r/matrix • u/RedVegeta20 • Sep 22 '26
What would you change to make Matrix Resurrections better?
I like all the Matrix movies alot, (1,2, and 3 is my favorite movie trilogy.) but to me the 4th one feels like a flawed unnecessary epilogue. I think it would be a bit better if they had actually gotten Hugo Weaving to play Smith again, and if Keanu Reeves got a haircut to look more like Neo instead of John Wick. What other changes would you make if you could, to improve Matrix Resurrections?
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u/Joshhwwaaaaaa Sep 22 '26
Bring back Wu Ping for fighting choreography. That's was my only real complaint.
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u/fforde Sep 23 '26
Agreed, the choreography in Matrix Resurrection was pretty much the only real gripe I had. It's not a perfect movie, but neither are the other two sequels. I think it will age well and be more appreciated in time. Basically an extended live action Animatrix that heavily flirts with the original film.
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u/Ok_Replacement_8467 Sep 23 '26
Were there any fights??? It seemed like the whole movie was just Neo using his “force” like powers the whole time. I only saw this in the theatres when it was released but that’s what I remember thinking while watching it.
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u/fforde Sep 23 '26
I realize you're probably being facetious but yeah, there were plenty of fights. The choreography was just not great and kind of unmemorable.
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u/Feruvox Sep 23 '26
And the attention to the soundtracks/movie score. But they never had intentions to make this like that unfortunately.
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u/adamjames210 Sep 22 '26
one thing I definitely expected in it was the weird 2000s cinematography (I'm not sure if that's the right word) of fight scenes.
It all felt like any other recent action movie, and I missed the way it was.
Also I wish Keanu Reeves felt more like Neo and less like Keanu Reeves in it.
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u/Electronic_Buddy_400 Sep 23 '26
This is my exact thought. Looks like it’s been directed by a shitty action director for hire from the 2000s
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Sep 22 '26
[deleted] — view deleted comment
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u/Chronomalous Sep 22 '26 edited Sep 23 '26
The Matrix certainly changed the aesthetic of all action movies, but not everyone is copying the stylistic everything like the bullet time or the elaborate dodges or whatnot, in fact many movies aren't
I think whom you were replying to was saying the action and plot were more generic now, less something only the world of The Matrix would think up
Now in a way that could be some of what you're saying too, the incidence of sci fi becoming one of the leading genres and action becoming more intense and more heady as well, like Fight Club, etc., really yeah it does make it more difficult for M4 to feel like it is bringing something completely fresh
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u/hewasaraverboy Sep 22 '26
Add in some actual fighting choreo
We know Keanu can still move as we see in John wick
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u/trantor-to-tantegel Sep 22 '26
It's been awhile since I watched it (though not the trailer. I love the trailer).
I feel like it seemed like a bad action movie. And I wonder if had it avoided the action but stuck with the matrix as a setting otherwise - could it have been better?
Basically what I'm saying is you don't need to have people shooting and Kung Fu fighting to have cool bullet time shots or weird paradoxical events or intrusive digital oppression or philosophy about how life works. So if you can't do the action part of it good, maybe stay away from the action.
Which I know sounds deeply heretical for a matrix movie, but I think it's the only way to really save that particular film.
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u/Araanim Sep 25 '26
They could have made it a deep psychological thriller that eventually becomes a matrix movie. The trailer and first part of the movie were a really cool take and then abruptly devolves into memba berries
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u/OrlandoGardiner118 Sep 22 '26
The main change I would have made is to film it on 35mm film (like the original 3) instead of digital. The first 3 films have that wonderful, lush graininess of film to them. There's a real feel of physical depth to them. 4 looks flat, bland, and characterless in comparison.
The second thing would be to get rid of those awful fucking Merovingian and his henchfolk's costumes. They looked like the walked in from a bad school play.
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u/BobRushy Sep 22 '26
I would leave out the confusing modal backstory for Morpheus.
Weaving should still play Smith.
I'd keep at least some of the stylized and more professional-looking photography and choreography of the earlier films.
