Matrix Resurrections

A lot of effort went into the story, with details and references and self references and in-jokes. And yet, in the last act of the film, it felt like who ever wrote the thing ran out of ideas and just did random things. That felt like a betrayal. Then there was the film itself, which consistently felt less evolved, in both effects and fight choreography, than the original film *from 22 years ago!*. Last but not least, there were the characters. Keanu and Carrie-Ann aside, the rest of the people had no characterization at all and the actors, some I knew from other stuff like Sense8, had less to work with than in the TV series they were grabbed from. Remember how awesome Max Riemelt was in Sense 8? Here he was a yes man with a bad accent. Remember how amazing and fun Lambert Wilson was in the original Matrix films? Here he was no more than an obscenity spouting homeless crazy person. I think Jonathan Groff did a reasonable job, but his character was all over the place. And so on.

I don't want to touch on the sexual orientation of most of the actors or the agenda that is always pushed by the Wackowskis, because it doesn't really matter here. Put all that aside and it's still a mess of a film.

Bottom line: if it were a random low budget scifi, it would have been average. As a sequel to The Matrix, it has great potential and it failed miserably.

This movie looses the magic of The Matrix. Everybody who's seen the previous three Matrix movies will be very disappointed. Everyone expects something similar to the famous bullet doge, or Neo vs. Smith, or even the final fight in the rain. But the movie delivers none of that. Every fight scene is full of fake-looking CGI, neither Neo nor Trinity really does any physical fighting. Instead, they just use their Matrix powers. You can't feel any impact during fight scenes. The majority of epic sequences are already in the trailer. The tone and pacing feel weird and there's very little chemistry between some of the new characters. The movie also has a lot of dull conversation while attempting to bring back nostalgia. This movie is overly reliant on the previous movies. There would be a reference to the trilogy once in a while, sometimes there will even be a scene directly from the trilogy. The whole movie just feels lazy. The only good sequence is towards the finale, when Neo and Trinity are motorcycling through the city.

Blah blah blah = how much talking and exposition is in this movie. The original matrix had a lot of talking too, but every conversation is intriguing. In this movie, it bored me to death. Almost put me to sleep.

Blah blah blah = the mess of a story that is this movie. It's all over the place and feels like a bunch of nonsense mashed together.

Blah blah blah = the unclear and uninspiring action. The fight scenes in the first two movie are amongst the best ever put to screen, including Asian cinema. The action in Reloaded is incredible. In this movie, it just feels like action vomit all over the screen. It ranges from mediocre to bad. And only one part is memorable (certain things are falling onto the street). The fight scenes suffer from close ups and quick cuts, something we never see in the originals.

The more I think about it, a 4 star rating seems generous. But that's how I felt leaving the theater. There is some good here. But I don't think I'd bother giving it another chance. (1 viewing, 12/23/2021)

If you know the original trilogy, leave it at that and leave this movie alone. It is a self devouring serpent from the moment it starts.

In a word: S L I M Y

Save your money and your sanity.

I've been waiting for this one with anticipation and I was thoroughly disappointed. I spent the first 40 minutes wondering what was going on. It was barely coherent. The rest of the movie got slightly better. But there was no real story. Some parts were enjoyable. Some weren't. But, at the end, I didn't feel like my day had been enriched by watching it and I have no desire to watch it again. The original Matrix, on the other hand, I still watch that at least once a year. This movie was done strictly as a money grab. There was no real story to tell and no journey to follow. I don't recommend it!