The Matrix Resurrections

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Matrix Resurrections is the fourth film in The Matrix series and picks up sixty years from where the third film left off. In this future we see a young crew of freedom fighters trying to discover the location of Neo and rescue him from a new Matrix that has been built by a new power amongst the machines. At the core of this film is a romantic story that I think transcends all other narrative failings. The link between Neo and Trinity is so dynamic and I think the way their love pushes back against conflict is such a valuable theme for this feature. The cinematography for the film continues to be fairly impressive, with a wide variety of shots and this continued sense of experimentation in how the Matrix is presented to the audience. The special effects are fairly good, the design of sci-fi landscapes and machine characters in particular is a strength of the film. The score for the feature is a brilliant return to the sound of the trilogy we're all familiar with up until this point; Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit' being the anthem for the film is such a perfect move as well.

 

Keanu Reeves, who played Neo, is a solid return as the protagonist for the fourth time in a row; Reeves plays strongly to his role's detached connection to the illusion of the Matrix and also his yearning to reunite with Moss' Trinity. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who played Morpheus/Agent Smith, performs extremely creatively with quite a uniquely written character; Abdul-Mateen has a knack for taking some of the best traits previously presented by Fishburne and Weaving and making them his own. Neil Patrick Harris, who played The Analyst, is a brilliant antagonist for this film and one of the very real highlights; Harris has a lot of fun going from the straight edge therapist to the wild and arrogant computer program villain. Jada Pinkett Smith, who played Niobe, is a wonderful returning performance that has evolved spectacularly; seeing Smith deliver a more rigid leader who makes some severe calls for the sake of her people is a fitting direction for this role.

However, the best performance came from Carrie-Anne Moss, who played Trinity. Moss is as much a name you associate with the Matrix films as you would Reeves or Laurence Fishburne. This feature strongly reminds us why that is, the moment we see Reeves and Moss together again onscreen you feel the familiar spark of chemistry. Seeing Moss play to this domesticated, docile character while maintaining her steely edge is really interesting. From there we begin to see the familiar signs of Trinity as Moss plays to this sense of disillusionment from her own reality. Seeing this character struggle with a sense of what is real and what is safe is fascinating, ultimately leading to her powerful reconnection with Reeves' Neo. I loved seeing Trinity in action again, her desperately propelling Neo to safety before ultimately claiming her own power within the Matrix. The final scene in which Moss establishes dominance over the machine faction is nothing short of impressive.

The Matrix Resurrections has a first act that really lets itself down, marking it as a confused and ill-fitting addition to the franchise. The opening introduction to Bugs and the Morpheus/Smith program is quite jarring and not a very nice return to the world. Immediately we are heaped with more questions than answers and the film is very sporadic in actually providing answers that actually make sense. Then we return to Neo and it becomes abundantly clear that the director/writer for this film decided to do a twenty minute to half hour segment just for them. We get this character arc in which Neo believes himself to be a video game designer who made a game called the Matrix, published by Warner Bros. The film takes a hard time out to make a wad of self-referential jokes, meta observations about themes of previous films and put Neo on a character journey that just really does little to convince the audience the link to the past is being upheld well. This film brings back old characters but doesn't use them for any sort of deeper purpose; the Morpheus/Agent Smith program is an odd role that feels like a nicer idea on paper than in practice, while returning characters like Smith himself or Sati become very convoluted missteps. The film keeps pushing at trying to sound like it has some weighty ideas to contribute but then delivers with the subtlety of a brick to the head. There's even a scene at one point in which a crazed program garbles an odd monologue about spectacle, sequels, franchises and Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook in what feels like a fever dream moment of script writing. Seeing a returning character like Niobe is sort of hollow because you don't feel like anything was gained from the last actions of the third film, even Morpheus feels like a character cast aside insincerely. The big heist to get Trinity back is an overzealous push to be this big and showy sci-fi romp while losing all the intrigue of previous instalments. The editing for the film is quite poor in the sense the flow is constantly interrupted by flashbacks to archival footage from previous films, there is a real sense of tell not show visually throughout the feature.

Jonathan Groff, who played Smith, is about as far from Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith as one could imagine; Groff lacks the inherent menace of the character and often feels like he's delivering a parody performance. Jessica Henwick, who played Bugs, is a new protagonist introduced who just does not add anything to this series; Henwick is such a stoic figure throughout and shows a serious lack of emotional range nor ability to lead a scene. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who played Sati, is an exposition heavy role that Jonas delivers in a very dull manner; This entire character is quite a last minute add to the mix and Jonas just doesn't connect well with the flow of the film.

A firm reminder that some film series just don't need to be 'resurrected'. I would give The Matrix Resurrections a 3.5/10.