The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

[shrewd.buddha]

It seems surreal, but I probably have been more entertained by the reviews and reactions to this movie than the movie itself. (And have spent much more time viewing.)
That seems appropriate for a movie that didn't seem to want be its own movie.

[Proclone]

Yeah...So I didn't think it was very good.  I've certainly seen worse, and it's not unwatchable or anything, but it's not even as good as the sequels to the Matrix...

Firstly, I don't think anyone imagined that this would be anything close to the original Matrix.  That was a movie that fundmentally changed how action movies are made.  It's a cultural touchstone.  This was never going to be that...but perhaps it wasn't the best idea to constantly remind us of this ones inadquacies by playing clips from this movies far superior predasessor?  I can understand a flashback or two for dramatic effect.  I even give you the begining, with the different perspective of the opening to the Matrix, but the cuts to the other films was almost constant. I'm pretty sure anyone interested in seeing Ressurections has seen at least the first Matrix.  Even if they haven't most people know the iconic scenes from pop cultural osmosis.  There is absolutely no reason to cut to the previous movies as much as they did.  The scene wtih Morpheus offering the red and blue pills to Neo, was playing while Morpheus is offering Neo the red and blue pills...I mean come on!  There's callback and then there's this BS.  I honestly don't know if the constant cutting to clips from the other movies was meant to be an ironic poking fun of movies that pretty much run on callbacks to other beloved movies.  But if it was I don't think it was handled in a way that made it evident enough that's what they were doing to make it enjoyable to watch.  I mostly found myself saying, "Yes, yes, I've seen the other movies, get on with this one."

The new characters I actually mostly liked.  I do think they were underused. The new Morpheus/Smith was something I thought was super interesting and was looking forward to seeing the implications of him being both Morpheus and Smith, but that went nowhere. I did like Jonathan Groff as the actual Smith, but he too seem just there without much to really do. I like Bugs, but once again we didn't really get her motivations like we did with Morpheus is the first one.  Is she a true believer?  I think it would have more interesting if she was more skeptical of Neo and the legands surrounding him.  I mean this all happened sixty years ago, being skeptical would make more sense as it's all just stories for her.

I also found the action as a whole pretty lacking.  Like I said, I never thought that this was going to be super goundbreaking like the orginal, but this didn't even seem on par with most action movies.  Reeves is still an action star.  He's John freaking Wick, but for much of it he seemed to be just holding out his hands (especially the end sequence) in the most ackward way possible. There was one wide shot during the scene in the warehouse where the Merovingian is screaming where it looked like they were just filming a bunch of people rehersing their own fight scenes.  It did not look like a well concived fight sequence.

I did like the end with Trinity's turn as the One or at least one of the Ones. I actually think I would have enjoyed this much more if they had gotten her out earlier and paralled her coming to grips with her powers with Neo doing the same in the first movie. Honestly I would have just been happy with more Carrie Ann Moss.  Her Trinity was my favorite part of the first films.  I did like her being pissed off at being named Tiffany.  Neal Patrick Harris was fun at the bad guy.  But overall I found this really disappointing.

[Anduin]

I watched Reloaded last night, accompanied by a few drinks. My opinion hasn't changed much over the years. The action is still great. The talking, not so much. Locke especially dragged the pace down. I realise you can't go flat out for two hours, you need some plot. The actors like that part, possibly more than the action. Still, it hasn't improved with age.

I noticed during the Neo/Trinity sex scene that she has a plug on the upper breast. High enough for a low-cut top to show it off if she wanted. Matches his plugs on the pectorals. Do you think people accidentally clank their plugs together? Surely it must happen a lot.

One thing that stands out between trilogy and Resurrections Neo, the modern one has more metal on the back of his neck. I wonder if that's because he's been rebuilt. Maybe there were issues that needed reinforcement. I didn't see anything like that for Trinity.

[tv echo]

I went in with low expectations after seeing all the bad reviews. So I ended up enjoying the movie more than I expected. Obviously, it was not as good as the original Matrix. However, I liked that Neo and Trinity finally got a happy ending. 

