We’re exactly one month away from The Matrix Resurrections releasing in theaters and on HBO Max, and while we’ve seen plenty of production stills, images and snippets of footage from the hotly-anticipated sequel, plot specifics are being kept firmly under wraps.
Based on what we can gather, Keanu Reeves’ Neo is drawn back into the alternate reality after eighteen years living his life as a regular guy, which looks to be set in motion by a chance encounter with Carrie-Anne Moss’ Trinity. Morpheus is also back, but Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is stepping in for Laurence Fishburne, so we’ve got an intriguing mix of reboot, continuation, reinvention and rejuvenation on our hands all at once.
Callbacks to the first three installments are inevitable, and after Mateen II teased that he’s not the Morpheus we remember, co-writer David Mitchell revealed to To Vima that Resurrections is set to feature some “ingenious” references to what’s come before.
“I saw the film in Berlin in Septmber. It’s really good. I cannot tell you what this film is about, but I could explain what it is not. It’s certainly not yet one more sequel, but something autonomous that contains however the three Matrix that preceded in a really ingenious way. It’s a very beautiful and weird creation. It also achieved a couple of things that we do not see in action films, meaning it subverts the rules of blockbusters.”
The Matrix Resurrections was never going to head down the route of straightforward Easter Eggs or reheated lines of dialogue, and fans will be keeping their eyes peeled to scan every frame for nods and winks towards the illustrious past of the series, even if we’re not entirely sure how much of a bearing it has on the narrative of the fourth entry.
