Film Review – The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

An unlikely full-scale sequel really, I never expected to be revisiting the vortex of cyber intelligence, codes or bullet time again with Neo and Trinity but here we are, inside The Matrix deciding on the red pill or blue pill, once more following the white rabbit.

Keeping spoiler free is key, although it may be of benefit to devour the original trilogy before stepping into ‘Resurrections’ as in true Matrix style, fibre optic plot threads are complicated.

Filmed in Australia, turned down by Will Smith, in 1999 the original introduced mild mannered computer hacker Thomas Anderson to cinema audiences catapulting Reeves back into the limelight, showcasing brilliant effects interspersed wire fighting, vertical wall running tricks. The unique action spoke volumes.

This fourth instalment is not an ordinary sequel, it’s the same but different, similarities and references abound whilst self-referencing and going places I didn’t expect. A variation of Wake Up, by Rage Against the Machine, even plays out over the final credits.

Seemingly ageless Keanu Reeves and Carrie Anne Moss return, beginning as ers-by in the ‘reality’, disembarked from knowing each other and the worlds they previously saved.

Or was it a simulation, well Mr. Anderson has since used these fragments of memory creating a bestselling video game.

Related Post: Film Review – The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

New characters introduced fare well, in particular Bugs (Jessica Henwick) Lexy (Erendira Ibarra) with streamlined duo Morpheus and Agent Smith, now portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen ii – Jonathan Groff, respectively.

Lana Wachowski directs with love of her trilogy source not afraid to push limits of further visual bravado.

I whole heartedly loved Resurrections, was everything i had hoped for and more from the music, the fashions, also the quips by Keanu reluctantly as ‘The One’.

The icing on the wonderland cake, a cameo from lovely Christina Ricci, star of another Wachowski t, Speed Racer (2008).

★★★★

Action, Sci-Fi | 2021 | Warner Bros Pictures | 15 | Dir: Lana Wachowski | Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, Jada Pinket-Smith

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