I agree that there was too much meta at the beginning with the talk about The Matrix game and Warner Bros. demanding a sequel. So that was annoying.

I also wanted to know more about the supporting characters, esp. Bugs. I kept waiting for a surprise reveal that she was maybe a descendant (granddaughter?) of Neo and Trinity. But, no.

I guess the ending means Neo and Trinity are the Two? (The Trinity reveal was not as mind-blowing as the Neo reveal in the original Matrix.) Or maybe it's like Buffy TVS, where anyone can be the Chosen One.

I have to say, both Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann Moss looked fantastic as action heroes in their 50's. It's gratifying to see that they didn't recast Trinity with a 30-something actress.

I guess they couldn't get Hugo Weaving and Laurence Fishburne to return. Their next gen replacements weren't quite as effective. Meh on Neil Patrick Harris.

Overall, I liked it, but didn't love it.

Edited January 3, 2022 by tv echo

[BetterButter]

 

[tv echo]

The Matrix Resurrections got 1 SAG Awards nomination...

SAG Awards 2022: See the full list of nominees
By Lisa Respers France    January 12, 2022
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/12/entertainment/sag-award-nominations-2022/index.html

Quote

The ceremony will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS from The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California on at 8 p.m. EST / 5 p.m. PST on February 27.
*  *  *
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
"Black Widow"
"Dune"
"The Matrix Resurrections"
"No Time to Die"
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by tv echo

[tennisgurl]

After reading so many bad reviews and hearing mixed words of mouth, I thought that this was actually a bit better then what I was expecting. It was great seeing Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss back as Neo and Trinity again and I thought the movie had some cool ideas and great action scenes, and I enjoyed the new cast quite a bit, I was pleasantly surprised by Jonathan Groff as the new Agent Smith, but the whole movie felt like a bunch of plots and concepts instead of an actual movie. There was so much going on, most of which were interesting, but there were so many that they all felt underused. I liked the new cast, but they didn't really get a lot to do. I really liked the idea of exploring a city where humans and robots lived together in harmony, and that we got to see the adult version of the little girl program we met in the older films, but I wanted more then what we actually got. I liked the Alice in Wonderland motifs we started out with, but then those pretty much disappeared. The meta commentary at the start was fun at first, but then it felt like the movie was trying to apologize for its own existence, it almost felt like it wanted you to feel bad for watching it, even though I really don't think that's what they were going for. The backstory especially felt like a missed opportunity, it felt like we all missed a really cool movie where robots had a civil war and humans and their robot allies had to fight together and then built a city together, that sounds like a WAY better movie then the one we actually got. 

Granted, I don't really have that much of a connection to the Matrix franchise in general. I like the first movie, but I was too young to see it when it first came out so by the time I finally got to see it, I was already really familiar with all of the tropes that it created, so it didn't have that whoa factor that people who saw it in the theaters when it debuted got. The movie was always something I found more interesting in concept and aesthetic, I was never all that emotionally attached to it, so when it got to the disappointing sequels, I could pretty easily disengage. Possibly because of that, I went into this one just wanting to be entertained and see what they would do with the Matrix after so long, and I had a pretty good time. If nothing else, it could have a been a lot worse. 

 

[arc]

The Auralnauts review the original trilogy as if it were videogames:

 

[Macbeth]

On 1/24/2022 at 10:20 AM, tennisgurl said:

