Film Review: THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (2021): Despite Great Visual Effects, Keanu Reeves’ Movie Feels a Bit Hollow

The Matrix Resurrections Review

The Matrix Resurrections (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Lana Wachowski and starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Grof, Jessica Henwick, Neil Patrick Harris, Jada Pinkett Smith, Priyanka Chopra Jones, Christina Ricci, Lambert Wilson, Andrew Lewis Caldwell, Toby Onwumere, Max Riemelt, Joshua Grothe, Brian J. Smith, Erendira Ibarra, Michael X. Sommers and L. Trey Wilson.

18 years after the thoroughly entertaining The Matrix Revolutions, director Lana Wachowski has brought a new film in the franchise, The Matrix Resurrections, to the screen. 18 years is a long time to wait for any franchise (Ghostbusters: Afterlife felt like a reboot due the 30-plus years that one took to come to theaters after the previous film in the series), and the characters of Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) seemed to have already missed out on a great love story with the given events of the previous three Matrix movies. That’s not to say that the new picture couldn’t have successfully pulled off a love story between the two main characters of the franchise. Wachowski doesn’t pull it off adequately because it feels like an afterthought. There are so many characters and interactions throughout the picture that one could ask: Why spend two-and-a-half-hours dealing with every single character here when all you want to do is tell a love story? You could say that staying faithful to the source material was important but Wachowski’s latest is a bit disappointing. You can argue that everything that happens in the film intersects but there could have been more heart and less gunfire with better results.

Keanu Reeves is in decent form playing a head video game programmer known as Thomas Anderson. He suffers a lot in his life and had attempted suicide at one point which is why he sees an “analyst” (Neil Patrick Harris). The scenes between Reeves and Harris early in the picture are entertaining and establish the fact that Thomas needs to have structure in his life. He finds that through his work. At one point, he eyes Trinity’s alternate persona, Tiffany, in a coffee shop, but Thomas gets nervous when it comes time for him to admit how he feels about her face-to-face. It doesn’t seem to matter anyway because Tiffany is married with children but if you know the way these movies work, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Morpheus has been replaced. Laurence Fishburne is not playing him this time out but Yahya Abdul-Mateen II of Candyman is. It’s an interesting bit of casting that one can get used to after a few minutes of initial shock. Luckily, the movie makes sense of the change in the actor playing Morpheus. The first big action scene where Morpheus makes an appearance is set in Anderson’s work bathroom. Morpheus is determined to bring Neo back into reality and Neo needs something to excite him other than what is happening in his mundane day-to-day existence.

Also changed is the actor in Hugo Weaving’s role in the old movies. Jonathan Groff takes over. Groff is still surprisingly effective. It’s just the original actor, Weaving, was expected. When we reach Zion and see Niobe (an O.K. Jada Pinkett Smith, unrecognizably old) we get some preachy dialogue that moves the plot along but isn’t really all necessary to understand the action scenes which are better than the more story driven sequences in the film. You could have chopped off ten minutes of dialogue, and nobody would have noticed during the key plot development scenes.

A big action set piece that starts in a coffee shop and ends up on the streets is filled with excitement for a bit and is particularly well done. Then, the movie shows us the final fight for Neo and Trinity to be together and end up happy. This involves both heroic characters flying through the sky with a helicopter shooting at them. There’s a central bad guy in the film who I won’t identify but he offers the explanations behind the key plot developments in the film. Also, the visual effects are really well orchestrated making a couple of scenes between the lead characters feel authentic and strong. The visual effects are the true standout here from a technical standpoint.

I wanted to love this film. I constantly watched the trailer and was excited to see it. There is nothing wrong with the performances and the romance is appealing. Keanu Reeves is relatable. Neil Patrick Harris offers an interesting performance too as he constantly tells Anderson/Neo how to live his life. Though I didn’t clock, Carrie-Anne Moss’s screen time, it’s not as much as it should have been and with more of her on screen, the film may have worked a bit better.

There is some heart in The Matrix Resurrections, but it is mostly found towards the ending of the picture. I think with more flashbacks of Carrie-Anne Moss’ Trinity throughout the picture, the filmmakers could have re-worked this plot to better effect. It ultimately feels like a draft of a screenplay that wasn’t finished not because of the ending but because of the in-between scenes which occasionally just falter for various reasons. They feel like time-filler.

With that said, if you can fast forward some of this film on HBO Max, you may be able to find a decent film buried within, but it still would have needed more development to recommend. Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves are a dream pairing from the past films which are 18 years old now. It would have nice to have showcased a true love story for their characters in the new film, but The Matrix Resurrections wants to throw in everything but the kitchen sink and ends up feeling hollow at the end as a result.

Rating: 5.5/10

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