The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

[BetterButter]

 

[supposebly]

I don't understand what's going on but I like the look of it. 

[Anduin]

Looks damn good. However, some of that looks awfully familiar. I hope that's all just in the first 30 or so minutes so we can move on to fresh adventures. On another note, I swear I remember hearing that Lawrence Fishburne was coming back, but I hadn't heard anything about Carrie-Anne Moss.

And this may seem nitpicky, but that's John Wick's hair. Neo always had it shorter. Yes, I've changed my hairstyle in the last 20 years, but it just looks wrong.

[Spartan Girl]

Fantastic use of “White Rabbit.”

Edited September 9, 2021 by Spartan Girl
Got the title wrong

[Morrigan2575]

2 hours ago, Anduin said:

And this may seem nitpicky, but that's John Wick's hair. Neo always had it shorter. Yes, I've changed my hairstyle in the last 20 years, but it just looks wrong

After seeing Keanu as Ted (clean shaven) I'm voting Keanu keep his John Wick Look in all movies from here on out.

[arc]

4 hours ago, Anduin said:

On another note, I swear I remember hearing that Lawrence Fishburne was coming back, but I hadn't heard anything about Carrie-Anne Moss.

I think it’s the other way around. Moss was announced a while ago while Fishburne was not. (And it sounded like he was a little hurt about being left out.) Unless they’re saving it for a surprise reveal, but I’m gonna set my expectations low.

4 hours ago, Anduin said:

And this may seem nitpicky, but that's John Wick's hair. Neo always had it shorter. Yes, I've changed my hairstyle in the last 20 years, but it just looks wrong.

Keanu has not changed his look since John Wick 1. He guested in Always Be My Maybe looking like that. He did the romcom Destination Wedding looking like John Wick. At this point I think he figures he likes this look and no movie is big enough to get him to change it.

for posterity, here’s the teaser page launched two days before the full teaser trailer. You can click on the red pill or blue pill and then a very short teaser of randomized scenes plays, with some scenes that look to be homages/references to the first movie. Also, neat trick:

Spoiler

the trailer for either red or blue pill mentions the very minute you’re watching.

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by arc

[Shannon L.]

My son just showed me and my husband the trailer.  I couldn't make it through the first movie and didn't bother with the second one, but based on the trailer, I told them that I would read a synopsis of both movies and watch this one.  It looks really good.

Edited September 9, 2021 by Shannon L.

[xaxat]

8 hours ago, Anduin said:

Looks damn good. However, some of that looks awfully familiar. I hope that's all just in the first 30 or so minutes so we can move on to fresh adventures.

That's my concern. The action looks great, but I hope it's more than a re-hash of the original concept.

[Morrigan2575]

Is Lawrence Fishburne really not in this?

[Anduin]

6 hours ago, arc said:

I think it’s the other way around. Moss was announced a while ago while Fishburne was not. (And it sounded like he was a little hurt about being left out.) Unless they’re saving it for a surprise reveal, but I’m gonna set my expectations low.

 

Interesting. The two characters who died are in this. The one who lived isn't. I wonder if it means something.

Also, Fishburne is in John Wick. He shouldn't be too hurt.

[Macbeth]

I am really, really excited about this movie!!

[DoctorAtomic]

They kind of painted themselves into a corner with the originals of 'Neo' was just a piece of rogue code and they just rebooted the matrix itself. It seems unlikely the code would find itself in the same person in the matrix. Or that actual people died. I guess you could assume that there's different people 'in real life' that manifest in the Matrix as 'Neo', 'Trinity'. 

Unless I'm misremembering. I'm not seeing what new material can be mined. 

[Tenshinhan]

2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

They kind of painted themselves into a corner with the originals of 'Neo' was just a piece of rogue code and they just rebooted the matrix itself. It seems unlikely the code would find itself in the same person in the matrix. Or that actual people died. I guess you could assume that there's different people 'in real life' that manifest in the Matrix as 'Neo', 'Trinity'. 

Unless I'm misremembering. I'm not seeing what new material can be mined. 

It's been twenty years since the original films, so I think they can take liberties with those kinds of details.  It was never going to be a straightforward sequel after so long, but much more of a "reboot", if not a standalone.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Tenshinhan

[DoctorAtomic]

I always liked the concept of the movies so I hope fundamentally that doesn't change. I just don't know what new you could do. 

[Morrigan2575]

2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

They kind of painted themselves into a corner with the originals of 'Neo' was just a piece of rogue code and they just rebooted the matrix itself. It seems unlikely the code would find itself in the same person in the matrix.