After reading so many bad reviews and hearing mixed words of mouth, I thought that this was actually a bit better then what I was expecting. It was great seeing Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss back as Neo and Trinity again and I thought the movie had some cool ideas and great action scenes, and I enjoyed the new cast quite a bit, I was pleasantly surprised by Jonathan Groff as the new Agent Smith, but the whole movie felt like a bunch of plots and concepts instead of an actual movie. There was so much going on, most of which were interesting, but there were so many that they all felt underused. I liked the new cast, but they didn't really get a lot to do. I really liked the idea of exploring a city where humans and robots lived together in harmony, and that we got to see the adult version of the little girl program we met in the older films, but I wanted more then what we actually got. I liked the Alice in Wonderland motifs we started out with, but then those pretty much disappeared. The meta commentary at the start was fun at first, but then it felt like the movie was trying to apologize for its own existence, it almost felt like it wanted you to feel bad for watching it, even though I really don't think that's what they were going for. The backstory especially felt like a missed opportunity, it felt like we all missed a really cool movie where robots had a civil war and humans and their robot allies had to fight together and then built a city together, that sounds like a WAY better movie then the one we actually got. 

Granted, I don't really have that much of a connection to the Matrix franchise in general. I like the first movie, but I was too young to see it when it first came out so by the time I finally got to see it, I was already really familiar with all of the tropes that it created, so it didn't have that whoa factor that people who saw it in the theaters when it debuted got. The movie was always something I found more interesting in concept and aesthetic, I was never all that emotionally attached to it, so when it got to the disappointing sequels, I could pretty easily disengage. Possibly because of that, I went into this one just wanting to be entertained and see what they would do with the Matrix after so long, and I had a pretty good time. If nothing else, it could have a been a lot worse. 

 

I watched the Trilogy in the theatre when they were released.  I really loved the Matrix.  I didn't like the sequels as much.  But I did end up respecting the story the Wachowskis were trying to tell.  

Because Neo wasn't the one.  The Architect said as much in M2.  He was the 6th version and he was basically there to take care of a virus - Agent Smith.  And the Matrix to then take care of the human rebellion.  Neo made a deal in M3 to take care of Agent Smith as long as they left Zion alone.  For me they Sisters went over the top by actually blinding Neo  (Trinity's death scene lacked impact, IMO, given the bandage over Neo's eyes.)  But they were right that Neo was blind to what the Matrix was all about.  The machines have always known about Zion and let it alone, for the most part, as a way for the human population to rebel.  

The big lie was that the Earth wasn't destroyed.  Only Trinity contains that knowledge.  Shortly before she was killed she broke through the underworld and saw the actual sun that was burning brightly in the sky.  And she was stunned by its brilliance.  That's why the scene in M4 where Trinity sees the sun rising really connects her to Neo - it's a trigger to when she actually saw the real sun.  Although I don't think she understood that yet.  Neo didn't save anyone.  In the end Zion was destroyed anyway.  All that happened was the Matrix's green tint was removed and replaced with it looking more like Earth.  

I really did love Resurrections.  Up there with the Matrix.  There was no more story to tell.  The Sisters had no intention on bringing this back.  But here are the reasons why I really loved Lana's approach to the sequel.

1.  Warner Brothers was going to do a sequel without the Wachowskis.  Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Rising were flops so I can see why the Studio felt they didn't need a Wachowski behind the scenes.  But Lana had Keanu in her corner.  Keanu, given JW's success as rated R films, proved he can still do action movies, and continues to be a big draw.  And there was no way he would do it without a Wachowski behind the scenes.  Especially if the studio purposely sidelined them.    This was a man who said no to Speed 2 when everyone was telling him to do it.  And he ended up being blackslisted by Fox for 10 years.

2.  So those meta jokes at the beginning was Lana's way of punching back at the studio.  I heard a podcast say that Warner Brothers allowing this to be in the movie was telling as they didn't think Disney would ever allow such criticism against them see the light of day in a film.

3.  I am suprised to say this but I enjoyed the fight scenes so much more than the ones in M2 & M3.  They were much more realistic.  Not as stilted.  The fights with Smith for me were boring.  The CGI to create all of those Smiths - doesn't hold up.  I think Keanu, although being 20 years older, is a better fighter after all of those JW films.  Just don't ask him to run up stairs as his knees are shot.  He can't do some of the moves he used to do of course.  But the fights look like actual fights not just a dance sequence.  This applies to M2 & M3.  The fight scenes between Neo and Smith in M1 were off the charts epic.

