the first Matrix. Morpheus says he’s looked everywhere for Anderson, but he doesn’t exist. She tells him that Anderson is Neo. Though everyone thinks he’s dead, he’s actually still alive. She saw him one time and they made eye contact, with her acknowledging she felt something. This Morpheus lookalike says that he’s been seeing things as well. He saw the Matrix coded characters, and he even saw his mirror turn into a silly putty-like substance when he touched it, implying he’s starting to see the glitches in the Matrix. He says he is indeed Morpheus, and he has to find Neo. Bugs, excited as hell, promises to get him out of there, but she needs to know he’s for real about his decision. So, she gives him the decision: choose the red pill (to find out the truth) or the blue pill (continue living in the Matrix and therefore, continue living a lie). He chooses the red pill, and the two elude the agents as they transfer out of the Matrix.

We then see Neo. He’s somehow back in an office, working as a video developer. His name is Thomas Anderson once again, and the game he made that made him super successful was based around his adventures as Neo in the previous films. The only problem is that he has no recollection of him doing anything. He has no memory of his past. He only has visions of what happened and was able to compile them to make his video games. Basically, it’s passed off as his creative imagination. As he stares at his computer screen, he’s interrupted by his annoying co-worker Jude (Andrew Caldwell). Jude takes Anderson out for a coffee and as he reiterates how much of a fan he is of Anderson’s Matrix series, he notices Anderson watch as a woman walks into the coffee shop with her two kids. This woman is who we know as Trinity (Moss). Jude tries to play wingman, even though Anderson doesn’t want to bother her, and she introduces herself as “Tiffany”. Anderson and Tiffany shake hands and there seems to be a bit of familiarity between them, though Anderson tells her it’s because they both come to this coffee shop a lot. Sadly, they are interrupted by Tiffany’s husband, ruining the mood. Back at work, Anderson is called into his boss’s (Jonathan Groff) office. Anderson thinks it’s because his new game is over budget, but it’s actually because the company has been told they are making a sequel to his Matrix series, even though they aren’t interested in it. As he talks, his mouth closes up for a moment just as it happened to Anderson in the first Matrix. Once Anderson jumps at this sight, we see him back at therapy with The Analyst (Harris). During their meeting, Anderson mentions this event and how it made him think that he’s on the verge of another breakdown, or he’s convinced he’s living in a CGI-generated world that has imprisoned him (a Matrix if you will).

Boy is he in for a surprise.

The Analyst calms Anderson down and mentions how Anderson is a suicide survivor and that it’s okay to be frustrated about this because being forced to make a sequel to his game series, when he said he would never, is taking away his voice. He then refills Anderson’s prescription, and they are blue pills. As we go through a montage where an oblivious group of game designers talk about how to make The Matrix new and exciting, with Anderson listening in, he stops taking his pills in the midst of the development of the game. A little while after, Anderson sees Tiffany at the coffee shop again and offers to pay for her drink, so they sit down and talk. They discuss the fact that Anderson based a lot of Neo’s characteristics on himself, and Tiffany admits she thought it was a rather interesting coincidence she looked like Trinity. Later that day at the office, an alarm sounds off and everyone is being evacuated. During this chaos, Anderson gets a text similar to the phone call he got from Morpheus in the first film that changed everything, telling him to go to a certain exit to find answers to his questions and such. The exit is the bathroom on the same floor and walking out of one of the stalls is this new Morpheus. After being offered the red pill, Anderson freaks out because his game is coming to life in front of his very eyes. Morpheus says he was trapped in the modal Anderson was making, and he’s been searching for him ever since. Anderson runs out of the bathroom in shock.

Right after, the floor is overrun by SWAT, and they start shooting, with Morpheus taking out most of them. Anderson’s boss watches the wreckage, but he picks up a gun and changes his tune. He’s actually been a version of Agent Smith this whole time! He’s about to shoot Anderson in the head, but somehow, Anderson inexplicably appears in the Analyst’s office. Apparently, he just came in there and has no recollection of how he did so. Anderson tells him Morpheus approached him, but it wasn’t the real one. It was a program he coded for a modal. Though when the therapist asks for proof, Anderson can’t give him any because the texts were erased. He passes off everything as fiction, even though what he saw felt very real. That night, a drunk Anderson attempts to jump off the roof of a building, to mirror the training he did with Morpheus in the first film, but he’s stopped by Bugs pulling him back. She tells him how he changed her life when she saw him try to commit suicide the first time. She was also the one that hacked his modal. Bugs tells him that Jude (who calls Anderson at that moment) isn’t his friend. He’s a handle, a program used to control him. He’s coming, and he’s bringing agents with him. Apparently, the first time he tried to kill himself was because he was having these thoughts before, and he was caught and put back under control. She says that Anderson left his modal open to be hacked (at least subconsciously), so someone else could free Morpheus. This would allow for him to come get Anderson.