They did leave it open. The Oracle said she wouldn't be surprised to see Neo again. She was also, apparently responsible for introducing Trinity to that version of the Matrix.

Given how it ended, with Neo being taken to the Machine City and, the Truce in place it's possible that they put Neo back in the Matrix and, created a new Trinity, or maybe Neo created a new Trinity (like she's not a human but, a piece of code?)

[DoctorAtomic]

That's risky on the machine's part. 

[BetterButter]

 

[Morrigan2575]

It looks good but, I've been fooled twice before. I'll wait for the reviews before making a decision to buy tickets.

[Anduin]

So they're highlighting how similar it looks, probably to set up a major swerve. But we're expecting a swerve, so it might actually be as samey as it looks... I dunno anymore. :)

[BetterButter]

 

[DoctorAtomic]

Are they trying to say Trinity is The One? 

[supposebly]

Oh, I'm in for this. Even if it sucks, it looks incredible and I love Keanu Reeves and Carry Anne Moss. I didn't like Matrix 2 and 3 but regardless, they were excellent looking movies. And it seems like it's a more straightforward story, as far as I can tell from the trailer.

[Ravenya003]

Calling it now: in the twenty years since the first Matrix movie, Lana Wachowski inevitably became aware of the term "Trinity syndrome" and is now setting up Neo as a Decoy Protagonist. The "swerve" that we're all anticipating will be Trinity stepping up as the real main character.

Also, there's no way they won't take the opportunity to be more overt with the transgender metaphor. Apparently they wanted a character to change genders as he/she moved in and out of the Matrix back in the nineties, but didn't have the clout to get the greenlight.

Either way, there are going to be a lot of exploding heads from the Red Pill crowd. (The irony of them adopting that name should not be lost on anyone).

[DoctorAtomic]

That was the gist of me asking if Trinity was the One this time around, but let's split it if we're right. 

I do hope the transgender metaphor is explored more though; I was surprised at the time that the genders were all the same. 

Edited December 6, 2021 by DoctorAtomic

[tv echo]

The Matrix Resurrections - The Game Awards Clip
Warner Bros. Pictures    Dec 9, 2021

Quote

"What do they use with no landlines?" This sneak peek from The Game Awards has your answer. See The Matrix Resurrections – in theaters and on HBO Max* 12.22.21. Get tickets now: https://GetTickets.WhatIsTheMatrix.com. #TheMatrix

 

[MikeT]

On 12/12/2021 at 6:50 PM, tv echo said:

The Matrix Resurrections - The Game Awards Clip
Warner Bros. Pictures    Dec 9, 2021

 

We see a glimpse of old Morpheus in this clip. Can this mean anything?

[Morrigan2575]

The reviewa are coming in and, it doesn't look good. 

 

 

[ketchuplover]

I've seen worse

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Heard it wasn't horrible, just didn't have that WOW factor  of the first couple of  Matrix movies.  Bit of a money grab ,had a few moments of spark, just expected more. Will still get the bluray to add to trilogy. 

[revbfc]

It was very meta, but I actually dug the “Fuck you, Warner Bros!” Of it all.

it also felt VERY specific in other ways.  Where the Matrix in the first trilogy was meant to look like just any old city, this was San Francisco.  Not an accident.

[Anduin]

I was originally going to see this in the cinema. Except here in my part of Oz, we got hit with a heatwave. I couldn't leave the house dressed for ice cold cinema, I'd die of heatstroke half-way there! Then we got hit with a covid scare. I certainly don't want to leave the house for frivolities like movies! So I watched it at home.

And it was good. But not really any more than good. It didn't have the spark that sets great above good. I rewatched the original a few weeks ago, that still has the spark. Somehow, the spark didn't carry on. Maybe too much of the wrong kind of humour? Leaning a little too hard on past glories? Worn out archetypes? I mean, Bugs. "I don't care about the rules, I'll do what I have to because I believe." Yeah, she was right. But wasn't that Morpheus before? Couldn't she have had a different archetype? I felt like I'd seen it all before, and the fresh take turned out a little stale.

Anyway, the backstory. After Revolutions, everything was good for a while. But the machines had power shortages and turned on each other? Everyone from the trilogy died, except Niobe. She and a few others, including allied machines, escaped to Jupiter's moon Io, where the machines had a second location. Really, Io? I suppose they could tap into geothermal energy. There's enough to go around. Also, Io. I can guess why that was chosen. Input/output.

Either way, the whole plugging humans into the Matrix continued, despite having abundant geothermal energy. The Analyst was leader of the survivors of the machine civil war and joined the others on Io. He discovered he could use Neo and Trinity's unrequited love to keep the other captured humans in line, despite not needing it. He had them resurrected. The problem being, they partially kept their memories of their previous lives. But the free humans spent 60 years poking around the new Matrix and discovered Neo was still alive. Thinking something was up, Bugs and her people decided to extract him. Which is where the movie starts.