4.  Lana was working through her grief when she made these films.  She lost both her parents and a dear friend in a short period of time.  So she wanted to heal.  And she wanted both Neo and Trinity back in her life.   And given her transformation into a woman it was very important that Trinity be given rightful role in the universe.  It's not just Neo who is important, but also Trinity.  That's why Trinity being the one to fly first thus preventing Neo from falling was a great moment for me.  I also liked the fact that the team who backed up Neo and Trinity all survived.  There were no sacrificial lambs on that front.

5.  The ending when you saw people getting taken over by computers, joining mobs, or jumping out of windows as suicidal bombs, trying to kill people they don't know other than what a computer told them to do.  Those shots were filmed in San Francisco March 2020,  Look at how prescient those scenes are to what has been happening the last year.  Those scenes chilled me to the core.  

[Perfect Xero]

3 hours ago, Macbeth said:

I watched the Trilogy in the theatre when they were released.  I really loved the Matrix.  I didn't like the sequels as much.  But I did end up respecting the story the Wachowskis were trying to tell.  

Because Neo wasn't the one.  The Architect said as much in M2.  He was the 6th version and he was basically there to take care of a virus - Agent Smith.  And the Matrix to then take care of the human rebellion.  Neo made a deal in M3 to take care of Agent Smith as long as they left Zion alone.  For me they Sisters went over the top by actually blinding Neo  (Trinity's death scene lacked impact, IMO, given the bandage over Neo's eyes.)  But they were right that Neo was blind to what the Matrix was all about.  The machines have always known about Zion and let it alone, for the most part, as a way for the human population to rebel.  

The big lie was that the Earth wasn't destroyed.  Only Trinity contains that knowledge.  Shortly before she was killed she broke through the underworld and saw the actual sun that was burning brightly in the sky.  And she was stunned by its brilliance.  That's why the scene in M4 where Trinity sees the sun rising really connects her to Neo - it's a trigger to when she actually saw the real sun.  Although I don't think she understood that yet.  Neo didn't save anyone.  In the end Zion was destroyed anyway.  All that happened was the Matrix's green tint was removed and replaced with it looking more like Earth. 

They never said the Earth was destroyed? Morpheus said that at some point during the war between humanity and the machines humanity "scorched the sky" to deprive the Machines of solar power, Trinity seeing the sun above the dark clouds humanity created matches up with what Morpheus told Neo in the first film.

The Machines did not leave Zion alone, they destroyed it five times down to every man, woman, and child, each time allowing that cycle's version of The One to select a small group of humans from the matrix to rebuild Zion and start the cycle over again.

Without Neo's deal the Matrix would have been crashed by Smith, Zion would have been wiped out killing humanity, the Machines would have lost their primary power source and died out or something very close to it.

The decades of peace are what allowed humans to survive the eventual destruction of Zion to create IO.

[Macbeth]

7 hours ago, Perfect Xero said:

They never said the Earth was destroyed? Morpheus said that at some point during the war between humanity and the machines humanity "scorched the sky" to deprive the Machines of solar power, Trinity seeing the sun above the dark clouds humanity created matches up with what Morpheus told Neo in the first film.

The Machines did not leave Zion alone, they destroyed it five times down to every man, woman, and child, each time allowing that cycle's version of The One to select a small group of humans from the matrix to rebuild Zion and start the cycle over again.

Without Neo's deal the Matrix would have been crashed by Smith, Zion would have been wiped out killing humanity, the Machines would have lost their primary power source and died out or something very close to it.

The decades of peace are what allowed humans to survive the eventual destruction of Zion to create IO.

If you scorch the sky so there was no longer any solar power - All life on earth ends.  Why are you believing what the Matrix says on what happened that lead to human's being enslaved?

The deal Neo made was so that Zion would not be destroyed this time.  I know they were destroyed the other times.  But in the end what we saw in M4 - Zion was killed anyway.  I am talking about Zion not IO.  IO existed because some made a deal with the Matrix.

