Matrix Resurrections – negative reviews are moronic

(Originally posted on Wednesday, 29 December 2021; updated on 31 December 2021)

In the update I added some things at the end – I left my original post unchanged.

We (me and my daughter) have just come back from the cinema and I have to say this: all the negative reviews of the movie Matrix Resurrections are simply moronic! We both LOVED this movie, even though it was not perfect. My rating: 9/10.

There are so many negative reviews of this movie on the net that I was really hesitant to go to the cinema, so I feel the need to point out the most moronic and/or misleading ones:

1. “The special effects are weak”.
This is NOT true! The special effects are great, but they are used only when they are needed! In this regard it's similar to the great movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

2. “This is not an action movie, but a love story”.
This is NOT true! There is LOTS of good action! Moreover the action is very gripping, especially the “final showdown”! Nail-biting!

3. “The melee fighting is weak”.
This is NOT true! I enjoyed the melee fighting a lot! I think it's way better than the over-the-top melee fighting from the Matrix Revolutions.

4. “This is a feminist movie”.
This is NOT true! I despise some stupid feminist crap myself, but I had no trouble to watch this movie at all. I actually liked the fact that Trinity was as important as Neo – it shows that it takes two people of different sexes to “achieve the best results”.

5. “Wachowski wanted to explain plot holes from the original trilogy.”
This is NOT true! There are many references to the original trilogy, but the plot is all about a new story and it explains really well how it's all possible. The plot is actually quite ingenious and adds new ideas!

6. “It's similar to the movie Matrix (one)”.
This is NOT true! All the new ideas make it a whole different story! A great thought-provoking story!

7. “It breaks the 4th wall.”
This is NOT true! The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imagined wall separates actors from the audience – while the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. In the Matrix Resurrections the actors don't make any direct eye contact with the camera and all the references to the original trilogy are shown just as their dreams and/or memories (real ones or from a computer game that is a part of the story).

8. “It insults true Matrix fans.”
This is NOT true! It shows that some people over-react to something and/or over-interpret a fictional character and/or over-idealise a real person but it's NOT insulting. It's merely an observation – some people do such things in the real life! You do such things in the real life? Live with the consequences! I loved the original Matrix (the very first movie) and I didn't feel offended by the Matrix Resurrections at all.

9. “Jonathan Groff is weak as the agent Smith.”
This is NOT true! I really enjoyed how Jonathan Groff coped with this role. Maybe he wasn't perfect, but he did a really GOOD job!

I have no idea why the Matrix Resurrections gets such negative reviews. Maybe Wachowski has rubbed somebody the wrong way? But when? The one thing I know is that some “experienced reviewers” praise some very annoying movies (like the Last Jedi or the Ghostbusters 2016), but shit on some really enjoyable movies (like the The Rise of Skywalker or the Ghostbusters: Afterlife). It seems to me that after the “Last Jedi reviewing fiasco” the “experienced reviewers” are now backed by an army of “Internet people” who only pretend to be “standard movie-goers” and repeat all the crap the “experienced reviewers” are trying to force, so the “experienced reviewers” won't make idiots of themselves again. But I digress.

I have to point out my favourite actors in the Matrix Resurrections: Neil Patrick Harris and Jessica Henwick – I really enjoyed the way they played their roles! To me Neil Patrick Harris stole the whole movie!

Summing up:

I LOVED the movie Matrix Resurrections! My daughter loved this movie too! And I didn't hear anybody complaining among all the people who were leaving the cinema!

UPDATE:

In the post above I wrote about negative reviews specifically with the misleading claims above, but also about negative reviews/ratings in general. I understand that personal reviews/ratings are by definition strongly subjective, but a rating of 1/10 means that there is NOTHING good in this movie, which is an utter nonsense. In case of Matrix Resurrections the ratings of 3/10 or below are simply pathetic. I rated one of my most hated movies – the Last Jedi 4.5/10. This is called objectivity. Yes, you have to retain some objectivity even in personal strongly subjective reviews/ratings.

I have to admit that I am surprised by the number or “medium ratings” (4/10, 5/10 and 6/10) – I can't believe that so many people can't appreciate Matrix Resurrections.

On the other hand I myself have always approached this series in a different way than most of the fans – I didn't watch the first Matrix in the cinema because in a trailer I saw some people running on walls and I said “pass”. I watched it only after some time in TV and I liked it a lot, but it wasn't because of special effects. The following 2 movies I watched in the cinema and each time I was walking out of the cinema more and more angry – in the simulation there was more and more fighting just for the sake of the fighting and/or for the sake of special effects (for example the fight of Neo against a horde of agents Smiths to me wasn't magnificent but just silly) and in the world outside of the simulation there were less and less cool and/or sensible things (I got angry especially by what was happening in Zion and by the fact that Neo from some moment was “wirelessly connected” to the world of machines). Matrix Resurrections to me is simply a return to the source – most scenes happen in the simulation and the city Io is different (less annoying) than Zion. As far as the philosophical side is concerned this movie raises the bar even higher, for example the idea that Neo produces more energy (for the machines) when he is subjected to negative emotions is simply fantastic – looking at our present world it gives me shivers.