Having not seen the Matrix Trilogy, I was totally lost for most of this fourth instalment.
Suffice to say, it took a long time to establish just what was going on.
Mind you, as a one liner, it boils down to a rather simple premise.
Neo is out to rescue Trinity and there are many obstacles put in front of both of them.
The Matrix Resurrections continues the love story between the pair.
There is also a great deal of reverence for what Neo has achieved, saving humankind.
He remains a steady and humble presence throughout – certainly no tickets on himself.
The action takes place two decades after The Matrix Revolutions (released in 2003).
Let me go into a bit more plot detail.
Neo (Keanu Reeves) is living a seemingly normal life as a revered gaming designer in San Francisco and goes by his original name Thomas Anderson.
His visions have subsided, but his therapist (Neil Patrick Harris) still prescribes him blue pills to counteract the strange things he might otherwise see.
Anderson has a chance meeting in a coffee shop with a woman who appears to be Trinity, but is now known as Tiffany.
She is married with three children and still has a penchant for fast motorbikes.
Morpheus, the hacker who freed Neo from the Matrix – a simulated reality created by sentient machines – is no longer played by Laurence Fishburne, rather Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
It is only after Morpheus gives Neo a red pill that the latter’s mind is reopened to the world of the Matrix, which is more dangerous than before.
Matrix Resurrections, with co-writer Lana Wachowski in the director’s chair (Lana and Lilly Wachowski wrote and directed the first three), is very much built around special effects and fighting.
Quite frankly, there is too much of the latter.
I found the film bloated. It’s two and a half hour running time is a real stretch.
Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss have certainly aged (haven’t we all), but acquit themselves well.
Jessica Henwick has moxie as the hacker Bugs, who has the utmost respect for Neo, and Neil Patrick Harris is polished as the analyst that has been seeing Thomas Anderson.
Notwithstanding my favourable comments about the acting though, unfortunately The Matrix Resurrections did little for me.
Perhaps fans of the franchise will be engaged more than I was.
Rated M, it scores a 6 out of 10.