The Matrix Resurrections

Year:  2021

Director:  Lana Wachowski

Screenplay:  Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell, Aleksander Hemon, based on characters created by The Wachowskis

Starring:  Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jones, Jada Pinkett Smith

Running Time:  148 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction

San Francisco: Thomas Anderson (Reeves) is a successful video game developer who became famous for the hugely successful Matrix trilogy of games.  However he is experiencing strange hallucinations, memories from his previous life as Neo, which he puts down to stress from developing the games and the resulting fame.  In a coffee shop, Anderson happens upon Trinity (Moss), who is living a quiet life as mother of three Tiffany.  When he is approached by a new group of rebels, lead by hacker Bugs (Henwick)  and Morpheus (Abdul-Mateen II), Anderson discovers that the hallucinations are real memories of his past, and he needs to embrace his identity as Neo to save himself and Trinity from the Matrix and help the human rebels fight the machines that have enslaved humanity.  The problem is that he is not the man he was.

The concept behind The Matrix series of films is that what we see and experience as reality is in fact a vast, complex computer simulation known as The Matrix, and that the real world is a ravaged, bleak place controlled by malevolent machines, and humans are trapped in pods, brains plugged into The Matrix, bodies being harvested for energy to power the machines.  However, a small group of humans have escaped The Matrix and are fighting to defeat the machines.  The Matrix was released in the summer of 1999 and, despite being released mere weeks before Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, it was a huge hit, with an imaginative plot, lots of style, and groundbreaking visual effects.  Two sequels followed, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, which were both released in 2003.  The Matrix Resurrections is the fourth film in the series and its easy to be cynical about sequels that come out such a long time after their predecessor, but this is a very solid entry in the franchise, and possibly the best of the series since the first one.  Like the other films in the series, it suffers from a confused plot, with a lot of philosophical discussions and technobabble, and the characters often seem more like video game characters, ironically enough, so it's hard to really feel any sense of danger in the action scenes.  Also, it doesn't give any concessions to newcomers to The Matrix franchise, or those who may have forgotten the previous films, in the nearly twenty years since the previous one was released.  However, this is an enjoyable, intelligent science-fiction action film, and there is a lot more humour in this one.  The performances are good, and the new characters are engaging.  In this films, The Matrix film exist as games, and the story is kicked off when Anderson is asked to make a fourth game in the series, which gives the filmmakers an opportunity to poke fun at sequels and franchises.  In the scene where Anderson is in his bosses office being given the pitch for Matrix 4 it's easy to imagine director Lana Wachowski, who co-wrote and co-directed the first three films with her sister Lily Wachowski, sitting in an office being given the same pitch.  Interestingly enough, the boss turns out to be a hostile computer program.  Of course the special effects and action are as spectacular as ever and, while it is far from perfect, at least it feels like a big, special effects driven action film with brains and some heart as well.  

By the way, there is a brief additional scene after the end credits, which is funny, but it's certainly not unmissable and not worth missing the bus for.

  Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix Resurrections