Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Jessica Henwick, Neil Patrick Harris, Jada Pinkett Smith, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Christina Ricci, Lambert Wilson, Andrew Lewis Caldwell
Distributor: Universal Pictures International
Runtime: 148 mins. Reviewed in Dec 2021
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
| 
| 
Are we all living in the Matrix? Can the stories be told again? This time, Neo is Thomas Anderson, quietly working on computer games, but drawn by his fans into more computer fantasy stories.
While mathematicians and philosophers were comfortable with the word, Matrix, it wasn’t part of everyday language until the 1998 the release of The Matrix and its two sequels. These sequels were admired by some and attacked as not being as good as the original by others.
Which is, perhaps, a dicey statistic when considering a fourth Matrix film, especially after a gap of 18 years. Well, here it is, focusing on Keanu Reeves’ Tom Anderson, best known as Neo, the One. (After becoming so well-known from the Matrix trilogy, Reeves has become in many film fans minds, John Wick.) And, the question as to whether Carrie-Anne Moss will be back as Trinity, whether Laurence Fishburne will be back as Morpheus, or Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith, black suit, dark glasses. A yes to Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne seen in a number of flashbacks, and the news that Hugo Weaving had a clash of commitments (glimpsed momentarily in some of those flashbacks) but was not available to resume his character.
Only one of the directing Wachowskis is back, Lana. But, the production design gathers up all the tradition of the previous films – and then some.
The issue as always been about the Matrix and the existential questions of what is fiction, and what is reality. And, where do we as ordinary human beings live? Are we digital sentients (now there’s an interesting term) or human beings trapped in the destinies of computer games. Since the screenplay raises these questions again, we are continually tantalised throughout the narrative as to what is the real world, what is the imagined world, what is personal dream, what is game programming controlling the life of the protagonists. And this is what happens to Neo/Tom throughout the action.
He has retired from prominent public action, is employed by a company of computer gamers, works away at his desk – but, some of those who knew him in the past, as well as a new generation of admirers, want to find and resurrect him, Morpheus included, younger, perhaps ageless, form (Groff) and a hyperactive warrior, Bugs (Henwick).
Which means then that we are moving from one reality to another, seeing Neo/Tom plugged into a machine, living out his fantasies, the search for Trinity and finding her in the form of a housewife with children, Tiffany, mending motor bikes, moments of torture, moments of fighting, of power-repelling bullets, all those strengths and qualities he has had from the earlier films. At times we see Neo/Tom with his long hair and beard. At other times, momentarily unrecognisable, he has lost his beard, retaining stubble, and his head shaved. And, as always, the question, who is real?
The screenwriters begin shrewdly (though not shrewd enough to ward off the naysayers) by referring to the previous films, to discuss sequels, especially sequels after a long period. But, this is what computer game designers can do, re-create, revive past stories. There is some humour in this self-referential discussion, meaning that we are to take this seriously, but perhaps not too seriously.
But, there is a serious character, a psychoanalyst, played by Neil Patrick Harris, seen at first in counselling sessions with Neo/Tom, but gradually being revealed as one of the controllers.
For those who have never seen any of the Matrix films, the plot is somewhere between lucid and incomprehensible. But, with all the effort going into this new version of Matrix with all the different resurrections, it is a pity that the fans seem to be so condemnatory.
12 Random Films…
