Nearly 2 decades later, we return to the world of The Matrix. But is it a worthy sequel, or blatant nostalgia bait? Here's my review for THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS!
Casting a young Ed helms was a good choice for agent Smith. Good thing they replaced Morphius too because the gap between Laurence fishburns teeth was too wide for neo to jump on a motorcycle so they had to find someone more toned down.
@@vexjaeger4314 I see what they were going for, the idea being that Smith has been a free program for years, and not bound by formalities (ie always saying 'Mr. Anderson'), has evolved his own personality. But it's hard to buy it as an audience, when the role has been recast.
I think the right move would have been to make a prequel. The fall of humanity and rise of machines as depicted in Animatrix has so much potential for a new trilogy
@@mikerzisu9508 Yeah, before the "one" thing. It would be pre- matrix, or the beginning development of the matrix. Watch Animatrix, The Second Renaissance. It's on RU-vid. They need to adapt that into a blockbuster movie.
The thing that I noticed the most while watching the movie was.. why is the combat SO MUCH worse than the original movies? It was so slow and felt like they were only a shadow of their former selves
@@powderstone8187 Yeah basically WB was going to make some random Matrix reboot and The Wachowski's weren't having it, but then one of them decided if they're going to make one, might as well be involved in it. That's why it sort of mocks reboots and is self-aware. The studio pretty much controlled everything related to the crew as far as I know.
On IMDB it's stated that there was no second unit to this film, so Lana filmed everything herself... That might explain a lot. Also, the fact that the cinematographer of the original trilogy didn't come back to this one might explain why this movie looks so much worse. All of the fight scenes were in medium/close-up shots and they were messy (instead of keeping a clean look of the originals).
“One of the reasons the whole self aware meta thing this movie was going for started to wear on me is because the movie was joking about it, then it became what it was joking about.” EXACTLY. 100,000 %
@@eldritchmorgasm4018 The Last Jedi was a letdown because it's subversion didn't go far enough, it reeked of Disney telling Rian "no we need a happier cookie cutter 3rd act." Rian took the lame JJAbrams Force Awakens remake mystery box model and TRIED to make a Star Wars film not so damn spam/repeat/ad nauseum in tone & theme. TLJ should have ended with Rey & Kylo exploring the grey aspects of the whole "good vs evil" dealio and their choices, with Luke's sacrifice being worthy in trying to redeem Kylo. Luke didn't need to whip around a saber again to satisfy me and his character arc. But of course Disney fanboys got their wish in Mando Season 2. And of course, not a creative bone in his body JJ Abrams totally sucked the fuck with the truly AWFUL Rise Of Skywalker. A lame, spineless terribly scripted hackpiece that cowardly undid the great aspects Rian was exploring in TLJ. Rey Palpatine?!? Lol, that's 10 year old fanfic writing. And The Last Jedi (along with Rogue One) are still the best looking modern Star Wars films to date. TLJ is rewatchable for that alone.
I was just in disbelief after seeing it. How could it be THAT bad? The action scenes were a complete betrayal of what was accomplished before. Every punch and kick was terribly choreographed, cut to sh*t, way too close to the characters so you couldn’t actually see the fight.. and the only times they did something ‘cool’ was literally copy/pasted from the previous movies, just done way worse. I know people use this term quite liberally when they don’t like something. But this was a real slap in the face to every fan who appreciated the characters, world and filmmaking of the original trilogy.
@@gasmask4poop it had some good moments but overall just a bad movie 🎥 I give it a 6/10 and mainly because I know how hard it was to start the movie yet alone finish working on it during a pandemic. But still shit movie 😂
Definitely had too much nostalgia to the point where at the end of the movie my first question was “what is the narrative reason of this movie? They could’ve just stopped at Matrix 3”.
@@ItsScapeGoated what? The matrix wasnt based on books. It plagiarized other properties but it wasnt based on any ‘matrix’ books. This movie is just as original as the first three
i just felt it in my bones after the trailers that this movie is going to be a bunch of references to previous movies instead of trying to be its own story, and after listening to this review my suspicions have been confirmed.
Yep, I was not impressed by the trailers and was expecting a dog shit level movie for various reasons. And this review basically just confirmed what I thought would happen with Matrix. And because I'm expected to take a medical procedure to even be able to watch this train wreck, I can easily stay away...
The nostalgia bait was fun for me. I enjoyed the first act with Neo taking blue pills. I thought that was an interesting story line. Then it turned into a boring action movie. I almost fell asleep during it.
In Australia you cant go to the cinema unless you are vaccinated. So I did what every good patriot does and downloaded it illegaly. It was garbage anyway so glad I saved the $$$
When I saw "Smith" shout his famous line in the second trailer, I was worried. Then I saw the movie and was relieved, because apparently my ability to detect utter crap is still functioning correctly.
The problem with The Matrix franchise is that it ruins itself by purposefully trying to be overcomplicated which I don’t think the first film ever really was. It gave us enough to understand both the machine world and the matrix itself but once it started to get into different types of programming within the matrix itself, it started to become too convoluted. Some of the stuff in the sequels really work but the problem is when things do work, they go back to the convoluted stuff to try and come across as cleverer than it actually is. Sometimes simplicity can get a message across perfectly which is what the first Matrix did. I don’t think they need to make anymore now as it starts to feel like a Groundhog Day scenario where no matter what happens, Neo will always end up back in The Matrix only to be reignited as the one again and again which is really uninteresting as a premise to me.
