The Matrix Resurrections Is A Fascinating Zombie – A Spoiler-Free Review

OK, I lied. Here’s a tiny little spoiler about a song in the credits. The credits start like the original movie credits did, with Rage Against The Machine’s track Wake Up. But this is a cover by the band Brass Against with lead vocals by Sophia Urista.

The cover perfectly sums up The Matrix Resurrections — it is way less badass than the original and much easier to understand.

If you have seen the trailers, you know that Keanu Reeves is back as Neo and Carrie-Ann Moss as Trinity. Joining them as (maybe?) new characters are Jessica Henwick, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Neal Patrick Harris and others that would likely be too spoilery. The story implied by the trailers is that either Neo is in the modern real world and the Matrix is a delusion he was suffering, or that somehow Neo is back in some version of the Matrix, despite dying at the end of The Matrix Revolutions.

The actual plot is pretty intricate, and the story that drives it is solid, if not very innovative. The plot, story and setting will all seem very familiar to fans of the Matrix movies, as will many of the performances, but that’s where the similarities stop. The Matrix Resurrections doesn’t look or feel like a Matrix movie, and I think that was a deliberate choice by co-writer and director Lana Wachowski.

Gone are the desaturated, green-washed colors in favor of a vibrant, natural lighting palette. Gone are the carefully framed action shots that evoke video games, anime and manga framing, in favor of now bog-standard rapid edit Bourne-like action scenes. Gone is the nearly unrelenting dour seriousness of the original trilogy, in favor of a more mature view of romance, and more comedy — even some actually hammy mugging by Harris and Abdul-Mateen II.

Why the drastic tonal shift? Well, maybe it could be that the Wachowskis have evolved as filmmakers into new styles, and that is simply reflected in this new entry in the franchise. But it seems like nearly every point in which the decision could have been made to reflect the original look and tone of the trilogy, the exact opposite was chosen. I think this was a deliberate choice, and based on what I have read, I think it was a choice to give a big middle finger to Warner Bros.

A few days after The Matrix Resurrections was released in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time, producer James McTeigue made it clear that Warner Bros. planned to make a fourth Matrix movie with or without the Wachowskis. When Lana decided to come back (and Lilly declined) Warner Bros. was of course glad to have her. But the movie she made was so blatantly a knife in the guts of WB execs for their crass commercial interest at the expense of any perceived artistic value, it is basically one 2+ hour diss track.

One of the big middle fingers is the action. Despite the fact that in the trailer you see Neo say, “I still know kung fu,” he really doesn’t. Again, I think the change in editing and framing of action sequences is a stylistic choice to make them less exciting, and not a reflection of Reeves’ age.  Keanu Reeves still pulls off amazing long-take martial arts-based fights in the John Wick movies, so it isn’t that he is too old to do them. Nor, with covid shutdowns, does it seem likely that he didn’t have time to renew his skills.

But you don’t even need to try to read between the lines to see the hatred of WB in this movie — there is literally dialogue to that effect. It is of course diegetic, making perfect sense in the context of the story and plot, but man did that make Lana Wachowski’s position on the mere existence of The Matrix Resurrections blatantly clear. She has made a zombie — something that looks a bit like the original thing it once was but is something empty that mostly shambles along.

Ultimately, The Matrix Resurrections is a serviceable action science fiction movie, that plays out like it was the knock-off WB planned to make without any Wachowski involvement. As a highly anticipated follow-up to one of the most beloved movie trilogies of all time, it is understandable why so many see it as a big disappointment. I give The Matrix Resurrections (Warner Bros., R, 2 hrs 28 mins) a 2.5 out of 5.

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