There’s no shortage of imagination in today’s society but it often feels as though old ideas are being regurgitated and recycled at an alarming rate. Movies and shows that came out decades ago are being brought back into the light with a modern look, modern actors and modern twists. And sometimes that can be super fun. Other times, it falls short on expectations and leaves the viewer disappointed.
For example, I’ve always been a great fan of classic 70’s and 80’s slasher movies. For example the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street series were fantastic and delivered exactly what one would expect: a bunch of people being unrelentingly slaughtered by a supernatural killer. That’s why, when the reboots of these movies came out in 2009 and 2010 respectively, I had great expectations. Both movies fell short.
Sometimes, a remake or reboot can reignite the imagination. Man of Steel was absolutely fantastic and I enjoyed the fact that they focused a great deal of the beginning on the planet Krypton and how Superman actually became, well, Superman. It still doesn’t compare to 1978’s Superman: the Movie with Christopher Reeve. That movie taught me a man can fly! But the reboot did the legend and the genre justice. I especially enjoyed how the Man of Steel didn’t have an all-powerful Superman who was unstoppable. There were several instances where the titular character gets thrown around, showing at least some augury of vulnerability.
That brings us to The Matrix. For those who aren’t familiar, The Matrix is a science fiction movie that came out in 1999, which seems like an eternity ago. The premise is that everyone lives inside a virtual reality environment controlled by machines that have enslaved humanity. The protagonist is freed from the machine environment and revealed to be a chosen “One” who has the ability to manipulate the virtual reality environment. It was a fantastic movie and still holds up. It generated two sequels, which weren’t QUITE as fun as the original but still good.
That’s why I was SUPER excited to hear that a somewhat reboot was being released last year. The Matrix: Resurrections. Despite the pandemic delaying and slowing down certain film releases, previews and hype built my excitement and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this movie. It actually ended up being one that I purchased, which is contrary to my personal policy of waiting for it to appear on one of my streaming services. When I found it a local retailer, I scooped it up. My wife and I are massive Keanu Reeves fans, so we were both looking forward to it.
When we finally got to sit down and watch it, I have to admit that the build-up was somewhat slow. And strange. Considering it’s a sci-fi movie, that’s saying something. Once we got into it, we find out that it’s 60 years into the future and the main protagonists have been “resurrected” by the machines. The storyline was sound but it fell short in its delivery. And it was a little too similar to the previous movies. This usually wouldn’t be a problem for a genuine reboot. But this was shown to be something of a continuation of what occurred after the end of Matrix: Revolutions.
All in all, it was a decent movie but certainly not worth the hype or the excitement I had at waiting for it to come out. To say I was disappointed in it might be an exaggeration. After all, there were some fight scenes and some cool set ups. But I definitely regret not waiting for it to come to a streaming service instead of buying it. First world problems, right? ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 