The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

It's worth a download. I had low expectations and enjoyed it for what it was.

It has painfully corny writing, and the grace and subtlety of a brick. And not to mention the constant glimpses of the previous movies that really, really needed to be cut (not sure if Warner Bros demanded that, or it was a creator's choice). But this doesn't ruin the movie. There are some clever ideas here on where to take this story, and while they're executed clumsily by Lana and her fellow Sense8 writers, they make the movie interesting to watch (even if just to see where they fail). Neo and Trinity's reunion love story is simple, but it's also the one thing that is dramatically coherent, which holds the movie together. The Wachowskis have a childlike sincerity when it comes to love stories, so for all the cynicism that Lana carries in other aspects, there is none in the love story, and it's better for it.

My biggest disappointment was the mediocre fight choreography. The wide, long takes that defined the series are absent, replaced with the usual Hollywood "one cut per punch," which I always find makes Hollywood fights uninteresting and difficult to track. But this is very disappointing, given that Keanu Reeves is obviously capable of much more. As a result, you mostly just want the fight scenes in this movie to finish their floating cartwheels and get back to the story.

Subtlety doesn't exist in this movie. There's a black cat that constantly appears and drinks from a bowl with the words "deja vu." There's also a fairly blatant conversation that Warner Bros wanted them to make another Matrix installment and were going to do it with or without them. They're talking about a fictional video game, but you get the idea. I find it funny that Warner Bros let them keep that dialogue in.

There are a few obvious references to the word binary that will make you laugh. There's also a conversation between two characters where they talk about how the Matrix stole something from Neo that was important to him and turned it into something trivial and insulting (a fictional video game). A thinly-veiled reference to how the "red pill" term was adopted in real life. It's not surprising that Lana included this.

There was a little bit of dialogue about how emotions can be manipulated for maximum energy output, which I found very interesting. But this was used in an attempt to justify the very convoluted Neo Trinity dynamic more than anything else. What I would have liked to see is how this trauma could be expressed inside the Matrix. Imagine if everyone was forced to wear masks while they tremble in fear over a deadly virus, ha! Instead, the Matrix is just a bland reality with no sign of trauma, manipulation or propaganda. The irony is that the three writers of this movie are very much asleep in the real world.

I mentioned this above, but the Wachowskis have a childlike earnestness to their work. It's probably why they regularly confuse their metaphors, lack self-awareness in their work, and write such corny dialogue. They have an adolescent approach to their notions of love, peace and truth that is both endearing and immature. While The Matrix (1999) likely had many hands on its script to polish it from its clunky first draft to the shooting script, everything they've made since is both goofy and sincere. In some sense, they're children. And I think this immaturity is both their greatest strength and their greatest weakness.
I saw the movie now and I totally agree.

For me it is boring and with very little sense.

Next to me sat a boy armed with popcorn, hot dog, nachos, Coke, etc.

The boy was prepared to have a good time.

At 30 minutes into the movie I turned to look at him and he was sound asleep, to the point that saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth.:lol:
 
Yes, watched it last night.... nice see the characters again... nothing new as the review said... by the end, no energy... no charge.
I still prefer 'Dark City' as a cohesive whole, perhaps more traditional. Perhaps the Koreans should've been invited to do this, they are really pumping out good product, even if nothing esoteric. The Japanese anime has always done the dystopian future better than anyone else. Everyone seems to have their niche or genetic linkup... tonal resonance... the Americans are so repetitive and spent it seems by comparison.... slick productions by good crews, but the writing is always a problem, unlike the Koreans, who have to export to survive in their current size.

This latest Matrix is slick, but no depth. This was always the complaint with the 'Ghost in the Shell' sequels, live action etc.... that whole philosophical aspect was usually weak to non-existant. I've never seen anyone really attempt to do the 'future' outside of dystopian storylines that essentially only deal with the relics and remnants of that past civilization.
 
It has painfully corny writing, and the grace and subtlety of a brick
Agreed on both counts. They are treating the audience like they are incapable of figuring anything out themselves. That's usually typical of a movie that had a bit too much studio interference. Unfortunately that seems to be the case with this one.

My biggest disappointment was the mediocre fight choreography. The wide, long takes that defined the series are absent, replaced with the usual Hollywood "one cut per punch," which I always find makes Hollywood fights uninteresting and difficult to track. But this is very disappointing, given that Keanu Reeves is obviously capable of much more. As a result, you mostly just want the fight scenes in this movie to finish their floating cartwheels and get back to the story.
Yup. The fight scenes were my biggest issue. No longer the wide takes that are more like choreographed dances. We're getting this up close and unintelligible action set pieces that are nothing like the iconic set pieces we got from Matrix 1 and 2. There was very little interesting from any fight scenes involving Neo, which seems to miss a huge chance at creating more entertaining battles. The ones in Matrix 4 are boring in comparison. Like you said, you just want them to end.
 
