The pair don’t know each other and have no memory of their earlier selves, and the former has achieved lonely fame inside the simulation while the latter has a family and a quiet life.
But if a little context is helpful, the film begins with Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie Anne-Moss) having been reinserted into a version of the Matrix simulation. If you want to know as few plot points as possible about The Matrix Resurrections, you can skip this paragraph. It echoes Matrix contemporary The Thirteenth Floor - as well as its predecessor, the Rainer Fassbinder film World On A Wire - with a story about losing track of the line between reality and fantasy but freshly made for a world where that philosophical dilemma has permeated pop culture. It’s followed by an effectively cringeworthy sendup of a specific media industry that will remain nameless. Resurrections’ opening calls back to an iconic Matrix scene while stylishly introducing new characters and teasing a compellingly trippy plot, complete with a new palette that spices up the series’ classic monochrome with patches of slick color. It’s a promising premise for a new installment in the series, and the early execution is fantastic. Resurrections’ narrative is very directly responding to decades of people analyzing everything from The Matrix’s bullet time sequences to its transgender subtext. And without getting into specifics, I don’t mean this in some abstract thematic way. (If you don’t know who these people are or you haven’t thought about them much since then, I would strongly recommend brushing up.) But in spirit, it’s a sequel to the entire Matrix cultural phenomenon that began in 1999. Resurrections is a direct sequel to 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions, continuing the story of Neo, Trinity, and a few other well-known characters from the Matrix trilogy. And worst of all, the kung fu isn’t very good. It seeks to dissect the adulation and mythos that have grown up around The Matrix over 22 years but without the masterful craftwork that inspired that adulation in the first place. It’s a gratingly uncool and reactive cut-up of an effortlessly cool and timeless work, albeit seemingly deliberately so. Directed by Lana Wachowski instead of the typical Wachowski-sister duo, Resurrections starts with an intriguing bit of metatextual loopiness before devolving into a tepid sequel. The Matrix Resurrections is, to its credit, a fairly weird film - but one that’s often more concerned with being self-aware than being good or enjoyable. I really have nobody but myself to blame. The Matrix Resurrections warned me its existence was a bad idea, and I kept watching anyway.
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