That's my best guess. Writing it out, it looks completely nutty. I probably missed something.

[Hanahope]

I thought it was ok.  lots wasn't really explained, imo, i never really understood why neo had to be resurrected.  and why was smith brought back too?  i guess they didn't want to completely lose the program, so they buried it in a new package?  and there was never a good explanation as to what happened with zion except i guess some people wanted to work with machines so they left and created IO?  

but how the analyst controlled neo was interesting, and creating the whole game to explain to neo his memories.  

the new cast leads were good.

[Whimsy]

On 9/9/2021 at 10:27 AM, Anduin said:

Looks damn good. However, some of that looks awfully familiar. I hope that's all just in the first 30 or so minutes so we can move on to fresh adventures. On another note, I swear I remember hearing that Lawrence Fishburne was coming back, but I hadn't heard anything about Carrie-Anne Moss.

And this may seem nitpicky, but that's John Wick's hair. Neo always had it shorter. Yes, I've changed my hairstyle in the last 20 years, but it just looks wrong.

 

On 9/9/2021 at 12:53 PM, Morrigan2575 said:

After seeing Keanu as Ted (clean shaven) I'm voting Keanu keep his John Wick Look in all movies from here on out.

I thought Keanu looked just fine clean shaven in this movie when he was extracted from the pod. I was really hoping that was going to carry over when he went back into the Matrix, but nope. I don’t mind Keanu’s preferred look even though both his hair and his clothes screamed John Wick to me (except the long duster which is obviously Neo). I just think Neo should have had a different look. 

4 hours ago, Anduin said:

I was originally going to see this in the cinema. Except here in my part of Oz, we got hit with a heatwave. I couldn't leave the house dressed for ice cold cinema, I'd die of heatstroke half-way there! Then we got hit with a covid scare. I certainly don't want to leave the house for frivolities like movies! So I watched it at home.

And it was good. But not really any more than good. It didn't have the spark that sets great above good. I rewatched the original a few weeks ago, that still has the spark. Somehow, the spark didn't carry on. Maybe too much of the wrong kind of humour? Leaning a little too hard on past glories? Worn out archetypes? I mean, Bugs. "I don't care about the rules, I'll do what I have to because I believe." Yeah, she was right. But wasn't that Morpheus before? Couldn't she have had a different archetype? I felt like I'd seen it all before, and the fresh take turned out a little stale.

I rewatched all three movies immediately before this and I’m glad I did only because there were some call-backs I would not have gotten otherwise since the last time I’d seen any of these moves were way back when they were released. Like you, @Anduin, I thought this was only ok but the original Matrix still holds up all these years later.

I am a compete sucker for tragic love stories. I have to admit, I never really felt all that connected to Neo and Trinity as a romantic couple. I never felt all the emotions the swelling music wanted us to feel. I love Neo and Trinity as separate entities, but my heart never really ached for them as a couple, so for this whole thing being hinged on their love was a bit ridiculous lol. 
 

I thought NPH was ok here. Loved the bright blue glasses the “therapist” wore to represent the blue pill and Neo choosing to just keep drudging through “life”. On the other hand (this comment directed to Jonathan Goff)- I know Agent Smith, and you sir, are no Agent Smith. JG had zero of charisma and that Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith had. 
 

So, overall, it was fun and I am also glad I watched it, but I’m glad I already have HBO Max because I never would’ve paid to see this in the theater. 

[revbfc]

4 hours ago, Anduin said:

 

Jupiter's moon Io

 

“Io,” was the name of their new city, not Jupiter’s moon.  Why “Io?”  Because the machine city is called “01.”

[peridot]

I didn't realize that the majority of the Sense8 cast would be in this movie.  It kind of pulled me out of a few scenes. 

I liked how they showed the monotony of everyday life, and how it pulls you down.  I laughed when they showed Neo trying to do martial arts in his living room and ended up breaking his coffee table.  I don't remember much humor in the trilogy.  It was an interesting concept of the Analyst gaslighting Neo that he had a mental break.  The rewinds were cool too.

I don't understand how Trinity pulled off the ending scene.  Was this movie a one-off, or will there be more?

[Anduin]

1 hour ago, revbfc said:

“Io,” was the name of their new city, not Jupiter’s moon.  Why “Io?”  Because the machine city is called “01.”

Oh, okay. Though I stand by the idea of the machines learning to use the moon's geothermal energy. They don't need air. They can abandon Earth any time they want.

