Ryan Shoots First: The Matrix Resurrections
When The Matrix was released in 1999 it was a game changer. A genre defining moment that is rare in cinema. Something original not adapted from existing material, not a remake or a sequel. It was fresh and perfect for the turn of the millennium. 2021 is a much different time and after all these years it is time to return to the Matrix.
There are some good parts and some fun parts and some interesting commentary on just how much the world has changed but on the whole sadly it felt like a heck of a lot of hoop jumping to retcon the end of the original trilogy and a way to get a new Matrix movie on HBO Max. I say that as someone who loves the series, I watched the first movie for the first time on a DIVX disc on our family EMachines in the nook of our kitchen, before I wrecked it with so much downloaded music from Limewire.. It was somehow perfect for that first experience. The most recent installment makes a good choice to try and not erase what happened in the original trilogy but also give the series a fresh start. The problem is the majority of the movie is spent getting us there, scene after scene of Neo getting exposition as if they are explaining directly to the audience why this movie is a thing and just what happened after Neo “ended the war”. By the time everything finally feels like it’s in a place ready to go the movie is over. I also can’t put my finger on it but the movie has thet “Covid production” feel to it. Scenes feel weird like performances were shot with actors not on set together, things are spliced together and framed differently due to shooting limitations and everything just feels less dirty than before. I’ve noticed it with a few productions that were going on during the pandemic. The finale did finally feel pretty Matrix with some cool takes on the Agents now being drones, which again makes sense with modern times of us being much more connected as a species.
As mentioned above the film does do some interesting things on how Meta the whole premise becomes. I’ll save the details of how Neo has been tricked back into the Matrix but it’s clever. Add that with some of the monologs given by various programs about the human species and the film seems to have a point to make it just get buried like everything else in setup and exposition. Of course the soul of the film is the return of Carrie-Ann Moss as Trinity and Keanu Reeves as Neo. They both get brief glimpses of their former selves but again too much of the film is them in a fog breaking out of their loops and the payoff comes too close to the end of the film. Neo reminds me of the Hero in a video game sequel where they have to find a way to nerf your character back to square one because you were too overpowered at the end of the first game.
There is a certain phenomenon in film making now when fans or admirers of the source material take over the creation of the content. As much as I love Star Wars it has fallen victim to it at times. It can feel like glorified fanfiction with the actual characters. The Matrix Resurrections feels like really sleek fanfiction wrote by a fan who was trying to work out a way to keep the series going. It hits all the same notes and feels familiar but very little of it feels genuine or honest. It feels like someone who admired the first trying to make a film like the first. It’s that weird balance of trying to make something new and fresh but not so new and fresh that it might as well be something completely new. I don’t have the answer. If I did I would probably be out in Hollywood right now making bank bro! For me The Matrix Resurrections feels a little too disingenuous. Maybe now that the reset button has been pushed the series can go into bold new directions but for today I was really excited to see the series return and am a little let down as no real new ground was tread. It’s nowhere on the level of the Independence Day sequel but it feels pretty similar. Or maybe it just is too soon after the masterpiece that was Spider-Man: No Way Home and nothing was going to live up to that.
Unfortunately The Matrix Resurrections just feels like a bad case of déjà vu.