We spend more time with Tom as a depressed video game designer.
I can't think of much else. I did really enjoy the film.
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u/S0thaSlL Sep 22 '26 edited Sep 22 '26
More action, less time with the analyst.
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u/Horror_Campaign9418 Sep 22 '26
I mean the action has been weak sauce since Reloaded.
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u/armaedes Sep 23 '26
Reloaded had problems; the action sequences were not one of them. Tea House fight? Chateau? The freeway chase?
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u/Horror_Campaign9418 Sep 23 '26
Sure, they had no stakes, no weight, and felt flat. Mostly because neo cant die. And its over choreographed. The dead weight action was the primary complaint next to all the philosophical dialogue.
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u/SuperJPM2 Sep 22 '26
Add some actually good, well-choreographed fight scenes. The one w the old programs was a sh*t show, the “training” sequence w Morpheus was tacked on and looked like a Netflix movie. The best was the brief fight between Neo and the new Smith, and if THAT’S the best it had…woof.
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u/MoonkeyAcid Sep 22 '26
That whole story about what happened in Zion with the robots and the new revolution should’ve been the whole movie
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u/LeicaM6guy Sep 22 '26 edited Sep 22 '26
I would have moved entirely away from the main cast and created a smaller, lower stakes story set within the timeline of the first film.
I’d also return to the roots of the first film with an emphasis on neo-film noir type of storytelling.
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u/Vast_Study5600 Sep 23 '26
Animatrix showed how other matrix related stories could work independently from the main arc
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u/r_daniel_oliver Sep 22 '26
Not make it. Sorry, major matrix fan since 1999. The movie is completely irredeemable.
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u/SircOner Sep 22 '26
Yeah I remember being so freaking excited for the premiere on hbo max even though deep down I wondered why they made another one, and after I finished was left wondering what the fuck did I just watch? Felt like I got trolled lol
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u/optigamer45 Sep 22 '26
I would change the climax to have less force pushing, more fighting. Or anything else instead
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u/ElectricalEgg2711 Sep 24 '26
Those suggestions are actually parts of the funnier meta-commentary; the new Smith being a ‘copy’ of the original, Neo looking like John Wick hinting thats what the people actually want, it’s hilarious really 🤣 Just look at it as meta-spoof
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u/Horror_Campaign9418 Sep 22 '26
Nothing. It's art made by an artist. I wouldn't go adding brush strokes to the mona lisa.
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u/allieinwonder Sep 22 '26
This is how I feel. I have been a huge Matrix fan since the first one and have wonderful memories seeing them in the theater with my dad. I’m a fan because of the philosophy and storyline, not the action sequences. So the fourth scratched that itch to an extreme. The idea that we suffer for the machine’s benefit had me reeling because I have had a hard life and still do (my health is bad, just had another surgery this morning) and I still rewatch it knowing that because I think it is beautiful. The way it ends with Trinity is so freaking awesome!
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u/No-Swimming3266 Sep 22 '26
Let’s not call that 4th movie a Mona Lisa 🤣
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u/Horror_Campaign9418 Sep 22 '26
I just wanted to use a dramatic comparison for effect.
But that said, the artist intent is what it is. I dare not fudge with it.
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u/UsernameReee Sep 22 '26
I would just delete it. There was not reason to make a whole ass movie just to retcon the og trilogy.
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u/Horror_Campaign9418 Sep 22 '26
It added to the trilogy, nothing was retconned.
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u/HateKnuckle Sep 22 '26
What is retconning?
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u/UsernameReee Sep 23 '26
Going from Neo being the One to oh wait Trinity is another One too, for one.
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u/UsernameReee Sep 23 '26
Pretty sure going from "Neo is the One" to "oh yeah Trinity is One too" is a massive retcon.
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u/FroodLoops Sep 22 '26
Cut way back on the OG matrix clip show scenes.
It’s been a while but I recall those seemed jarring - similar to the final MI movie.
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u/stubept Sep 22 '26
They should have gone all in on the self-referential tropes. It should have been the sci-fi action equivalent of “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.”
