The new trailer for The Matrix Resurrections has released via Warner Bros yesterday and
alongside some great new looks at Neo, Trinity, the younger Morpheus and more surrounding
the plot of this latest film, it has us wondering one thing.
How will the nostalgia play into this new movie and what purpose will it serve.
Well, from breaking down the new footage it suggests that the film may be responding
to the nostalgia-filled movies we get in Hollywood today.
I'm going to be discussing this theory, talking about how it
grew in my mind and what it could mean for the science fiction sequel that is currently
set to release this December.
I will also leave a link to the new trailer down below in
the description if you haven't seen it already.
But before I get into it, if you want to see much more videos on The Matrix 4 leading up
to its release date, then don't forget to support this upload by giving it
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But without further ado, lets dive into this theory on why the newest trailer for The
Matrix Resurrections poses a response to nostalgia.
So like many big franchises that are resurrected today, the one thing that worries me and continues
to disappoint with new instalments is the idea that Hollywood brings them
back and rehashes plots, characters and sometimes even ruins them by trying to change things
drastically.
The Matrix is kind of different because it allows a certain sandbox
that can be broken down and took in altering directions through its themes and ideas.
This doesn't stop the filmmaker however from re-doing stuff we've seen before and trying
to bring a sense of nostalgia through an inner love for the things they've done before.
Now the new trailer might open and suggest that this is a likely outcome for this new
Matrix film but we quickly gather that this story might change and use its nostalgia in
an interesting way.
Right from the opening seconds, the new Morpheus played by Yayha
Abdul-Mateen II speaks, saying, "we can't see it.
But we're all trapped inside these strange, repeating loops."
We know that his character is a quite different version of the
Morpheus from the original films, but like the other characters on display here, there's
a sense of resemblance to what has happened before.
And the footage played underneath this line of dialogue is that of the military
finding Trinity in a place that references the very opening moment from the original
Matrix.
But this is only the beginning of the kind of references and that show us the loops
that this new Morpheus is talking about.
The new mysterious addition to the cast, Jonathan Groff communicates Agent Smith through
a speech that this character uses in the original films too while also channelling his biggest
use of Mr Anderson.
Now yes we have the aged versions of Neo and Trinity and
I'm sure that will be linked to the plot regarding a potential new Matrix or screwage with time,
but these new incarnations of characters that we already know are building on
a sense of the familiar, but also that something new is hiding beneath the curtain.
It's a theme that at times in the marketing we've seen over the last few days has pretty
much been pushed to the forefront of how Warner Bros, Lana Wachowski and co are selling this
film.
But what if this is actually part of the developing plot, and the big theme
of this new Matrix film is actually a reaction to the Nostalgia that fills Hollywood Blockbusters
today.
The Original Matrix was extremely meta and predicted the growing
control of technology on the human population, and while it gave us the thrilling and groundbreaking
action in the original film, it was able to emotionally serve a purpose
and make the audience look deeper at the themes on show.
Now I could be completely wrong and this may just turn out to be a bad re-do of the original,
and fit in line with the cash grab approach that Hollywood has been
taken way too often with franchises like this.
But to me, and this may just turn out to be the trailers, it seems like the nostalgia
is coming across in quite a meta way.
And if this is the case, then the film might be much better than we expect.
But there are other references building upon this theme in the latest footage, so it's
key that we discuss some of them first.
Before the Warner Bros and Village Roadshow Pictures logos hit the screen we have a moment
where Neo finds himself back in the familiar white space as he did in the first film, with
that scene including Morpheus explaining the real world, dominated by machines.
Neo remembers this and it immediately starts to make him realise that he is once again
back in the Matrix, where it's a new one or one that is altered.
But this only develops in the trailer when we find Neo connecting more with his past
watching projected footage from the original films alongside the
new characters.
Footage of Neo deciding between the red pill and blue pill, but this time it is framed
differently.
It's shown to an older and slightly different Neo and the
event was taking place within that Matrix.
It's almost as if it's a reference to the technological world today in that anything
recorded can be seen by those on the outside and it of course is once again the process
of using nostalgia to frame a new story.
Is it a coincidence that this film may be fittingly trying to tell us that today's
entertainment and media landscape is like a hero who is now trapped in a new version
of something that came before and the only thing that will set him free and give him
fulfilment is to literally re-live the most important moments from the previous movies?
Now again, this could be completely wrong and for all, we know the new Matrix film may
be doing what so many other rebooted and continued franchises do so wrong.
But if it is the case that this is referencing that very approach and it's trying to pull
off a new story in a strong way using this, then the
usage of this theme may turn out mindbending just like the messages laid out in the original
films regarding technology.
And don't forget that we've already seen footage of
Neo being the only one in an elevator not hooked to his technological device and the
most talked-about clean digital filter being used rather than the green-tinted one we got
in the original films.
This is of course is to communicate a new Matrix that the original trilogy ended on
but it also comes across to me as a reference to films today
trying to re-do something but make them more colourful and slightly oversaturated in comparison
to the more filmic colour palettes and footage they used back in the day.
It's like how the original versions of the original Star Wars films had that green tone
to them only to become dis-nified and overly saturated.