@@AB-ef5wn I love the first movie, it’s a flawless masterpiece. The sequels have decent ideas but the execution is poor and the third film was probably the most underwhelming finale I have ever seen. I have very little interest in seeing this new movie. It’s not a series that needed a fourth at all as it only adds fuel to the fire to those who already dislike the previous sequels.
In the original trilogy, i just wanted to get back in the Matrix. In Resurrections, I just wanted to get back to the real world because that's the only time it felt like a Matrix movie.
I absolutely LOVE how serious JJ takes spoilers man, one of the main reasons why he's one of like 2 reviewers I actually subscribe to and consistently tune into.
Having grown up in the 80's and watching the Freddy films as they were released, I have to admit that about 25 minutes in to Resurrections I instantly thought of Wes Craven's New Nightmare. It was very much THAT. I kept hoping that I would be proven wrong. But it just kept on going down that route. The nuances weren't enough to take me off that New Nightmare train. Quite unfortunate. This film will forever be, The Matrix: New Nightmare, for me.
It was a solid 6/10 for me, yes it felt like a train wreck at the end, I think some directors nowadays work for 1 day, and then leaves the set in charge of a kid or something..
@@kostar500 yes I remember watching an agent with a big jaw like trying not to laugh or something, this movie takes me off so many times to the point of being unbearable
This movie had enough "good moments" to count on one hand. It leaned way to hard into being "meta" for a while then the Frenchman came back to remind us and it forgot again for a while but it would always come back to a weird meta narrative that made it seem like the writers were under duress/being forced to make a movie they didn't want/know how to make. Super weird.
The worst part of them cutting in clips of the first matrix is that it remains you that there is a better movie then this with the same story line and way way better versions of Smith and Morphious. Like those two characters seemed like they found two bad cosplayers and let them on set.
Also why was morpheus directed to be a goofy character when in the original he is serious no joke kinda guy. I guess nowadays new people just cant watch a movie if it isn't joke after joke.
I looked forward to The Matrix for 2 years, and it was a massive let down. The film was entertaining, but my goodness it has earned the title for the worst Matrix in the series.
Disagree. They were both great in their own ways. I'd probably give more positive credit to the matrix over spiderman considering how predictable Spider-Man was.
No they weren't. The movies of today are just falling behind their time. Same with games. They weren't ahead of their time, it's just that today's games are lazy.
I managed my expectations based on Larry Fishburne's and Hugo Weaving's absence..It was rather obvious that there was SOMETHING wrong for the two of them to nope-out. The guy that played Smith in this movie should have taken his cue from the guy who played Bain in Revolution. That actor understudied Hugo Weaving in order to play Smith having hacked into the real world and taken over Bain's mind. Likewise, this guy should have carried the Smith role like Weaving.
Every flashback they played to the previous film. I just kept playing that voice of the South Park purple berry floating in my head saying YOU MEMBERED? YOU MEMBERD?? I MEMBERED 🤣🤣🤣
This movie had too much exposition and not enough action. Way too meta. That was cute at first then got annoying. And yes, just have new characters. Totally agree.
This movie does not hold a candle to the original trilogy and it should probably never have been made but if you're just looking for a somewhat entertaining sci-fi movie without giving a shit about the previous movies then it's still somewhat enjoyable. Hard to believe it's made by the same director as the quality of the movie is just worse all across the board, from cast, to action scenes to story and even storyboard and visual narration. The CGI and visual effects are also way more goofy and would fit more in in an MCU Antman sequel.
It's worse and not worse at the same time. It was actually about how we distinguish reality from unreal. Also they did tell us 4th movie was not necessary!
@@UnorthodoxJedi you can play it on series S i believe as well...demo is incredible really is. Not much to do in it but i walked around the city for about 30mins just jaw on the floor because the buildings just look photo-realistic...once games start using ue5 yeh games will look incredible
Following Hugo Weaving is a unenviable task. You're right, it should have been a new Agent character with a completely different look, and Smith long gone.
Also following Lawrence Fishburne is one hell of a task as well from the clips i have seen of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a new version of Morpheus he seems out of his depth trying to recapture what Lawrence Fishburne did in the previous films it just doesn't seem to work he doesn't have a commanding presence or the gravitas to pull off the role.....
True but he himself looked ridiculous In Lord Of The Rings after Matrix came out all I could see In that movie was Agent Smith looking out of place , It just didn't work for me. Hugo Weaving's Matrix role Is so Iconic I can't see him doing anything else , so yes they should've brought him back or have no Agent Smith at all. Also the new Morpheus actor looks too skinny and not close enough In complextion or demeanor to be believable as a Fishburne replacement for me. This comes off more like a b movie straight to home video Matrix sequel In alot of ways.
‘Resurrections’ is by far the most ‘Human’ of all 4 Matrix films, which is ironic since it mostly all takes place inside the new Matrix.I think that reflects how technology is always improving.. A.I. is constantly learning more and more how to be human by the day. In 1999, the idea of machines taking over was still scary to most people, whereas this film really shows how much more comfortable people are with technology. A lot of people probably want to stay plugged in now, if given the choice,. The fact nobody can give up their phones makes that pretty clear
By an artist standpoint, 4 was human but not Matrix lore. Just felt too different and nothing in between made us lose interest even more. Bladerunner 2049 did absolutely perfect , hit all the nostalgia points, kept the pacing like the original, visuals were new but still maintained the right style. 4 was rushed and it showed.
I know this is gonna sound lame but. I kind of wish we had just gotten a romance movie with Keanu and Carrie Ann Moss. They have great chemistry so just seeing them together would have been fine.
