That's The Thing About Stories: They Never Really End. 3.5 / 5
Released in UK: 22nd December 2021.
Directed by Lana Wachowski.
Plagued by strange memories, Neo’s life takes an unexpected turn when he finds himself back inside the Matrix.
The Matrix Resurrections slowly crept up to becoming one of my most anticipated of the year. The idea of returning to this universe paired with a pitch-perfect marketing campaign excited me to plug back in. And although I enjoyed many of the updates to the world, I left the cinema feeling somewhat underwhelmed.
After an 18 year absence, you'd expect there to be a significant reason to return to The Matrix, but Resurrections invents hollow reasons to wish itself into existence, undoing much of the impact from the preceding trilogy.
In 2021, it would be hard to bring something to the table as groundbreaking as Bullet Time was in 1999 but although there is no lack of action, it's missing the charm and mastery that Yuen Woo-Ping and Bill Pope brought to the original trilogy.
The new cast additions were very hit or miss - Jonathan Groff and Jessica Henwick fill their roles with ease and of course seeing Keanu and Carrie-Anne back in action was worth the admission alone.
Although entertaining and worth the big screen experience, The Matrix Resurrections feels like a missed opportunity forcing meta-commentary into an overly ambitious plot that loses itself in its own self-romantic lunacy.
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