THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (2021)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

For years the Wachowskis, co-creators and co-directors of the original MATRIX, resisted many overtures to return to their creation after the conclusion of its two sequels. This third sequel, eighteen years after their last collaboration, indicates that their initial instinct was a good one. 

I gave the original movie a high mythicity rating based on these criteria:

the Wachowskis produced a script layered with constant references to the symbolic/cultural realities in which humans exist in addition to their physical presences. The aforementioned name for the real-world human conclave is the same as that of a Jewish name for a paradisical city. Morpheus is the Greek god of sleep, while Trinity is the Christian term for the interlinked religious concepts of heavenly father, earthly Son and a spirit that in various ways mediates between those realms. Most famously, Morpheus offers Anderson a choice between two pills, one that will allow him to forget everything and return to the Matrix simulation, and the other which will enhance his understanding of his existence in both real and simulated worlds. And he glosses the pills with references to Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

However, the two sequels concentrated on a superficial "ticking clock" menace to animate the heroes' journeys through cyberspace, and the Wachowskis seemed to forget a lot of the plot-threads they themselves put out there, such as Neo (Keanu Reeves) manifesting psychic powers in the real world in MATRIX RELOADED. The Wachowskis wound up MATRIX REVOLUTIONS with a neat bow, forging a rapprochement between the human world and that of the AI. But the fact that the filmmakers kept over-emphasizing the fate of Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) suggested to me that they weren't able to follow through on the promise of the first film.

RESURRECTIONS confirms as much, though technically only Lana Wachowski was involved here, both directing and co-writing. And once again, the main theme is that of "resurrection." Though both Neo and Trinity's mortal bodies died, they're apparently resurrected in the sixty years that take place between REVOLUTIONS and this story. I *think* the idea is that an evil program in the Matrix, the Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris), creates new AI programs for both Neo and Trinity, and that these forms are later able to transition into the real world by some unexplained X-factor. 

An ongoing energy crisis is responsible for the breakdown of the detente between humans and AI, but the Analyst is the power broker in the equation. There's some sort of great psychic energy generated by both the Neo and Trinity programs, but only when they're kept apart. (The Analyst must have been strongly influenced by the two sequels, since that's almost all they're about.) So the two programs are kept apart within the Matrix, believing themselves to have two separate existences, even though they "coincidentally" encounter one another from time to time, presumably to generate yet more psychic energy.

But in the real world, a hacker named Bugs (Jessica Henwick) unleashes a new version of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), and what we soon get is a replay of the original film, in which Morpheus releases the slumbering tiger that is the real Neo from his mundane persona. Meanwhile, Agent Smith (now played by Jonathan Groff) has survived as well, as once again threatening both the human and machine worlds. There are copious battles of cyber-fu and crashing cars to fill in time before Neo and Trinity both assume their godlike forms and trash the Analyst's plans. The series ends, hopefully for good, on the reunited lovers planning to retool the Matrix into some form that will not be used to subvert human and AI will. I frankly don't remember if they managed to solve the real-world energy crisis.

By the way, Zion-- the city of human refugees that the two sequels labored so hard to protect-- did fall during the sixty years of Neo's down-time, but it was replaced by "Io." The movie didn't offer any reasons for naming this second city after one of Zeus's many conquests, though I suppose the key might be that the Greek myth-figure was the ancestress of various famous heroes. An aged Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith), whose myth-name didn't mean much either, is in charge of Io the city, but she's as dull here as she was in the other sequels.

RESURRECTIONS underperformed at the theatrical box office, so there's not a strong chance for another sequel. The best thing I can say about the movie is that its script hinted at some identity politics once or twice, but didn't go down that particular rabbit-hole. Oh, and all the "jokes" about the merchandising of the MATRIX franchise-- that is, the game that exists within the fictional reality of the Matrix proper-- are seriously lame.