Opinions of The Matrix Resurrections

[Enso]

Hi,

(Spoiler alert & Edited because I've kinda changed my opinion already)

The whole meta theme felt like I was watching the original 1996 Scream movie, that whole lets talk about the genre of the movie within the actual movie thing, its dumb and it was done 3 years before the original matrix movie. We're in a neo-liberalist-post-modernism world.. we get it.

There is a lot of philosophy in here regarding how old series are just getting rebooted and commodified, but I honestly couldn't hold attention for long enough to analyse it. I get that it's hard to tailor new movies to millennials/gen z but it is doable, it's bullshit to show it that way.

If you haven't seen it I think this $20 remade version is better.

 

[Wyote]

I liked it. It wasn't what I wanted it to be exactly, but it did a lot of justice to the progression of the story and filled in a lot of pieces in such a short amount of time.
I think you kind of have to be knee deep in the lore of it to really appreciate the nuance of it all.
Objectively as a film for the masses, it's not great.

 

[Enso]

I liked it. It wasn't what I wanted it to be exactly, but it did a lot of justice to the progression of the story and filled in a lot of pieces in such a short amount of time.
I think you kind of have to be knee deep in the lore of it to really appreciate the nuance of it all.
Objectively as a film for the masses, it's not great.

Yah true, after I posted the original post I'm now kinda seeing it all, I just wish the didn't brand it as the matrix. I kinda wanted to edit the original post now, it's only just now sinking in fully, things that Ni picked up on already the film industry and then they have laid it out proper terminology.

 

[Asa]

I liked it and I also found it boring at times. The pace didn't work. I say this as someone who enjoys slow movies and thoughtful movies/stories that are not action-oriented.
The concepts, ideas, tying up loose ends, etc, were interesting and it seemed almost "stream of consciousness" at times. It came off like talking with friends where different ideas are blurting amid the chatter.
Every scene featuring Trinity and Neo was great.

The whole meta theme felt like I was watching the original 1996 Scream movie, that whole lets talk about the genre of the movie within the actual movie thing, its dumb and it was done 3 years before the original matrix movie. We're in a neo-liberalist-post-modernism world.. we get it.

I'm not sure if you are artistic in any way, but as an artist and writer, the theme about how his video game was not a game, but part of his real life he could not remember hit a chord. This didn't feel tired or overdone to me. It is what it feels like to be creative. Plus, the whole part about how the human brain invents fiction to believe in that ties into creativity/fiction/reality. I loved this play on what is real and what isn't and the thin line between fiction and reality. Writing/reading and gaming are the two most immersive arts for how the brain reacts during the process and plenty of writers struggle with wishing their stories and characters were real, while readers and gamers ponder what it would be like to literally jump into those worlds, fall in love with characters, etc. It's just a play on that theme.

 

[Wyote]

I just wish the didn't brand it as the matrix

I thought it was very on brand. It was not a part of the original trilogy's brand, but it was The Matrix.
I appreciated that it expanded people's minds in this way a bit, although uncomfortably.
Many stories in the Animatrix and the comics are vastly different from the tone of the original trilogy.
Even the sequels themselves within the original trilogy change tone from the original film.

I think what most people want(ed) is the dark gritty kung fu inspired by manga that is so memorable from the first film.
As well as the epic fights from the sequels also inspired by anime.

Spoiler: Film Spoilers

This fourth installment was in many ways about pain, loss, confusion and finding love and connection again through it all.
A lot of anime these days is focused on slice of life stories and more true to life narratives so again this film is sort of a reflection of newer anime.
It's hard to kick a lot of ass when you are fucked up in the head.
Even this new iteration of the matrix itself was intended to oppress people through emotional manipulation.
Very much a reflection of the times we are living in, just as was the first film.
The Architect controlled the people through very specific means in terms of job functions of the masses.
The Analyst controlled people through emotional manipulation, which is a lot how society functions today.

I think people don't like this film in part because it speaks a lot of truth about where we are at today.

 

[Asa]

Spoiler: Ehem

I think people don't like this film in part because it speaks a lot of truth about where we are at today.

Cough, cough, Don't Look Up.

 

[Pin]

I couldn't get through the first ten minutes. I think it's a bad movie.

 

[Krypton]

I never get tired of meta in stories (usually), so I loved that aspect of The Matrix: Resurrections. It was really funny when they explicitly rejected certain themes that might have been assigned to the Matrix. Arguably it rejected the idea of themes with the first therapist scene but I'm not sure. Maybe just the idea of critics pushing a single interpretation of things.