Smith is a virus that pops up occassionally, and Neo is the program that clears the virus.  As far as the Matrix is concerned that is his purpose.  He was created for that purpose.

What changed with M4 is that Neo and Trinity's fight is with the Architect not Smith.  Not that I think we are getting another sequel from Lana.

[Perfect Xero]

13 hours ago, Macbeth said:

If you scorch the sky so there was no longer any solar power - All life on earth ends.  Why are you believing what the Matrix says on what happened that lead to human's being enslaved?

The deal Neo made was so that Zion would not be destroyed this time.  I know they were destroyed the other times.  But in the end what we saw in M4 - Zion was killed anyway.  I am talking about Zion not IO.  IO existed because some made a deal with the Matrix.

Smith is a virus that pops up occassionally, and Neo is the program that clears the virus.  As far as the Matrix is concerned that is his purpose.  He was created for that purpose.

What changed with M4 is that Neo and Trinity's fight is with the Architect not Smith.  Not that I think we are getting another sequel from Lana.

Yes, most biological life on Earth ended, the Machines have kept Humanity alive as a power source.  We don't have to believe the matrix, because we see ample on screen evidence that the scorched sky is true.

IO did not make a deal with the Matrix. It was a city made by humans from Zion and machine allies due to relationships formed as a  result of the Truce Neo created. Zion got an extra 60 years because of Neo, and many more of the people of Zion likely could have survived if they'd heeded the warning signs of the Machine's warring factions instead of blindly believing the Truce would last forever.

The purpose of The One is to serve as an avatar of Human free will that chooses to reunite with The Source and reboot the Matrix when the number of humans who reject the Matrix reaches a point where it threatens to crash the system. If Smith or other agents have taken a similar path in previous cycles is unknown, but would normally be irrelevant to the One/Source equation because the previous Ones choose to reunite with the Source when given the choice.

In Architect is not in M4, the Analyst has replaced him and remade the Matrix in a way that seems to do a better job of suppressing the anomaly of free will by using the bots to steer human free will (which Neo and Trinity seem to be the avatars of) into choosing the system by using bots and more subtle manipulation than the Architect (who focuses on free will in more mathematical terms as a problem to be solved).

Edited February 1, 2022 by Perfect Xero

[tv echo]

BAFTA nominations were announced this morning - Matrix Resurrections got 1 nomination...

2022 EE British Academy Film Awards: Nominations
February 3, 2022
https://www.bafta.org/film/awards/2022-nominations-winners

Quote

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

DUNE Brian Connor, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Gerd Nefzer

FREE GUY Swen Gillberg, Brian Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis, Daniel Sudick

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE Aharon Bourland, Sheena Duggal, Pier Lefebvre, Alessandro Ongaro

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Tom Debenham, Hew J Evans, Dan Glass, J. D. Schwaim

NO TIME TO DIE Mark Bokowski, Chris Corbould, Joel Green, Charlie Noble

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by tv echo

[Macbeth]

I know many will laugh.  But this article argues that Matrix Resurrections was the best movie of the year.

https://filmschoolrejects.com/movie-of-the-year-the-matrix-resurrections/

In dealing with the idea that M4 solidified that Neo wasn't the savior:

"The core idea here is about breaking down boundaries and binaries, with a multitude of examples that illustrate this idea....Even the idea of The One — the hero who will bring salvation and freedom, whom the original trilogy posits as being Neo — is a concept built on division. There is The One and then there are the others, those who help him in his quest."

That's why it was important that Trinity was shown saving Neo at the end, and the crew survived.

[AimingforYoko]

Village Roadshow sues Warners over same-day streaming release of The Matrix: Resurrections.

[tv echo]

[BetterButter]

 

[BetterButter]

New ‘Matrix’ Movie in the Works with Drew Goddard Writing, Directing

[Anduin]

3 hours ago, BetterButter said:

New ‘Matrix’ Movie in the Works with Drew Goddard Writing, Directing

Promising, but I'm not getting my hopes too far up just yet. And we all know the WB these days...

