'Matrix Resurrections' movie review: Fails to recreate magic

The Matrix Resurrections

English (Theatres)

Director: Lana Wachwoski

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-A-Moss

Rating: 2/5

The ‘Matrix’ trilogy pushed the boundaries of science fiction in the 2000s. The use of VFX, especially bullet time, became a benchmark in action sequences. The story was tied up completely in the third installment as the war between humans and machine was ended by Neo.

‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is a movie which attempts to recreate the magic of the original trilogy. Unfortunately, the movie falls short. It plays with the power of nostalgia with little success.

The first half of the movie is slow and is a parody of itself. Neo is an award winning game designer and the entire 'Matrix' trilogy was the story of the game created by Thomas Anderson. Neo’s business partner and boss is Agent Smith.

Neo often has flashes of memories of the original trilogy and has difficulty differentiating between reality and dreams. His shrink, The Analyst, helps him with blue pills. The plot then moves on to how Neo, who was believed to be dead in the machine war, is still alive and connected to the Matrix along with Trinity.

What follows is the story of how Neo is freed and extracted from his pod, where he realizes Trinity is also alive and is connected to the Matrix. There is a lot of VFX and CGI but they feel dated. Smith has a confusing character arc, confronting Neo with other exile programs, including the Merovingian at one point in the movie. Overall, the fails to live up to expectations.