Rating 4/10 4/10
Matrix Resurrections Poster

I started watching this movie completely spoiler free. I had only seen the official trailer once and I didn't waste any brainpower trying to slow down or unshuffle the video snippets to try and predict the major plot points (which is getting progressively easier these days). It looked quite stylish and ambiguous, so I was happy to watch the movie with blank expectations.

The trailer reveals that Neo and Trinity are leading 'normal' lives somewhere, but where? Are they back in The Matrix? Is it some other construct? Are they there voluntarily or by deception?

I recall the movie starts with lots of self-referential jokes and there is clever ambiguity about the relationship between a computer game and The Matrix. I thought I was heading into an enjoyable blend of The Twilight Zone, Matrix I and II and a Philip K. Dick reality mystery.

Unfortunately, the movie soon fills with flashbacks and new characters who look and act exactly like various characters in the previous three movies. The flashbacks are cleverly done and it's hard to say if they're just clumsy or they're genuine tributes.

The movie soon turns into a complete rehash of all the memorable scenes in the previous movies. Every encounter, every martial arts fight, every gunfight, every piece of tek and machinery is reproduced, but it's all been done before and it all feels a bit flat because there is no attempt to bring anything fresh and original into the mix.

The fight scenes are bit sad to watch, because Keanu is 57 now and although he looks pretty fit, he just can't reproduce the crisp moves from 20 years ago and everything now looks sluggish by comparison.

Star Wars VII - The Force Awakens demonstrated that you can photocopy the plot of an original movie, flip a few genders and locations, throw in a few fan-service tributes, then spit it out to a gullible public as a new movie series. Matrix IV has done the same thing, but to their credit, again it's unclear if it's being done out of sheer laziness or it's a genuine attempt to please fans.

The main plot is about some 'analyst' and some sort of 'agent' of The Matrix manipulating Neo and Trinity and their insipid amnesiac romance, but I can't remember why or how this contributes to the overall plot, and I can't be bothered watching the movie again to figure it out. That's a significant and sad thing: the movie doesn't have any revisit value for me. Twenty years ago I watched Matrix I and II twice each on the big screen, so it really is sad that I don't feel the same way about IV. Someone has seriously miscalculated the look and feel and the plot arc of this movie. It's unlikely to attract a new generation of fans.

Jessica Henwick as the Bugs character was quite irritating. She kept turning up in scenes with an exaggerated serious face, and I get the impression her character was lazily inserted to be a substitute for Carrie-Anne Moss, who had a noticeably brief amount of time on-screen. Jessica's weird English accent often sounded like she's talking with a mouth full of marbles. There are scenes where she speaks for 20 seconds and I can't understand a word she says.

Neil Patrick Harris started off as an interesting and mysterious character, but soon turned into a pontificating overacting ham who reminded me a bit of Dr Evil played by Mike Myers. I normally like Harris and he often plays quirky characters well, so I think he was wasted in this movie.

In summary, I don't know why this movie reboot was made, as it contributes barely anything new to the characters or the plot arc of the whole movie series. As a science fiction fan, I was eager to learn more about The Matrix, the machines and the future of humanity, but I was completely disappointed.

To its credit, the movie is amazingly self-aware and sometimes it teeters on the humorous edge of being a parody of itself, which could be regarded as an admirable trait (as long as it's not an accident).

Christos Tsiolkas reviews the movie in the January 8th issue of The Saturday Paper and he thinks it only exists to make a profit. He's probably right. Web searches at the time of writing this (13-Jan) suggest that it has not recouped the production costs. Someone really has miscalculated, and I think The Matrix movie series is now extinct.