Yeah. For an action, sci fi movie loaded with so much philosophical takes, The Matrix trilogy really had me believing the intensity of emotion between those two. Tbh M4 would have worked if they took out all the fight scenes and just focused on Neo finding his way back to Trinity in the new Matrix. Sort of like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Honestly I got a little excited that they were going to do a grounded/realistic psychological thriller where the matrix was never real and they were going to take a look at real psychiatric disorders through the lens of the terminology of the original. But nope. Just "member", needlessly cranking up the hottness on morpheus and smith, cutting out the awesome kung fu, skipping over actually interesting stories (fall of humanity prequel, machine civil war), a TERRIBLE script, lazy ass "swarm mode", not stakes at all ("lol remember the squad death in the og, no one is going to die here, not even the bad guys - CLEVER"), and just terrible acting from Reeves - i know he's never been the greatest but his delivery literally caused people I was watching it with who were hardcore fans of the triology to crack up on multiple lines. That boring motorcycxle chase scene - the cgi dojo - fucking green eyed extras instead of real villians - neo awkwardly getting hoisted by a bored, disinterested trinity as the fucking CLIMAX - Niobe (Jada Smith) literally acting like a mad TV sketch of an old woman - a fucking boring heist sequence straight out of that rick and morty episode - I wanted to give in and laugh like my friends but I'm such a fan of the originals I just literally felt discomfort and emberassment from the moment they started talking about making the matrix game onward til the very last frame. The audacity and ego to complain about having to make a boring, unwanted sequel - even including the focus group meetings and editing feedback IN THE SCRIPT - it's enough to make me question my love for the original. Sad times.
I envisioned Neo as a writer. He’s written some semi-successful novels titled something that’s NOT the matrix, but it’s about the matrix. Trinity reads them and connects with them in a way she doesn’t understand so she has to track him down for the answers. The whole game developer stuff was kinda ridiculous. The writing screamed “older person who thinks this is how young people talk”
I kinda liked it. I may be older (40s), but I am kinda struggling with that a bit. Kinda fatigued or whatever dealing with my work that I am no longer sure about with more energetic young people. I thought that was done that well and kinda cool from that perspective.
the wachowkis cutting their balls off was fitting for how underwhelming the movie was overall. if you need flashbacks from previous movies to understand the plot then it’s most likely trash.
Jessica Henwick was definitely the standout in this movie. And I hated the constant callbacks to the previous Matrix movies. For me this movie just felt like a colossal disappointment. They knocked it out of the park with the trailers though.
I disagree. To me this movie was brilliant, a very smooth sequel. everything that people are generally complaining about was perfectly explained and justified in the movie so I guess people just didnt got it... The callbacks where just to show that Neo was seeing those memories that everybody kept saying it was due to his mental condition, or that his "Matrix Game" was merging with his 'actual' life. but in reality it was just him unconsciously rebelling against the Matrix. the machines tried to cover the truth with the truth, making the truth look ridiculous and silly. but even that wasn't enouth to stop Neo. this movie goes meta hard inside the story and outside it. bleeding on us ( the audience ) and I found it amazing! there are also several criticisms being made about today's society that in my opinion are pretty valid. ..and of course: Trinity being even more badass! how can you call that a dissapointment...
@@Cangaca777 it’s just my opinion. A lot of people didn’t like the 3rd Matrix movie but I loved it. I only watched Resurrections one time. Maybe with another viewing my opinion might change. But until then I thought it was a snoozer that had a few moments
@@deadninjastorage6160 I understand you. I think alot of the hate the movie is getting right now is just that people are misunderstanding the many callbacks that the movie has with 'nostalgia bait'. this movie has nostalgia, yes. but it's using it as another form of control by the machines, and that's so masterful to me. I'm a HUGE matrix fan so I watched the trilogy and the Animatrix episodes in the correct timeline order right before watching Ressurrections, so i went in FRESH haha! and I got to tell you. this movie is spot on with the Animatrix vibes. I liked it as much as Reloaded and/or Revolutions. I dare to say that this movie was even more clever.
@@Cangaca777 I have HBO Max so I’m going to give it another viewing here tonight. There are so many movies that I’ve watched that I initially disliked and eventually loved. It’s the same way with video games for me
“Probably a better time if you’re high” killed me. But seriously, from the interviews with the actors you could tell the movie was going to suck. They kept mentioning “Lana’s vision” but seem so uncomfortable, as if they knew the script was trash.
@@waldo109 yeah because they worked with these guys as men for decades. Shifting your language around someone you know closely isn’t like flipping a switch.
So, to give it a perspective. This movie is basically a greatest hits album by an artist way past the peak after three consecutive albums last released almost 2 decades before.
Game devs got Paul McCartney to write and perform a song for their game soundtrack. They hyped it up and down and it ended up sounding like the sensitive muzak for a laxative commercial. Some people need to just retire.
As soon as NPH went on his never ending exposition-filled rant and felt the need to tell us how he named his trick "bullet time", I was through. That was the moment that broke the camel's back. I watched it a 2nd time just to confirm how bad the movie was....and it's horrible.
I would say it was when Merovingian arrives with his crew of outcast hobo carnies that did it for me. I highly suspect that They just didn’t have the budget and screenwriting talent to really execute this one.
Man respect for watching it twice. As a fan, in the moment it was mediocre. The more I reflected, the more annoyed I was by the movie. Never thought I'd be saying that I wish this one didn't exist.
