The Matrix Resurrections (2021) Director: Lana Wachowski

Surprising to no one, The Matrix Resurrections is a cheap, heartless cash-grab for Warner Bros and Lana Wachowski. The impetus for creating this film apparently came from an adamant studio (Warner Bros) hellbent on creating a new Matrix film, and in order to prevent the franchise from falling into the wrong hands, one of the Wachowskis signed up to direct this film, albeit somewhat reluctantly. There are more than a few jabs at Warner Bros in the film, along with a variety of sardonic remarks on the state of modern Hollywood sequel-making.

I am not even sure how to summarize the plot for this film. It makes attempts at being a self-deprecating meta sequel: it is about Neo/Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) who has now somehow been resurrected. He has been hidden inside the Matrix by the machines, and he lives as a successful but bored video game designer who is asked to create a sequel for a video game called “The Matrix.” Predictably there is a lot of meta-commentary in the dialogue (i.e. ironic attempts to poke fun at cash-grab sequels). At any rate, we are introduced to several other forgettable characters including a new Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who is an agent for some reason but suddenly becomes self-aware and decides to begin searching for “The One.” We are also introduced to an Analyst/Therapist for Neo (Neil Patrick Harris). The rest of the film is a truly boring, incomprehensible mess as it attempts to re-hash the entire original film in a contrived, derivative way. In essence, Neo must rescue Trinity (Carrie Ann-Moss) from the Matrix, and as it turns out the balance of love between Neo and Trinity is somehow critical to the balance of the Matrix.

This movie is a complete mess –it is awkward, clumsy, pretentious, confusing, poorly acted, poorly written, cynical, half-assed, dreary, lazy, and very long. It is a 2.5 hour lesson in creative bankruptcy. Needless to say, I strongly suggest avoiding this sleeper.