Time to re-enter the Matrix.
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Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss re-enter the Matrix as the iconic characters they will forever be associated with, the OG sci-fi OTP – Neo and Trinity – in The Matrix Resurrections, 18 years after the last film in the franchise was released.
Also returned was one-half of the brilliant minds that birthed the popular franchise, Lana Wachowski, credited as writer and director once again.
Joining Reeves and Moss are Jessica Henwick, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Priyanka Chopra, and Neil Patrick Harris. Right off the bat, viewers will notice Henwick’s character is wildly underrepresented in the film’s promos as they'll soon realise she has a much meatier role in the film. Captain of her own team in the real world, her Bugs is definitely the best character to be added into the franchise thus far.
Despite Abdul-Mateen II’s character not actually being a direct replacement of Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus, he still had big shoes to fill, and he proves he belongs by making the most out of his role.
Worth mentioning is also Groff’s reimagination of Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith whose casting may have started off like an out-of-place choice but a vital scene where his ability to switch from sweet and demure to downright menacing came to play, we were convinced he’s the right man for the job.
The action sequences in this aren't short of effects that will remind viewers that The Matrix franchise doesn't produce ordinary sci-fi action films. The visuals are as equally pleasing as the music and sound effects that it's paired with. Wachowski however did seem obligated to insert lots of expositions in her film, as if out of fear that viewers would be too dense to keep up. To her credit, Resurrections is much easier to grasp than its founding predecessor.
Without giving away too much on what Resurrections is actually about, it’s interesting to see how Wachowski still managed to find a fresh angle with the franchise – not without lots of references to the original trilogy, in both meta jokes and flashback scenes, of course.
It’s also worth noting that the parent company behind the film wasted no time in inserting themselves right in the narrative – by blatantly name-dropping themselves in meta-conversation, a stunt that they pulled with the most recent Space Jam 2. It almost plays out like a threat that they should say Resurrections was going to happen, with or without its original creators, forcing their hand at giving in and not letting their life’s hard work be ruined right before their eyes. Could this be their signature move to remind viewers who’s really in charge? As tongue-in-cheek as it may be, we do applaud the attempt.
Fans of Keanu Reeves will be delighted to know that despite being the face of another popular action-thriller franchise, he's still got it as The One.
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