Then, Bugs shows Anderson her tattoo. It’s a white rabbit.

Since Anderson wants to know the truth, he follows Bugs into the door portal. This puts them on a train on the way to Tokyo. It’s like this because it’s harder for them to be tracked with these moving portals. They go into a back room into another portal, running into Morpheus watching footage of the old Matrix films. They show Anderson bits and pieces to comfort him, explaining that what happened in his game was all real and actually happened. Anderson questions how this is true since him and Trinity died, but Bugs isn’t really sure either. She’s not certain why the machines kept him alive, and why they went to such great lengths to hide him. They even altered his digital self-image, something they didn’t know was possible. To everyone else, he looks like some random old man. Now, Anderson wonders why it took 20 years to find him, but Bugs tells him that it’s actually been 60 years since the ending of Revolutions that resulted in Neo and Trinity’s deaths. Not much is known past that. His DSI could’ve been changed numerous times for all they know. Morpheus starts to get snippy and questions if Anderson even wanted to be found, or if he was working with the machines from the start. He then offers Anderson the two pills again, and Anderson knows what he has to do. He chooses red and officially restarts his journey, slowly becoming Neo once again.

Immediately after, he realizes he can stick his hand through the mirror, and it leads directly into the Analyst’s house. Realizing Neo has found out the truth, the Analyst tries explaining to him through the mirror that Neo’s going crazy. He tries pulling Neo back through the mirror just as the bad guys storm the place and start shooting. Morpheus shoots the mirror, and Bugs leads the escape. Following a shootout, they escape through another portal, and Neo wakes up directly in that pod in the real world, hooked up to all those wires just like he was in the first film. He pulls the main apparatus out of his nose and mouth and looks to see another pod across from him containing Trinity, though she is submerged in the water and still unconscious. Two machines grab Neo and fly him to the human hideout. As he is lifted, he sees Trinity’s hand reach out to him slightly, with her eyes opening just a little bit, though it’s only for a moment, with her hand going back down and her eyes re-closing.

Neo wakes up, and he’s officially back in the real world with this new crew. Here we go again! Now, it’s time to figure out how Neo is still alive and what he’s being called upon to do this time around.

My Thoughts:

As much as I love the Matrix film series, this was another franchise that definitely didn’t need a sequel. This was a decision they were forced into. It was obvious. The screenplay had numerous tongue-in-cheek references to the fact too. It was almost as if Lana Wachowski was making fun of the studio to get back at them. I’m not sure if you’ve read up on this, but it’s a known fact that the Wachowskis never wanted to make a fourth film. They were essentially forced into it because Warner Bros. wanted it done since Hollywood is going through a period of remaking, or making sequels, to virtually any IP that is remotely popular. Early in The Matrix Resurrections, Thomas Anderson is told they are making a sequel to his highly popular Matrix video games, even though he swore he would never. His boss, Smith, even says to him that Warner Bros. said they are doing it with or without him, despite him being the creator.

You’re telling me this isn’t mirroring real life?

Later on, when all the people meet up to talk about the direction of The Matrix 4, the head executive even mentions there could be even more sequels if it’s a success and this new game needs to feel “fresh” and have “originality”. You’re lying to yourself if you don’t think this is the exact boardroom meeting that director Lana Wachowski had to sit through as she groaned. Remember, they were going to make this “with or without her”. It’s just like what Bugs says in the movie about the choice between the red pill or the blue pill. She explains that the “choice” is an illusion, saying to Neo, “You already know what you have to do”. As much as I would hate to give into a studio that’s forcing me to make a sequel to a series I felt was done, I wouldn’t want someone else to handle my baby either. Her hand was forced. Her sister still left, but if Lana left too, it would’ve been run directly into the ground by someone else entirely, much like how Disney did to Star Wars in the sequel trilogy. She can’t not be involved. I understand where she’s coming from. It may be petty, but I did enjoy how she pokes fun at the whole situation without losing the grand scheme of the story. They managed to keep these references in and still made it make sense. That’s tough to do. I also enjoyed the montage of the video game production members trying to decipher metaphors about The Matrix, discussing what it’s all about, and what people know it for. It not only makes fun of the pretentious film critics that overanalyze certain points made throughout the series, as well as college professors that have talked about the messages in the films, but it also encompasses real conversations I’ve seen on fan forums.