If I had to take a wild stab at what it was about, it would be something like telling people that selfish, yearning love is what leads to greatness, rather than trying to follow a formula. Just find something that you really want to do, in your bones, and the rest will work itself out.

 

[Enso]

I couldn't get through the first ten minutes. I think it's a bad movie.

I agree overall, I think it was poor storytelling, I'm not a big fan of meta unless you can pull it off. Some people obviously think they did - which is fine. Perhaps a rewatch is required, it just felt so tacky.

I never get tired of meta in stories (usually), so I loved that aspect of The Matrix: Resurrections. It was really funny when they explicitly rejected certain themes that might have been assigned to the Matrix. Arguably it rejected the idea of themes with the first therapist scene but I'm not sure. Maybe just the idea of critics pushing a single interpretation of things.

If I had to take a wild stab at what it was about, it would be something like telling people that selfish, yearning love is what leads to greatness, rather than trying to follow a formula. Just find something that you really want to do, in your bones, and the rest will work itself out.

I don't think it was gutsy enough but rather it was just cynical. If you have that good a mind that you can create a movie this thought-out only for cynicism then surely you can take up the responsibility of breaking the formula. Be bold, don't just bitch about it.

 

[Krypton]

I don't think it was gutsy enough but rather it was just cynical. If you have that good a mind that you can create a movie this thought-out only for cynicism then surely you can take up the responsibility of breaking the formula. Be bold, don't just bitch about it.

Cynical in what way? The underlying message I posted seemed hopeful to me. Like, sure it used ideas from other movies as a part of its premise, but that doesn't mean it did nothing different.

 

[Enso]

Cynical in what way? The underlying message I posted seemed hopeful to me. Like, sure it used ideas from other movies as a part of its premise, but that doesn't mean it did nothing different.

One of the biggest scenes in the movie is when Neil Patrick Harris says to Neo and Trinity people just want the same recycled junk, they don't want freedom.

 

[zxgjhnmfm659]

If you guys didn't pick up on the obvious 5th wall break about it being purposely bad to make fun of what rehashed garbage people watch today (Yes, I mean all of those super hero movies, reboots, and live-action remakes) and the Matrix (the world we live in) is still hot garbage, I think you've overestimated the writing.

You've overestimated by thinking it was just bad, it was purposely satirically bad. It was a piece, not like the first or second one, but a piece of sh#@. A very, very, hot, dumpster diving hobo piece of artistic shit. If you don't watch movies typically, this movie spoke differently.

For those who watch every movie that drops, it was bad, for those like myself who don't, it was jarring to say the least, but in an artistic way. Like a banana nailed to a wall that sold for millions of dollars kind of way.

I have this opinion because I have purposely not watched popular movies and tv series because of the mass influx of the same copy pasted super hero and anti-hero that people seem to predicate their entire lives off of. Saturated the market with stories that needed to end, and that didn't need to be told.

Of course, the Matrix 4, takes this concept quite literally, and shows how easily it can ruin itself. Just like the Matrix one showed how one person can save the world from the drones of corporate America and no one would know, is just how that same person can be brought back to make a 4th installment for Hollywood, to prove just how crap the world is, despite already saving it.

It can't be saved. But Trinity, it's her turn. It's Woman's turn to save that iteration of the world. (Matrix's current universe, multiverse whatever you super hero movies enthusiasts call it)

---
I'll do one example, because INFJs are my people and if this were anywhere else I wouldn't bother:

People in general saw the movie and reactions were:
"This is a love story" "This is a bad movie" "The action was weak" "How many times did the miss from up close with guns" "Why did no operators die"

People who don't regularly watch movies but who are aware of the Matrix we live in:
"Time for Women to run the world" "This movie is making a statement about bad movies"
"The action was accurate for the scope of the work intended" "They missed bullets and no one died because today's people are PG and completely soft"

This is the portrayal of the red and blue pill.

Red pill = Wake up, ACTUALLY

Blue pill = Being "woke" (lets be ironic and unironic)

 

[Enso]

Yes, the joke is on us we understand but....being so meta made it even more meta and ironic.

Do you see now Tom.

People who don't regularly watch movies but who are aware of the Matrix we live in:
"Time for Women to run the world" "This movie is making a statement about bad movies"
"The action was accurate for the scope of the work intended" "They missed bullets and no one died because today's people are PG and completely soft"

Yah I didn't understand the whole gender studies thing going on whatsoever, it seemed like kaleidoscopes of gender roles. Lets make another women who is perfect without a proper backstory as to why she's perfect (this isn't necessarily a female thing but it certainly shows more). Then have her be gay just to add another level - I literally don't know what is trolling and what is not trolling anymore considering the writer changed from a male to a female. The bigger issues with females in modern films isn't that we remake them from nostalgia, it's that they don't have a proper fucking character definition to them. Trinity did, trinity was literally perfect in the first film.

