Fans have been waiting forever for their first full glimpse at "The Matrix: Resurrections,"
and the first official trailer showed a new status quo for Neo and a ton of hints as to
what's really going on. Here's some of the small details you missed in the trailer.
The trailer kicks off with Neo talking to a mysterious therapist played by Neil Patrick
Harris. Although only we get a brief blink-and-you'll-miss-it look at Neo's
prophetic visions, it's definitely interesting that Harris' character is wearing such big blue
glasses. They seem to be a nod to the blue pills which keep Neo subdued in the Matrix,
and it's possible the machines are using the therapist as a new way of convincing
the hero that everything is fine — taking a multi-pronged approach to stop "the one."
However, Neil Patrick Harris previously told The Jess Cagle Show that he has
a "small part" in this sequel, so don't expect him to show up all the way through.
The therapist's blue glasses aren't the only intriguing eyewear in the film, as
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's circular glasses are also extremely similar to the ones Morpheus
wears in the original trilogy. Most of the scenes we see Abdul-Mateen II show
up in are very reminiscent of the things Morpheus gets up to in the classic films.
The trailer clearly riffs on the iconic dojo fight when a red-robed Abdul-Mateen fights
Neo in an idyllic location. A previous report suggested Laurence Fishburne isn't coming back
to play Morpheus because Warner Bros. wanted to use a younger version of the character.
If that's true, that's probably the reason behind Abdul-Mateen's casting.
Just about forty five seconds into the trailer, you can see a business sign to
the right as Neo walks down a city street. The sign reads "Corky's Massage," which to
most people probably seems meaningless. For this detail, Lana Wachowski isn't actually
calling back to anything from previous "Matrix" films. Instead, this is a reference to a past
film that the Wachowskis worked on all the way back in 1996, even before "The Matrix."
Written and directed by the Wachowski siblings, 1996's "Bound" was actually their feature-length
directorial debut, so the movie holds a lot of significance for them. In "Bound," the protagonist
is an ex-criminal named Corky, who is played by Gina Gershon. The movie is a neo-noir crime drama
in which Corky helps a woman named Violet, played by Jennifer Tilly, get away from her violent,
mafia-associated boyfriend Caesar, all the while falling in love with the woman herself.
The Corky's Massage sign is only a small detail in the new trailer, but it's a great
little callback for both the director and longtime fans of her and her sister's work.
While the trailer is full of callbacks to former "Matrix" films, one of the biggest
and most famous references to the start of the trilogy is the appearance of a rabbit tattoo.
In the origin al "Matrix," Neo was told to "follow the white rabbit" when his computer
screen took on a mind of its own and started sending him messages. When Dujour and Choi go
to Neo's apartment to pick up some illegal software he built for them, the couple asks
him to come out with them to a club. After turning down the offer, Neo reconsiders when
he sees a white rabbit tattoo on Dujour's left shoulder blade. This was all Trinity's doing,
who used the lure of the tattoo to get Neo to the club so they could have their first meeting.
It looks like the rabbit tattoo will have the same kind of purpose in "Resurrections."
Jessica Henwick's character has a tattoo of the animal on her right upper arm,
which looks to trigger a memory in Neo's mind. She sports blue hair,
which suggests she might be bad news, but he still follows her through a mysterious door
anyway. After following the white rabbit in the first film, Neo might be conditioned to
do so subconsciously in this one. But this time, it might not be the best decision.
While this is one you really can't miss, about a minute into the new trailer there
is a woman at a cafe who Neo approaches. She closes a book called "Through the Looking
Glass," the sequel to the original "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
If you have a keen eye, you might recognize this woman as actress
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who is a new addition to the franchise in "The Matrix Resurrections."
We don't see much of the actress's character in the trailer, but she already has people
theorizing about her role. With big glasses and a knowing look, many think that she could be the
new version of the Oracle. The important figure was first played by Gloria Foster,
but after she passed in 2001, Mary Alice took over the role for the film
"The Matrix Revolutions." Given that it's been around 18 years since that film's release,
it wouldn't be surprising to see the character recast and altered for the new movie.
