thoughts on "The Matrix Resurrections"

The Wachowskis are doing it, despite having denied wanting to do so for a long time: they've been filming "The Matrix Resurrections," and there's even a trailer out (along with a trippy ad campaign composed of fourth-wall-breaking teasers). 

I really loved "The Matrix," and I enjoyed the subversive nature of "The Matrix Reloaded" far more than many critics did, but I was thoroughly disappointed by "The Matrix Revolutions" and its epic failure of imagination. And while part of me loves the idea of seeing the further adventures of Neo and Trinity (Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss both return, but in this story, they apparently don't remember each other as lovers; Laurence Fishburne is not back as Morpheus,* but Yahya Abdul-Mateen seems to have taken his place), I dread whatever contrivance the writers had to come up with to explain how two characters who most definitely died in "The Matrix Revolutions" are suddenly alive again. 

If you watch the preview trailer for "Resurrections," you'll note that Keanu hasn't bothered to change from his bearded, long-haired John Wick look. Maybe he's now too old to be convincingly clean-shaven. I don't know. I do know that the movie is coming out around Christmas in the States, and while half of me is aching to see it, half of me thinks nothing will top the fun and excitement of the first film.

Here's the trailer, which does look intriguing:

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*One of the greatest scandals of "The Matrix Revolutions" is how Morpheus gets sidelined in favor of playing up Captain Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith), with whom the audience is given no real time to build up a connection. Morpheus was a John the Baptist figure in the first film, announcing the arrival of the One, but not suffering John the Baptist's fate. It was almost as if the writers didn't know what to do with Morpheus once his purpose had been served. "The Matrix Reloaded" strongly hinted at a subversion of the character by making it seem as if everything Morpheus believed in had been a lie; it might almost have been better to kill Morpheus off at that point, when he was at his lowest, leaving the memory of Morpheus to motivate the survivors somehow. Instead, Morpheus got turned into Chewbacca the copilot while Niobe expertly piloted the ship, and he had nothing left to do but witness the results of Neo's final battle with Smith at the very end. As character arcs go, Morpheus' arc has to be one of the most disappointing I've ever seen.