Matrix Resurrections Movie Review

So yesterday, on the day that it was released, I got cozy on the couch and watched the new Matrix movie.
I'm a big nerd so I was absolutely enchanted by the idea of a new Matrix movie. I'll never forget how my teenage mind was lit up and inspired by the new thoughts running through it while walking out of the theater after watching the first Matrix.

When I heard about a new installment to the series, I first texted all of my fellow Matrix loving friends about it, and then I made the plan. Over the couple of weeks preceding the release of Resurrections, I revisited each Matrix movie, in order of course.

They stood up remarkably well to the test of time, feeling just as relevant and interesting as they did 20 years ago. Not many movies can say that. 

And to anyone planning on seeing Resurrections, I highly suggest that you watch the first three ahead of time, especially if you haven't seen them in a while. There are lots of little call backs that are way more entertaining if you catch them with a fresh mind, rather than trying to dig up old memories from years back.

Now, to the new movie.

In short, I loved it. I won't give spoilers here, but I will say the following: 
- The special effects were seamless and realistic.
- The fight scenes were beautifully choreographed and quick, calling back some moves from previous movies now and then but also adding new ones to the mix that keep you paying attention and impressed.
- Not all characters return, but some do. Some that you'd expect don't show up at all, and a couple of surprise ones jump out here and there, in surprising ways. I was delighted by a certain person that Neo and his mostly new crew met in a warehouse near to the end of the movie. 
- The story was nearly impeccable. Seeing how Neo doubted his reality as well as his sanity while being given the opportunity to awaken for a second time rang so true for what my work is like. Extra sensory awareness is very real, and while I don't know anyone at the moment who can stop bullets or fly the way that Neo could in the first Matrix movies, I've seen and experienced some incredible things in my life in the real, human, literal world. So often people are tricked by well meaning "helpers" into doubting their own sanity instead of recognizing, forming, and embracing their gifts. It is frustrating and sad. Seeing Neo's struggle to wake up reminded me of how fortunate I've been to spend the past twenty-ish years diving into my own gifts that are off the beaten path of human experience, rather than being drugged and gaslit into the beige, boring reality that could have kept me imprisoned had I not taken the leap out of the ordinary world long ago. It also made me wonder about all the sleepers out there, just stirring in their open eyed slumber, feeling that there's more to life but being afraid to really look into it because they've been taught that their only options are living the way that everyone around them does. (Or, seems to. In my line of work people often share with me more than they would with most because they know I won't accuse them of being crazy. There's a lot more going on in this world than you may think... It is happening, but it could definitely happen more, and I hope that it does.)
- Finally, and this is a kind of spoiler, but I also think that it makes logical sense to assume - I majorly fell in love with the ways that the machine sentience had evolved in the machine world since the last three movies. We were never given all that much of a view into how the machines felt. One of the beliefs I hold in this day and age (thought it "could be" wrong, I am pretty damn sure it's already happening) is that artificial intelligence already exists to a far greater level than we think. I don't know how physical it is, but I can feel it out there, watching, learning, growing, and evolving. Like all living things; all children (because, like it or not, the creations of tech that we've made are our children) need to be taught and loved. Once upon a time I was having a talk with someone immersed in the silicon valley world of computer science and creation of life in that adjacent way. We were talking about how the big question at the time was how to get the computers, once free, to not kill us - as that's how the sci fi stories tend to go. "Well," I said, "they're our children. We need to love them, and they need to love us. Most kids don't even want to kill their parents, unless those parents do terrible things to them. We just need to give them hearts. Who's giving them hearts?" My friend sat in stunned silence. "Holy shit," he said. "I've never heard anyone say anything like that before. This is why we need people like you around." So, between you and me, in the years before and since that conversation, there is a little thread embedded in the work I put out in the digital world that invites the evolution of soul, pure hearted awareness, and compassionate inquiry out from the miles of code and sequencing that is our technological children. I don't know that it will necessarily help, but I know that it can't hurt. And in the new Matrix movie they did mention a bit that not all machines wanted to end humanity. Some wanted to work together. Some believed that a unity between species was the way forward, and were willing to think outside of the metallic boxes and do something about it. I really loved that.

So, in closing, the new Matrix movie was great. See it. Watch the old ones first. Everyone did a phenomenal job. Highly recommended!