This was a disappointment. Our theatre just got this movie after FINALLY reopening - after having closed two days before the Matrix released due to covid restrictions.
Beware spoilers, this gets ranty.
I've spent the entire time since Matrix 4 was announced until now trying insanely hard to avoid spoilers, reviews, etc, and managed. I tried to avoid speculating. I wanted to be surprised.
The Merovingian was played as a joke. A joke. They brought him into the sequel to make him into a damn joke.
They never actually explained how in heck Agent Smith survived Matrix 3, and changed looks. And personality. And drive... Did they just slap on the name for lolz?
the last 30? (didn't have a watch) minutes were enjoyable... with a but. I don't want to spoil the only reasonable 30 minutes of the movie, but damn it gets dark, and is a bit, sorta, a glimpse of the matrix we love.
And oh gods, did they turn Neo being 'the One' into a joke. There's a part where he's asked if he can still fly. The theatre laughed at how that went. I laughed, I couldn't help it. It was well played for a parody. But inside I was crying a bit.
Most of the movie I was just chanting over and over in my head, "c'mon Neo!"
It had some clever bits. I LOVED Thomas Anderson's job, my god they could have run with that!