Near the end of 2021, Matrix 4 will take on the challenge of being a sequel to a series that hasn’t seen a release in almost two decades. Details about the movie are few and far between. Likely the Wachowskis are trying to use the shroud of mystery around the film to build hype.
In 1999 The Matrix melted the minds of everyone who saw it. With one movie the Wachowskis revolutionized action film-making, told an ahead-of-its-time trans allegory, and created the best cyberpunk movie since Blade Runner. Ironically, in 2017 Blade Runner: 2049 did what Matrix 4 is attempting now.
Of course, The Matrix has had sequels before. The Matrix: Reloaded came out in May of 2003, and The Matrix: Revolutions completed the trilogy that November. Critics responded poorly to Reloaded and worse to Revolutions, which currently has a 35% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Matrix sequels are much better than people remember, but Matrix 4 still faces the challenge of making the series relevant after a 17-year absence.
Oh, and there’s that little detail where Neo and Trinity both died by the end of The Matrix: Revolutions, but Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are in the cast of Matrix 4. Other fan favorites will not be returning. Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus is probably the most memorable character in the franchise, but the Wachowskis didn’t invite Fishburne to be in Matrix 4. A less surprising absence is Hugo Weaving. His Agent Smith was the primary villain in all three Matrix movies, but Neo defeated him at the end of Revolutions. Despite that, Lana Wachowski tried to have him in the film, but scheduling conflicts got in the way. That’s probably for the better. Reviving Agent Smith all these years later would lessen the dramatic impact of his final fight against Neo in Revolutions.
Of course, including Neo in Matrix 4 could end up doing the same thing, but what’s a Matrix movie without Keanu Reeves? The Wachowskis have said nothing about how they’ll be incorporating Reeves and Moss into the film. However, a potential leak of Matrix 4’s title might offer a hint.
A now-deleted Instagram post from a makeup artist who worked on the film referred to the film as Matrix Resurrections. That does seem to ring true as a title for an entry in the series. The “R” subtitles have been a running theme, and “resurrection” does seem to be what Neo’s and Trinity’s presence would dictate. A resurrection theme could dovetail perfectly with an ideal way for Matrix 4 to situate itself in today’s tech environment.
When The Matrix first came out, most people still considered the internet a novelty. It was 1999, and cell phones were bulky contraptions that few wanted to carry around. The idea that computers could somehow grow in power to consume the world was outrageous. The Matrix burned itself into the cultural memory by presenting a world where computers controlled humans, who lived out their days inside of a computer-generated simulation.
The entire Matrix trilogy deals with the moral quandaries that exist in the conflict between humans and machines. At the time the story broke new ground. Today the world of The Matrix is utterly recognizable. Computers in the form of algorithms do control vast swaths of human life, from bank accounts to loan balances, flight plans to the daily commute. Most people spend a majority of their time living in the computer-generated world of social media.
The Matrix needs to tackle topics relevant to the current relationship between people and tech, and Resurrections would be the ideal way to do it. Today the biggest concern isn’t whether or not computers will come to dominate the world. It’s whether or not computers can replace the world entirely.
The development of AI and deepfake technology has blurred the lines between the real and the imaginary. Images can be doctored in ways that are undetectable. AI may soon be able to perfectly replicate human behavior. At that point, how can people tell the difference between the digital and the real, the figure and the ground?
In the original Matrix trilogy, Neo and Trinity fought a war to free humans from machines. With Reeves and Moss returning for Matrix 4, it seems very possible Neo and Trinity will be “resurrected” as digital recreations of themselves.
The film could explore, both thematically and in its plot, the questions presented by this new relationship between humans and machines. Does a war need to be fought against machines that are indistinguishable from humans? At what point would an AI recreation of Neo be as real as Neo himself? If anyone can address these questions, the Wachowskis can.
By evolving to tackle new aspects of our complicated relationship with technology, Matrix 4 can make itself as relevant to life in 2021 as The Matrix was to life in 1999. Hopefully, the Wachowskis reveal plot details at some point between now and the film’s release. Otherwise, fans will just have to wait until Matrix 4 makes its way to the big screen.
