Product test
Fast & Furious 9 crashes and burns
by Dominik Bärlocher
The Matrix: Resurrections wants to be clever - and yet is just clumsy
22.12.2021
Translation: machine translated
Twenty-one years ago, "The Matrix" hit theaters. The Matrix: Resurrections", the third sequel, reminds us almost non-stop - and thus digs its own grave.
One thing first: You won 't read any spoilers in this movie review. You'll only read information that is known from the trailers that have already been released.
My gaze wanders outside through the window. Clouds darken the sky. Rain splashes against the window. Dozens of tiny drops roll down. I almost think I see it in there, the green code. Like I'm dreaming, even though I'm awake. What if everything around me is just an illusion? A world that isn't real?
The Matrix?
"No one can tell you what the Matrix is. You have to have seen it," Morpheus once said in the movie of the same name that made science fiction history. Not because of the Asian-tinged combat interludes or the groundbreaking computer effects. Rather, it was those mind games, intriguingly woven into perfectly written dialogue. Even today, fans recite them like holy scriptures from the Bible.
17 years after the trilogy was thought to be finished, the fourth part is now due. Why? "Warner Bros. wants a sequel. They're going to make it with or without you," says one character in the film to another. It's so deliciously meta that the usually quiet film critics at the press screening at Zurich's Abaton cinema laugh out loud. Me too. Humor: one of many things that bother me about "The Matrix: Resurrections."
That's what "Resurrections" is about.
Mr. Anderson aka Neo (Keanu Reeves) is back at square one. Is what's happening actually happening or is he just losing his mind? The white rabbit might know the answer if he decides to follow the tattoo. Or has he not already decided to do so? After all, real choice is an illusion.
Isn't it? Are those even his thoughts running around in his head? Maybe he's playing the biggest prank of all on himself. Only one thing is certain: the way out of the Matrix is hard to find, if the Matrix even exists. Because it's evolved. Stronger. More dangerous. And unlike anything Neo could have imagined in his wildest dreams.
Or were they memories?
Clever at first, but then just... clumsy.
"The Matrix: Resurrection" works if you go to the movies as ignorant as can be. That's why I wrote the above synopsis intentionally vague. Don't worry: there's already more going on than the few lines above suggest. Or the trailer, which was strangely vacuous, especially in terms of story.
For a half, it works surprisingly well. "Resurrections" actually feels clever. Innovative and unexpected. Turning the rules of blockbusters on their head. Lana's words. Chapeau. But then comes the second half. To elaborate on them story-wise would give too much away and spoil your enjoyment of the first, brilliant half. So I'll sum up the second half, at least story-wise, in a single word. To the best possible description I can think of: heavy-handed.
And that's where the movie's problems start.
This is not what a Matrix movie feels like
Lana, what are you doing!?
The tonality: A grab at the toilet.
As if the film's misguided second half and undignified cheap look weren't enough, Lana Wachowski also sloppy with the tonality. Especially when young Morpheus becomes a casual patterer. I mean: What the heck? Morpheus, then played by Laurence Fishburne with a deep, rumbling voice and so much gravitas that he easily carried the credibility of the whole franchise on his shoulders, suddenly degenerates into a gag delivery boy.
I'll be damned. And he's not the only one making wisecracks. I don't know what Lana Wachowski was thinking. It doesn't fit the dark franchise, which has always skimped on humor. Especially when a brief cameo appearance by a "Reloaded" character degenerates into such a silly zero act that I lose all respect for her.
Conclusion: Great expectations are followed by great disappointment
There's an old saying of critics: Don't judge a movie by what you want to see, but by what it is. Because as subjective as a film review is - at least the attempted objectivity is influenced by nothing so much as by one's own expectations.
So here's my tip: lower your expectations. Don't expect the masterpiece that "The Matrix" was anno 1999. "The Matrix: Resurrections" won't be any better. But at least you'll save yourself the disappointment you might feel watching the credits. Maybe then you can actually get more out of the movie than just trying to be clever.
Zu sehen ist «The Matrix: Resurrections» ab dem 16. Dezember im Kino. Laufzeit: 148 Minuten. Und wenn du jetzt Lust bekommen hast, die Matrix-Trilogie noch einmal zu sehen – sie ist im Streaming-Angebot von Netflix.
Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