Whoever wrote The Matrix Resurrections, along with Lana Wachowski, were clearly super fans of the series because they included as much as possible in listening to the plight of fans and the legacy its mythology has had on popular culture. It’s too bad the studio didn’t listen to the plight of the fans because again, the series was good enough where it stopped at.

It’s not that we’ve had enough, it’s just that everything was so final in The Matrix Revolutions. It was a great ending to the story of Neo. Not for a second did I think we needed to revisit the universe. Neo and Trinity died, the war ended, and the Architect and the Oracle agreed to make things peaceful, at least for the time being. In the previous review, I noted how it was an open-ended finale but if Neo is dead, there’s no point in watching a new series. The way they explain it in this film, just isn’t as satisfying as it needed to be. There were just so many questions in general as to how any of this was possible and that’s probably the reason why this is the longest film in the series. The idea of the Analyst was a good one, but his reasoning (to the surprise of no one) was incredibly convoluted and didn’t seem all that necessary. Considering how much shit Neo caused the machines previously, I just find it hard to believe they would rebuild him and Trinity for the Analyst, so he could study them and use their power for the machines. In all honesty, I just don’t think the negatives outweigh the positives for the sentinels. They don’t need the power coming from Neo and Trinity because they were doing just fine without them. In fact, they technically beat Neo when you think about it. I just don’t understand why the Analyst has so much say around here. There’s also the fact that it’s Neil Patrick Harris playing this character. I like Harris as an actor, but he didn’t play the defining villain we needed to see in such a big-time movie. The character was very interesting but playing it as the smug, not-so-tough guy that loves to shit-talk, didn’t really fit the tone of the Matrix movies. In fact, it felt like he had too much personality. I know this sounds weird, but that is kind of how the Matrix films are.

Clearly, they were going for a different tone in this sequel to make it different, but it didn’t work in the case of the Analyst. I’m not saying it was a huge mistake that ruined the film or anything because he was decently entertaining, but it was a mistake, nonetheless.

Also, fuck the new Morpheus. There’s only one Morpheus and that is Laurence Fishburne. Here’s the thing, I understand not wanting to bring back every actor from the old films. I also wouldn’t want to see an aged Fishburne just like how they aged Jada Pinkett Smith in her role as Niobe. Though they could’ve very easily just not aged a character like Niobe and get rid of the “sixty years” timeline, brought back Fishburne as is, and told Keanu Reeves to get a shave and a haircut, they decided to go this route for whatever reason. It’s awful we’ll never see Fishburne in the role of Morpheus again, but since we can’t change this horrible decision, I will give them credit in how they wrote off the character of Morpheus for the path they chose. Niobe explains to Neo that when the new threat was looming, Morpheus ignored it because he thought Neo did everything needed and that there would be peace forever, no matter what was creeping around. Though I would’ve liked to have known if he died in battle or not, it would make sense that Morpheus had this thought process. It honored the character. He was always pretty stubborn in his beliefs of “The One”, so it would make sense he would act like that in such a scenario.

As I heard Niobe explain this, I even said to myself, “That’s classic Morpheus”. The fact that Neo has come back to help them again, also kind of makes Morpheus right about his beliefs in “The One” as well, so that’s kind of nice. It’s just that there’s more to the prophecy than what he initially thought. This way, everyone wins. I’m okay with that. After Niobe is done explaining the fate of Morpheus, I love when Neo utters the sad, “I’m sorry” line because it beautifully intercuts to the scene in Revolutions when they shook hands and hugged for the last time before Neo and Trinity left to Machine City. It was a short cut, but it was very powerful. For me, as a huge fan of the series, it did feel a little emotional. You think back to the good times. For Neo, it’s like everything and everyone he knew is all gone or completely changed. Morpheus changed his life, and the fate of the human race for that matter, but it’s all a product of history. Now, all Neo could say, as he stares at a statue of his former mentor is, “I’m sorry”.