[DoctorAtomic]

Seems like this month I'm getting around to three year old movies. A couple of weeks ago, I watched Dune. 

I was hesitant to watch the new movie.  feel like the Matrix was a complete story back in the late 90s/early 00. I really loved those movies, and was totally dialed in. I even watched all the Animatrix stuff. I knew Neo was going to lose his sight and still 'see' coming about a million miles away because, ironic enough, that's what happened to Paul. I think it's hard to pull that all back again. There was nothing like them back then. 

I did like the meta opening with the Matrix game within the Matrix and, well, we're doing a sequel and that's that. And then everyone commenting on the movies. On the other hand, iirc, the 'old Matrix' was wiped and effectively reset. So you can actually have a new Matrix. And it is kind of insidious in a way to make 'Anderson' think the Matrix was in his head and made a game of it. 

I do appreciate cutting to the past movies to refresh my memory. 

I was confused at the reflections in the mirror at first too, but it makes sense that rebooting the Matrix, the Architect would want to mask the code. Almost like having to reawaken the Duncan Idaho ghola. 

I liked the updates with the agents just being skinned bots, and the portals was a great idea, but I kind of wished it was still more the 90s setting. Like the Machines just don't have the creativity to evolve the Matrix. Actually it would have been kind of cool if the rebooted Matrix was 1824. 

I'm surprised that if it's been 60 years in the real world that some kind of religion did spring up around Neo. 

I may be making a huge reach, but if Cyebebe isn't supposed to be a Tachikoma? Come on. It's right there. 

I thought Groff killed as Smith. I don't know if I get why he was there though. 

I did like that they didn't pull punches and went with an R rating. I also liked all the Sens8 actors getting in on it all. 

I think they took too long to get to Neo and Trinity. There was a ton of set up. I enjoyed the movie, but I don't quite get what the larger picture was. 

Looks like original post from October 2021 is consistent with my takeaway from finally watching. I thought this movie in 2024 and given Lana being involved might have had some trans characters, which was part of the original intention iirc. There wasn't a ton of plot, so this seemed to be an optimal time to explore those issues. 

[Affogato]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:56 AM, tv echo said:

I went in with low expectations after seeing all the bad reviews. So I ended up enjoying the movie more than I expected. Obviously, it was not as good as the original Matrix. However, I liked that Neo and Trinity finally got a happy ending. 

I agree that there was too much meta at the beginning with the talk about The Matrix game and Warner Bros. demanding a sequel. So that was annoying.

I also wanted to know more about the supporting characters, esp. Bugs. I kept waiting for a surprise reveal that she was maybe a descendant (granddaughter?) of Neo and Trinity. But, no.

I guess the ending means Neo and Trinity are the Two? (The Trinity reveal was not as mind-blowing as the Neo reveal in the original Matrix.) Or maybe it's like Buffy TVS, where anyone can be the Chosen One.

I have to say, both Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann Moss looked fantastic as action heroes in their 50's. It's gratifying to see that they didn't recast Trinity with a 30-something actress.

I guess they couldn't get Hugo Weaving and Laurence Fishburne to return. Their next gen replacements weren't quite as effective. Meh on Neil Patrick Harris.

Overall, I liked it, but didn't love it.

Neo and Trinity together were a transgender One. They were strongest when they manifested both sides of their nature. 
 

i liked it. I remember vaguely that Fish urne was not asked to return, but I could be wrong. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I was expecting the theme to be more overt, but I can buy it. For example, with Bugs, I thought they could have had her be male in the real world and 'Bugs' in the Matrix. 

I'm all for riling up the pearl clutching crowd. 

[Affogato]

10 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I was expecting the theme to be more overt, but I can buy it. For example, with Bugs, I thought they could have had her be male in the real world and 'Bugs' in the Matrix. 

I'm all for riling up the pearl clutching crowd. 

Yes. I think the word I was looking for was ‘genderfluid’.