The Matrix is about everything and nothing.
This anecdote delivered by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Morpheus. Yes, Morpheus. That’s one of a few questions which will come up during Lana Wachowski’s feature on the continuing war between man and machine in The Matrix Resurrections.
But the war ended?
Neo and Trinity died too, but you all appear to not be complaining about that. Keanu Reeves reprises his role as Thomas Anderson, who may also be Neo, in a world which might be the Matrix but isn’t. Or is it? Towing the rope set in place by its formers, the metanarrative is just as heavy in Resurrections. It’s a game! Or is it a memory? Who they were, aren’t who they are? And just what is identity?! All of this playfully woven amongst heavy handed references that aren’t so much gratuitous, as they are intrinsic to Neo’s reality or lack thereof.
Newcomers like Jessica Henwick take our hands as they guide us through this new reality, which unfolds in unexpected ways. If you think you have an idea of what Resurrections might be, I can assure you that you don’t. I even had some of the plot known to me and the film was wholly unexpected. While missing the more visual tells of the trilogy, I feel this in turn is another layer of metanarrative hiding the plot. Something that even one Wachowski can succeed at with aplomb. Jonathan Groff also has an outstanding turn as Thomas’s business partner, along with a stellar appearance from one Chad Stahelski.
AND YES CARRIE-ANNE MOSS IS STILL BOMB TO. THIS. DAY!
Visually, Lana continues to deliver in an area they innovated in 1999. I’ve recently started HATING slow-motion in film, finding it a lazy utilization of exaggerating action. And it’s not that Resurrections gets away with it being one of the purveyors of its popularity. It’s more that it’s used as another in-joke about The Matrix itself.
While the film won’t necessarily hit for everyone, for fans of the franchise there’s plenty to love. Feeling like some sort of apology for things out of their control, and finally being let off the leash to apply even more real world iconography which they were part of or created, means it’s a tonne of fun. That’s not to say it’s not without flaw, but it is GOOD and fills out the lore very well with probably one of the most fun resurrection stories I’ve seen.
If you wanted more Matrix, you have more Matrix.
And it’s just fun to see that world which is both everything and nothing, progressively blurring the line between its reality and ours.
But it is unapologetically apologetic about its sequels, and how it adapts this into a narrative fitting of its new present.
Passionately directed by one of its creators, it is an entirely entertaining romp filled with bombast, which wants you to once more approach the digital world with a philosophical perspective that continues to ask you:
Is it the blue pill? Or the red pill?