[revbfc]

34 minutes ago, Anduin said:

Oh, okay. Though I stand by the idea of the machines learning to use the moon's geothermal energy. They don't need air. They can abandon Earth any time they want.

My partner & I were wondering about whether the machines had done any space exploration.  They’re sentient, curious, and don’t have the limitations of humans.  It would seem an obvious step for them.

[Anduin]

5 minutes ago, revbfc said:

My partner & I were wondering about whether the machines had done any space exploration.  They’re sentient, curious, and don’t have the limitations of humans.  It would seem an obvious step for them.

I love space opera more than cyberpunk, so I support this idea. However, humans vs rebellious robots in space? That's BSG territory. :)

[revbfc]

1 hour ago, Anduin said:

I love space opera more than cyberpunk, so I support this idea. However, humans vs rebellious robots in space? That's BSG territory. :)

Doesn’t have to be.  It could just be the machines exploring space and making contact with aliens.  Humans would be irrelevant to the show.

[ICantDoThatDave]

Just saw it & wasn't impressed. It seemed like a bad fanfiction a teenager who just saw the originals would write. If I had to sum it up in one word: unnecessary.

[justmehere]

8 hours ago, peridot said:

I didn't realize that the majority of the Sense8 cast would be in this movie.  It kind of pulled me out of a few scenes. 

There were many moments of "Oh look!" but I loved seeing them again. 

I watched on HBO Max. First impression: I really enjoyed it.

-Loved the early sequence to White Rabbit.

-Thought both Neo and Trinity were great - and also

Spoiler

Trinity gaining her power at the end. 

-"Liked" the Analyst's con.

-Laughed at Neo testing if he could still fly.

-Genuinely disturbed by the "bot bombs."

-Didn't really need to see the Merovingian again.

-Niobe delivered a lot of exposition, but I still didn't feel like I knew much about the workings of, or life in, Io. That may be on me - will check it again.

So, some really good, some maybe not quite as good.

That said, I feel like... everything is so surreal now in the world, such division, so many things that are jaw-dropping and outrageous, deliberate gaslighting by people we should be able to trust (not mentioning sides here, just saying), and this felt like... it fit. Some people want to avoid change at any cost - even of the truth. Some will go along to get along. Some will fight for change or try to lift "out" and create a different way. So that it was about making the choice of what matters, of determining what's true, of - well, love as having fundamental worth, being worth all the risks... it fit.  YMMV

Anyway, I enjoyed it and will definitely watch again.

[SnarkShark]

This may be the most masturabatory film I've ever seen that contains no actual masturbation.

It's intellectual and emotional wankery, start to finish.  It's like they were pretending to criticize the exploitation and farming of intellectual property, to seem super-smart and self-aware, while actually using the lowest common denominator fan-servicing to do so.   

Tired of the narrative that a straight white male is The One?   Well now his girlfriend is too.  Tired of the cliche of the hero trying to take blame off a female associate?  Have that called out in scene with the world's most awkward dialogue.   Pissed off about your heroes dying?  Lets Jesus the fark out of them and do it again with them living.  Etc etc etc.  But also leave wiggle room to get away with calling Trinity a MILF.   Also toss in weird unnecessary complications, like it being sixty years but them aging twenty, because apparently as long as it hurts, and gets you several sadistic shots of them screaming for the audience, the machines know how to rebuild people.

And while he's been great in other things doing so, NPH chewing scenery to an unprecedented extent here just pissed me off. It wasn't cute. Nor funny.  Nor charming.

Good lord, what a mess.

[dwmarch]

Dr. Horrible really does have a Ph.D in horrible-ness!

On the other hand, I always knew Jessica Henwick was the best thing about Iron Fist.

I don't think this movie established the rules of what was going on very well. Neo died but the machines put him back together and put him back in a new Matrix but surrounded him with reminders of the old one for... spite? And at the beginning it looks like the Matrix works exactly like it did before except kinda not really. There are now some friendly machines but there are still some hostile ones out there. And while it has been all those years since the sequels came out, wasn't it explained that Zion was just another Matrix on top of the first one? Like, didn't Neo's powers manifest in Zion as well?

Way too meta when they started talking about Warner Brothers wanting more sequels cranked out. There is no fourth wall.

 

[Perfect Xero]

16 minutes ago, dwmarch said:

And while it has been all those years since the sequels came out, wasn't it explained that Zion was just another Matrix on top of the first one?

No, that's just a fan theory.