I agree, there was too much nostalgia in this film that you are FORCED to compare them and despite them making fun of a fourth sequel inside the film during the "Brainstorming" scene in the beginning. They end up being the punchline to their own joke, this movie really doesn't know what it wants to become. Throughout the film, I feel like they should have done a prequel or something if they wanted to honor the film with nostalgia. Why not since "The One" can basically reincarnate themselves in every cycle. It would have worked better since the new Morpheus looks young too. Also I feel like they should have dug in deeper to the phone thing during the elevator scene. "We are stuck here because we want to be, the safety of the matrix is better than harsh realities of the real world". SOOOO much stuff could have been added or this film's case taken out. A lot of potential was wasted. shame
Yes what a wasted opportunity, at this point they could have gone with the fans' theories from forums or whatever and make a much more interesting movie.
You took the words out of my mouth. Luckily I was watching it on HBOMax from home and turned it off after about an hour or so. Then this morning I woke up and tried to give it another shot....watched 15 minutes and turned it off again. Absolute trash of a movie.
@@ManiacMayhem7256 yup. “The Second Renaissance” in the Animatrix covers the human-machine war from start to finish. It’s both beautiful and extremely disturbing.
@@audio_dregs Makes me kind of root for the Machines seeing how they were the ones that were fucked over. Given actual intelligence only to then have to work terrible jobs so that humans could live in leisure. And your just asking for trouble any times you make robots that advanced that can actually think. So no shit when one hears it's gonna be scrapped the first thing it's gonna think about is how it doesn't want to die just like any human would. And then after his trail humans decide to destroy the rest of his kind. So no shit a protests would start. Then when Machines finally decided hey fuck humans lets just leave and make are own city. And even though the machines were basically above humans at that point due to taking on the worlds manufacturing. Instead of the robots just saying fuck the humans let them continue to fall while we rise. They instead went to the UN with a way to make a peaceful and stable relationship with them even though the machines would have gained next to nothing out of the deal. Instead of even listing to them Man decided to kill the machines that went to the UN and then nuke their city. So no shit they decided to start a war after all that shit. Not to mention I honestly never enjoyed Neo or Trinity as characters. Neo was just way to perfect and never felt at risk at all. And Trinity IDK just never had any feelings for her as a character. To me Agent Smith was always the coolest character so I decided to root for him. And after seeing how the war started it only made me root for Agent Smith and the machines even more.
Funny how 2 of the most anticipated projects Keanu is in didn't really live up to expectations this year. I just hope the next John Wick isn't this underwhelming.
Laurence Fishburne probably looked at the Script and said "nah I'll pass" but just to save face he said he was never asked to join the cast of resurrection.
So far, in history, the ONLY fourth installment I feel made any impact after a long gap from its last installment was Mad Max Fury Road. 30 years after part 3. Nothing else has made an impact in its fourth installment.
@Gauthier Hoffmann The thing is, basically, I am more leaning towards a original trilogy that was done and dusted for many years and then they said "Hey, lets make a part four." and 90% of those fail. Crystal Skull, The Hobbit, but going by fourth films in general, they mostly stink. Mission Impossible never really rested as a Franchise, seemed to have always been going. Toy Story 4 is pretty good. But I can see just how its mostly a miss when it happens. Honestly though, not the biggest fan of "Sudden Impact" The first half was good with the famous catch phrase. But Sandra and the other actors slowed the movie down for me after that.
this movie makes me realize how absolutely incredible the first _The Matrix_ was… for example, I just realized how perfectly cast the original was. from Neo, Morpheus, and Smith, to Dozer and Mouse and Switch, to even the “juris-my-dick-tion” cop at the beginning… everyone was perfect. the only characters I remember from this new one are Bugs and Cybebe, and new Morpheus and Smith, who were there for no reason.
Bill Pope and Yuen Wo-Ping are the biggest missing pieces in Resurrections. I can deal with the silly meta plot, but I don't think a Matrix movie can work without months of fight training and well shot action scenes. I don't know if it's the years of friendship for Carrie-Anne and Keanu, but their vibes towards each other felt so much more authentic in this than in Reloaded and Revolutions. Something about their "romance" in the last two sequels felt clinical and robotic. I buy their chemistry here. That helped the plot a great deal.
I felt that their acting alone easily carried the film. It seemed like a real testament to their professionalism to act so well in an obviously-b-or-c-movie.
Hey! Alien 4 is a fun movie if you realize that every Alien film is supposed to be a different feel with a different director. It's still a fun little romp.
That was my intention. Literally considering it while listening to Jeremy and scrolling the comments. Then I saw this comment and committed to the idea. It's out on HBOMax today right?
@JeremyJahns You're right about Morpheus. There was something I almost missed that was barely mentioned. Neo, as a game designer made a replica of his original room where programs develop rapidly. This program became self aware and broke free. Literally Neo made Morpheus, but gave him Mr. Smith's ability to become self aware. Sounds really cool, but then you remember that there was no point for him to be there the entire time. I would posit that most characters felt that way and even more so that there was never any tension about if a side character might die.
