The Matrix Resurrections – a no spoiler review

I won’t give you spoilers, but the trailers for the movie certainly will. I find that to be one of the most frustrating portions of any movie these days. I used to truly enjoy the excitement and anticipation of upcoming films and would be sure to check out the trailers. These days I want to know a very small amount about the film along with how it’s going to be released – and that’s it. I hate that some of what I think are the coolest parts of the movie are in the trailer. Saw them before the film ever started… and then was underwhelmed when I saw them in the film itself.

Speaking of trailers… it feels like movie houses are attempting to devour themselves in a desperate effort to get our attention. We were early to the film to be sure we got seats that we preferred. The movie was supposed to come in around 2 ½ hours. We had almost a half hour of previews lined up to watch before the movie ever started. I’m not kidding. I timed it at somewhere between 24 and 27 minutes of previews… to the point that we were sitting there doing the “rolling” motion with our hands in the theater. As in, OK – WE GET IT – you want us to be excited about movies… how about the one we just paid for and want to see? It was ridiculous.

I think it’s wonderful that we have so many options for movies these days. I’m glad the theater experience is still out there. More on that later.

The movie itself. It has a lot of the look and feel of the original. The sounds and colors were all familiar. Some of it was a little too familiar. There was a lot of reused footage from the previous movies, tying things together. There were lots of call backs and continuations. It makes sense in the story for the most part, but it’s difficult to talk about it in depth without spoiling things. What I DID NOT like was the way the action sequences were shot. It accentuated and doubled down on the shaky cam and unlit (really dark) action sequences. They were hard to watch and almost impossible to follow. IF you’re a fan of breaking down film things like this, I suggest checking out this short video on how action scenes are shot. Dark and hard to see, and I’m not sure it needed to be.

The characters were good. Keanu and Carrie Anne were great. I really enjoyed Jessica Henwick as Bugs. I hope to see more of her in the future. Then there was Neil Patrick Harris. I’m not going to say anything about his character. No spoilers. NPH was easily my favorite character and I’d LOVE to see more of him in films like this going forward. He made this movie for me.

I’m glad we went to the theater to see the movie. I don’t know how the combo with home screening will change the box office numbers, but it will be interesting. As I said above, I am glad the theater experience is making a comeback. Things still feel different because of the pandemic. The place was only about half full. That’s far more than recent movies, but far less than I’m betting they hoped for. I certainly thought there would be more people there for a 7 o’clock show on opening night. The movie is worth seeing on the big screen if that’s a thing you’re comfortable with. I expect I’ll be watching this movie again on the small screen at home. There were tons of little details to catch that I’m sure weren’t caught while trying to take in the story itself for the first time. It’s a well done film and I hope it does well.

Also – there is a little something at the very end of the credits too, so don’t leave early.

What movie are you looking forward to seeing on the big screen?