Mind-Blowing ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ Is More Smug Than Smart

The Matrix Resurrections is audacious, as bold in its implausible premise as its explosive execution. That’ll hit you exactly right — or exactly wrong — depending on your appetite for writer-director Lana Wachowski’s solo expansion of a world she and Matrix co-creator Lilly Wachowski once swore was finished.

For me, the experience was a mix of mind-blowing highs and soul-crushing lows that left me extremely entertained, but also deeply dissatisfied. Its handwavy sci-fi logic and clunky plotting are sure to be as divisive as the first two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (both 2003). Yet this sequel is undeniably a better film, mirroring much of the structure and purpose that made the first movie work so well.

The problem, at least for me, was pairing the intense excitement of Resurrections’ stellar first act — it’s seriously so good I thought I stopped breathing — with another 2+ hours that don’t live up to the literal promise it makes. Of course, complex stories you have to piece together on the way home are Wachowski’s speciality; see Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending. But the fearless retconning of Resurrections goes further faster, and its meta-comedy, which touches heavily on authorship and the merit of superfluous sequels, makes those post hoc rationalizations more smug than smart.

Arriving over a decade after Reloaded and Revolutions, the fourth Matrix installment leaps 18 years into the future. Hacker Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is back in the Matrix despite his prophecy-fulfilling death that concluded the last movie. But today, Thomas is unaware of his alter-ego Neo, his true love Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), or his place in a simulated world run by machines. What’s worse, instead of fighting for the fate of Earth, he’s blue-pilling it up as an in-Matrix video game developer. (That’s funny for a dozen different reasons, not least of which is the role games like Cyberpunk 2077 played in the 2019 “Keanaissance.”)

But is there something strange about Thomas’ world? Maybe something he’s…”known all his life”? Resurrections is fittingly about bringing The One back out of the Matrix, and into a new phase of the battle between humans and machines. (Well, at least in the beginning. This movie goes places.) It’s a story that lends itself well to both juiced-up recreations of moments from the original, as well as actual clips from it. The film’s integration of the old with the new is a fascinating feat. Pitch-perfect performances from Reeves and Moss bridge the gap between the glossy and colorful Resurrections with the more muted and moody The Matrix, making it a one-of-a-kind nostalgia trip that both furthers the story while harkening to its origins.

Still, Resurrections is in large part a retread of old material, with its most thrilling moments sporting the copycat sheen of other beloved story sequels like the recent Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Franchise newcomers including Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas help breathe life into the many, many narrative additions that makes Resurrections more than a remake. But, in the spirit of the holiday, it does feel like regifting. Resurrections shouldn’t be absolved of the criticism other films like it have faced for prioritizing rehashed fan service over good storytelling — no matter how cleverly it explains that away.

And the final chapter in the now Matrix tetralogy does have some real storytelling issues. The razor-sharp setup of Resurrections sticks in your mind, even as the movie’s rambling narrative and hyper-dense exposition urges you to forget what you were assured. Plot holes abound, though in the standard Wachowski way — meaning they might not really be plot holes, but you’ll need a copy of the script and possibly a calculator to sort out why they’re technically right.

Upon exiting the theater, I sat in the silence of my car for a long time, grappling with unanswered questions. It wasn’t until I involuntarily muttered “Yeah, what?” that I broke my own trance and remembered to drive home. That’s the kind of movie The Matrix Resurrections is — deeply engrossing but with a vexing edge that kept me from ever becoming fully immersed.

The Matrix Resurrections is in theaters and on HBO Max Dec. 22.