Jacked In Reviews 'The Matrix Resurrections' (2021)

1999, the year a movie was released that broke grounds like no movie before it. It showed a bleak outlook on the future of humanity as they were harvested by machines, whilst a fake world, known as The Matrix, is pulled over their eyes. The war between humanity and AI was being fought in both the real world and the simulated world. The only difference being, with one’s RSI (Residual Self Image), you’re able to bend the rules and kick some serious ass… and then some.

It’s been nearly two decades since the gravity-defying, action-packed, mind-melting, cyberpunk franchise last graced the big screen. And with that, we swallow the red pill to see how deep the rabbit hole goes in Lana Wachowski’s, The Matrix Resurrections.

A dark green Warner Bros and Village Roadshow emblem cover the screen, shortly followed by a vintage computer screen reading ‘Trace programme: running’ and it feels like we’re immediately taken back to the early noughties.

As a SWAT team burst down a door in an abandoned building where a lone woman sits in her PVC attire, déjà vu sets in as we know we’ve seen this opening somewhere before. The goosebumps start to fade as the sequence seems to be a lesser version of something accomplished years prior. Unfortunately, this running theme of making callbacks to the original trilogy but delivering less in the present continues throughout.

Things then go full meta when the original trilogy is presented as a video game, created by an individual by the name of Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves). This story really has legs, as just like in the initial instalment, you begin to question reality. Did the events of The Matrix actually happen or were they just the delusions of a brilliant mind that has trouble staying in “the real world”?

From there the story is ambitious and yet, underwhelming. It’s enjoyable seeing these familiar faces and characters but the surroundings are unfamiliar and it constantly feels like it’s building to something that never quite delivers.

The Matrix (1999) is generally regarded as the best in the franchise, the best story, effects, choreography, even the overall cinematography. Simple scenes or establishing shots, with little to no action looked like they had leapt right off the pages of a comic book. Although this somewhat faded in the sequels that followed, there was still that certain style that one would associate with The Matrix. Even though you’re seeing certain infamous scenes or action sequences be recreated, it’s almost like a musician is covering someone else’s song (which is ironic given the song which is played over the final shot of the movie), something is off, the tone is different and it seems that certain “cool” factor is somewhat missing.

However you feel about the sequels, it is undisputed that each instalment had its “wow” moments. Part 1: The bullet dodge, Part 2: The highway sequence, Part 3: Neo and Smith’s final showdown. Funnily enough, we are met with a meta-joke at the beginning of the movie from a game programmer citing they need a new “bullet time”, unfortunately, this foreshadowed “wow” moment, never comes to fruition.

All in all, it’s an okay watch, it’s wonderful seeing Neo and Trinity step back into it, the effects themselves are brilliant as are the fight sequences, the story had a lot of potential but when compared to that of its predecessors, the fourth instalment in the franchise falls short. Who knows, perhaps after almost 20 years, expectations were just too high.