Call it a reboot, call it a sequel, whatever you want to name it, The Matrix Resurrections is the newest film in the series, after an 18-year break. I don’t know why the filmmakers and actors were so coy about labeling it, but after seeing it, it is most definitely a sequel, and one that plays best to fans of the original films, and maybe playing to those fans a bit too hard.
As you’ve probably seen in the previews, Thomas Anderson is back inside the Matrix. We don’t know why, he doesn’t know why, and learning those answers is obviously one of the goals of the film. In typical Matrix-y fashion, the movie is most fun if you don’t try to second guess everything, ponder over every little plot hole or annoyance, and just go with it. There’s plenty of action, and while a lot of the stunts that made the first film so unique have now been used a million times, director Lana Wachowski and her team have cooked up a few new surprises that play well.
Unfortunately some of those surprises are about all you can expect. There’s no big “ah-ha!” moment in this movie like there was in the first, and in tone it feels more like the second and third movies, for better or worse. Much of the movie rehashes the prior three movies, which I don’t get, as no one who watches this will be going into it blind. The movie is really a love story between Neo and Trinity, wrapped up in an action film, but it never does a good job of explaining why. The first movie was just so groundbreaking, and had such a great feeling of “us vs them,” and this newest sequel is lacking that. Still, there were some amazing moments, some touching ones, and it wasn’t a total letdown. I just wanted to be blown away, and I wasn’t. ★★★½
Jons Movie Takes 