This isn’t déjà vu or a glitch, the first “The Matrix: Resurrections” trailer is finally here, and this time our heroes like Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie Ann-Moss) are back. Or are they. See, in the newest trailer, they have return, as regular humans who have been plugged into a dream-like world crated by the machines. And to make matters worse neither of them remember their pasts. But when those who have been freed are in need of their revolutionizing services again, it will be up to the both to accept the pill challenge and take the ones that will not only free them but give the rest of humanity the hope they need to finally be freed of the machine’s tyranny.
It is amazing to see how far we’ve come in terms of special effects since “The Matrix” debuted back in 1999. At first we thought the cameras spinning around Moss’ Trinity, or Keeve’s moth inexplicably fusing shut, or seeing the after images of an Agent dodging bullets was cool. But this new trailer teases what’s to come.
The trailer itself is an amalgamation of Matrix nostalgia with some new twists added in. The opening shot of a fake but idyllic suburbia where Neo is getting therapy. He asks if he is going crazy, to which Neal Patrick Harris’ characer answers: “We don’t use that word here.” Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a Matrix if there wasn’t a black cat to signal that everything that Thomas is experiencing is all fake.
Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” suddenly starts to play, and we see that Neo has made a nice living for himself as he now lives in an upscale apartment. However, it seems that he is starting to believe he is going crazy.
Then that inevitable reunion between Neo and Trinity happens, except that they don’t remember each other. Trinity asks if they have met before, signaling that these two have had their memories repressed. Soon the trailer goes back to Neo, who we see takes a blue pill, and proceeds to stare intently at the mirror as if he will get the answer to his first question.
The trailer then gets a little meta as we see a group of passengers glued to their smart phones as they take an elevator. And then we see Neo reject his prescription of blue pills as he dumps them all down the sink. He then goes to a local coffee shop where he encounters the owner who is reading “Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass.” The timing of all of that is all well-planned out as the lyric “Go ask Alice” lands oh so perflectly when the owner closes the book to reveal the title.
As we see Neo stare into the mirror once more, he notices some changes reflected. And that’s when we see Yahya Abdul-Mateen’s character, who seems to be an echo of Morpheus, telling him that it’s “time to fly” and offering him a red pill. And that’s when the trailer takes off by going down the Rabbit hole.
Jessica Henwick, in blue hair, says that if Neo wants the truth, he will have to follow her. As the two go through one door, they walk outside a mirror which has this liquified effect as they exit. A close up of Neo and Trinity is shown next, but Neo sees a Matrix code trickle down the side of her face. And Abdul-Mateen II’s character trains Neo in the art of Kung-Fu. And we all know what should happen next. But the dojo seems more peaceful and serene than when we first saw it in 1999.
We then see shots of the world still darkened and ruled by the machines, who are still harvesting humans as a power source. And another shot see’s Henwick’s character dodging gunfire by doing some flips off of a building and richocheting herself through a window to escape. That was followed by an Agent taking over the body of a policeman.
A few quick shots of someone holding a gun to Neo face, him running away from an unknown person while on a train, Abdul-Mateen II’s character firing a few guns, another training session between Neo and Henwick’s charcter – who is sporting a blonde look -, a machine cradling Trinity, and Trinity takes out a group of heavily armed guards before we see a prism like effect project multiple versions of her screaming, are then shown.
It gets a bit more intense as we see a sample of the camera work when we see Henwick and Abdul-Mateen’s characters are trying to outrun their pursuers. The camera flips and turns, and we see Henwick running on the ceiling as Abdul-Mateen II runs on the floor.
And finally, the trailer caps it all off with a few callbacks to the original trilogy where there is a fight in a subway, and Neo not only has the power to stop bullets being fired on him, but he now and redirect an incoming missile back to the one who fired it.
Here’s the official plot synopsis, which is being a bit cryptic so as to keep us in the dark:
The long-awaited fourth film in the “Matrix” universe, the groundbreaking franchise that redefined a genre, “The Matrix Resurrections” reunites original stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as Neo and Trinity, the iconic roles they made famous in “The Matrix.”
“The Matrix Resurrections” is a continuation of the story established in the first MATRIX film. It reunites Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as cinematic icons Neo & Trinity in an expansion of their story that ventures back into the Matrix and even deeper down the rabbit hole. A mind-bending new adventure with action and epic scale, it’s set in a familiar yet even more provocative world where reality is more subjective than ever and all that’s required to see the truth is to free your mind.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick, Christina Ricci, Telma Hopkins, Eréndira Ibarra, Toby Onwumere, Max Riemelt, Brian J. Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith also star.
“The Matrix: Resurrection” opens in theaters on December 22, 2021.
