Few days after walking out on The Matrix: Resurrections, I realised that the movie I had been waiting for so long deserves at least a full watch. So today, I decided to watch it again, this time all the way through. I also realised that the first time, I had some expectations of what I wanted to see; which I decided to leave behind this time.
The good news is, The Matrix: Resurrections is not as bad as the first 1 hour. The bad news is, it is still pretty average and forgettable.
Unlike the original trilogy, which was a philosophical/existential story with action thrown in, this one is primarily a love story with action thrown in. In the original trilogy, Neo and Smith were 2 sides of the same coin and were shown as a (not romantic) pair. Now it is Neo and Trinity who are an unseparable pair and one cannot function without the other. This is inconsistent with the original trilogy because Neo did just fine without trinity for decades, before being freed. The original trilogy had a serious tone, this one tries to be funny more than once.
Some More Points
- Neo now has a new signature move where he can Jedi force-stop everything – bullets, blows, missiles.
- The Merovingian is now deranged and suffers from overacting. Looks like he was added for pure nostalgia reasons.
- The new Agent Smith is not at all menacing. He tries too hard to sound & act like the original one but comes across as silly. Also, no one knows why he is doing what he is doing. First he beats up Neo something fierce, but later on saves their group.
- The new characters like Bugs lack true character, although the new Morpheus is good.
- Niobe is a bigger bitch than she was before.
- Too many flashbacks from the original trilogy in almost every scene.
- The new Architect/Analyst sucks. The last Architect was a suave and calculating program. This one is sexist, gets beaten up by Smith and even gets bitch slapped by Trinity. While the original Architect prided himself on being a program and hence not a liar, this one is a lying, conniving crook.
- Priyanka Chopra as Sati with her fake American accent is horrible. I hated seeing her. She cannot compare to the Oracle.
- The final action sequence (swarm mode) feels like a zombie movie.
- By the end, even Trinity has superpowers like Neo. It is not explained how.
- The myth of “The One” has been debunked. Although the Architect confirmed it to be true in The Matrix: Reloaded.
- The background score doesn’t really match the mood of the movie.
On a positive note, The Matrix: Resurrections answers quite a lot of questions pending from the original trilogy.
Some Questions Still Remaining
- Why did Neo age only 20 years in the real world when 60 years have passed?
- How did Neo have powers in the real world in Revolutions?
- How is Smith still around, when he was purged at the end of Revolutions? Why didn’t the machines get rid of him, considering he was a problem for them?
Also, the end credits have this version of Wake Up