SO, THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS. TLDR: good ideas, bad execution. My rating: MEH. The worst Matrix film ever.

But before I explain, let’s take a look back at the “original” Matrix movies, as our latest entry surely does. Few spoilers for the OG movies here. The most spoilery section of the older films describes the Animatrix. If you liked the Matrix trilogy and hoping for a great new sequel this year… skip my review Animatrix feature to see it for yourself, if you haven’t seen it already.

Matrix the first

Needing not much introduction, let’s get to my reaction to it at the time. It was my first R-rated movie. When I saw it I was still forbidden by my parent to see R rated movies. It was easier to get forgiveness than permission in my household. So it was not long before I got a VHS and memorized it with regular re-watching.

I got attached to the Matrix because I had never before seen onscreen my internal doubts in reality. I was asking the type of questions nobody really knows the answers to. I struggled to convey concepts like qualia; So I never got the feeling anyone understood. After this film, I can make a comparison to a cultural touchstone everyone understood. This accelerated my ability to connect to others.

The Matrix– known as a big mind-blower. No kid gets lessons on the thousands of years old ideas of Plato or Aristotle. They are stuck with “learning” shit a pocket computer easily does, instead. But in spite of it blowing minds, the plot is actually simple. A great model of metaphysics wrapped up in an easily understandable blockbuster.

Damn close to being a flawless action movie. Even the elements that would in other films draw criticism such as the actors foremost Keanu who have a very flat effect, just really work here to fit the tone & setting.

The Animatrix

A much-overlooked treasure. This was a collection of animated shorts that I also memorized in their day. A much better follow-up than any of the sequels. Contains expected prequels detailing events leading up to the machine wars. But also slice-of-life shorts about civilians who won’t leave the Matrix.

There are some really great ideas and characters that could have become whole movies:

• An athlete who runs so fast he breaks the system and gets a brief glimpse of reality.
• A bunch of Japanese kids who to take to playing in a glitched-out part of Tokyo. Lovingly rendered in a clear homage to Miyazaki.
• An incomprehensibly trippy but great eye candy segment by the creators of Aeon Flux.

Cool new thing I just noticed: this kid is named after Karl Popper.

Matrix 2-3

Pros: I remember these movies having a great mood, good sets and costumes, just great design to the core. But the best part (for me) was more amazing music. Rave bangers a time where good electronic music in the mainstream was just beginning. Surely, these films pushed the envelope and provided inspiration for cyberpunk.

The action scenes were amazingly choreographed and with lots of new to offer for excitement suspense and eye candy, such as the sword-fighting & car chase. Far from damn near flawless but still a pretty good ride. They would have had a much better rep without comparison to the OG Matrix.

Cons: OG Matrix was great for making metaphysics relatable, understandable and elegant. But 2&3 was a pseudo-intellectual train of long monologues which didn’t add up to much. Really, I hate to bash film & TV for not being quite as good as the first. These are cases were more content of at least mediocre quality is still welcome.

But no lies…I’m a huge nerd who built my brain for memorizing the details of my favorite franchises by reading analysis and fan theory of the Matrix sequels… but I have mostly forgotten the under-workings of these films. The writing was just not great. A real lack of pay off for taking the time to understand the details. The issues with Resurrections are greater, but clearly get started here.

Overall: financially these were a smashing success. But to fans these were a disappointment. To the point we had a running joke pretending they do not exist. (I believe this inspired a similar joke. Pre-TERF headlines HP fans pretended JK Rowling did not exist)

Today, I think 2&3 are looking better with age. Now they’ll look even better in comparison to #4. Most people seem to prefer #3 but of the two, I like #2. The cave rave to Fluke still gives me chills!

Uggghh electronic music in general has come a long way since then but this still sounds fresh. Mwaaaah. There are other great tracks other than the rave scene. stuff like Juno Reactor and instrumentals of Linkin Park. You might have to take my word for it… if you listened to Juno Reactor before the release of these films, it was so exciting to see it in a blockbuster. So while lacking the intellectual core and elegance of the original there’s still a lot to love.

Last updated December 24, 2021