They even quipped about the squad death in the original, which raised the stakes and was wonderfuly shocking to middle school me. MOUSE just died what the fuck! Cypher is unlpugging Twitch as she essentially begs to not die "Not like this". All this after Morpheus willing sacrifices himself to a fight he KNOWS he's going to lose to protect Neo - screaming in fear and conviction simultaneously as he gives his back to the inevitble spectre of death, Agent Smith. These undeveloped nobodies literally joke about the above squad death like they are in the fucking Avengers all while the Merovingian is squealing in the background with unintelligable gibberish that is supposed to be funny (?), and big jaw superman boy is failing to intimidate and just smarmily droning on and not channeling Weaving AT ALL. Why is he fighting Neo? He's back? What are the stakes? Is he actually dangerous? Is this whole scene supposed to be funny somehow? Even though 2 and 3 had some huge glaring issues, that fight with Morpheus on the truck was tense - that agent totally might have taken him. And then all the squad deaths of pepole fighting the Sentinals - not the best movie but it had some stakes and painful moments- I mean Trinity fucking gets impaled RIGHT AFTER HE SAVES HER! I knew Neo probably wasn't going to die in the original, but it worked in such a way that I suspended my disbelief. "He's maybe not the one - maybe he will die". Literally the only sense of danger I felt in the entire move was when the boring green eyed zombie extras surrounded the shitty car. But it was cut so horribly I couldn't tell what was going on and they almost immediatley resolved that tension. Everyone IS OK! Gut wrenching, terrible movie, this new one. "Look what they did to my boy".
I really started to enjoy it more when they got to the part about what happened to Trinity and Neo after the last movie. Aside from that the cast did an excellent job of working with what they were given.
I don't know if anyone else feel this way but I don't want another Matrix movie. I don't want another Terminator movie. I don't want another Predator movie. And I DEFINITELY don't want another LOTR movie. Enough with nostalgia baits and reboots n remakes. All these older movies were groundbreaking and iconic because they did something special. They introduced us to worlds/stories/characters that we have never seen before on big screen. Give us something new with the 100-250 million dollar budget you use for these 'sequels/prequels' or 'reboots/remakes'. Stop milking the hard work and talent of the previous generations already.
I feel the same way man. I LOVE all of those franchises, but they need to stop. No more Bond, no more Indy, no more Fast and the Furious, no more Mission Impossible, no more Rambo, no more Rocky, no more Star Wars, no more Star Trek, no more Die Hard, NO MORE. Unfortunately for us, all of these are going to get another endless batch of sequels, reboots, and remakes. The new Predator movie has already finished shooting.
It's almost impossible to make original films with large budgets now because the majority of them never make their money back. Hollyweird is well aware of that and this is why we get redundant, boring, copy and paste crap. The 70's and 80's were a golden era for film making. A narrow window in time where profit wasn't as hard to make and everything wasn't divisive or political, no dumb internet. A time when people had more freedom of speech to make whatever story they wanted and rarely had to worry about repercussions from raving lunatics.
Yeah considering how most of these sequels/remakes/reboots are very mediocre and often just preaching to their audiences. It's better to just make original stories and characters.
Best review on RU-vid for two simple reasons. 1) You didn't start the video with 2 ads that can't be skipped. 2) You didn't spend the first five minutes talking about products from your sponsor overlords. Keep being you. Money and fame will come naturally. Great job.
The whole movie was ok.... but the last 40 minutes just killed the movie for me. It's bad, bad bad. Why not a prequel, something more original and dark, they just went marvel and F9 on matrix. What a shame. Warner want a sequel ? please don't .
They might have had the seeds of a good movie in here, if they had just left Neo in the Matrix until the very end of the film. They tease this a bit in the beginning, and Keanu and NPH turn in a good performance, but it relies on him not knowing if the Matrix was real. Opening the movie with Bugs recreating the first Matrix scene removes all the tension from the question before we even see Neo for the first time. We already know what's real and we know they'll wake him up, so the first hour is basically wasted. Reloaded had a bit of this with the keymaker, constantly opening doors that go random places and the audience is forced to shift perspective. If you take the film opening with his sacrifice, or even just him getting shot in the climax of the first film, then have him wake up at his game desk, and have the movie constantly shifting between old footage, remixed footage with other actors, NPH world, real world, maybe even have a part where they rescue him and you do the bit with Niobe and the strawberries but then you snap him somewhere else and you don't even know if that was real... Now the audience shares Neo's disorientation, and you have a real question regarding their deaths in the third one, and you have real tension and stakes and you won't predict the ending before the midpoint. Maybe even have Trinity rescue him and be the one who got out first. The audience will be lost and probably hate it, and it will be a way better story.
Lost it when he said "Colonel Sanders", since that's what we've been calling the Architect since his debut. Ironically, the commentary on the first Matrix film has the Wachowskis talking about how action films don't have to be dumb and just focus on "remember that cool scene"? Yet that's exactly what one of them did with this film. Plus, it turned out to be EXACTLY what I thought it was going to be solely based off of the trailer: The Matrix's answer to The Force Awakens through a Sense 8 lens.
The callbacks and flashbacks was cranked to 10 with this movie. Way to much. I liked the movie but gyat damn how about letting this movie stand on its own versus nostalgia.
Aside: All of the Matrix films are dumb. The Matrix elements that may seem deep aren't. They're from other sources and only touched on in a superficial manner - sometimes even accidentally negated the intended meaning (Hello, ZS's Watchmen) (which I enjoyed despite this) (oh, and I mostly enjoyed the first three Matrix films while watching them). Even the majority of the style is from other sources. That typed, I've read a number of comprehensive essays on The Matrix that are significantly deeper and more interesting than the source material.
@@RobVespa Yeah, it's hilarious how many people want to pretend that they are so much smarter than the average person and that the films were deeper than they actually were just because they understood the basic concepts that were being presented in those films. The thing is, at least The Matrix trilogy tried to be more than just another dumb blockbuster, and I think they largely succeeded (primarily the first).
