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Keanu Reeves and Carrie-anne Moss are back for ‘The Matrix Resurrections’
“The Matrix Resurrections” is honest in what it promises, if nothing else.
Although “Recycled” might be a better title.
Ouch. The film, directed by Lana Wachowski (Lilly sits this one out), brings back some of the ideas and characters of “The Matrix.” In case you did not realize this, the movie, the fourth in the franchise, reminds you of it repeatedly.
It’s amazing how influential and culturally relevant the 1999 film became; when people ask if you’d take the red pill or the blue pill, well, you’re going back to Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus. Fishburne appears in the new film only in archival footage; Yahya Abdul-mateen II is Morpheus now. Sort of.
Is that a spoiler? Is anything? Is everything? Those are the mysteries of the Matrix, are they not?
You’re all in on ‘The Matrix’ movies or you’re not
I don’t know. Frankly, it’s a little hard to follow sometimes. You really just have to kind of go with it, let all the quasi-religious savior mythology wash over you. You’re in or you’re out.
I found myself out.
Not for lack of trying. The important thing here, of course, the thing that makes the movie worth seeing despite its somewhat sketchy logic and storytelling, is the presence of Keanu Reeves and Carrie-anne Moss. Especially Reeves.
“The Matrix” made him a different kind of star, launching a transition from seeming surfer dude to everyone’s favorite person. To make this film without Reeves would be unthinkable.
Not to worry. There he is, aging gracefully as Thomas Anderson. Anderson is now a legendary game designer. His boss (Jonathan Groff ) is named … Smith. And the game that made Anderson famous is called “The Matrix.” He’s said to have incorporated some of himself into it.
There were sequels to the game, but now Warner Bros. is demanding a new installment. Funny, funny, yes, we get it, how meta. Anderson had sworn never to make another “Matrix” game, but that isn’t his biggest problem.
He’s haunted by strange visions, seeming breaks from reality. He sees an analyst (Neil Patrick Harris) who prescribes him blue pills to help tamp down the visions.
How about that.
Anderson also visits a coffee shop where a woman shows up. He doesn’t know her, but she looks familiar. Why?
You know why.
The chemistry between Reeves and Moss is the best thing about the movie
A woman named Bugs (Jessica Henwick) shows up and soon everything Anderson knows about the world is rocked to its foundation. Is the world real? Is anything?
These are familiar questions for “Matrix” fans, of which there are many. And they may well be delighted to see them answered again.
It is a kick to see Reeves back in action, even if it takes him a while to get going. He and Moss still have a chemistry that works and is in some ways enhanced here.
“The Matrix Resurrections” is not a complete retread of the original film. There are new characters, new developments, different takes on old ideas. And in fairness, it is impossible to expect Wachowski to come up with anything so revolutionary as “The Matrix” was in 1999. If you loved that film (the two sequels that followed, maybe not so much), then the new film will be a tonic. It will quench the thirst of die-hard fans who always want more.
But does that thirst justify “The Matrix Resurrections?” Maybe. But it can’t make it a great movie. And despite Reeves’ willingness to jump back in, neither can anything else.