Trinity is beautiful. I also like the "slowness" of Neo "Mr Andersson" - because it takes a long time until he comes to the fore. But that is part of the whimsy charm, now with his older self.
I liked the movie.
Trinity is indeed beautiful and Reeves became a better actor, imo. A lot of suffering has given him depth.

There were some corny dialogues and the final scenes came about a bit flat but there were many scenes where things were taken slowly, with an attentive focus that was very enjoyable.
 
One of the script-writers says they wrote it 'for our people':

AVC: The scenes with the Analyst were especially pointed. He’s using some of the terminology of right-wing radicalization like the conservative retort “facts don’t care about your feelings.” Was it empowering to write a rebuttal to the weaponization of Lana and Lilly’s work?

DM:
I suppose the short answer is yes. I don’t see myself as a frontline fighter in the culture war, but you also want your work to mean something, to have an ethical edge. One of the many reasons I’m proud of Resurrections is it does have that. What I’m trying to say is, I think the film has integrity, and perhaps that’s the source of the integrity.

AH: I concur. There is a bit of a difference between my and Mr. Mitchell’s situation in that. Well, he’s a kinder person so he doesn’t get angry as much. But largely because I live in the United States. The Pit is a kind and warm space. We don’t argue or get angry with each other. But I am infused with a need to confront some of the things that are taking place in this country. That was the case before and after.

But we did not set out to get into arguments with right-wingers. I think, at some point, there was a joke about Red Pill and Blue Pill, and Lana decided that she did not want to give any credence to that position, even a semblance of dialogue with that. There’s nothing to talk about with that.

AVC: It’s like having debates with creationists. By inviting them to the podium, it’s a tacit endorsement that the idea is up for debate.

AH: My personal position is I don’t discuss things with Nazis and fascists. There’s nothing to talk about. One of us is just going to be left standing, and I want it to be me and my people.
 

Matrix: Resurrections is a woke backlash to right-wing populism


The new Matrix sequel may not live to the high expectations of its fans, and indeed, the creators’ penchant for turning it into a political lesson may severely dampen audience reactions — especially if they’re conservative.

Beyond its portrayal of a futuristic cyberpunk world, as similarly depicted in Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell and Netflix’s Altered Carbon, The Matrix has always been a product of its surroundings — it’s simply part of the speculative nature of the genre. And yet, in spite of all its pretenses to speculative fiction, the movie may be marred by contemporary, reactionary politics.

The film’s two scriptwriters, Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell, admitted as much in an interview with the A.V. Club, where they explained Matrix: Resurrection’s political messaging and how their left-wing reactionary views of the world influenced the story.

Indeed, the scriptwriters penned the movie through a reactionary lens in response to populist conservatism made popular by Ben Shapiro and Charlie Kirk. The duo had previously collaborated with directors Lana and Lilly Wachowski on Cloud Atlas and the Netflix transgender series Sense8.

The interviewer points out that specific current events such as Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, social media radicalization and other contemporary concepts appear in the movie — speaking to the writers, he asked “Were these things you were talking about while writing the film?”

Hemon replied: “We were aware because you bring it into [the writer’s group], all that’s happening in the world, so we talked about specific things,” he said. “Things like the Red Pill/Blue Pill trope or meme and how it was kidnapped by the right-wing. The verb ‘to red pill’ and so on.”

“So one thing we were mindful of is how to reclaim that trope. To renew the meaning of Red Pill/Blue Pill,” he explained.
The Matrix creators... are caught in the Matrix!
 
The Matrix creators... are caught in the Matrix!
Agreed.
I thought it entertaining none the less but didn't exspect more. I already considered Matrix II and III as being entertaining but basically redundant.
For those with a sleeping mind the film delivers further programming as well.
The whole agenda of transhumanism is extended.
A point is made that even free people outside of the matrix become tired and hopeless and see the matrix as a true alternative.
There are machines fighting on the side of the rebels thus picking up the idea of developing consciousness in machines.
All in all the matrix gains speed and is encroaching on the world of free humans by mingling with it.
There is a coming together of 2 worlds- each taking advantage of the other.
 
One of the script-writers says they wrote it 'for our people':

Our people, meaning blue pills.

“So one thing we were mindful of is how to reclaim that trope. To renew the meaning of Red Pill/Blue Pill,” he explained.

By turning the true red pills into the blue pills. And making blue pills into false awakened red pills.

The Matrix creators... are caught in the Matrix!

Indeed.

Not sure whether I found this movie terrible or horrible.

Everything woke turns to shit (Trump).
 
Our people, meaning blue pills.
That's the thing; 'their side' believes that the allegory is about them waking up to, and fighting, swarms of right-wing, Russian-influenced/controlled reactionary-conservative bots!

A bunch of us here have now watched it. It's not a 'wokefest'. My take on it is that the Wachowskis have ensured that the allegory remains 'politically neutral'. Thus, what it means to 'wake up from the Matrix' depends on who you are and what you see.