There’s no need for a new Morpheus though. I know Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is not portraying the actual Morpheus and he’s just a program from the modal, but why couldn’t he just be a new character in general? This is another thing they made sense of in the screenplay, but it still didn’t work. They tied all the loose ends up and made sense of it, saying that Neo recreated him in the modal to come find him in the Matrix and save him, but I just can’t see someone else taking over such an iconic role. The same goes with the recasting of Smith. Hugo Weaving is Agent Smith. It’s that simple. The whole point to Revolutions, and the entire reason to the end of the war between the humans and the machines, was Neo killing Agent Smith in the climax. To bring him back, undoes everything the third film was about. A good sequel builds on the previous film but does something new with it. They don’t undo something just to bring back a character to give a nostalgic feeling.

Nostalgia isn’t always good. It’s good in the case of bringing back Han Solo in The Force Awakens, but it’s not good when Davy Jones comes back inexplicably in the end credits of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales because two whole films were used to stop the guy, and they did everything to definitively kill him.

In The Matrix films, three movies were about stopping Agent Smith, among other things. You can’t bring him back again! It’s over at that point. Create another villain! With all of these crazy character concepts and outlandish reasonings for their motivations in situations that the Wachowskis came up with over the years, I just find it hard to believe that Smith had to be brought back again, especially after he fucking exploded at the end of Revolutions. It’s just lazy. On top of that, the fact that we couldn’t even have Hugo Weaving playing the character again is just a slap in the face to the fans. They tried to meet us halfway with the return of The Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), but his inclusion didn’t make sense. He was brought on as part of a group (“The Exiles”) that exist to fight the good guys, but he just stands and spits babbling nonsense in the corner while looking like a homeless person. I get that it’s funny to see the Merovingian be the exact opposite of what he was in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, but what the hell was the point of him being there? There was none! It was just unnecessary nostalgia. Then again, this is probably because they were worried about fan reactions.

It’s just like “Modal” Morpheus says, “Nothing comforts anxiety like a little nostalgia”.

The fight scenes were at an all-time low. Considering how The Matrix made their mark with such an elaborate dedication to choreographed fight scenes, Resurrections disappointed. There was still good action, but this sequel was definitely the worst of all four films. Also, I couldn’t stand how Neo was relegated to just holding out his hands like he’s using the force and knocking people back with air instead of fighting. It was overused and got comical at some points.

Despite all of this, The Matrix Resurrections is a pretty decent sequel in a lot of aspects. Though I hated that we’re forced to see Neo start almost from scratch as Thomas Anderson again, Keanu Reeves plays being detached very well. He brought a lot more sadness and emotion to his character this time around, and it played into the story well. No matter the circumstances, it’s nice to see Neo again, though I do kind of wish we got to see the clean-shaven, short-haired Neo again wearing the cassock. That would’ve really given me the indication that “The One” is back in town. However, it seems that Keanu Reeves is kind of loving his John Wick-look and is just going to force all of his roles to have it in the future. It’s unfortunate, but it’s whatever. I guess you can just pass it off story-wise as those “60 years” passing by. I also liked what they did with Niobe. They evolved her character a lot since we last saw her, and the fact she became the new leader of their new capital city made sense. She’s also kind of a bitch which doesn’t surprise me. She doesn’t rule the place with an iron first, but she is very strict. The thing is, it’s needed. She needed to be a little bit sterner with people who were stuck in their ways previously. She was always tough, but she needed that little extra nastiness to make things happen. Morpheus being stuck in his ways caused Zion to fall, but this is something Niobe realized and wouldn’t let happen again.

She took the reins and never looked back. Her stubbornness has saved the humans up until this point. Though they are in hiding once again, they are safe. She explains to Neo that Zion was stuck in a Matrix of its own, telling him they needed to work in harmony with machines. That is what was missing. It goes back to the placeholder conversation Neo had with Councillor Hamann. The machines need us, but we also need the machines. It seems like no one got that but Niobe and because of this, she’s been able to give the people so much more than what they were given in the previous films, including actual good food. Teaming with synthients was an interesting idea brought to the film. Considering 60 years have passed timeline-wise, it would make sense why something this drastic has happened. Niobe being the one to spearhead it all was a great choice.

