Matrix Resurrections trailer is out

[Introversion]

I didn't notice this earlier, looks like it's been out for nearly a month?

Looks pretty?

 

[Albedo]

I've never felt more ancient than when I've heard kids these days call the coolest movie of my adolescence 'pretty good for an old movie'. I'm glad they'll finally get to experience a Matrix movie as it was intended. (I'm still a bit cold on the sequels, though it seems everyone has warmed up to them over the intervening years. You can at least appreciate what the Wachowskis were aiming for. The original will always be my favourite, for being both filmed and very obviously set in my home city.)

 

[Diana Hignutt]

I've never felt more ancient than when I've heard kids these days call the coolest movie of my adolescence 'pretty good for an old movie'. I'm glad they'll finally get to experience a Matrix movie as it was intended. (I'm still a bit cold on the sequels, though it seems everyone has warmed up to them over the intervening years. You can at least appreciate what the Wachowskis were aiming for. The original will always be my favourite, for being both filmed and very obviously set in my home city.)

You live in the Matrix?

 

[Albedo]

You live in the Matrix?

In a way we all do, I think, but my mum used to literally work in the building Agent Smith has his office/interrogation suite. (It's the former State Bank building in Sydney.)

 

[Introversion]

I'm still a bit cold on the sequels, though it seems everyone has warmed up to them over the intervening years.

For me, the second film was entertaining but flawed. The third was just awful and made me sad that it was such a hot mess.

I wasn't surprised. It's rare that a good film's sequels, especially in SF, measure up. ALIEN -> ALIENS, and TERMINATOR -> TERMINATOR 2 are the rare exceptions.

 

[Diana Hignutt]

I wish, personally, that their eggs had cracked a little sooner, and that the Matrix had ended up a little truer to its trans origins, but the studios would have killed any of that anyway.

I loved the first Matrix. Of the sequels, the second one I liked okay, the third one less so. Neither held a candle to the original.

That said, I'm in for this 4th film. I mean, why not?

 

[Introversion]

New trailer out.

 

[onesecondglance]

There was a limited time release of the original in IMAX over here - presumably elsewhere too? - and I managed to get seats. I'd never seen that film in cinema before (first watch was on VHS of all things!) and it was utterly awesome.

The new trailer looks as though it might have some quite weird moments and I'm kinda up for that. I'm a fan of all three prior movies, so I hope it is a fitting part of that sequence and not a random leftover piece.

 

[Introversion]

Awesome that you saw it in IMAX!

I’m uncharacteristically optimistic for this film. I do hope they don’t lean too heavily on the original film’s events, as the latest trailer suggests. I mean, we get it, deja vu, it’s the Matrix… The last thing I want is more of exactly the same.

 

[ConnorMuldowney]

They got Lana Wachowski still directing, so at the absolute minimum the film will be interesting.

I look forward to it. All of the matrix films, whether technically well structured as films (revolutions is debatable) or not, have a decent amount of existentialism to chew on. It's not Cormac McCarthy or anything, but even the "bad" matrix films at least try to make people think, and I love all of them for that reason

 

[onesecondglance]

The first film is so incredibly tightly written and structured you could base entire screenwriting courses on it. I wouldn't be surprised if people already have.

 

[DorianFrost]

I am also finding myself uncharacteristically optimistic in anticipation of this movie. I'm going to try to talk my siblings and parents into rewatching the first three with me right before we get to watch the new one. Every rewatch tends to bring out new layers of nuance.

 

[Introversion]

We watched this last night on HBO Max. I give it a solid “meh”. I adored the original Matrix film. Enjoyed parts of the second. Really disliked the third. I’d place Resurrections somewhere between the second and third.

Some solid action scenes, but nothing fundamentally new or surprising. If you’ve watched the trailers, you’ve seen most of the best the movie has to offer.

Oddly amateurish misstep: Introduction of a major character fairly late in the film, with exposition telling us why we should care.

Also, action sequences wherein I’m supposed to care about the stakes for relatively minor characters I don’t know well enough to care about.

Meh.

 

[onesecondglance]

I would say this is above a "meh" for me. It's not as good as the first. Nothing ever was going to be. But it's overall a solid effort.

The first half is definitely the better part of the film. There's an interesting premise and they're having fun with it. The second half is overlong for the things that actually happen. Characters are underused and subplots kinda fizzle at this point, which is a shame. There is still a good payoff at the end and a little wish fulfilment.


