The Matrix Resurrections is a picture that nobody expected and that almost nobody knew how to receive. Lana Wachowski's 2021 return to the franchise is a knowing and emotionally direct personal statement, a film about memory and love and the relationship between art and the industries that produce it. It uses the franchise's own mythology as a vehicle for commentary on the nature of sequels and the demands of franchise filmmaking with a wit and a courage that the more conventionally spectacular entries could not have attempted. It is also an uneven picture, one whose reflexive tendencies occasionally tip into self-indulgence. But it is a picture of feeling and intelligence, and it deserved a more generous reception.
At a Glance
Director: Lana Wachowski
Runtime: 148 minutes
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff
Release: 2021
Critics Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, flawed but genuinely interesting)
Audience Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, underappreciated)
Review Breakdown
Plot
Thomas Anderson is once again living in a simulation, working as a game designer whose celebrated creation is a trilogy of games called The Matrix. When a woman named Tiffany enters his life, he recognises her as Trinity, and the central concern becomes whether the connection between them is real or a construct of the simulation. The plot is the franchise's most self-referential, using the game designer premise as a vehicle for commentary on the original trilogy and on the nature of sequels and franchise filmmaking. This is both the greatest strength and the most significant creative risk, a decision that rewards audiences willing to engage with its layered ironies and alienates those who wanted a more straightforwardly spectacular continuation. The picture is most coherent when it stays close to the Neo and Trinity relationship, and least convincing when the action sequences crowd out the more personal material.
Characters
Reeves's Neo is given the franchise's most psychologically complex starting point, a man uncertain whether his memories are real and whose identity is constructed around a creative work that may or may not reflect experience. Reeves plays the character's confusion and his gradual recovery with a conviction and a vulnerability that makes this the most emotionally candid franchise performance of his career. Carrie-Anne Moss's Trinity is given considerably more agency and function here than in the original trilogy, and Moss plays the character's own journey of self-discovery with a warmth and a sureness that makes her the picture's most compelling presence. Jonathan Groff's Agent Smith is the most divisive new element, a reinterpretation that lacks the theatrical authority of Hugo Weaving's original but finds its own register of menace and wit. Jessica Henwick's Bugs is the strongest new character, a figure of considerable capability and enthusiasm whose function as audience surrogate is handled with a lightness that makes her the most enjoyable new presence in the franchise. Reeves and Moss are the indispensable elements, and their reunion is the primary reason the picture works as well as it does.
Tone
Lana Wachowski pitches the picture at a register of nostalgic reflection and emotional directness, a combination more unusual and more interesting than the action-driven approach of the original trilogy. The picture is at its best in its quieter sequences, where the Neo and Trinity relationship is developed with a warmth and a precision that makes their reunion the picture's most compelling thread. The action sequences are the least successful element, lacking the visual invention and spatial clarity of the earlier films. Tom Tykwer and Johnny Klimek's score incorporates the original's themes with a sensitivity and a respect that gives the picture a sonic connection to its predecessors without merely repeating them.
Meaning / Themes
The central concern is the relationship between memory and identity, between the stories we tell about ourselves and the experiences that generated them. The meta-commentary on the original trilogy, and on the demands placed on artists by the commercial systems that produce their work, is the picture's most intellectually engaging element, an approach that gives it a depth more straightforwardly spectacular sequels cannot reach. The decision to make Trinity's awakening the emotional climax, rather than Neo's, is the picture's most valuable thematic development, a statement about the franchise's central relationship that gives the conclusion a weight earned through character rather than spectacle.
Direction
Lana Wachowski's direction is the most personal and emotionally direct in the franchise, with a command of the quieter sequences and a feel for the Neo and Trinity relationship that gives the picture its most affecting passages. The action sequences are handled with less assurance than the quieter material, and the gap in visual invention between this entry and the original trilogy is most apparent in the set-pieces. The picture's greatest directorial achievement is its willingness to prioritise emotional honesty over spectacle, a choice that makes it the franchise's most distinctive entry since the original.
Cultural Reception
The Matrix Resurrections received mixed reviews on its release and was a significant commercial disappointment, grossing approximately $156 million worldwide against a production budget of $190 million. Critics were divided between those who found the meta-commentary a worthwhile creative choice and those who found it a substitute for the visual invention and narrative momentum of the original trilogy. It is now regarded as the franchise's most personal and most divisive entry, a picture whose reputation has improved as its emotional directness and sharp self-awareness have become more widely appreciated. The gap between its critical ambition and its commercial performance remains one of the sharpest in the franchise's history.
Final Verdict: A flawed but genuinely interesting return to the franchise that prioritises emotional honesty over spectacular action. Reeves and Moss are as compelling as ever, the Neo and Trinity reunion is the picture's most affecting thread, and Lana Wachowski's willingness to use the franchise's mythology as a vehicle for personal statement gives it a dimension that safer, more conventional sequels cannot achieve. The Matrix Resurrections deserved a more generous reception than it received.