Another theory that some fans have is that Chopra Jonas may be playing the grown up
version of the character Sati, who is seen with the Oracle in "The Matrix Revolutions."
In the 2003 film, Sati is a young girl being protected
because the Oracle thinks she may have an important role to play in the future.
This new trailer doesn't exactly try to hide that the film is returning to familiar territory.
A mysterious figure at the very end of the trailer sums it up himself,
"...after all these years, going back to where it all started, back to the Matrix."
The office itself is the most blatant reuse of scenery, but there are several other examples.
For instance, Neo and Abdul-Mateen's character duke it out in a digital
dojo that seems all-too similar from the original dojo featured in the first "Matrix."
It's also pretty obvious that, in the scene where Neo deflects a rocket,
he and Trinity are at the top of a skyscraper featured in the first film as well.
The skyscraper itself is important because much of its interior scenery is reused in
this trailer. This includes the "rainy" sequence, which is actually the building's sprinkler system,
and the lobby where Neo freezes bullets in place. Furthermore, Neo is seen dueling an agent in a
subway tunnel just like he did with Agent Smith in the first film. The apartment building where
Neo accompanies Morpheus' crew on his first mission also seems to be featured heavily.
All of this recurring imagery almost brings on a sense of "deja vu," which, within the films,
has historically been pretty important.
"What is it?"
"A deja vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.
There's even a black cat in one of the first shots of the trailer.
Perhaps Lana Wachowski is trying to tell us something about our own
world by giving viewers a weird feeling about these very familiar locations.
"You think that's air you're breathing now?"
Just after the two minute mark in the trailer, fans get a quick
glimpse of Neo running away from armed assailants in a flame-filled hallway — and right behind him,
eagle-eyed viewers can spot that the wall seems to read "Deus Ex Machina."
Fans of the original trilogy probably remember the term "Deus Ex Machina" from the third film,
"Revolutions," where the central sentient control system based in Machine City bears
that very name. Upon arriving in the city, Neo begs the Deus Ex Machina to declare an
end to the seemingly endless war between humans and machines.
Ultimately, the Deus Ex Machina accepts Neo's offer and essentially uses Neo's
body to reset the Matrix, deleting all copies of the malevolent Agent Smith in the process.
Beyond that, the term "deus ex machina," which translates to "god from the machine,"
has a basis in Greek tragedies; in those stage plays, an actor portraying a savior figure who
could fix any problems within the story would be brought onstage by some sort of machine,
creating the term. Since Neo, with his specific set of powers within and outside of The Matrix,
can salvage nearly any situation throughout the original three films, he's also a deus ex machina.
Clearly, Lana Wachowski and her team love seriously layered references.
Sometimes a seemingly innocuous object can mean a lot more that you'd realize on the surface level.
Look, we all love a good bath accessory, so sometimes a rubber ducky is just a rubber ducky.
But sometimes it's more than that and we have a sneaking suspicion that's the case
when we see Neo relaxing in the tub for a good soak with a rubber duck on his head.
It all looks normal, unless you factor in the programming tactic of rubber duck debugging.
Wait, what? According to Thoughtful Code, it's a method coders use to
figure out exactly what's wrong with something that just refuses to compile;
they explain their code, line by line, to the inanimate object, assuming it has no knowledge
of coding whatsoever. In doing so, they're forced to analyze what's actually on the screen, instead
of allowing their brains to insert what they think should be there, and come upon the issue.
Neo rubber ducking in an actual bathtub seems akin to some kind of existential reflection.
He's pondering aspects of his life to try to figure out what's wrong or missing, which he
seems to stumble upon when meeting Trinity in a cafe later in the very next scene of the trailer.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more Looper videos about your favorite movies are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.