Liked it. 👆
Some insightful and entertaining meta commentary on sequels/reboots as well as a fun continuation of the series.
It's another Matrix sequel and most people didn't like them, so they won't like this one either. No surprise.
I liked that Lana Wachowski very boldly said, "I don't give a f#ck if people complained about them, here's lots of reminders about them... suck on it." 😂
That being said, I would probably feel a little ripped off if I didn't leave a little confused about some things on first viewing. It's The Matrix afterall. I look forward to seeing it again and again...
Originally posted by Patient_Leech
Resurrections is the continuation of the brilliance of the Matrix series, so just wanted to add...So glad I didn't watch any trailers. They're f#cking awesome now that I watch them, but damn they show the entire goddamned movie.
Yeah, I really liked it. Go see it and/or stream it on HBO Max.
Apparently it needs the support with Spiderman dominating the theaters.
I feel like it's pretty safe to say that anyone who actually liked the sequels will like this one. It's well written for that crowd with some nice progressions to the world-building.
That explains a lot. I kind of figured it was the case. Her hand must have been forced. Better in the creator's hands than in some lame hollywood writers. So the fact that the film became an indictment of the Hollywood sequel/reboot machine is kind of awesome in a way.. haha. The story she tells the press is that her parents died and it inspired the idea. I'm sure it could be partially true, but it seems clear it was also pressured on her from studio execs. Not to mention that the other Wachowski films haven't exactly found massive audiences.. heh. Regardless, I hope she decides to do another film or two. Keep the same writers (it's basically a huge Sense8 reunion, even the writers) or fold her sister (former brother) back in. They've done their messianic trilogy, and now they've done an indictment of the Hollywood machine, so I say go hog-wild and just have some fun with it!
So, just watched this.
I can't remember the last time I watched a film crawl that far up its own *******. Dripping with pretension, it took a concept that I actually really liked, and took it so far past the line that it's completely without shame in how badly it relies on nostalgia in its presentation. And yes, some will say that's the point, but execution still matters. And on that alone, it fails imo.
It's not as bad as I thought it was gonna be, but it was very, very bad.
It was meh.
Didn't see the point in either
Spoiler:except nostalgia. That added to Neo's
Coded Neo or Agent Smith
Spoiler:gave too much of a Force Awakens (Repeat/Nostalgia) vibe.
wake up again story
The
Spoiler:thing was fine. Didn't mind that in concept.
Trinity
Actions scenes were fine, but nothing memorable.
So I watched it again, and so I'll break down a little more. Not going to use spoiler tags, so be warned. I don't think anyone gives a shit at this point anyway, because it's a contageous meme to just shit on the sequels just for fun. Anyway...
The Good
1) The general premise is kind of brilliant and trippy in the sort of ways that The Matrix always has been. The Machines resurrected Neo (and Trinity), reconnected him to the Matrix via a very special connection in order to pull more energy from them. And they've convinced them that they're either crazy or dreamed the whole Trilogy. And they have to gradually figure out that it actually happened. It's just a great trippy concept. 2) The world building in the real world, with the new human city Io, the civil war amongst the machines, new technology for programs to manifest in the real world and helpful machines; 3) the new Matrix updates like purging certain characters (although apparently many exiles were still able to avoid the purge), parallels to media algorithms, etc. 4) The opening sequence is good, nicely done action set pieces and compelling Matrix-esque action. 5) I love all the Matrix goo-pods, and fields, and real-world stuff in general. I'm glad that was shown a lot, because it's kind of a sci-fi wet dream.
The Mediocre
Not going to lie, too many of the fights are a little too choppy and "standard." The long shots of kung fu are largely missing here. The absence of Yuen Woo-ping is greatly obvious. The new dojo fight is pretty decent. And the fight with Smith in the under portion of that factory (or whatever it is) is pretty cool. Audiences are too jaded, though, and wouldn't appreciate it anyway. And I think that's largely why so many are just shitting on it, because a lot of the things that The Matrix pioneered have been commonplace. If you step back and just appreciate some of the stunts it's still pretty cool.
The Meta
Don't forget that the Matrix films have always been at least somewhat meta. The names of characters, Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Niobe (and her ship the Logos headed to the Machine City). The lines at the beginning of Matrix 1: "It sounds like you need to unplug, man. Get some R & R." They just stepped it up a lot of notches this time, haha.. And I think Lana wanted to scream at the audience that she didn't really want to do this sequel. It was kind of forced upon her. Because I can also understand that they wouldn't want to hand it over to completely different filmmakers to take over their creation (and it sounds like Keanu and co weren't interested without the Wachowskis). But it's kind of awesome and rebellious in a Wachowskis sort of way to openly mock sequels and reboots while doing that very thing. But all the Meta dialogue still works for the film, too. (Except one line from the Merv that I didn't understand about franchising and sequels).
Anyway, some random thoughts because that's all the time I have at the moment. But I really hope they will get to continue with another film or two and just have fun with it and hopefully win more people over again with some better reviews.