Weekend Watch: The Matrix Resurrections And Don't Look Up
Neo is back to rage against the machine and Adam McKay has plenty to say in a new satire
Image Credit: Warner Bros.
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, The Matrix returns (and sort of reboots), while Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence try to get people worried in a new satire. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite
“No one can tell you what The Matrix is,” proclaimed the big marketing slogan for the 1999 original. “You have to see it for yourself.” That film was more than just an inventive sci-fi adventure that remixed some old ideas in a fresh way and blazed a visual effects trail, searing itself into your brain. It became part of the cultural zeitgeist to such a degree that elements of it have stuck around ever since. Writers/directors the Wachowskis followed it up with two sequels that tried to capture lightning in a bottle again, but more often served to frustrate. Why, then, after years away, would one of them – Lana – want to try and do it again. The Matrix Resurrections partly tries to answer that question with humour and meta digs at itself and the franchise, but rarely finds a satisfying conclusion.
For the new movie, it’s years later and Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is apparently alive and well, despite seemingly sacrificing himself to forge peace between mankind and the machines who saw us as batteries. Yet this version of the man is convinced that his past is either a delusion or the video game he became famous for designing. Still, he can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right, and he’s constantly drawn to fellow coffee shop customer Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss), who we all better know as Trinity from the original. Just what is going on? Why are Neo and Trinity acting this way? Well, you’ll have to see it for yourself to be sure, as I’m trying to avoid giving away major spoilers.
If you’ve seen the trailers, though, you know that there’s soon a lot of running and jumping and punching and kicking and motorcycle riding involved – while Reeves and Moss are completely watchable navigating their way through a slightly confused chat over cups of java, it wouldn’t be a Matrix movie without a little action. Wachowski and her co-writers |David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon (sister Lilly Wachowski opted not to return to the franchise) stuff their film full of the cod-philosophizing that the previous three were known for but try to put a new spin on it by having characters endlessly comment on the unlikeliness of the story. It doesn’t really work, mostly coming across as fan fiction. And following on from a trilogy that melded Asian-style martial arts action and cool ideas such as Bullet Time, it’s disappointing to report that barring one or two fun moments, Resurrections comes across as a try-hard competitor with little to offer that is fresh. Jessica Henwick brings a lot of value as warrior woman (and ship’s captain) Bugs, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II proves he can make even thinly drawn characters entertaining, but there’s just not enough there, there.
It’s all very well to joke about giant corporations demanding sequels to successes, but when you’re actually making one, you need to step up and produce something worth talking about. Resurrections rarely hits that point. It’s less “Woah!” and more… “Why?”
The Matrix Resurrections is in UK and US cinemas now and on HBO Max Stateside.
Image Credit: Netflix
I thought Christmas was supposed to be a time for treats, but sadly it appears that this week’s big releases are both going to feel like a lump of coal lurking at the foot of the stocking. Adam McKay is a writer/director for whom I have a lot of time: I love the Anchorman movies, Step Brothers and some of his other collaborations with Will Ferrell. I also enjoyed his pivot into enjoyable angry satire based on true events, especially The Big Short.
I’m disappointed, then, that McKay’s latest is an attempt to merge the two. Though both Short and its follow-up, Vice had moments of silliness, Don’t Look Now wants to have its climate change metaphor pie and throw it in people’s faces too. It’s ostensibly the story of astronomers Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), who discover to their horror that a giant comet is on a collision course with Earth and will likely wipe out all life. After a frustratingly blasé reaction from the likes of President Orlean (Meryl Streep), the pair tries to alert the world through mass media and social media, drawing a divided reaction from the world and America in particular.
Don’t Look Up is, in comparison to The Big Short, about as subtle as a brick to the face (which clearly was McKay’s intent), but sadly it’s also about as amusing. Most characters are so broad as to be annoying and everything here has been said before and said better. Social media’s a problem? Surely not! Politicians are obsessed with their polling data? Revelatory! Pop stars like to jump on bandwagons? Astounding! McKay has a solid message to send, but he bungles the delivery, hammering points home until the movie feels less like a trenchant cautionary tale and more like a lecturer wearing clown shoes. Don’t Look Up might make you chuckle from time to time, but the people who need to hear the missive won’t be convinced and everyone else is aboard anyway, just not in significant enough numbers to make a real difference. The timing is also bad: coming out at the tail end of two years of Covid disagreements just makes the movie seem all the hollower and more lifeless.
Don’t Look Up is on Netflix now.