It feels like Lana Wachowski is screaming “Isn’t this what you wanted?” with The Matrix Resurrections.
78/100
Original Release: 2021
Director: Lana Wachowski
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick Harris, Johnathan Groff
Favourite Quote:
“We thought elements from the past would ease you into the present”
Favourite Shot:
“It never was interesting as an idea to continue it. Then something really hard happened … My dad died, then this friend died, then my mom died. I didn't really know how to process that kind of grief. I hadn't experienced it that closely … Suddenly, my brain just exploded this whole story … I couldn't have my mom and dad… yet suddenly I had Neo and Trinity, arguably the two most important characters in my life … You can look at it and say: 'Okay, these two people die, and okay, bring these two people back to life, and oh, doesn't that feel good?' Yeah, it did! It's simple, and this is what art does and this is what stories do. They comfort us and they're important." - Lana Wachowski
"I didn't want to have gone through my transition [Lilly came out as transgender in March 2016] and gone through this massive upheaval in my life, the sense of loss from my mom and dad, to want to go back to something that I had done before, and sort of [walk] over old paths that I had walked in, felt emotionally unfulfilling, and really the opposite — like I was going to go back and live in these old shoes, in a way.” - Lily Wachowski
The Matrix Resurrections begins exactly how the first Matrix begins. The police have Trinity cornered. Trinity beats them up. The agents chase Trinity. It’s all the same. Except this isn’t the Trinity we know. And these aren’t the agents we know. And also someone named Bugs is watching it all unfold with us.
The fourth installment of the Matrix series is one that analyses and dissects our era of endless reboots, sequels and franchises. Directed by Lana Wachowski, the film grapples with nostalgia. Exploring the benefits, and problems, going back to the past creates.
This key struggle is written into the fabric of the film. It can be seen in both of the Wachowskis’ reasons for and for not coming back to the world of the Matrix. It can be seen in the characters’ arcs within the film. And it can be seen in the viewers coming back for another hit from a franchise which began so long ago.
It is also a film which emphasises the Wachowskis’ careers. They have never been able to make another Matrix. And so Lana Wachowski literally gives the people what they want. The Matrix again. But of course, the film has its own little twist, which makes it the most interesting legacy sequel to come out in the last five years.
We return to the matrix to find that Neo (Keanu Reeves) is the creator of the video game The Matrix. Which is based on his faint memories from the first three films. The game was a huge success and now Warner Brothers want a new game from him (which would be very familiar territory for Lana Wachowski).
This whole section is the high point of the film. Neo is placed in a similar position to what he was in the first film. He seems quite depressed with the mundanity of his everyday life, and feels as if there must be something more. And to add to this he is haunted by these faint memories of The Matrix which he sometimes believes are real.
Reeves is spectacular in conveying all of this information to the audience. He plays Neo as if he is so confused by reality that he doesn’t know how to react to certain situations.
There are also some great scenes depicting this confusion of reality and imagination. In one scene there is an action set piece at Neo’s office in which things explode, he gets shot at and Agent Smith (Johnathan Groff) and Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) reveal themselves to him.
"Lana understands that the beauty of time is that things can only happen once. Trying to recreate it will never be as good. She seems to believe a certain level of nostalgia is good, but if you are so obsessed with returning to, and trying to recreate, something in the past then you are missing the point."
And he sits there repeating the mantra that it is all just happening in his mind. Then we smoothly transition into his therapist’s (Neil Patrick Harris) office. As if nothing had happened. It makes you believe that perhaps Neo has actually created the whole idea of the matrix inside his head.
And Lana does a similar thing with Trinity. Neo often has these memories brought back because of his encounters with a married woman named Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss), who he has strong feelings for because of her similarities to Trinity. It all feels like the events that occurred in the previous three films were in a different life. And this is presented so well on the screen. Everything just feels slightly off. When the characters look in the mirror sometimes you will see the image flicker to someone else. You can’t figure out what’s real and what is imagined or part of the matrix.
Finally he is taken out of this falsified reality by Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and the new Morpheus and he awakes once more in his pod. Again this sequence is profound and chilling. It makes you wonder when Neo will ever truly be awake? Will he just continue waking up in a new pod forever?
This first section works so well because it is all presented so viscerally and specific on the screen. Lana’s exact vision is realised. And it also works because of its similarities to the first film. There are often excerpts from the first film. And Lana is using these excerpts both to try and give you that feeling the first Matrix gave you and also to show how the past can help the future.
Now out of the matrix, Neo is taken to 'Io', the new human city, where he meets Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith). She explains that Zion was destroyed and that they now work together with the machines to make real life better. But she has become complacent with her life there and is afraid that Neo is going to ruin all that she has built. So she imprisons him.
Bugs and her crew mates free Neo and they return to the matrix to try and free Trinity. There they are intercepted by Smith and also some exiled programs including the Merovingian. The Merovingian represents people that wish for a return to the past. He spends the whole scene talking about how good things were before. This is another example of Lana grappling with nostalgia. He seems to be a stand in for the fans and critics that tried to get her to make a film exactly like the first Matrix.
Lana understands that the beauty of time is that things can only happen once. Trying to recreate it will never be as good. She seems to believe a certain level of nostalgia is good, but if you are so obsessed with returning to, and trying to recreate, something in the past then you are missing the point.
Neo tries to save Trinity by telling her the truth but is stopped by his therapist who is revealed to be the architect. He explains that this new matrix runs on the power that is created from Neo and Trinity’s connection. This second section is slightly bogged down by the excess of exposition. Personally I am content with letting things go unexplained, but the Wachowskis have always been interested in creating a consistent lore, especially for The Matrix.
When the architect stops Neo he says that he “uses the power that defines you to destroy you”. And then makes the bullets of his gun go in slow motion as if poking fun at ‘bullet time’. This is an interesting idea because this is exactly what happened to the Wachowskis. They had the power that defined them used against them. Their creative ideas used in the first Matrix were used against them in every film after.
Everyone wanted them to do something like bullet time again. And here Lana is doing it again, but like she does in the whole film she is finding new use for it. Nostalgia can be a good thing if you reuse things from the past in a new way.
Then we get the classic Wachowski heist film moment as they come up with a plan to help Trinity escape. Carrie-Anne Moss is spectacular as we watch her internal struggle on screen. She is so clearly attached to Neo but trying to fight it without her saying a word. And the chemistry between her and Reeves is as moving as always.
The third act is also a tad bogged down by action and exposition. But the last action sequence is by far the best. Smith basically deploys every human in the matrix to try and destroy Neo and Trinity. Once again Lana is achieving a new way to present action on the screen. There are people jumping out of buildings and bodies dropping everywhere. It’s a great finish.
In the end Neo and Trinity gain control over the matrix and plan to make it a better place where people are given the choice between the matrix and real life. And then they both fly off in the sky together.
The Matrix Resurrections is the most interesting legacy sequel to date. It is a film that takes risks and feels like an answer to all the fans and critics that wanted the Wachowskis to recreate the first Matrix. Despite only being directed by Lana it still feels like a Wachowski film with similar themes of love being the most powerful force and the overwhelming feeling that we are all being controlled.
It is fun, and philosophical and visually stunning. And it’s more concerned with analysing this theme of nostalgia than trying to engage the fan’s nostalgia. It is strong in the idea that the past is gone, but not lost in our minds. And that it’s this distinction between real and imaginary, memory and false memories, that we have to focus on. Through this realisation, nostalgia can then be used to our benefit.
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