[ribboninthesky1]

This didn't get entertaining for me until about three quarters into the film.  I think the missing spark was a few things: poor pacing, reliance on nostalgia and social commentary, weak supporting cast chemistry and Keanu Reeves phoning it in.  Thank goodness for Carrie Ann Moss.  

On 12/23/2021 at 2:04 PM, Whimsy said:

On the other hand (this comment directed to Jonathan Goff)- I know Agent Smith, and you sir, are no Agent Smith. JG had zero of charisma and that Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith had. 

I felt the same about Yayha Abdul-Mateen II as Morpheus.  Made me appreciate Laurence Fishbourne so much more.  This is what I mean about  cast chemistry - the um...trinity of Reeves, Moss, and Fishbourne carried the films even when it sort of derailed by the 3rd one. Weaving as the nemesis.  The supporting cast from the original films just worked. I mean, Apoc and Switch died about halfway into the 1st film, and yet the actors left a bigger impression on me than supporting cast in this one.

All that said, the original films changed the game for special effects. I thought this film built upon that legacy rather well.        

[arc]

18 hours ago, dwmarch said:

And while it has been all those years since the sequels came out, wasn't it explained that Zion was just another Matrix on top of the first one? Like, didn't Neo's powers manifest in Zion as well?

It was at least as plausible that Neo being semi-stuck in the matrix gave some functionally wireless connection to the real world machines. And shutting those down was the extent of any superhuman powers he displayed in Zion. No flight, no gravity defying kung-fu, no dodging bullets.

As for Resurrections, I liked the acting, lite philosophy, story, and kung fu sequences. The latter half of the action sequences where Neo just spammed Force Push were underwhelming though. And the writers too obviously wrote around giving Keanu too much to say, so everyone would exposit at him at length, then he’d respond with a one-liner. I’m sure the same happened in the earlier movies but it wasn’t quite as extreme.

[shrewd.buddha]

It didn't feel like a movie.  It felt like a film attempting to deconstruct and repurpose a previous, popular movie.  It felt like social commentary and metaphorical analysis and psychological analysis -- but without making any exact point -- just a lot of psychobabble and technobabble. 
It felt empty.  Afterwards, I did not recall the names of most of the new characters.  (But the entire cast of Sense8 seemed to be in it.)

In many ways it did feel like fan fiction.  They explained away all the things they didn't want to deal with: Neo and Trinity's death, age, the lack of  Fishbourne and Weaving. They explained 'in' the things they wanted to happen:  Continued conflict with the machines, the new rules of the Matrix, sentient robot friends, human zombie hordes, etc.  So much explaining...  It lessened any 'reality' of the world.  There could have been talking animals if they wanted -- with just more explaining.

I suppose there is no point of criticizing logic of the Matrix reality.  Why didn't the machines explore geothermal energy or resolve the issues of accessing solar energy? 
The scene with the engineered strawberry just seemed sad (and more explaining).  It is as if sci-fi writers have never been outside to see how many wonders there are on Earth that have nothing to do with humans. 

Upgrading Trinity to superhero level also felt like fan fiction -- and an attempt to retcon the character to 'fix' the idea of a 'Chosen One'.  But the idea of a 'Chosen Two' isn't much better.   When Neo was overpowered, it didn't make things more interesting.  Neo's "outstretched hands projection powers" got tiresome. 

It wasn't unwatchable -- from my living room on HBOMax, at least.  But it also wasn't very exciting or inspiring. 

Edited December 27, 2021 by shrewd.buddha
changed thermal to geothermal

[BlackberryJam]

Pointless, but a nice meaningless time filler to let me escape from the trauma of family togetherness at the holidays.

Keanu Reeves looks every bit of his age. 

I loved the Sense8 actors. I loved seeing every single one of them. 

[Fool to cry]

People say Lana Wachowski giving the finger who demanded a sequel with of without her involvement, but I also think she genuinely regretted not giving Neo and Trinity a happy ending last time. She and Lilly were younger and trying to be cool and edgy but now she's probably more sentimental and obviously in a happier place herself now.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Fool to cry

[SnarkShark]

On 12/27/2021 at 11:06 AM, Fool to cry said:

People say Lana Wachowski giving the finger who demanded a sequel with of without her involvement, but I also think she genuinely regretted not giving Neo and Trinity a happy ending last time. She and Lilly were younger and trying to be cool and edgy but now she's probably more sentimental and obviously in a happier place herself now.

That's a lotta supposition.

See Gremlins 2 if you want to understand how to bite the hand that fed you, but still make a good movie.

This was no Gremlins 2. 

I mean here this film was a lot more subject to a seeming need to be edgy than the original.  That too cool for a reboot intro portion, followed by the film seemingly being totally unaware of how cliched it was.