Rex Bagley

The word so many are using to describe Matrix Resurrections is "meta" and they seem to be using it to describe their view of some social commentary in the film regarding pop culture and the legacy of the original trilogy. While that may be true to a certain extent, it is more a detail rather than the point. In this film, as in the original Matrix, the mirror is the portal between the real world and the simulated world of the matrix. It is so because this represents the point of convergence between the outside world and the world inside ourselves; two components that constantly inform each other in our human struggle to develop identity and our own sense of self. This central theme in the Matrix films is at the heart of Resurrections; the self or identity has been manipulated to such an extent that even when one "knows" the "truth", the truth can be a weapon to enslave us. One's identity can be turned against them. Suffice it to say, maintaining one's control over self (and sanity as it were) they must constantly fight to maintain control, even as hard-fought axioms turn against us and forge the battles we'll fight on down the road. For all of this, though, Resurrections makes a point to say that some things about our characters are ingrained rather than subject to the process of identity formation; they are hard coded, transcendental. This is why Neo finds himself back in the Matrix and once again fighting for his love, Trinity. It is why Neo is running the modal, it is why the analyst is able to exploit Neo, and it is why the war will never cease.

The Rise of Skywalker puts the exclamation point on the argument that Disney has no idea how to make a Star Wars movie and that JJ Abrams should never be allowed to make another franchise film again. TROS could have been so much more than it was but it failed to reach its potential because JJ Abrams and company can't make a film that doesn't repeat what someone else has already said. Seriously, I think JJ goes into a film saying, "just take the other film that corresponds to the position of this film and inject the plot points with steroids." JJ is a karaoke star. A hack. He's an artist that is making a living producing derivatives of everyone else's work. TROS would have been a way better film, even with the rehash of past films, had JJ had an ounce of creativity or vision. The film would have been epic if the ending played out the complete opposite of how it played out and the franchise could have secured story lines for a very long time as a result. Instead, JJ and Disney demonstrate that their core understanding of Star Wars ends at merchandising - these Star Wars films are written with only one thing in mind, toys. If it wasn't for the merchandising, then these new Star Wars films would be nothing but Easter eggs and meaningless cameos that do nothing to contribute to the franchise.