Myself and Nick Clement combine to bring you this Matrix Resurrections 4DX review.
Being an AVID fan of 4DX screenings I know there are certain movies that triumph over IMAX in terms of immersion and for me Matrix Resurrections was certainly a film I wanted to see in 4DX over IMAX.
Nick Clement went to see the movie in its traditional sense and brings us his thoughts followed by my own separate review of the 4DX experience thereafter.
Enjoy!
Matrix Resurrections Review
To find out if his reality is a physical or mental construct, Mr. Anderson, aka Neo, will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more.
If he’s learned anything, it’s that choice, while an illusion, is still the only way out of — or into — the Matrix. Neo already knows what he has to do, but what he doesn’t yet know is that the Matrix is stronger, more secure and far more dangerous than ever before
Matrix Resurrections is a big mixed-bag for me overall, I have to hand it to Wachowski and her co-writers (Cloud Atlas’ David Mitchell and novelist Aleksandar Hemon) and long time creative partner James McTeigue (serving here as an executive producer) – they devised a kooky narrative that holds open contempt for the restrictions of blockbuster Hollywood filmmaking, with a particular disdain for sequels. And yet, here were are (lol).
The film operates as a mostly jumbled mash-up of call-outs to the original, groundbreaking effort from 1999, and a new-fangled version that feels comparatively un-epic and weirdly cheap-looking.
It was nice to see Trinity and Neo re-united, but it all felt too slight.
Gone is the awesome green-code tint (whyyyy?!) in favor of a slicker, less personal-looking visual aesthetic, and the results feel out of step.
In the previous pictures, there was a density to the imagery, with real texture and rough edges, especially when the characters went into the matrix itself. Here, there’s an airless quality to everything, regardless of the environment, which gives off the impression that the cast were standing in front of enormous screen savers.
Resurrections still very much sounds like its predecessors, with tons of techno-jargon and self-righteous speechifying about free will and non-conformity, and ultimately, because these films were designed to serve as parables for gender transitioning and inner individual fluidity, on a thematic level, the new movie certain ties into all that came before.
They’re certainly the most progressive examples of $100 million+ filmmaking that I can think of.
I’ve long been a massive admirer of Wachowski. Bound was one of the most auspicious debuts of all-time, and the first Matrix is in deed an iconic sci-fi masterpiece, true lightning in a bottle; I also don’t hate the sequels the way so many others seemingly do.
Speed Racer is a sheet of cinematic blotter acid, Cloud Atlas is utterly breathtaking and a true work of cinematic art, and I’ll still go to bat for aspects of Jupiter Ascending – that film is wilfully insane and exquisitely designed.
But here, there was a surprising sense of nonchalance when it came to the action set pieces, which as dazzling as they looked in spots, offered nothing new or innovative, which is what we’re always looking for.
But I’ll say this – Wachowski understands, better than any other action filmmaker, how to show people flying on-screen, which is still one of the hardest things to get photo-real and looking perfect to the eye. Currently in theaters and streaming on HBO MAX.
Matrix Resurrections 4DX Experience
A film that is desperately in need of improvement in the form of 4DX as you’re dragged into the film to experience the slow motion action sequences in true Cineworld 4XX style.
Mind-bending and seat bending as gusts of air and added scents draw you into the action and those bullets… oh wow… at one point I even ducked and I’ve seen over 50 4DX movies and not ducked once!
It all felt so immersive as water simulates rain, the fight sequences hit you in the back (quite literally) and you’re inside The Matrix whether you like the visuals on screen or not!
Want to watch a good film? This film certainly isn’t for you!
Want to live inside a mediocre movie? Then jump into a 4DX experience IMMEDIATELY!
Matrix Resurrections Review by Nick Clement
Our Rating
Summary
Whilst sounding like its predecessors Matrix Resurrection just doesn’t hit home in anyway shape or form compared to the films that have come before it. There’s much better ways to spend studio money than to make a film such as this and whilst no one can quite recreate the incredible action sequences that made the original films pop it just feels a bit more cheap and unloved this time around.