Anyway, I guess this thread has achieved what it should a diverse set of opinions

 

[Asa]

You've overestimated by thinking it was just bad, it was purposely satirically bad.

Like a banana taped to a wall, making art purposely bad doesn't make it good.

 

[SpecialEdition]

I felt the movie was sort of a parody of itself. There were some good action scenes but there was also a lot of cheese. It seemed pretty self aware which is why I could watch it without cringing. I probably wouldn't watch it again though.

 

[Enso]

Like a banana taped to a wall, making art purposely bad doesn't make it good.

Agree

Some youtube comments I resonate with.
"You can't have your cake and eat it too and then mock the cake" ; "This movie is the embodiment of "Joking about how lame you are doesn't make you cool"

 

[zxgjhnmfm659]

Yes, the joke is on us we understand but....being so meta made it even more meta and ironic.

Do you see now Tom.

Yah I didn't understand the whole gender studies thing going on whatsoever, it seemed like kaleidoscopes of gender roles. Lets make another women who is perfect without a proper backstory as to why she's perfect (this isn't necessarily a female thing but it certainly shows more). Then have her be gay just to add another level - I literally don't know what is trolling and what is not trolling anymore considering the writer changed from a male to a female. The bigger issues with females in modern films isn't that we remake them from nostalgia, it's that they don't have a proper fucking character definition to them. Trinity did, trinity was literally perfect in the first film.

Anyway, I guess this thread has achieved what it should a diverse set of opinions

Yes, the blue haired, blue sunglasses girl. Blue pill. Ironic? Unironic? Still follows there.

Trinity was perfection then, she was made almost "imperfect" when she got married and wasn't kicking ass.

Another point in the "it's so meta, it's meta" Blue pill. The only thing Red pill about the movie is that one ones aware of it's nuances are most likely not the ones who watched the previous movies, but for those who actually understood (that there are or could be) the underlying meanings.

I'll throw out another example:

Matrix: One = Neo a.k.a Jesus Christ, sacrificed himself to save a world, no one but his followers actually gave a shit.

Matrix: Four (Resurrections) = Neo, I mean Thomas Anderson, I mean Jesus, ressurects as a game developer in a world he created, in his image, queue God Mode and Adam and Eve style romance.

This is probably the easiest visible pattern of the series that people have been debating for the longest time. This part 4 just made is soooo (not to some) obvious. I don't know nearly enough about the bible to catalogue all of the instances but it's the one book that's baked into society's brain for one to not pick up on it. The movie was more of a sequel to The Matrix than it being a 4th installment with the return of NEARLY no characters from the first, a complete departure from a decent storyline, it was clearly written in this regard. Unless someone can explain why Niaobe was telepathically talking to a robot bird, I don't think that was in part 2. Or 3. If it's implied that they're cool with the sentinels after they kinda destroyed everything, it's a reach.

Like a banana taped to a wall, making art purposely bad doesn't make it good.

Either, this was meta meta humor in reference to what one would say about the Matrix 4, or you don't know that art is subjective. I would agree, however, in the world we live in people thrive in the purposely bad. Would you pay for something this bad? I can tell you 3 people would pay more than $100k for it. The same can be said about the movie.

I'm trying to break the 4th wall using real references I don't bullshit when it comes to explanations if I can help it.

In my defense, I'm not defending the movie for it being campy at best, I'm applauding it for what it became. A real life reflection of the current state of the world through the lens of a movie adaptation.
Hell, the only good thing about the movie was the $15 I paid to get the HBO Max subscription, I've just been watching old things that are actually good, and I hate apps, and movies. It's not all bad is the impression I got from the movie and it's right. Sometimes, it's gotta be bad to be good. Philosophical shit.

 

[Enso]

Matrix: Four (Resurrections) = Neo, I mean Thomas Anderson, I mean Jesus, ressurects as a game developer in a world he created, in his image, queue God Mode and Adam and Eve style romance.

Well aware of the bible rip-offs/ simulacra and simulation. Could you explain it like I'm 5 in regards to the recent matrix resurrections, what religious themes did you get form it/ conclusions / what does it mean for pop culture.

 

[Asa]

or you don't know that art is subjective.

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[Wyote]

I hope a 5th one gets made. It's funny to me that even the idea of making another one is now divisive.