You feel the years that have passed in watching ‘The Matrix Resurrections’, so it is comforting to find that Director/Writer Lana Wachowski still brims with creative energy, a sentimental heart and a sense of humour.
‘The Matrix’ franchise was always about big ideas while still being owned by a corporation that made an awful lot of money out of it. It would be a stretch to say that this fourth entry can match the excitement that was felt in those early, heady days of 1999. Nothing could. . . But at least Lana and her team are not lazy with this latest example of a delayed sequel that Hollywood keeps churning out.
Plot details will be kept light and not just to avoid spoilers, yes, the trailers raise questions shrouded in mystery, but, apologies for the cynicism – it remains unclear if it really matters. What matters is that the creators acknowledge the passage of time, in fact they get downright meta about the whole undertaking.
Some critics have not been kind over the years about the acting ability of Keanu Reeves, but he has survived and remained a popular screen presence. Here, with grey flecks showing in his hair pining over his lost love, Trinity, he draws out strong emotions from an audience who has grown up watching him be eternally youthful and cool. After all, he still knows kung-fu.
‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is at its strongest when it introduces new ideas about how society has changed (we’re more plugged in than ever) and when it draws on beloved cast members. Jessica Henwick is headed for big things and this movie proves that, but watching Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves share the screen again is when the film evokes something and not just nostalgia. These are those characters in a new space, wondering where the time has gone. Why the filmmakers failed to capitalise similarly with the return of Laurence Fishburne or Hugo Weaving is confounding, but there are worse things than making do with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jonathan Groff.
Visually, this is a beautiful film with first-rate effects and some effective action scenes. The finale builds well, but there is a lack of tension – we hope. . . Maybe, we know. . . How this will end. And something is lacking as a result.
For all its inventiveness, this is a sequel that does not reinvent the wheel too much, but would that have been asking too much?
‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is in cinemas 26 December.