The fact that machines are at war with one another is very interesting, and the special effects were awesome. I loved when the Analyst slowed down time with the “Bullet time” effect. He just calmly explains everything he’s doing while Neo just stands there and listens. He even calls it “Bullet time”, an effect that has basically defined The Matrix. He even says to Neo how it’s funny he’s “using the power that defined you, to control you”. Now that is a callback of epic proportions! The effects were really cool to look at and it added a lot to the importance of the character and the scenes in which he did it. The moving portals was a good way to forget about the fact that landline phones, and phone booths especially, aren’t nearly as easy to find as they were in the early 2000s, and I loved the quick flashbacks to the older films that were spliced in throughout. Every single one of them were so well-placed and added a lot to the emotion and sentimentality of the film. It felt as though they were legitimate memories in Neo’s head as he tries to go about his day. Including a grown Sati was a really nice surprise, and the little bits of humor did add a lot because it was almost nonexistent in the previous films (apart from Neo telling Trinity she would have to drive after he lost his eyesight in Revolutions). Also, in the climax when the bots were turned into bombs and started jumping out the window, I was laughing my ass off.

Trinity being brought back did make me nervous. Let’s be honest, she died twice in the previous films. To bring her back again seemed like lazy writing. However, killing off every character Neo was involved with previously, would’ve made this film too dark and depressing. Alien 3 did this and did an okay job with it, but it changed the series, making it way too detached from the previous films. Here, we tried to go with a bit more of an upbeat tone. The whole goal in the film becomes Neo trying to reunite with Trinity, and I’m not going to lie, I got really into it. I found myself cheering Trinity on, especially in that scene leading to the climax as Neo puts it all on the line for her to remember. Their love was the unsung hero in the original trilogy. Though Neo is “The One”, he doesn’t feel whole without Trinity by his side. Carrie Anne-Moss returning was exactly what was needed to make this sequel worth a shit. Kudos to her for looking like she’s in just as good of shape as Reeves is. I realized that as much as I loved Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus, I can live without him in the context of this film. This sequel would be just fine because he did his job and played his role perfectly in the original trilogy.

Would it have been a hell of a lot better with him? Without a doubt, but I realized that Trinity was the one that was absolutely necessary for this sequel to work.

Neo needs Trinity. The Matrix Resurrections made me realize that even more than Revolutions did. With that being said, I hated how the Analyst saying that alone, neither of them had “any value” but together, they are dangerous. What?! What kind of retconned bullshit is that? Alone, Neo is still the man that saved the entire human race! We’ve seen him face Machine City blind! I like how Trinity was brought back, but don’t give me this bullshit that she’s on Neo’s level! This was an infuriating detail added to Resurrections to make her seem more important. Again, this is one of those decisions that undoes everything the previous films did. Neo is “The One”! This was the whole fucking point! He was the guy that made everything happen! Trinity, despite being vital to the success of the franchise, was never Neo and never will be. This bothered me more than anything about this sequel. The passion and love between them were the strongpoint of the trilogy, and it’s what helped instill confidence in the both of them in the climax of Revolutions. Together, they are strong, and they are tough to beat. This I can agree with, but to act like Neo didn’t have any value beforehand is just a flat-out lie and disrespects the entire story of the franchise, especially when you retcon Trinity as being a part of “The One”. The Matrix is centered around Neo. I have defended his relationship with Trinity and am a known fan of their relationship and importance to the franchise.

However, it all starts and ends WITH NEO. That’s it. You can’t just change everything in the fourth film of a franchise. That’s horseshit.

Though the ending was a bit confusing, and once again super open-ended, I did leave the film happy. As you can see, there were a lot of decisions I wasn’t happy about. However, if I’m being forced to watch a fourth Matrix film, I can’t say that this was a totally bad time. It was frustrating, but it was still an interesting film that still had the action, effects, and crazy plot developments this series has become known for, as well as a great Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, and some solid new characters too. Jessica Henwick’s Bugs is very likable and though Harris being cast is still a hard sell for me, his character could be developed more in future sequels and could change my mind. The Matrix Resurrections is easily the worst film in the series, mostly because my inability to move past how unnecessary it was, but it was still pretty decent, all things considered. They almost explained my thoughts with that single conversation between Neo and Bugs:

Neo: “Everything we did…It felt like none of it mattered”.

Bugs: “All of it mattered”.

I shook my head, but then I thought about it. They’re acknowledging how Neo’s previous endeavors meant everything to the human race and that’s why they have succeeded for this long, despite him being brought back for war. Now, they just need him one more time.

Alright, I guess I can get on board with that.