Joshua Jacobs

After my recent piece on the modern Space Jam reboot, it’s time for a review of an even more recent resurrection. Could The Matrix’ fourth installment from 2021 live up to the massive expectations of its predecessors in intensity and intrigue?

This major Matrix Reboot is getting personal, because this universe is a real favourite of mine. It’s just something else, way beyond we in 2022 can grasp. It’s true: I could drool over the philosophical viewpoints the Wachowskis presented us for hours, and read about it in the comics. It’s a real virtual world on its own and people would probably get lost in all its corners and alleys.

Lookback

The Wachowski film producers took the human universe by storm in 1999. Never ever did we witness a movie with such detail where machines took the fight to humans. Humankind eventually got enslaved to literally be a power source its conquerors. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. To keep the peace and people oppressed, humans were plugged into a virtual world, oblivious to anything and everything.

In their search of The One, eventually rebels managed to free Keanu “Wow” Reeves, who developed himself from a frightened programmer to selfsacrificing hero. The machines accepted his offering and restored the peace, where humanity was saved and life went on, for approximately 20 years.

Storyline

This is where The Matrix Revolutions ends, and The Matrix Resurrections begins (powered by film maker Lana Wachowski, instead of both of them). The latter is building on its legacy in a seemingly alternative timeline. At first you are likely to struggle with the buildup of the story, which is partially down to how insanely distant the Matrix universe is from us. If you look past that, the introduction to this world is neat from a technical point of view.

The storyline feels a bit too ‘2022’. It involves our lord and saviour Keanu being a game programming director, supposedly 20 and not 60 years after earlier events, being responsible for Matrix video games. Profits are dwindling and now the wheel needs to be reinvented. How very meta of the makers.

Also there are some plotholes to be found. Without giving too much away, some of the dialogue tries to mystify the story quite heavily, for example about certain elements travelling between the worlds. This was unnecessary in my book: this universe can carry itself without wanting to look edgy so much.

It only would have been nicer if the one Wachowski we had left, hadn’t gone absolutely overboard with throwbacks to the earlier movies. With slightly more patient staff in the editing rooms we would have definitively ended up with a more refined movie. Storytelling is key here: Team Lana should have had more confidence in both the story and its target audience memory. They could have afforded this with some well-placed cuts in the storyline, since ‘Matrix IV’ already clocks in at a respectable 2h28m. This is the longest of any Matrix movie, the shortest being 2h9 (Revolutions). All of them are way, way, waaaaay beyond the average 90-100 minute movie theater format anyway.

Acting

The HR department made a reasonable effort in getting stars of earlier movies to return. Naturally the always slightly awkward Keanu Reeves and dependable Carrie-Anne Moss are here to carry the backbone of the movie, although Hugo Weaving and Laurence Fishburne are quite notable in their absences but Jada Pinkett Smith reprising her role as Niobe.

It’s a cast with only Neil Patrick Harris as a heavyweight in the lineup to impress viewers. Nevertheless a slightly above average script can’t hack the top guns out of their virtual jails. The plot makes them all feel quite plasticky in their environments. For example: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is there as the calm and collected Morpheus. It feels really off to see him bashing someone’s teeth in, while at the same time you see him monotonously motivating that person to keep going. For anybody being more aware of the intrinsics of this universe, it can seem quite logical that this isn’t actually Morpheus kicking, but for the casual viewer it is probably really confusing at first. A rewatch is definitely required to get your head around it.

Actually Jessica Henwick is the only person really breathing and living the Matrix universe, soldiering on to help Neo in his quest without fangirling all over him. In my book this is a bad sign of things to come, if a ‘Matrix V’ would be in the making.

Effects

Everybody with active memories about the Matrix knows it’s a fest for the eyes. The fourth Matrix movie does not disappoint in this regard. Most of the battle scenes are taking place in a virtual city, which feels just plastic enough to convince you something is up with this universe. The cold, greenish vibe of the first movies has gone though, unfortunately. This means is can be quite hard to distinguish what is real and what isn’t.

Editing is one page straight out of the Bourne trilogy books: a downright mess. Where previous Matrix movies where exemplary in not overcomplicating fighting sequences, Resurrections is a definitive Easter gone wrong in that regard. The actors earlier trained very hard to get where they were, but this time the efforts of the current cast usually drown in the action around them. Holding the camera still and letting the actors brawl it out, was a strongsuit before. This regiment died somewhere in the 00s, probably. Nevertheless, it’s very cool to see still Carrie-Anne and Keanu kicking ***.

Worth my time?

It’s hard to recommend this movie to the True (how pretentious of me) Matrix Fan Of The First Hour. If you are an avid follower of this universe, it might be interesting to catch up and see what happened next. The plot has some interesting moments but it feels like watching the Matrix from within the Matrix.

Having only one Wachowski onboard is doing an active disservice to the movie. With heaps of discussion usually going on on the film sets, it’s possible Lana faced the same challenges as Neo in the Matrix movies. Where in this universe the inevitable connection between Neo and Trinity is keeping that place in check, it feels like the same can be said of Lana Wachowski and the ‘afk’ Lilly Wachowski. The end result is a bit at sea: there can’t only be The One, without The Other.

Final Scorecard: 6.7/10.

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