*** spoilers below! ***










*** here are the spoilers! ***

One of the best things about the film is the "new" Morpheus. It's briefly stated that he's part Smith, which goes to explain his zaniness, but that's never followed up and it's a shame, cos newMorph is delightfully unhinged and is the star of the whole first half. Then he's relegated to background cast for the second half and tbh that's the biggest flaw in the whole thing.

Assuming the major character Introversion mentions above is Sati, I wasn't thrown by that as I'd literally rewatched Revolutions the night before. So the moment that character was on screen I guessed who they were. There's a bit of speechifying about why they're choosing to help; tbh I would have been happy with "I remember Neo and I liked him, the Analyst killed my friend the Oracle, and he messed up my rainbows in the old Matrix". I.e. none of the new motivation is actually necessary. In the days of the original trilogy, that backstory might have come through a tie-in game (Enter The Matrix did a LOT of that for Reloaded and Revolutions) or shorts like The Animatrix.

The Analyst is actually a pretty good villain, though underused. There's this whole Bullet Time thing introduced, which is setup to be A Major Thing, and it comes up just once after. And Neo never actually breaks it - instead it's Smith, who tbh I could have done without existing at all in this movie. He turns up just to fight with Neo for what seems like a really, really long time, then helps out at the end, and then... I have no idea where he goes or if he's happy with the final state of things or what anyway never mind. Given the ultimate ending, I would have preferred having Trinity be the one who broke bullet time, as she seems to have true "One" powers in the Anomaleum. That would have come as a great surprise to everyone, the Analyst included. Of course that then makes her flying at the climax less of a surprise, but it would have felt more like a payoff than ex machina. It might have also meant the bike chase could have been shortened, and that's definitely a sequence that felt overlong.

Trinity herself is yet another underused character and I wanted a lot more screentime for her. Part of the fun of the original film is how Neo explores and comes to realise his true power. Here, Trinity goes from powerless to godlike just like that. Anyway. Basically, we spend a lot of time in the film with new characters, side characters, and Smith. It's a pretty long film, and yet it feels simultaneously underdeveloped as well as padded out.

I would have said exactly the same thing about the sequels when they came out, mind. They really do stand up to rewatching. I'd probably cut about five, ten mins max from Reloaded and Revolutions, now, whereas back at the time it would have felt like 30-45 mins from each. We'll see how this ages.

Coming back to the overall premise: what makes this film worth existing is the way in which Lana Wachowski approaches the idea of returning to a story already told. The film interrogates the endless churn of sequels and continuations and reboots and rehashes (*cough* Marvel *cough cough* Star Wars *cough hack cough* Batman ffs), while recognising that it is part of that cycle itself. Neo and Trinity are tortuously resurrected by the Analyst again and again, forever reliving their struggle to be together, never allowed to finally die. Their grand love story, once a thing of beauty, is reduced to something as banal as a generator. In the film, they generate electrical power. In Hollywood, it's money. Both keep the lights on. I don't know if Resurrections truly succeeds as a piece of action cinema, but if another Matrix had to be made - and reports suggest Warner would have gone ahead with or without the Wachowskis - then I'm glad it's like this, not a shallow copy.

 

[Diana Hignutt]

I liked a lot about the film. I liked the meta stuff. But, this movie tells you early on why it exists...Warner Brothers demanded it and was going ahead with or without the Wachowski's, so Lana was in a tough spot. But, it wasn't a great movie. Better than Matrix 3 though.

 

[BryceRChapman]

I would say this is above a "meh" for me. It's not as good as the first. Nothing ever was going to be. But it's overall a solid effort.

The first half is definitely the better part of the film. There's an interesting premise and they're having fun with it. The second half is overlong for the things that actually happen. Characters are underused and subplots kinda fizzle at this point, which is a shame. There is still a good payoff at the end and a little wish fulfilment.


*** spoilers below! ***










*** here are the spoilers! ***

One of the best things about the film is the "new" Morpheus. It's briefly stated that he's part Smith, which goes to explain his zaniness, but that's never followed up and it's a shame, cos newMorph is delightfully unhinged and is the star of the whole first half. Then he's relegated to background cast for the second half and tbh that's the biggest flaw in the whole thing.

