The Matrix Resurrections could be called an anti-authentic film, but the audience was too biased towards this film. It was as if everyone was sworn to dislike the fourth Matrix.
Is it possible to fully love the fourth sequel to a classic as beloved as The Matrix (1999)? I guess it wouldn’t be too improbable to assume that everyone entered the movie theater conditioned to dislike the fourth movie, especially after the disappointment of the second and third movies. Of course, what is expected from this movie when entering the theater is the biggest liking criterion: Is it an original sequel?
Impressive CGI and action sequences? Or is it a meta-narrative mess of nostalgia in which the first film is altered, subverted, and reconstructed? The Matrix Resurrections (2021) is definitely the last of these. Like Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which came out the same week, it’s a movie about itself that will satisfy fans at the corporate level, if not at the audience level, by using their love and devotion to their old movies, knowing they’ll get into that theater no matter what they expect.
That doesn’t mean that Matrix Resurrections is a bad sequel. Only the expectation of the audience can shape this. The audience waiting for nostalgia and entertainment will find what they expect. In fact, the fact that the concept of the matrix is reshaped and says something about the film itself and the production process and aims to oppose the institutional monotony in a way definitely removes the film from the general systematicity of the meta-narrative.
To talk about the general plot of the movie without going into details, in the new Matrix, Thomas Anderson, aka Neo, is a very famous game designer in San Francisco; but it is as if the life he lived is not his, it is not real. The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions movies are actually games created by Thomas, and Warner Bros. to create the fourth. The company is pushing him. Here,
the film explicitly tries to point out that Matrix Resurrections was filmed because of institutional pressure, using the Warner Bros. name as well. This self-awareness aside, it is still impossible to separate the film from its corporate goals. Behind all this institutional complexity, of course, there is something of originality: Lana Wachowski has tried metatextually to examine her own creative process through the money-driven process of studio films. First of all, this is the story of a mind that creates.
It is a complex film created by the uncertainty caused by the fear of not being able to meet expectations after the release of his greatest work, and the unstable and persistent productivity in the face of pressure. It is a work that we can begin to enjoy in 2021 when we accept the inextricable conflicts of such a productive mind to direct a studio movie. Proof that even if you think you’re out of the matrix, you can never get out, is the declaration of a world where core reality no longer exists.
Perhaps for all these reasons, The Matrix Resurrections is more of a production that looks back and stands apart from the first three films, rather than a sequel. We’ll be disappointed if we wait for the first movie, and even more so if we expect originality. The first Matrix movie isn’t the first of its kind, nor is it the last Matrix movie. He does what he’s trying to do without taking himself too seriously.
It does not claim to be original, which is aware of its impossibility at this point. Its cinematography and composition also depart from the usual Matrix universe. The black/green color scheme with the hard edges and lines that defines the unreal world of the cyberpunk genre, the matrix, is no longer available in Resurrections. The boundaries between the matrix and the non-matrix are technically very loose. The Matrix is no longer a prison to escape from, a metaphor for the dualistic conflict between free will and destiny, but a reality.
The lack of action scenes will undoubtedly disappoint some fans. Also presenting Neo and Trinity’s relationship, their commitment to each other, as the only key to defeat the matrix. Still, the film’s nostalgic and self-aware narrative is enough to satisfy fans. From the point of view, this situation can also be read as the movie’s deception of the audience.
After all, self-awareness is not a sufficient criterion to make a movie worth watching. Despite all this, even if The Matrix Resurrections is a product that can be consumed without getting bored, a result of corporate greed, it is impossible not to see the love and genius that its creator put into it, out of the matrix.
All about The Matrix Resurrections movie.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Directed by: Lana Wachowski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lambert Wilson, Daniel Bernhardt as Agent Johnson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff
Screenplay by: Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell, Aleksandar Hemon
Production Design by: Hugh Bateup, Peter Walpole
Cinematography by: John Toll
Film Editing by: Joseph Jett Sally
Costume Design by: Lindsay Pugh
Set Decoration by: Lisa Brennan, Barbara Munch
Art Direction by: Ravi Bansal, Richard Bloom, Daniel Frank
Music by: Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer
MPAA Rating: R for violence and some language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: December 22, 2021 (United States)
Visits: 129
