'The Matrix Resurrections' review: A sequel stuck in a loop of déjà vu

In trying to match the beats of the original, 'The Matrix Resurrections' ends up stuck in a loop of its own. – Photos: Warners Bros Malaysia

The Matrix Resurrections

Director: Lana Wachowski

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Christina Ricci.

Déjà vu. We all know what it means – that there is a glitch in the Matrix.

It has been 22 years since the first Matrix movie, but it’s hard to escape getting a sense of déjà vu when you watch The Matrix Resurrections.

Supposedly a direct sequel rather than a reboot, Resurrections is set decades after the events of The Matrix Revolutions. If by chance you do happen to remember what happened in Revolutions, you’d recall that Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie Ann-Moss) seemingly died after a long battle with Agent Smith, part of a series of events that ended the war between machines and humans.

In Resurrections, however, it seems as though Neo is alive and well, and in fact, living happily within the Matrix. In this life, however, he is not together with Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss), but they still meet fleetingly almost every day in a cafe he frequents. Then, a new version of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) shows up to offer him a blue pill and a red pill once more... and, well, we know how that will go.

It's great to see Reeves and Moss back in their most iconic roles.

First things first. It IS great to see Reeves and Moss back in the roles that made them pop culture icons. They are much older this time around, but there is still a certain thrill to see them back in action. Reeves, especially, plays Neo with greater emotional weight this time around, especially in the beginning, when he is mild-mannered Thomas Anderson and not the high-flying Neo. And yes, he still knows kung fu.

Abdul-Mateen also does superbly, taking the solemn gravitas of Laurence Fishburne but adding a touch of flair to the new Morpheus. Jessica Henwick’s Bugs is another standout character, serving as ‘the audience’s eyes’ (as she has mentioned in previous interviews) while kicking butt at the same time.

Director Lana Wachowski, who takes the reins on a Matrix movie without her sister Lilly for the first time, proves there is still life in the old code yet, with some thrilling action sequences and nifty filming tricks that evokes memories of the first movie's revolutionary 'bullet time' technique.

Jessica Henwick's Bugs is one of the more memorable new characters.

Nostalgia can be a powerful thing, and this year, almost more than any other year, has seen studios reach back into the dusty annals of their back catalogs in order to try and rekindle some sense of nostalgia in fans over their favourite franchises (we’ve seen Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Spider-Man: No Way Home do it to great effect).

With Resurrections however, nostalgia is used not just as a way to bring back fans, but also as a plot device. Resurrections doesn’t just remind us of what went before, it uses our own desire for more Matrix gratification to pull us into a Matrix of its own.

Old characters are given new life, new characters are given connections to old characters, old action sequences are seen through a new pair of eyes, and even the the old ‘bullet time’ is given an update of sorts. One scene uses footage from the original film to draw parallels to the current one. Actual real life action figures from the original Matrix trilogy are seen. Characters in a meeting actually sit down to discuss what made The Matrix great, and even quote directly from the movie.

In a way, you could say that this is The Matrix itself analysing what made The Matrix great.

Still peddling red pills after all these years, eh, Morpheus?

However, many of these efforts to be ‘meta’ often come across as self-parodying, and pandering. It's like Wachowski did not trust the audience to remember what happened in the original movies, and decided that we needed a refresher course on what made the originals so good.

Herein lies the problem I have about Resurrections – is too beholden to its predecessors that it sometimes does feel like a remake rather than a direct sequel. It keeps telling you to free your mind, but the movie can't even free itself from the shackles of its own past.

In trying to match the beats of the original, and in some cases, even completely parody itself, Resurrections ends up stuck in a loop of its own. As entertaining as it was to go back into the Matrix, all I got in the end was an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.