The Matrix Resurrections

A smart, entertaining, daring, surprising film that, like Nolan's Tenet, is begging for a second viewing, a more thorough examination, and therefore more audience enjoyment. And I'm happy to oblige because Matrix: Ressurections is not a redundant film at all, but more than an amazing conclusion to a great trilogy. On the one hand, it mocks the audience, on the other, it gives them exactly what they want (even if they didn’t know it). Lana Wachowski teamed up again with David Mitchell, who I think is an absolutely brilliant multi-genre writer, to write the screenplay, and the result is such a joy to watch, not just because of the production design, but because of everything that happens in the film. From the cast, apart from the amazing Keanu Reeves (no, he's not playing John Wick, although he looks it, he's just Neo) and Carrie-Anne Moss, I would like to highlight Jessica Henwick. (12/28/2021)

The fourth film has a relatively interesting ratio in the cast of old familiar faces with newcomers to the franchise (Christina Ricci or Priyanka Chopra, for example). And this ratio decently represents the development of the entire Matrix film series. In an age of elevated cinematic sagas, Resurrections is a nostalgic genre blend with which it’s nice to experience a little of that viewer comfort. For now, the last film rehabilitated the whole tetralogy in my eyes and the lingering bad aftertaste of the second and third films slowly faded away. (04/23/2022)

Sense8 Reloaded. How do you evaluate a film that didn't meet any expectations, contains a lot of mistakes, and yet I would rather watch it again than Matrix Revolutions? I'm sticking with a slightly sheepish three stars because the first half is genuinely fantastic. Many parallels, clichés turned upside down, (bitter) commentary on pop culture and the dream factory itself – all intertwined with Keanu Reeves looking even more broken than usual. It's something different than anyone expected, and it works in almost every aspect. Unfortunately, doubts arise with the more action-oriented side of things, while a surprising and, for me, unwanted cameo from the Merovingian is accompanied purely by awkwardness. The entire staircase scene is poorly done, and the only way to overcome it is through Jonathan Groff, who for some reason is in this film and elevates it with each narcissistic performance. Lana Wachowski deserves respect for her initial vision, for the clear desire to bring back something/someone who cannot return, and for faithfully returning to the characters and storylines of all the films, not just the first one. It might anger many people, but even though it involves characters that I didn't need to see again, it concludes something that evidently had been and still is left open within it. Nostalgia is much stronger than genuine feelings, memories overshadow the true face of the film. I already have a great fondness for The Matrix Resurrections, but unfortunately it is beleaguered by problematic visual aspects, a fragmented Morpheus with one strange scene after another, and a strangely rushed ending that suddenly needed to pick up the pace after two and a half hours. (03/24/2022)

In my opinion, this movie is actually like last year's Mortal Kombat as it is such a "guilty pleasure", at least so far this year. As a standalone movie, the fourth Matrix movie does not stand up well, in my opinion, and few people will enjoy it without knowing certain realities and a sense of irony. Still, I was gloating in the cinema and marveled at how the studio could have greenlighted this screenplay. The way the whole thing went reminded me a bit of the third season of Twin Peaks, where David Lynch broke free from the chain and was meta in his own peculiar way. He left popular characters in hibernation for most of the time and managed to piss off half the audience to boot. It could quite possibly be summed up as follows: If you are one of those who wanted and looked forward to the fourth Matrix movie, you are probably going to be as disappointed as ever. If you are one of those who considered the original a borderline masterpiece and did not care for the sequel, you are going to get an entertaining and interesting experiment. I guess that is about all. (02/04/2022)

The new Matrix first promises a lot of interesting and new ideas, and potentially an original development of the main character and the whole world, only to turn into a slightly sad film in the middle by a director who is not capable of executing any of these ideas to the end, and only manages to create a not very imaginative variation of what we have already seen. What makes it worse is the whole film vehemently tries to present itself as something innovative, ironic, and daring. But that desire to mock Hollywood blockbusters and the obsession with sequels, while also wanting to be a part of it all and grab a piece of the box office cake, ultimately appears somewhat awkward. (12/23/2021)