That scene encompasses the whole issue with the movie. Felt like a remake but without any effort. This could have been straight to dvd and i would have been like... Makes sense
I was surprised to find out that Rotten and IMDB had ratings higher than 6 or something and some critics praising the movie - just how much does it cost to buy good reviews nowadays? I think this movie deserves full 3/10. I just can't believe I watched a Warner Bros. movie with all the awfull ass shit dialogues and staging and actors lost in every scene (maybe except for Moss) . The whole project is so unfocused and full of risky ideas , kudos for trying though, that never works. I didn't expect a masterpiece, I expected a cash grabbing action movie of Wachowski whose last movie Jupiter was god awful , too. Fuck you for wasting my time, WB.
@@Niop_Tres fine with me. just showing confusion. my taste was in sync with mainstream, usually. and i understood that reference from Louie C.K - nice.
Love your reviews! Thank you for Reccomending seeing the movie with a couple drinks in your system. I found an awesome dine in theater/tavern down the street from my job. Had 4 beers and brought a 5th into the movie with a grilled cheese and some tots. Great way to spend my last night of 2021. I like the movie storywise, but every action scene other then the Morpheus vs. Neo fight felt so rushed and sped up. There was so much style behind the combat and action of the old films, that you just knew alot of passion was put into the choreography and planning. This one was kinda like.... We're gunna fight, hurry it up though we've got monologues to get to! Not that i'm trynna say it lacked action, just that it didn't present in a way were u could thoroughly be amazed or inspired by it
We already have a blueprint for further matrix films. The Animatrix. Tell more stories in the same universe from different points of view, different themes, different motives. Neos story is told, but there are countless others to tell. And they don't have to be world saving romps. You could write an entire film with the trauma of coming to terms with your new reality. Something that was obviously a major theme of the first, but could go even deeper (no pun intended)
@@chadcrypto2675 I think it should of been a prequel I really appreciate the 3 Matrix movies. To me it didn’t make since to bring back Keanu Reeves. A show would of been a great idea.
Now I understand why Laurence fishburne and Hugo Weaving weren't interested in doing the movie as far as Keanu goes he's to chill he literally will do anything to help his friends out
@@brandonreed09 what does "practically" mean when they didn't speak a single word, nor they had a single new scene I have no idea. And since you mentioned it, who thought it was a good idea to include not one or two but a few dozen !! scenes from the previous trilogy and under the influence of what? As a standalone movie it is pretty bad, but compared to the original masterpiece that is The Matrix it is abysmal. Do yourselves a favor and don't watch. I regret it
I still Remember where I was when I saw the Original Matrix. At my friend Rob’s house in my junior year of high school and he had just got the DVD. Man that was a watershed moment for me, say what you will about the subsequent films or the actual “originality” of the the themes explored. As a 16 year old I had not been exposed to anything like it before.
The entire first section of the movie seemed like a letter from Lana to the fans. “They want more and instead of letting them butcher it I’ll take control of where it goes”. Thats how i took it. Not sure it was the best idea but I understand what it was there for. Morpheus is now an Agent. He is the personality of Morpheus placed in an Agent’s code. Doesn’t change the fact that it was a woefully underutilized character. Morpheus with the power of an Agent?! Come on. There was so much more he could have done. Neil’s character was trying to find the “source code” but he could not find it so he “repeated” the original design but made Neo immortal in that world to control the “anomaly” in the new matrix. I could go into what i think he was actually looking for but that would require too much detail and I don’t feel like looking for the words to describe how I took it. The part everyone is forgetting. Neo NEVER believed in Zion’s war or in the Idea of “The One”. He never lived through it. He was forced into it at the end. When Smith shot him at the end of M1 Trinity saved his life and from then on he devoted his life to HER and in turn fought HER war with her till the end. This is I believe reinforced by the Dojo 2.0 battle. Neo doesn’t want to fight. He died already once for this war. In essence, his “watch was over” so to speak until Morpheus reminds him about Trinity. Then he finds a bit of his fight again. That’s why he was telling him stuff like “you don’t know me” and “I’m done fighting” and shit. The core plot of the movie for me was “we sacrificed our lives to end this war between Man and Machine only to be woken back where he started and finding that the machines didn’t keep their end of the bargain.” Lots of shit that made fun of itself I think is what hurt the movie the most. It gives it the underline feeling that it’s not being taken seriously. This is just how I choose to take it though. I could be way of the mark. 🤷🏻♂️
Yes the tone of the 1st movies were more serious and sometimes dark. This movie was like a British humor or something to the point of being offensive to the fans,
Nevertheless I liked the acting of Bugs, also I wished the main villain "the therapist? Could have been just a powerful program like the merovingio but not the main antagonist, in the hole movie I only got the cool fashion matrix vibes with Eréndira's character and overall a 6/10 for the entire movie.
I called it waaaay before the movie was announced. It was already too many red flags to begin with that made me not optimistic about seeing this sequel. 1. The Wachowski have severely downgrounded in quality of the years 2. This movie was obviously made to capitalize on the success on Keanu Reeves new popularity and not because they actual had a good story to tell 3. The Wachowskis are not together doing this film 4. The Wachowskis transitioned (I have no problem with that in itself but them wanted to send a message) 5. The Trailers looked horrible 6. And Laurence Fishburn isnt in it.
yea i tried to keep positive about the film even after the plot leaks and some of the old cast not returning. But now this video has kinda confirmed my fears which makes me pretty sad.
2 and 3 had their problems, but at least they always took themselves seriously, and never plagiarized 1's shots. I'd say this movie fails even as an action movie. All the fight scenes seemed to be close-up, and quick edits. Despite this I still saw Keanu punching air in two or three scenes. I would say it's his age, but honestly I think it's incompetent direction. Whenever he did a bullet-stop scene he looked like he needed a walker, and those scenes are all special effects.
