It’s been a good week for moviegoers this week with steady news and footage trickling out of CinemaCon. With the four-day-long event in Las Vegas, multiple studios have panels lined up to discuss and tease upcoming projects with announcements and (if fans are lucky) footage. Last night Warner Brothers held their panel showcasing a slew of different projects, and one that seemed to receive a lot of buzz already is the fourth entry in the Matrix series.
Now confirmed to be titled The Matrix Resurrections the movie is directed by Lana Wachowski, the first in the cycle to be directed without her sister Lilly Wachowski. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return as Neo and Trinity. However, in the new footage shown, they are not seen in their all-black suits performing acrobatics that defy the laws of physics. Instead, the trailer starts with Reeves’ character in therapy. He’s discussing strange dreams that he’s been having with his therapist, played by the talented Neil Patrick Harris. Though as fans of the original trilogy know, what Mr. Anderson is describing aren’t just dreams. They are his memories of adventures outside of the Matrix.
It appears that he has no true memories of his time as ‘The One’ or the war that transpired between those who escaped The Matrix and the machines who kept humans in pods as an energy source. Instead, he seems oblivious to the greater happenings, paralleling his journey in the original film. The trailer plays “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane, another callback to the original series and how Neo, like Alice, follows the proverbial rabbit down the hole and into Wonderland.
Next, we see Reeves’ character reunited with Trinity (Moss), in a coffee shop. The differences in this chance meeting are strikingly different than how they originally met. Coffee shops tend to be calm places where people can go to work or relax. However, in the first movie, the two meet in a cold underground club that spoke to the darkness of the original movie. It seems too good to be true that this newest entry would continue with the calming vibes from the coffee shop. Within moments Trinity asks “Have we met before?” Clearly, something is off. Not only are we seeing the return of a character who died at the end of the original trilogy to save the people of Zion, but Moss’ character seems to be waking up to something going on.
Flash to a familiar scene to one in the original film of a mysterious man in black offering Mr. Anderson a choice. To take the red pill or the blue pill. The red being his release from slavery within the Matrix, while blue will allow him the chance to continue living his life comfortably within the Matrix, oblivious to everything. It is worth noting that this individual is not Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus, but a new character for this movie.
Reactions to the footage have been rather positive, with the attendance member tweeting “Folks, I don’t know where to begin with The Matrix! Wow!” While another patron stated that the footage was met with big applause from the crowd.
#Matrix4 footage we just saw was full of action, explosives and vulnerability. Big applause from #CinemaCon audience
— Beatrice Verhoeven (@bverhoev) August 25, 2021
Folks, I don't even know where to begin with The Matrix. Wow! It's called The Matrix: Resurrections. Thomas Anderson is in therapy, having forgotten The Matrix. He meets Trinity at a coffee shop. Neither remembers one another… #CinemaCon
— Aaron Couch (@AaronCouch) August 25, 2021
Are you excited to see the return of Neo, Trinity, and the Matrix crew? I was already excited about it, but this footage pushed my excitement over the edge. It seems to capture the thrill of the previous entries while trying something entirely new. Theories are running through my head of how these two ended up back in the Matrix and why is Neo alive. Fans around the world are about to have a long few months until the release of the movie and hopefully, all questions will be answered then.
The Matrix Resurrections is slated to premiere in theaters and on HBOmax December 22, 2021
Source: The Wrap
