Resurrections: A Matrix fanfic

Carla Ra
Jan 1, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Aug 19

The fourth installment of the Matrix franchise was out in the theaters on December 22nd, 2021. Appropriately titled The Matrix Resurrections, the movie by director Lana Wachowsky feels like it was written by a fan of the original trilogy.

Don’t get me wrong; I really like fanfics. And I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. But I understand why so many people snubbed it. Fanfic-lovers are a niche crowd, after all.

Without further ado, here are five points that make The Matrix IV feels like fanfic.

I’m issuing the warning: SPOILERS ahead.

1. The story is about love

If you’ve seen the trailer, you know that Neo and Trinity are back at the Matrix, and they reunite there. What you may not have realized is that the whole story is about them getting back together. It is the power of their love that fuels the Matrix and that allows them to escape also.

Nothing screams fanfic more than a love story between original characters. Especially when it is set in different epochs or environments. And for us, fanfic lovers, it is enough to keep our hearts fluttering and cheering for their love.

2. Lots of fan service

Several easter eggs made their way into the movie to please the hungry audience. They kept the story grounded in the reality of the original trilogy.

We nodded to Zion and got a new Oracle. We saw what happened after the war and met other original characters besides the main couple. Neo followed a rabbit to exit the Matrix, and we explored bullet time a bit more. Not to mention all the flashbacks!

So yeah, we were indeed in the Matrix universe, no effort to hide it.

It is self-aware

One of the perks of fanfic is the fact that the superfans are acutely aware of the world the story is built in, having explored it many times and dissected it to its bare bones. This knowledge is reflected in their fiction.

So, when it comes to fanfic, it is not uncommon to read (or watch, in this case) explicit exploration of the story’s lore, peppered with self-references that only a “true fan” can absorb. It helps the audience to emotionally connect with the narrative.

In The Matrix: Resurrections, the lore was explored through a Matrix game inside the Matrix and with the release of a new, seemingly unwanted sequel to the original trilogy. Super meta. It barely escaped becoming a parody. The limited screen time devoted to it was a good call at the end.

No philosophy

This installment did not advance the franchise’s worldbuilding whatsoever.

The charm of the original trilogy, particularly the first movie, was the philosophical banter about the existence of a simulation powered by human beings. What moved The Matrix was the question about the place of a destined chosen one in a fight for freedom of will and characters that embodied those ideas, like the Oracle and the Architect.

In Resurrections, the quest was to reunite Neo and Trinity, with an underlying side plot to save more humans from the Matrix that, in the end, went nowhere. Instead of deep philosophical issues, The Matrix IV relied on a meta-narrative to keep things interesting.

The only new character with a philosophical belief to explore was Neil Patrick Harris’s The Analyst. So, it is not a surprise that even those who did not enjoy this installment of the franchise still praised NPH’s performance.

The end

The over-the-top happy ending has fanfic written all over it!

Neo and Trinity get together and scold the big baddy. There are jaw-dropping, cutthroat scenes, and, at last, they fly together into the sunset, off to painting the sky with rainbows.

Yeah, it was not my favorite part. But… endings are hard. That’s why fanfics tend to disappoint in their wrapping up of the story.

As I said before, I liked the movie. It is definitely not a masterpiece but entertaining enough. My main criticism is about the special effects; they were kinda lame! Neo’s Kamehamehas were funny, tho.

Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.

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That’s it, folks. Did you like The Matrix: Resurrections? Or are fanfics not for you? Let me know in the comments.