I agree there was way too much close up and camera shake going on. This was the #1 thing that surprised me with the film as it's not at all what one would expect from a Matrix film. I really missed the long shots that show you the choreography, the work that went into creating it and just let the actors hold your attention. The original trilogy didn't need to pull any tricks in this regard. The cinematography felt more fleshed out and purposeful in the first three films, but this film seemed to move away from that in the fight scenes. I wasn't the biggest fan of that creative decision. That all being said, it wasn't a trainwreck by any means. There were some great concepts and set ups for action scenes, just maybe not presented in a way that benefitted the film to its fullest potential. I also wouldn't go as far as to say Keanu wasn't doing a fine job here. Just look at him in the John Wick films and you can clearly see this man is still a powerhouse when it comes to fight choreography. I really do feel like a combination of not utilizing Reeves to his full potential plus the cinematic direction were at fault here. Neo should've kicked more ass, a missed opportunity when you've got Keanu on your payroll. You do make some good points though and I respect your outlook on things. Something felt like it was missing in the action sequences of this film, taking into account the high standards that the first three films set. High bar to raise, but you'd think with a Wachowski at the helm things would've come out a little differently. Despite all of this, can't say I'm not happy to see more Matrix though. It was kind of nice to be back in that universe again, even just for a while.
It would appear that Trinity and Neo are now collectively 'The One,' perhaps mirroring Lana's own transition, as some muse, but something is still missing. We can't see it, yet, but it's there, like a splinter in our minds. Reloaded and Revolutions showed us entirely new layers to the larger world that was The Matrix (original). Clearly, Resurrections was designed to do the same, but what if the entire film was not as it appeared? Might Lana have placed us all in a Matrix within a Matrix in Resurrections, to dream Neo's dream, ending as it began, like a dream? Because it was. Perhaps it's not that "Tom" created the Matrix films and a popular video game called The Matrix, as Resurrections wants to show us - it's that his newly revealed "real life" is a dream program still running within the Architect's "measure of control," and overseen by the Analyst, who very well might be the Architect himself playing the role of Tom's analyst within the Modal. This would mean Trinity is still dead, and Tiffany/Trinity is nothing but a "resurrected" NPC within the Modal, giving Neo purpose, but an empty one. Perhaps the Machines are testing out various Modals to see which version could never be escaped by anyone, including Neo, with the Architect still attempting to create the perfect Matrix overall, as it were. The line in Resurrections where Neo says, "I've had dreams that weren't just dreams," as well as what the Analyst tells him about his current "reality" are strong clues. This would explain the strangely disjointed, campy, dream-like theme to Resurrections itself. The entire film is not a prequel, but a computer-generated dream (that we each experienced) designed to expose the Anomaly's weaknesses so that all future "One's" would never expose the Machines own weaknesses, as Neo did. The Machine's knowing Trinity was a strong factor in Neo's power, would of course seemingly "resurrect" her to test Neo's abilities, hence the film's name. The Machines would be in need of an answer as to how Neo manifested in power to the point he did, if only to prevent another Anomaly from ever challenging the Machines to the extent he did. I heard there won't be a sequel, but if there were, we may find out the crushing reality that the Matrix is still a dark, cyberpunk world, where Morpheus and the Oracle still exist and are still trying to find Neo, as Neo slumbers somewhere deep within the Machine world being unwittingly experimented on by the Architect. Indeed, this sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me.
I want to rewatch it precisely because I thought I watched it expecting an old Matrix cinematography and action to dialogue balance, but instead I got a different movie altogether. And I think now that I know it's a different movies, and that it's sort of a parody???? comedy??? .... i will be able to appreciate it more. I thought that the mannerisms and styliging of characters were symbolic of 21st century power - no longer the suit and tie but rather the Sillicon Valley wealthy millennial laid-back appearance look but still, powerful controller behavior. That's how I chose to take Mr Smith as. I enjoyed seeing the cast of Sense 8 being back on screen. I wish they were in more things because they truly are a wonderful cast of performers. I'll go ahead and rewatch the movie and see if I can see it with different expectations. Thanks for this review!
When I learned that that new guy was actually supposed to be Morpheus, I knew this movie wasn't for me. Like Jeremy said, either bring Laurence back, or make a new character. How disappointing. Same goes for Hugo Weaving, although, unlike Morpheus, his character was supposed to be done. Morpheus should have been the one doing everything in his power to find Neo. This is some major BS.
Absolutely right. I just read the synopsis and it sounds...alright on paper but knowing Laurence and Hugo aren't back I would refuse outright and that's before having seen the terrible excuse for imitations the two actors now playing Morpheus and Smith are doing. And that's coming from a big Yahya fan but Laurence IS Morpheus and there's no arguing that. It gets to the point of sacrilege to even continue any kind of story for his character without him and same with Hugo as Smith, which is a timeless, captivating performance that looks utterly absent in the trailers for the Smith scenes where the ruthless, relentless, maniacal Smith of the originals is replaced by generic CEO guy who isn't fit to shine Revolutions Smith imitator, Ian Bliss' shoes, much less Hugo's.
Is a new character, the movie didn't address it right, the original Morpheus died in Matrix Online, also written by Wachoskis, the one we see here is created by Neo, it should have a different name, but the movie wanted to have a nostalgia feel so they just named it Morpheus as well.
@@TheOUTSIDER1995 I don’t know if I believe that excuse. I think it’s more likely that Fishbourne and the Wacrazies had a falling out / argument, maybe he was hard to work with or wanted too much money etc. That could be why they killed him in the matrix online to begin with.
