Matrix Resurrections

No contexto da natureza digital de toda a série, faz mais ou menos sentido, após uma pausa de dezoito anos, conceber o novo filme como uma «reinicialização do sistema» e acrescentar uma atualização moderna que distingue fundamentalmente o filme dos anteriores, tanto em termos de atmosfera geral, como de forma. O tratamento resultante, no entanto, desperta uma série de dúvidas. O quarto Matrix será sem dúvida recebido com ambivalência, já que as razões que justificam a sua existência se baseiam principalmente no facto de não se tratar tanto de um filme bom, mas sim de um filme narrativamente interessante, cinematograficamente corajoso, bastante pouco convencional no contexto de sequelas de séries cinematográficas famosas, e verdadeiramente único na sua abordagem a si próprio e a todo o fenómeno de Matrix em cujos rastros segue os passos. Por um lado, o filme dececiona na sua lamentável execução das cenas de ação, a sua linha de relação dos personagens principais da trilogia original é emocionalmente surpreendentemente vazia, e a evolução da mitologia ficcional parece desarticulada e inacabada (incluindo vários becos). Por outro lado, combina também muitos estilos narrativos de forma bastante divertida, desde uma meta-abordagem lúdica e irónica consciente de si mesma, passando pela lembrança nostálgica e rotinas de ação tendenciosas, até ao romance sci-fi, o que também permite ver Matrix Resurrections como um filme conceptual que apresenta gradualmente versões beta diferentes e estilisticamente distintas de como a trilogia Matrix poderia ser desenvolvida, e combina-as num único conjunto narrativo. Por isso, pode ser recomendado não necessariamente pelas suas qualidades completamente variáveis e questionáveis, mas pela sua forma narrativa extraordinária e estimulante de pensamento. (22/12/2021)

I hate this cashgrab movie! The first blockbuster of the year where I physically suffered to finish watching it. The Matrix trilogy was revolutionary, but I'm not as die-hard a fan as others, so from the new Matrix I expected at least an entertaining action film, and what I got was an insanely talky romantic crap with cheap effects, boring actors, uninteresting dialogue, a convoluted plot where I was downright lost, a slapdash pace, and damn painfully dull and uninteresting PG-13 action – it was a shock. Just about everything was wrong here, and there wasn't a single scene that I liked in the least, which for a property like this is a big bad. Jupiter Matrix Fail. A downright offensive movie. Story 2/5, Action 1/5, Humor 0/5, Violence 0/5, Fun 2/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 2/5, Suspense 1/5, Emotion 0/5, Actors 3/5. 3/10. (28/12/2021)

Sense8 Reloaded. How do you evaluate a film that didn't meet any expectations, contains a lot of mistakes, and yet I would rather watch it again than Matrix Revolutions? I'm sticking with a slightly sheepish three stars because the first half is genuinely fantastic. Many parallels, clichés turned upside down, (bitter) commentary on pop culture and the dream factory itself – all intertwined with Keanu Reeves looking even more broken than usual. It's something different than anyone expected, and it works in almost every aspect. Unfortunately, doubts arise with the more action-oriented side of things, while a surprising and, for me, unwanted cameo from the Merovingian is accompanied purely by awkwardness. The entire staircase scene is poorly done, and the only way to overcome it is through Jonathan Groff, who for some reason is in this film and elevates it with each narcissistic performance. Lana Wachowski deserves respect for her initial vision, for the clear desire to bring back something/someone who cannot return, and for faithfully returning to the characters and storylines of all the films, not just the first one. It might anger many people, but even though it involves characters that I didn't need to see again, it concludes something that evidently had been and still is left open within it. Nostalgia is much stronger than genuine feelings, memories overshadow the true face of the film. I already have a great fondness for The Matrix Resurrections, but unfortunately it is beleaguered by problematic visual aspects, a fragmented Morpheus with one strange scene after another, and a strangely rushed ending that suddenly needed to pick up the pace after two and a half hours. (24/03/2022)

That “meta” introduction was almost physically painful. Not because I have anything against meta-movies, but because I simply found the self-reflection banal, shallow and unimaginative. There’s nothing there that cheaper movies wouldn’t have made more interesting in the past. And I find it utterly embarrassing of Wachowski to smuggle such gibberish into the sequel of a Hollywood film after twenty years. Did they hold a gun to her head to make it? Fortunately, after a few minutes, it switches from this painful despair to the expected action sci-fi, which I like in concept, but which at the same time toils in many ways and doesn't make use of its potential and the various over-the-top themes that deserve elaboration. It seems that the main driving motive behind the film is a kind of nostalgia and a desire to give its heroes the well-deserved happy ending that they were not afforded in the original trilogy. By the way, the reviews about the weak action did not lie, there was really nothing that could make you jump from your seat. Although I found a couple of scenes to be relatively imaginative, the audiovisual experience of the fourth Matrix is rather sterile in the end, something that stands out especially when compared to the various cuts to the original films – each of those scenes has a more interesting "face" of its own than all the newly shot footage put together. (23/12/2021)

The new Matrix first promises a lot of interesting and new ideas, and potentially an original development of the main character and the whole world, only to turn into a slightly sad film in the middle by a director who is not capable of executing any of these ideas to the end, and only manages to create a not very imaginative variation of what we have already seen. What makes it worse is the whole film vehemently tries to present itself as something innovative, ironic, and daring. But that desire to mock Hollywood blockbusters and the obsession with sequels, while also wanting to be a part of it all and grab a piece of the box office cake, ultimately appears somewhat awkward. (23/12/2021)