Darrel Greene

It was interesting, to say in the least. Knowing what Lana Wachowski was trying to capture with this movie - a love story that shows repeating cycles of history never go the way they did before - really helped with my potential disappointment with this movie. I think they did a great job capturing the romance and emotions of Neo. The new Morpheus was hilarious and endearing. Bugs was hella cool. There were hints of gay romances everywhere. The color was BEAUTIFUL and the action scenes were impressive (to which I imagine Behind the Scenes videos will further compound this awe). Machines and humans working together WARMED my heart and gave me hope that we can emulate that in our world where conflict is plentiful. And I loved the bits of humor and social commentary that eerily described how we're feeling in the 2020s with covid. The downfalls are sadly just as glaring for me. I wish the new Morpheus had had his own name - he was so cool and so drastically different, that he deserved the respect of his own character. I was not a fan of how "meta" the movie was, and wish the story could have separated away from the trilogy, continuing on as a sequel but without the whole "the matrix is a game, here are dozens of clips from the original movies randomly disbursed throughout, and people fanboy over this 'game' and explain what it meant!". Also is that really Neo, or just depressed John Wick? Speaking of.depressed - it reawoke my existential crisis about the matrix (social expectations) we currently live in, and has kept me up all night tossing and turning, questioning what really matters in life and how to break free of what doesn't. I still don't have an answer, only anxiety. (Lana if you ever read this review, please finish freeing my mind. I'm currently stuck in the Mobil station.) All in all, if you detatch it from the trilogy it's okay. It was much lighter than previous installations. There are dozens of questions I still have and wish they would explore further. Perhaps we'll see another movie? (I hope so.)