While waiting patiently for this film to end, many thoughts traveled through my head, but one bigger than all others: I didn’t like this franchise when it ended nineteen years ago; I wasn’t alone. Why are people acting like this reboot is a triumph? An initial revelation introducing cutting-edge writing and technology, The Matrix (1999) eventually wore out its welcome. By 2003, the franchise fizzled meekly, ending in failure with a dull and pointless sequel The Matrix Revolutions. Why did anybody think there was still salvation after that disaster? The Matrix franchise has taken the same route as my own father’s 100% hands-off parenting: at first it was really cool and I loved it; as time passed, however, it grew exceedingly tiresome.
Take an ear, folks, and MAGA, you might want to perk up a little, cuz this is decidedly for you: no matter how excited you are by something initially, when it proves a repeated failure, you gotta let it go, especially when it has –literally- nothing new to offer.
The movie begins with Neo (Keanu Reeves) back in The Matrix. Wait. What?! For the love of blue pills, are you friggin’ kidding me?! Geez, we’re only at the premise and already I’ve got a HUGE problem. OK, film, want to explain WHY the anti-Matrix leader is back in The Matrix? Vacation, maybe? Was it a furlough program? An exchange? Was he on leave? Did he get lost? Or did Neo just miss having a neck IV? Seriously, this is like finding Karl Marx at a seminar on capitalism or Donald Trump as a social worker and pretending it’s natural.
Oh, no explanation. You just wanted it this way so Neo could once again escape The Matrix. Well, that’s annoying, but understandable from a plot POV. Here’s the thing, tho … the premise of this Jesus parable is that we humans have conditioned ourselves to accept the illusions we love; that some sort of genuine Platonic reality exists elsewhere and, behind the scenes, we are slaves to evil machines planting pleasant illusions in our minds. While I don’t have any problem with your accusation that humans live in alternate realities — heck I can name at least 74,216,154 Americans who do so—the assumption that we are happy with this reality, and that it keeps us docile, is laughable. I would be hard-pressed to find a truly happy group of people right now … and, come to think of it, that was true back when The Matrix was first released; it’s just more obvious now.
To push the 
now middle-aged, bearded, John Wick-lookin’ Mr. Anderson into The Matrix, new Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) appears if for no other reason than to remind the audience that some acting jobs do matter … a lot. I don’t wish to pick on Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (who was great in Candyman); the entire angle of “Next Generation Matrix” is wrong. Basically, the film kept Reeves and his love-interest. Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and then replaced everybody else in the original with somebody decades younger. This has several effects, the most prevalent being “damn I miss the original cast” and “when Keanu shows up, it feels like ‘Old Timers Day’ in The Matrix.”
All of this is exacerbated by the constant clips of the first film intermingled; there’s even repeated sections of the original plot which exist –as far as I can tell- to remind us exactly how much better the first Matrix was than the one we’re watching. As in every Matrix film, there’s A LOT of shooting. Also as in every Matrix film, there’s NOT a lot of hitting. It seems exaggerated here, like the Stormtroopers in Star Wars. For all the firepower and decision to unload full clips in public spaces, the only time a bullet is ever on target in the film is when there is a defense mechanism already in place.
Now among the large problems of continuity, plot, casting, and pacing in the film is also the issue of villain. The Matrix Resurrections couldn’t really decide whether Smith (Jonathan Groff) or The Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris) was to be Neo’s bane. Did it matter? Not really. I like NPR, but Matrix: Resurrections proves a bad script can’t save a good performance.
It essentially comes down to this: there is absolutely no need for this film; and for a franchise that went down the toilet in 2003, this edition has precious little to say or add to the mythology. Even the stuff I might have enjoyed, like pin-cushion Morpheus or the Matrix setting of San Francisco were muted by lack of constructive use. The film is overlong and makes you want to return to your phone every five minutes to do whatever it is you were doing before you started watching. I dare you to get through this in one setting. Dare. I thought Keanu’s return to Bill & Ted world was a fail; I had no idea.
When I think of the true villains of 2021, Warner Bros. comes to mind. While it certainly wasn’t all bad (The Suicide Squad, Dune, In the Heights come to mind), Warner Bros. has accounted for a significant portion of the worst films of 2021: Space Jam: A New Legacy, Tom & Jerry, Cry Macho, Mortal Kombat, The Many Saints of Newark, Malignant, and, yes, The Matrix: Resurrections, will all get serious consideration on my “Worst of 2021” list. Most of those are not original ideas. I would hope that Warner Bros. execs learned something from this, but I sincerely doubt it.
Here’s a revival of some sci-fi flix
I cannot say that I got my kicks
For future appeal
Try this ideal
Entitle the next: “DoniMatrix”
Rated R, 148 Minutes
Director: Lana Wachowski
Writer: Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell, Aleksandar Hemon
Genre: Why?!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People inclined to believe it would be great long before they saw it
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Anybody else
