Ah yes, The Matrix, one of the best and most influential sci-fi films of recent decades and one of my all-time favourite films. When it was announced that another sequel is coming, I was mostly indifferent about it because that is just Hollywood now, anything can be brought back. When the first full trailer dropped for The Matrix Resurrections, it piqued my interest a bit but I didn't get hyped or had high hopes even if some of the original cast is returning as well as one of the creators i.e Lana Wachowski because, in this day and age, it is more likely to be a letdown. And as it turns out, that was precisely the case. This is, without a doubt, the worst movie in the franchise. BUT I was pleasantly surprised that after seeing the negative reception from a lot of people it wasn't an outright terrible experience for me and I ended up enjoying several parts of it even if I wouldn't call the movie good but rather a middling to above-average experience owing to my predisposition and fanboy bias towards this world.
Returning to the world of The Matrix after more than 20 years certainly carried a hefty dose of nostalgia and it was plainly enjoyable simply being thrust back into that realm. Seeing Keanu Reeves as Neo again lit up the fan in me. Having to deal with the matrix again and retreading events from the first one, despite being an obvious nostalgia bait, was entertaining especially when the movie was self-aware about it and had a meta-narrative going on. In fact, the time spent in the matrix during the first half was probably my favourite, especially when you view it from the machines or The Analyst's POV.
It would have been wonderful to have Laurence Fishburn and Hugo Weaving reprising their roles but the replacement for Morpheus, Yahya Adul-Mateen II, wasn't bad. Felt like a hip version of Morpheus. Can't say the same for the new Agent Smith but he did bring some unintentional hilarity, so there's that. In fact, there was a lot of comedy relative to the previous parts, both intentional and unintentional. Some of it worked, a lot of it didn't with some scenes being pure cringe as was the case with a certain cameo.
You get a new crew of characters but apart from Jessica Henwick's character Bugs, none of them were interesting or had any proper presence. The only connection I felt was that several of the actors were from Sense8, a series I happen to like. The performances were fine, including Neil Patrick Harris and Carrie-Anne Moss returning as Trinity.
The second half of the movie deals more with the real world and at first, I was enjoying seeing how things have developed after Revolutions. There were intriguing tidbits and scarce info dumps as well as developments which I liked and I was wishing the movie would explore more but it was busy rushing on with its own clunky main plot. Maybe they are saving it for further sequels which I'm not sure they'll even get a greenlit on. To make matters worse, the movie, regrettably, leaned too heavily on the nostalgia baiting and dangling keychains instead of balancing it out. It was spread out throughout the runtime with the most egregious one being flashbacks of scenes from the previous movies which acted as a constant reminder that while you're back in this world, it's nowhere near as well-executed, a self-inflicted detrimental element.
The element that actually disappointed me the most was the audiovisual experience, something I expected we would at least get in a strong manner even if all else fails. The action, while being fine-ish for a modern Hollywood big-budget movie, was way too poorly executed in comparison to the previous films. The trilogy was known for its Martial Arts and Gun action and you hardly get anything of the former while a flimsy toned down version of the latter with stormtrooper aim dialled up the highest level as if the operator has hacked the matrix and is purposely making the bad guys miss every shot. The biggest sin was having the now John Wick at your disposal and not giving him a gun throughout the movie or having any scene with Neo going all out and instead relegating him mostly to force push and pull. There was also no real tension or actual danger/threat in the movie.
All in all, this was a clunky and messily executed amalgamation of some cool ideas and concepts, new and old, and a trip down memory lane which kept it from diving into the abyss further propelled a bit by my inner fan bias of this world. By no means a good movie and after pondering upon it for a while, I can certainly see where the hate is coming from. If you're a massive fan of the trilogy, you might enjoy it but if you only like/love the first one and didn't enjoy the sequels, chances are this won't bring your mind around. And if I were to rate it, I'd give it a 6/10.
Returning to the world of The Matrix after more than 20 years certainly carried a hefty dose of nostalgia and it was plainly enjoyable simply being thrust back into that realm. Seeing Keanu Reeves as Neo again lit up the fan in me. Having to deal with the matrix again and retreading events from the first one, despite being an obvious nostalgia bait, was entertaining especially when the movie was self-aware about it and had a meta-narrative going on. In fact, the time spent in the matrix during the first half was probably my favourite, especially when you view it from the machines or The Analyst's POV.
It would have been wonderful to have Laurence Fishburn and Hugo Weaving reprising their roles but the replacement for Morpheus, Yahya Adul-Mateen II, wasn't bad. Felt like a hip version of Morpheus. Can't say the same for the new Agent Smith but he did bring some unintentional hilarity, so there's that. In fact, there was a lot of comedy relative to the previous parts, both intentional and unintentional. Some of it worked, a lot of it didn't with some scenes being pure cringe as was the case with a certain cameo.
You get a new crew of characters but apart from Jessica Henwick's character Bugs, none of them were interesting or had any proper presence. The only connection I felt was that several of the actors were from Sense8, a series I happen to like. The performances were fine, including Neil Patrick Harris and Carrie-Anne Moss returning as Trinity.
The second half of the movie deals more with the real world and at first, I was enjoying seeing how things have developed after Revolutions. There were intriguing tidbits and scarce info dumps as well as developments which I liked and I was wishing the movie would explore more but it was busy rushing on with its own clunky main plot. Maybe they are saving it for further sequels which I'm not sure they'll even get a greenlit on. To make matters worse, the movie, regrettably, leaned too heavily on the nostalgia baiting and dangling keychains instead of balancing it out. It was spread out throughout the runtime with the most egregious one being flashbacks of scenes from the previous movies which acted as a constant reminder that while you're back in this world, it's nowhere near as well-executed, a self-inflicted detrimental element.
The element that actually disappointed me the most was the audiovisual experience, something I expected we would at least get in a strong manner even if all else fails. The action, while being fine-ish for a modern Hollywood big-budget movie, was way too poorly executed in comparison to the previous films. The trilogy was known for its Martial Arts and Gun action and you hardly get anything of the former while a flimsy toned down version of the latter with stormtrooper aim dialled up the highest level as if the operator has hacked the matrix and is purposely making the bad guys miss every shot. The biggest sin was having the now John Wick at your disposal and not giving him a gun throughout the movie or having any scene with Neo going all out and instead relegating him mostly to force push and pull. There was also no real tension or actual danger/threat in the movie.
All in all, this was a clunky and messily executed amalgamation of some cool ideas and concepts, new and old, and a trip down memory lane which kept it from diving into the abyss further propelled a bit by my inner fan bias of this world. By no means a good movie and after pondering upon it for a while, I can certainly see where the hate is coming from. If you're a massive fan of the trilogy, you might enjoy it but if you only like/love the first one and didn't enjoy the sequels, chances are this won't bring your mind around. And if I were to rate it, I'd give it a 6/10.