The only part I didn't like was the force projections being used like Kamehameha's that wasn't clever it was kinda just there but other than that I really liked the movie
I would have been fine with it if he didn't end up using the same "force push" shit for almost every fight scene from that point forward. It started to look cringey.
Bugs was by far the best part of the movie (specially with that blue hair). I hope they keep casting her for big roles, she was awesome. (also the best part of iron fist)
I was pretty disappointed considering how good the trailers and marketing had been. The story was just boring like "Oh, I wonder if he will succeed or not doing the thing he's trying to do". There was just no suspense because you knew he would succeed and that was what the entire movie was about. It would have been much more interesting to focus the story around the machines turning on themselves and their internal war/
Agreed... It felt more like a Feminist love story in the end. Nothing wrong with that in isolation but the trailer suggested it was about man/woman's relationship with identity and to machines and actually it was more about love and elevating Trinity
@@tylersmith9868 Yeah, I thought the trailers showed exactly how "meta," pretentious and boring it would be. Too many "nods" to old movies. Time has passed, but still wearing the same dumb stuff. Still stopping bullets. Still jumping off of buildings. Still trying to escape the Matrix. None of that is a hook for normal folks.
@@tylersmith9868 I was expecting actual smith and morpheus to show up at some point even as just small cameos and figured they were being hidden. The trailers were good imo. The website marketing where they would say what time it was in realtime was genius imo. If you didn't like them then hey thats fine.
I seen it last night. Being a fan of the Original Matrix trilogy. I can say with no hesitation this new film was completely disappointing and really served absolutely no purpose to the original trilogy whatsoever. I thought maybe this film bringing back original characters would serve as a bridge to introduce a new generation of characters to the world of the matrix and possible future films. But to try to continue the growth of two characters who both died at the end of the third film was a very stupid concept. The special effects and fight scenes didn’t live up to the past Matrix films, new fight scenes were clunky and not well choreographed. Compared to the original films, It almost seemed like this movie was done on a B movie budget. Not understanding why Neo moved like an elderly person either? That and the constant use of flashback clips every time anything was mentioned about the past movies got completely annoying and again were not needed. I remember seeing an interview with James Cameron on the making of Aliens and he said when making a sequel, elements from the first film and flash back sequences should not be necessary when telling the new story unless it is to help with a key moment in the film. Otherwise it’s just saying to audience “Ohh hey remember when?!!” … well they do that constantly in this film. I’ve never seen a movie that had so many flashbacks in it. The same goes for bringing back secondary characters from the original trilogy. SPOILERS: The Merovingian served no purpose in this film and was a wasted scene. I would much rather seen more interaction between Neo and Sati. As she is the closest thing to the new oracle. I also thought making the story 60 years later and bringing back Niobe as a grumpy old woman was a bad choice as well. I think it would have been a much better choice to make it 20 years later and bring back Lawrence Fishburn in the real world scenes. All and all this film is a true disappointment and shouldn’t have been made.
The fact that the film was meant to come out on the 20th anniversary of the original tells you what the film is. It’s a reunion/homage/reminiscence of the original classic
@@MegaHunter90210 the story itself isn’t bad, it’s the way they decided to present it. It was full of meta commentary, fan service lines, and the pacing seem weird to me. I did enjoy it but I took it as a what if story, in order to cope with it. This is what kinda happen to FF movies. I also think it lost its dark dystopian atmosphere from the original trilogy.
@@junioralvarado629 Yeah, that and Neo was basically useless and getting beat up the whole time. Really trying to figure out how that makes sense, yet Trinity came out of her coma as a badass. Other than that, I did think the story and concepts were good.
With Resurrections coming straight to HBO, these reviews definitely make it out to be a "Straight-to-Video" film in terms of story quality or lore consistency. If my family were already using HBO, then we might see it on a free night, but we use Prime at the moment and so we'll skip it unless it comes out on Prime.
I told a friend that the unsettling brilliance of Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith is clear the instant you meet him. Going off that impression, Jonathan Groff's take - _anyone else's_ take, really - falls so flat in comparison that, just by going off the trailer footage, I got distinct live action Jafar vibes.
@@TyrellWellickEcorp Even with a greater actor, Hugo is one of the top.. So replacing a huge actor would not be accepted by any big actors as they know they would not able to pull it. Replacing Morpheus is not so big deal even he was unique and it's not well accepted, tring to replace Hugo with someone else was a huge mistake.
@@thatsreelcreative If we hadnt heard of the original agents than you might be right but the task he had was impossible. They just needed to create new characters that had a big personality in different ways imo
I remember some woman sued the wachowskis for stealing her story of the original matrix. Perhaps the story was stollen which can explain their writing dramatically going into the gutter lol who knows 🤷🏻♂️
Lucas followed up a new hope with Empire strikes back and return of the Jedi ..not to mention his involvement with Spielberg in the Indiana Jones trilogy!
This movie failed for me as a Matrix film for a few reasons. 1.The opening, and I figure this was Warner allowing director freedom, was dumb. I need to find this somewhere, but it’s essentially “Warner told us they wanted more money so do the movie or we will use the license to do it without all of you. Your choice.” 2. Resurrections misses so bad on cinematography and action sequences. As you said, the originals and definitely The Matrix, had awesome action scenes that felt smooth and impressive and cool. Nothing in 4 felt that way. 3. Rushed as all hell and without any sort of flow. I felt at no point in the film did anything remotely matter or make sense, nor did anything feel like it was thought out. This was a project to milk the name and kill the series.
I agree, the first hour was an incomprehensible mess, the latter half predictable, just an abject failure. To think I was looking forward to this train wreck.