For all its references to transhumanism and the limits/illusion of 'binary' opposites, freedom, truth and love remain core values in this 'reboot'. It's true to the original Matrix.
 
I went in with low expectations after reading the reviews, and in my opinion it was just as bad, if not worse than anticipated. But take that for what its worth, because my comparison is with the original Matrix movies (which I am a great fan of!)

Honestly, I thought the production as a whole was frankly terrible:

- No identifiable aim for Neo until 2/3rds of the way through the film, by which point I wasn't all that bothered or emotionally invested in the outcome.

- Action scenes were boring compared to the previous films. Neo vs morpheus had me giggling for the wrong reasons. Camera angles seemed odd at times.

- No major character development - I was not drawn to any of the characters at all (except perhaps Trinity). Neo was a dull dudd, and the others were just kinda there... talking about stuff. Morpheus as a self-assembling nanobot machine thing which can materialize and de-materialize - seriously? 🤣

- Script was cheesy with only a few hints at deeper concepts (sheeple wanting to remain asleep, etc etc)

- Convoluted plot: I could appreciate that they needed to achieve something important, but barely understood what that actually was. It would jump between scenes freely without providing much context or sufficiently detailed explanation, and it all just felt too unbelievable for me. This was most pronounced in the scenes leading up to Trinity's rescue (random lady who as a child knew Neo, parent's killed by machines, provides secret information on how to retrieve Trinity from the goo-pod, performs specialized operation for the first time while being projected as a hologram aided by a butterfly machine-bot named Kudjuki)

- Mildly funny in some parts, which almost gave the impression of a comedy or a film which doesn't take itself too seriously (which isn't bad in and of itself, but IMO The Matrix was not, and never should have been a comedy). I found myself laughing at other "serious" parts of the film when they were not intended to be funny.

- Overall it gave me the distinct impression of a poorly produced Marvel/DC movie with bad scripts, B-class acting and convoluted plot solely designed to cash in the $$$... something like Fantastic Four (etc)

It is quite sad, because the overall concept of the film was interesting, and could have probably turned out well in the hands of another director/producer.

My rating would be maximum 4.5-5/10. That said, I know others did enjoy the film, so it may be best to take my review with a pinch of salt!
 
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That's the thing; 'their side' believes that the allegory is about them waking up to, and fighting, swarms of right-wing, Russian-influenced/controlled reactionary-conservative bots!

A bunch of us here have now watched it. It's not a 'wokefest'. My take on it is that the Wachowskis have ensured that the allegory remains 'politically neutral'. Thus, what it means to 'wake up from the Matrix' depends on who you are and what you see.

For all its references to transhumanism and the limits/illusion of 'binary' opposites, freedom, truth and love remain core values in this 'reboot'. It's true to the original Matrix.

**mild spoilers**

That's my take on it as well. To the writers' credit, they abstracted the lines in the movie enough so that they are universal. I actually thought some of the lines were pretty deep, such as that ideas are always "captured" and used by the matrix, the explanation by the analyst on how to control people through creating fear and desires; the idea of "coming full circle and starting all over again, asking oneself whether one has achieved anything"... Nevermind that the leftist writers' ideas about how that plays out in the real world is probably the exact opposite of what I think LOL. I also liked the portrayal of the "awakening process" and the internal and external forces one has to fight against.

I also found the meta-level at the beginning funny, where they talk about marketing the Matrix etc. Notice how the only really wokeish line in the movie comes from the stupid marketing person who is in the matrix! My take on it is that the creators made fun of Warner Bros./Hollywood and how they "pitched" the idea of a new Matrix movie to the Wachowskis, like "listen, let's make a movie that will make the world a better place, emphasizing the rights of the suppressed blabla", which for the Wachowskis would be an example of how "the Matrix" (i.e. capitalism) uses noble ideas for its own purposes (making money). (I mean, these wokeists need to explain somehow why the evil patriarchy has all gone woke! And this seems to be a way to do that.)

Well, on most accounts it was a terrible movie. But my expectations were so low that I kind of enjoyed it, if only for the references to the original movie and the first 1/3 of the movie.
 
One of the script-writers says they wrote it 'for our people':

"AH: My personal position is I don’t discuss things with Nazis and fascists. There’s nothing to talk about. One of us is just going to be left standing, and I want it to be me and my people."

This statement reminded me of the narrative used by all those globalists and libtars during the 1990s, when they blamed Serbs for all their evil in the Balkans.

And then in the next post I discover that AH (Aleksandar Hemon) is a co-writer and writer from Bosnia.

The article about him says a lot or almost everything about his political views, which are so democratic - from the hellish kitchen of the Clintons.

Of course, it was necessary to compare Milosevic and Trump.
And we know that Milosevic was compared to Hitler in Western newspapers very often.

"Friends from America told him (Hemon) that he was exaggerating, that it was a symptom of the post-traumatic syndrome, but he compared Trump's rhetoric to the speech of the former president of Serbia and FR Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic."
 
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