It’s been almost two decades, but later this month it’s finally time to jack back in. The Matrix Resurrections is coming this Christmas, with Lana Wachowski returning to the iconic high-concept franchise that redefined action in the early 2000s. The first trailer blew us away in September, but in classic Matrix fashion, raised far more questions than it answered.
One of the biggest is how the lead characters survived the events of The Matrix Revolutions. That ended with Trinity being impaled as their ship clashed and Neo sacrificing his life to end the war between machines and humans. But, judging by the trailer and various posters, we can upgrade their situation from dead to very much alive.
Beyond that, fans have been wondering how the movie will reflect twenty years of tech advances between now and 1999. After all, the first movie was released just as the internet was taking off – long before social media and smartphones. Now, in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Wachowski has explained that Resurrections‘ story is designed to be relevant:
Technology paradoxically brought us closer together while also isolating or inculcating us from each other. The power of technology to trap or limit our subjective reality was an important part of the new narrative for Matrix Resurrections.
However this all pans out, the trailer indicates that Resurrections will continue The Matrix‘s reputation for mind-bending action sequences that mess with the flow of time – and advances in CGI technology mean they’ll be more jaw-dropping than ever. The trailer also demonstrates a subtle shift in aesthetic, moving away from the green and black of the original movie and towards a brighter palette.
The Matrix Resurrections looks to be a departure from the original movies, meaning it’s likely to split opinion when it hits theaters in December. I’m optimistic, and the fact that I’m hyped for a Matrix movie in 2021 feels damn good.
The Matrix Resurrections hits theaters and HBO Max on 22 December 2021.
