The "Matrix" of the sisters Lena and Lily Waszowski was and remains an amazing film.
The combination he proposed - between mind-blowing ideas and previously unseen visual effects on the screen - made it a worldwide box office hit.
Parodies and imitations popped up like mushrooms after the rain, philosophers like Selboy Zizek dedicated entire books to him, and two inevitable (and very disappointing) sequels continued the story, deepening the mythology of the computerized world created by the sisters.
More than 20 years after the release of the first film, The Matrix still serves as a central and influential text in our popular culture.
Just last year, a fascinating documentary called "Glitch in the Matrix" was released, which featured a series of interviews with seemingly serious people (like Elon Musk, for example), who do not rule out the possibility that the world we live in is nothing more than a simulation.
It seems that the corona and the climate crisis have only intensified the feeling that the Earth's software has gone wrong.
The Waszowski sisters had no interest in returning to the world of The Matrix.
They repeatedly refused the tempting offers of Warner Bros. Studios to revive the brand, and the films they made in the two decades since ("Speed Racer," "Cloud Atlas," "Jupiter's Rise") made it clear that they had moved on.
But the Warner Brothers are less interested.
They decided to put "The Matrix 4" into production, with or without the Wasowski sisters.
Lily was not convinced by this pressure, but Lena chose to collaborate, and the result is "The Matrix: The Resurrection" - one of the boldest and strangest box office hits seen on screen in recent years (and the first film Lena makes without her sister).
On the one hand, Wojciechowski created a remake of the first film here.
On the other hand, this is a sequel.
On the other hand, this is an attempt to reboot the series.
On the other hand, there is a sharp and self-aware critique here against the recycling culture that has taken over Hollywood.
Impressive power for one movie, don't you think?
The story takes place about 60 years after the events of the third film ("Revolutions"), but in fact we start again from the beginning. Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is a successful and unsatisfied programmer, who has signed on for a revolutionary game trilogy called The Matrix. He goes to therapy (with a therapist played by Neil Patrick Harris), is addicted to pills (which help him deal with reality), and he is turned on by Tiffany (Carrie-Ann Moss) - a hot mom who loves motorcycles (and who reminds him of someone he once knew. But who? ).
In a most amusing twist, Anderson announces that his bosses are interested in reviving the successful brand he invented, and producing a sequel for him. This yields quite a few brilliant meta-textual dialogues (referring to previous films, pop culture and stories in general), and evokes dormant memories in Anderson. From there, the events of the first film begin to repeat themselves. Cracks open up in "Reality," and Anderson is rescued by a gang of rebels who take him to the "real world" and crown him as the Messiah.
Not everything works here, but given the low expectations I had, "Matrix: The Resurrection" is definitely surprisingly good. The visuals are impressive, the script's increased self-awareness creates a lot of hallucinatory moments, and the reunion between Reeves and Moss - which forms the emotional foundation on which the film is based - turns out to be much more powerful and exciting than you would expect. The plot may be ridiculous and cumbersome in a comedy segment (even when the film is almost over, the characters are still busy explaining things), but the love story between Neo and Trinity works hugely, covering up the never-ending exposition, the lack of memorable action scenes and the absence of Lawrence Fishburn and Hugo Weaving ( Whose characters - Morpheus and Agent Smith, respectively - are this time played by other actors).
"Matrix: The Resurrection" may not be a masterpiece like the first film in the series, but in its unwillingness to play by the accepted rules, and in its cheesy and unfashionable insistence that love is the whole story - one can certainly say that it has the same revolutions.
I liked.
Score: 7
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