Opinion by Jayan Kandavel ’25
“The Matrix Resurrections” is the long-awaited sequel to the Matrix Trilogy, an immensely popular movie franchise starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne.
Directed by the Wachowski sisters originally, the Matrix trilogy (“The Matrix”, “The Matrix Reloaded”, “The Matrix Revolutions”) are some of the most popular movies of all time, with the first installment collecting well over $1 billion worldwide, including nearly $537 million domestically, making the film number 12 in all-time domestic earnings, according to The Numbers.
‘The Matrix Resurrections’ had high expectations going into theaters worldwide—but alas, it fell short.
In part, that’s because of Warner Brothers decision to cast new actors as old characters, like Yahya Abdul-Mateen II playing the character Morpheus. But the primary issue with the movie is that it attempts to be two types of movies at once: a sequel and a reboot. Resurrections continues right where the trilogy left the audience in 2003, with Neo and Trinity dead, and the peace between man and machine restored in a dystopian future. However, the way this continuation is explored makes it feel more like a reboot.
The Matrix trilogy was released so long ago that the average audience member doesn’t remember everything that happened in those three original movies. Because of this, Resurrections is forced to explain the plot of the previous movies in its 2 hour 38 minute runtime, even playing old scenes from the previous installments. This might be necessary, but does not work well to have to explain the whole story of the previous movies and create a new story at the same time. Almost a whole hour of this movie is just a recap of the old ones.
This movie shines by recreating the classic concepts of the older movies, with the now older cast in present times. It is a joy to see Reeves and Moss back in their roles as Neo and Trinity, only with better dialogue up to modern movie standards and clearer visuals on the big screen. The new actors, like Jessica Henwick playing Bugs, also do a great job. The visual effects are amazing as well, with classic Matrix gunfights and martial arts combat.
One of the many problems of this movie is that there is almost a competition in terms of screen time between the old cast and the new players, with the old getting too much and the new getting too small a slice of the pie. The Matrix trilogy concluded with a capital C.
For the new story continuation, the acting is amazing, but Warner Brothers should have chosen either a reboot (with the old cast), where the nostalgic moments could have truly shined, or a sequel, where new characters like Bugs could have been the stars of the show, and the story could have been continued in a non “crowded” way. The goal of this movie is to introduce the Matrix movies to modern audiences and continue the story to keep old fans coming back, but it does both of these things in a mediocre manner.
If you are a Matrix fan, it is great fun to revisit this beautiful world again, I’ll admit, but just don’t set your hopes too high. If you are completely new to the Matrix, I recommend taking the “blue pill”, and ignoring this movie.