Sure this is in regards to shooting on film versus digital too and technologies that have
evolved, but the original Matrix did have that filmic green look too.
So there's thematic changes and visual changes
here that seem quite obvious when it comes to referencing the current landscape of entertainment
and technology in general.
But after noting this idea of resemblance, the halfway point of the trailer marks a certain
change with interesting developments.
Jessica Henwick's character named Bugs says that "it's all obviously so wrong.
Maybe this isn't the story we think it is."
It's as if she leapt through the screen and told the audience that herself.
We are of course going to be revisiting the dystopian world
ruled by the Machines too because this is the world behind the simulation or simulations
that Neo has been living in.
This resulted in Neo taking the leap to break the illusion
and while we see that occurring again, this time he's joined by many people who think
he's crazy.
Going back to familiar scenes like this alongside that of the Dojo sequence
too might be the destruction of this movie.
But what is becoming obvious is that this is the point that is trying to be made.
To me, it's a signal that this is a response to the nostalgic storytelling in today's big-budget
movies and maybe a point that you shouldn't be afraid to take a new direction
if you're going to reboot or make a sequel.
Sure, you need to keep the identity or not alienate fans like say the newer Star Wars
and Terminator films have done, but you need to
bring a fresh light with the storytelling and challenge characters to their core.
If that is the approach and like I say it's obvious it's deconstructing that, then I think
many people today will like this new entry.
It would squash their worries about nostalgia-infused elements with no purpose and give purpose
to it through its ideology and new story direction.
In that sense, there's a better sense of the conflicts that The Matrix Resurrections will
aim in on, focussing on a new Matrix that is creating issues in
the greater landscape and the characters within that have to adapt.
Just like those of us in the real world have had to with the landscape of entertainment.
And the new story on show is telling us that Trinity may be
the big focus of the greater plans.
Neo says that it's his time to believe in her, suggesting that Neo is this time trying
to wake Trinity up from the Matrix.
And with there being a long list, is she 'the one'.
This could be the case and while I'm ok with it I think there's a lot more going on that
this trailer isn't telling us.
Yes, I think it's to do with Neo and Trinity but I don't think it's as simple as a reversal
of the first film.
The whole trailer suggests bringing something new and that this is not the story
you think it is, so if we take that by its word, then surely there's some big reveals
to come.
Again, we'll have to see, but the main point is that I think this new Matrix
film is going to link in to the idea that nostalgia used in a conventional way is destructive.
I'm saying all of this with a grain of salt because trailers can be completely different
than the actual movie and the hopes that I have that this will be unique or a
play on the terrible use of nostalgia we see in movies today, might not be the case when
I see The Matrix Resurrections.
But there's one moment of the trailer that really
gives me the hope that it could do something well.
Instead of ending this trailer by focussing on the insane action we've got throughout
all the marketing, it ends on a much more emotional note.
And this is the moment of silence between Neo and Trinity.
Now I know a majority of the trailer focuses on them, but this particular moment communicates
that their love is at the heart of whatever journey is being taken in this new instalment.
After showing them like we remember them in great action scenes with new abilities
like the highway chase, it's ballsy to end on a note of the intimate emotion.
Trinity confesses to Neo in a rooftop conversation, presumably after he crashes that helicopter
seen previously, that she "saw this in a dream... and that her dream ended here."
It's a deep moment between our two main characters, connecting them in a moment of emotion and
history rather than overwhelming action filling the screen.
Yes, we get Neo remembering Kung-Fo in the stinger, but this scene before the title card
hits suggests that The Matrix Resurrections is going to be much more
nuanced than your average blockbuster with lots of action.
Yes, it will have that, but to love The Matrix is to love something
deeper.
The only question that remains, and one that clearly bugs me based on what's been said
in this video is whether the nostalgia that is clearly on display is being used
in a meaningful way.
The nostalgia that's clearly evident throughout the marketing they have been using and the
scenes we are getting in all the footage.
I'm starting to think that may be the case but I wouldn't be surprised
if like many other examples, I'm wrong once again and this turns out to be a bad example
of bringing back the past.
But that was my theory on what the references and nostalgia could mean in The Matrix 4.
Overall, I thought the new trailer and footage we got was really exciting, and even
though I have many hesitations on the final quality of this film, I'm quite honestly open
to be surprised.
Yes, there's references to the original movies but this is The Matrix
and I'm sure that if it has been tackled correctly, then this will be a key theme in the latest
movie.
Hence my response to nostalgia theory.
But we'll soon see if this is the key topic of whatever story unfolds in The
Matrix 4 and whether the film will actually be good.
I must say that with both trailers warner bros have released thus far,
everything does look really great and I hope it's a movie that reignites new ideas in science
fiction just like the original film did back in 1999.
But then again like the sequels, it could completely go the other
way.
It's a huge task to pull it off, but if anyone can, it’s the director and crew behind the
first film.
It'll be interesting to see if they can deliver on what these trailers
have shown us but so far I'm loving everything we are seeing from the new instalment.
Let me know down below in the comments section what you thought of the second trailer
for The Matrix Resurrections alongside whether you agree with the points I have raised on
the nostalgia theory.
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