The Matrix Resurrections Review
After being delayed multiple times, The Matrix Resurrections has finally dropped in theaters and on HBO Max. I’m somebody that has seen the original Matrix movie a handful of times. But I have never seen the two sequels. So how is the 4th movie in the franchise? Let’s get started!
The Good:
I just find it fun to be back in this world with these characters. The first movie did such a great job of creating this world that you like to explore. And after 18 years we finally got to go back in this world and tell a story with 2021 technology. And it is somewhat fun to see Neo and Trinity back in this world.
From there, the cast of the movie is really good. And I think that this is probably the best cast for the franchise. For me the big stand out was Jonathan Groff, Kristoff from Frozen as Agent Smith and the character is written to be so mysterious and Groff can play that so well. Another stand out was Jessica Henwick as Bugs, this computer hacker who is important to the plot and is a very interesting character in the movie. And it is just great to see Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss back in these roles and probably better than ever in these roles.
It is a Matrix movie so you have to talk about the action and it’s really well done. It’s used with 2021 technology and some of it is done really well. The big stand out would be this car chase in the finale of the movie that was really cool and just shot so well. And I think it’s up there with one of the best action sequences of the year. And a smaller but a cool one would be between Neo and Agent Smith that pays homage to the original movie.
And since this is a 21st century movie and a Matrix movie, you have to talk about the visuals for the movie. And there are just some gorgeous shots that look really believable and like you are in this world with these characters.
Finally, the score for the movie is really good and a lot more memorable than I was thinking it was going to. And it kind of holds the movie together at points in time.
The Bad:
NOTE: When I talk about the bad I’m not going to be talking about specifics of the plot. But I will be talking about some things that aren’t in the trailers. So just so you know, no specifics are going to be talked about.
The big thing here is they introduce this whole plot line that Neo is a game designer who designed a gaming franchise called “The Matrix”. And each game is based on one of the movies, and it's interesting to put into here. Because The Matrix franchise could make really cool video games. But I don’t think “meta” is the right direction to take this franchise and felt out of place with the rest of the movie and franchise.
Also, this movie continues the big problems with the two sequels of trying to do way too much. This movie is a sequel to Reloaded and Revolutions, a meta movie, and paying homage to the original movie while trying to expand the mythology of the franchise and universe. So this movie tries to do way too much and makes for a jumbled movie with way too much going on. And it felt like some of the ideas, characters, and plot lines from this movie could have been cut.
Part of what made the original trilogy so cool is that they did some groundbreaking action. Like "Bullet Time" was so groundbreaking when it happened that it's so iconic now. And here we have reached the point in time where you can pretty much do anything with visuals now. So part of the charm and uniqueness of the original trilogy gets lost in this movie.
Finally, this is a movie where I think the trailers showed too much and gave away too much. The big example of this is they didn’t reveal who Jonathan Groff was going to be playing but in the second trailer they said who it was. And I think it would have been wise if they kept that a secret from the plot. But honestly, a bit too much of this movie was shown in the trailers for the movie.
Final Thoughts: This was a movie that I was cautiously optimistic about ever since they first announced it. This movie has great performances, characters, action, visuals, and music. But the story and the storytelling are really what hold this movie back from being a better movie.
The Score: 8.2/10 (B-)
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