Brock B

Some spoilers As a very casual fan who is mostly indifferent toward the series, I have no stake in this franchise. It wasn't a good film. The plot was too thin, too many inconsistencies, and weak characters. This film ALMOST rises to the occasion but it just doesn't. There is plenty of nostalgia and throwbacks for hardcore fans, and the visuals and action scenes might be enough to placate younger viewers. However, there just isn't enough substance here. The inner turmoil of Rey and Ren could be an interesting meditation on the nature/nurture argument of evil, but neither character explores that philosophical conundrum well in my view. Ren is just a weak villain, I'm sorry to say. He's not cool, edgy, or dangerous at all. SPOILER: Finally, the resurrection of an old villain as the ultimate big baddie holding a dark secret for Rey was just tired, uninspired writing that you could see coming a mile away. His super mega army just came out of nowhere. How is it possible that NOBODY knew about this fleet? Just really sad. If you're a fan, go ahead and see the film for completionist sake, but don't have high expectations. The only way this franchise is going to get the writing and acting it deserves is with some kind of Disney+ television series.

Take the blue pill on this one and skip this disaster of a film. It's really not good. I think "Resurrections" is either the worst Matrix film, or ties as the worst with "Revolutions." It pales in comparison to the original, and I think the heavy marketing and 21 years of build-up to this fourth installment just add to the disappointment. The film has a germ of a good idea, but it doesn't bloom into anything. Without spoilers, the film exploits metafiction, but not in a good way. Flashbacks, parodies, references, callbacks, and downright plagiarisms of the original trilogy bog down the narrative. This film uses way, way too much material from the trilogy. Metafiction can be insightful and fun, but the way it's used here is neither. Here, metafiction is used as the punchline, as the cosmetic wrapping paper covering an empty box. Lana Wachowski seems to be criticizing our nostalgia-loving, sequel-obsessed, banal culture and attacks the very idea of a Matrix 4 movie WITH a Matrix 4 movie. Cute, but the film explicitly tells viewers in the first 5 minutes that Lana didn't want to make this film but was forced by Warner Brothers. We didn't need a 2.5-hour movie to beat this dead horse. Everybody has heard the old adage "show, don't tell." This film does almost ALL telling and very little showing. Most of the plot, to the limited extent this film even has one, is expressed with long expositions interspersed with snippets of mindless action. Characters (and flash backs to the trilogy) spend HOURS EXPLAINING what has happened rather than letting us experience events for ourselves. Characters parrot trite truisms of philosophy, science, and psychology rather than allow these themes to emerge organically in the narrative like in the first installment. The characters even resort to explaining to us the events and themes of the original trilogy! Surprisingly, there is nothing "woke" or progressive in the plot. At bottom, it's just the same old, tired story of white man saving his beloved white woman. Been there, done that, thanks! For wanting to deliver an anti-nostalgia message, the film sure wallows in its own nostalgia. Oh, and most of the acting is just subpar, even by Matrix vets like Reeves and Pinkett Smith. The new Morpheous character, which is not played by Lawrence Fishburne, is a travesty. All of the new characters are forgettable. The villain isn't even compelling or interesting. Die-hard Matrix fans might enjoy self-referential jokes and winks, up to a point. Beyond that, there is very little substance here. Intellectuals who want to see philosophy expressed through art and action junkies who want fun bullet-time battles will be sorely disappointed because the film is short on both. As I said, this film is mostly boring exposition. The film is not worth your time.