Assuming the major character Introversion mentions above is Sati, I wasn't thrown by that as I'd literally rewatched Revolutions the night before. So the moment that character was on screen I guessed who they were. There's a bit of speechifying about why they're choosing to help; tbh I would have been happy with "I remember Neo and I liked him, the Analyst killed my friend the Oracle, and he messed up my rainbows in the old Matrix". I.e. none of the new motivation is actually necessary. In the days of the original trilogy, that backstory might have come through a tie-in game (Enter The Matrix did a LOT of that for Reloaded and Revolutions) or shorts like The Animatrix.

The Analyst is actually a pretty good villain, though underused. There's this whole Bullet Time thing introduced, which is setup to be A Major Thing, and it comes up just once after. And Neo never actually breaks it - instead it's Smith, who tbh I could have done without existing at all in this movie. He turns up just to fight with Neo for what seems like a really, really long time, then helps out at the end, and then... I have no idea where he goes or if he's happy with the final state of things or what anyway never mind. Given the ultimate ending, I would have preferred having Trinity be the one who broke bullet time, as she seems to have true "One" powers in the Anomaleum. That would have come as a great surprise to everyone, the Analyst included. Of course that then makes her flying at the climax less of a surprise, but it would have felt more like a payoff than ex machina. It might have also meant the bike chase could have been shortened, and that's definitely a sequence that felt overlong.

Trinity herself is yet another underused character and I wanted a lot more screentime for her. Part of the fun of the original film is how Neo explores and comes to realise his true power. Here, Trinity goes from powerless to godlike just like that. Anyway. Basically, we spend a lot of time in the film with new characters, side characters, and Smith. It's a pretty long film, and yet it feels simultaneously underdeveloped as well as padded out.

I would have said exactly the same thing about the sequels when they came out, mind. They really do stand up to rewatching. I'd probably cut about five, ten mins max from Reloaded and Revolutions, now, whereas back at the time it would have felt like 30-45 mins from each. We'll see how this ages.

Coming back to the overall premise: what makes this film worth existing is the way in which Lana Wachowski approaches the idea of returning to a story already told. The film interrogates the endless churn of sequels and continuations and reboots and rehashes (*cough* Marvel *cough cough* Star Wars *cough hack cough* Batman ffs), while recognising that it is part of that cycle itself. Neo and Trinity are tortuously resurrected by the Analyst again and again, forever reliving their struggle to be together, never allowed to finally die. Their grand love story, once a thing of beauty, is reduced to something as banal as a generator. In the film, they generate electrical power. In Hollywood, it's money. Both keep the lights on. I don't know if Resurrections truly succeeds as a piece of action cinema, but if another Matrix had to be made - and reports suggest Warner would have gone ahead with or without the Wachowskis - then I'm glad it's like this, not a shallow copy.

I absolutely loved it. Don't get me wrong, it's cheesy at times like the Matrix sequels but I love that. The entire dive into Nostalgia and reboots and questioning whether the obsession of it is good while simultaneously doing it themselves was something I loved. It's been driving me nuts to see so many people just blast it for being all about "nostalgia" and clearly missing the fact that the whole point of the movie is a commentary on the "nostalgia" culture of films/stories.

 

[nighttimer]

This movie has no reason to exist.

Each one of the sequels to The Matrix has been worse than the one before it and The Matrix Resurrections is the worst of them all. Before this one, I thought it was The Matrix Revolutions, but at least I got through it in one sitting and without falling asleep.

This movie is boring as hell.

Do you like exposition scenes where people just talk, talk and talk some more about what is going on and what it means and what will happen, and how the heck are we going to stop it from happening? If you do, this movie is for you. It's not for me.

Keanu Reeves was as emotionless as a block of wood. My TV remote is a better actor. I couldn't tell if Keanu was sleepwalking or high. Doesn't matter. He was terrible. If Yahya Abdul-Mateen II should ever bump into Laurence Fishburne walking on the street, he should apologize profusely and run away. Nothing about his Morpheus works. Not his voice, not his persona, not his leisure suits, or anything else. Not even the sunglasses work.

And would directors please STOP casting Neil Patrick Harris as a bad guy? He lacks the range and the gravitas to make a convincing villain. You see him trying to look smug and he just comes off as annoying.

This movie is a piece of shit and the best thing about it is it's SO terrible, this should kill The Matrix franchise once and for all. There's nothing left in this cash cow. Warner Brothers has milked it dry.