The Matrix Resurrections [Blu-Ray]

Director: Lana Wachowski

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul Mateen II

Release Date: March 8, 2022

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

Synopsis:

In “The Matrix Resurrections,” return to a world of two realities: one, everyday life; the other, what lies behind it. To find out if his reality is a physical or mental construct, to truly know himself, Mr. Anderson (Keanu Reeves) will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more. And if Thomas…Neo…has learned anything, it’s that choice, while an illusion, is still the only way out of—or into—the Matrix. Of course, Neo already knows what he has to do. But what he doesn’t yet know is the Matrix is stronger, more secure and more dangerous than ever before. Déjà vu.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘The Matrix Resurrections’ rejoins Neo back in the Matrix as Thomas Anderson where he works as a video game engineer famous for creating an iconic game trilogy and keeps regular appointments with his Analyst in order to keep his troubled past at bay. But when mysterious occurrences start happening again, Anderson soon begins to question whether his game trilogy was in fact real experiences from a life he has forgotten or if his imagination is simply clashing with reality as his sanity begins to slip. Now he’ll have to push through the confusion if he is to once again realize the truth of his world and stand any hope of saving Trinity, a woman that’s now known as Tiffany but might just be the love of his life.

Directed by Lana Wachowski (The Matrix, Cloud Atlas) from a screenplay that she additionally co-wrote with David Mitchell and Aleksander Hemon (TV’s Sense8), Wachowski does a great job at the helm of ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ guiding along this unique new installment with style and care. The film’s cast includes Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Carrie-Anne Moss (Memento), Yahya Abdul Mateen II (Candyman 2021), Jessica Henwick (Love and Monsters), Jonathan Groff (TV’s Mindhunter), Neil Patrick Harris (8-Bit Christmas), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (TV’s Quantico), Jada Pinkett Smith (Girls Trip) and more, with the majority each offering capable, if not at least fitting performances for the most part in their respective roles.

‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is a visually spectacular and quite clever follow-up to the previous three films that’s loaded with gorgeous action sequences throughout. It definitely makes some unexpected choices such as poking fun at the previous films and taking an almost over the top meta approach with the material which some may dislike, but the curious choices and unique approach to the fourth film are why it works as well as it does; even going so far as to directly mention Warner Bros and their desire to make another “game” which seems to mirror the reality of the studio wanting to create another film. Such a blatantly Meta film that repeatedly dissects the first three installments certainly wasn’t what I was expecting but in retrospect I can’t imagine a more clever or suitable approach.

It’s quite refreshing to see a filmmaker that is willing to pick apart and really have fun with her previous films as Lana Wachowski does here and while the ‘The Matrix Revolutions’ was a fairly bleak (yet fitting) conclusion the trilogy, this fourth entry offers some hope and beauty that while perhaps not entirely necessary is a treat to see come to life nonetheless. I would strongly urge fans of the original trilogy to make a point of giving ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ a whirl whenever possible if you haven’t yet had the pleasure of it. It may be a drastically different film in many ways but its offbeat and extremely meta approach results in a surprisingly clever and original fourth installment that works quite well if you can just allow yourself to fall down the rabbit hole with the craziness and let it take you along for an unexpected, yet incredibly entertaining ride.

Overall, ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is a smart, visually stunning and thoroughly enjoyable ride that takes the story in a direction we might not have expected but that works better than you might imagine, sprinkled with more than enough gorgeous action to keep you hooked throughout. Repeatedly dissecting the previous three films while bringing back many of the memorable characters we love for a strange, yet smart and self-aware sequel that’s worth checking out. ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is definitely recommended for fans of the previous three ‘Matrix’ films. It’s a fun, explosive and clever follow-up. For anyone that’s understandably hesitant to spend the money on a blind purchase, it should at least be worth the price of a rental whenever you have a free evening, or at the absolute least worth giving a whirl when it eventually returns to HBO Max for subscribers.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks quite solid as a whole and delivers a fairly clean, sharp and vividly colored presentation from start to finish with no notable problems or unexpected issues arising along the way. It holds up well even during the various darkly lit, fast moving and heavily populated moments throughout and never results in anything occurring onscreen becoming negatively affected or problematic. Overall, this is a capable high definition video presentation that looks quite decent throughout and should please newcomers as well as fans.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack is quite the treat and serves up a crisp, clean and hard hitting audio presentation throughout. It constantly takes full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send everything from bullets, ships and motorcycles to crowd chatter, explosions and a great deal more consistently zipping throughout the various speakers, not to mention plenty of opportunities to give your subwoofer a workout. At the same time it never allows any dialogue or other simultaneously occurring audio elements to become distorted or rendered inaudible along the way. Overall, this is a magnificent Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1) soundtrack that excels throughout and never disappoints.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is loaded with notable bonus content primarily in the way of Behind the Scenes Featurettes that explore bringing the new film to life and featuring interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes and videos are ‘No One Can Be Told What the Matrix Is’ (running approximately 9 minutes in length), ‘Resurrecting The Matrix’ (running approximately 31 minutes), ‘Neo x Trinity: Return to The Matrix’ (approximately 8 minutes), ‘Allies + Adversaries: The Matrix Remixed’ (8 minutes), ‘Matrix 4 Life’ (6 minutes) and ‘I Still Know Kung Fu’ (5 minutes). The release also includes ‘The Matrix Reactions’ which explores bringing nine different key scenes to life (approximately 48 minutes altogether).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

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‘The Matrix Resurrections’ Arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD on March 8, 2022 & is Now Available to Own on Digital from Village Roadshow Pictures & Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

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