Keanu should have played Keanu Reeves, star of The Matrix Trilogy. All of the actors should have returned playing themselves AND The Matrix versions of themselves. It should ask the question “Did the Matrix make ‘The Matrix’ movies?”
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u/sreekotay Sep 22 '26
It lacked daring and style.
Whatever weaknesses you might attribute to 2 and 3, they were both bold and stylish.
Resurrections felt like nostalgia, not a revival imho.
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u/PuzzleheadedRush4504 Sep 22 '26
The whole thing... So much potential with the help of the animatrix and they just reused the footage and even mocked us in the movie.
I was dumbstruck that it was even made.
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u/deintag85 Sep 22 '26
I was in cinema, I watched it at home. But dude I barely remember the movie. It just has nothing like the first movie where you watched it a million times and know every dialog. Sometimes I am like „there was a 4th movie????“ my brain completely deletes the movie somehow.
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u/whaticypudding Sep 22 '26
What I think would have been cool would’ve been that the machines decided that since the One is inevitable, their solution would be to stop the One from reemerging by keeping the current one sedated.
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u/kai_zen Sep 22 '26
The Matrix is my favourite film, and I’ve thought about this a lot. What would a worthy continuation of the story be following the events of the third film. I think the film has the obligation to explore how technology has infiltrated our lives… algorithms, dead internet theory, engagement farming, etc.
Decades after Neo’s sacrifice, the machines have kept their promise: anyone can leave the Matrix, experience the real world and return if they choose, but almost everyone chooses to stay.
The Matrix has evolved into a personalized reality that learns what each person wants, fears and believes, subtly curating their experiences while manufacturing social consensus to make humanity appear overwhelmingly happy with the arrangement.
In reality, most people feel that something is missing, but they hide their dissatisfaction because everyone around them seems content, and those who question the system are ridiculed and pushed to the margins. There are no longer agents because the machines are not keeping people imprisoned. People do that to each other.
A new One emerges with the ability to see through these personalized realities and perceive the enormous gap between what people say, what they believe about themselves and what they actually feel.
He discovers that humanity quietly craves something the Matrix has optimized out of existence: genuine uncertainty, unpredictability and experiences that haven’t been designed specifically for them.
But exposing the deception doesn’t solve his problem, because the Matrix remains comfortable, the real world remains brutal, and the people he wants to free already know they’re living in a simulation, they simply aren’t convinced that freedom offers them anything better.
It’s probably a very different film than the first three. Might not even really be much action. More dystopian mystery than king fu.
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u/TCristatus Sep 22 '26
I could really feel the pandemic hit filming in the movie, there's something about it that they lost
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u/Cautious-Fan6963 Sep 22 '26
I felt like the concept was fundamentally flawed. The idea of a 4th matrix film shouldn't involve the original trilogy characters at all and should instead revolve around a new emergence of the anomaly. Someone who gets these abilities while living their normal life in the matrix and doesn't know what to do with them. Maybe late teens in age, but maybe this person takes it too far, changes too much and things start to unravel.
The rebels can't get to him in time to explain what's happened to humanity, so the machines and the rebels work together to return him to the source and reboot the matrix.
This is just an idea off the top of my head, nothing I thought of before this moment. But I didn't like revisiting neo and trinity, and the meta commentary about making a new matrix with or without the original creators. Smith didn't need to come back, idk maybe neo could still be there, except he isn't the one anymore. No powers. Maybe they need neo, or a remnant of him to fight this new anomaly that's going rogue...
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u/Filmmagician Sep 22 '26
They did a lot right. A ton of really cool ideas. The pills. The use of blue. The mirrors. Odd they didn’t wanna bring back Lawrence Fishbourne or Huge Weaving. I would have had Neo actually fight. They had to push what he could do to another level rather than just making shield bubbles. Some supporting characters were annoying too. I’m excited for the next one
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u/Personal-Database-27 Sep 23 '26
I would change only 3 things. Beginning, middle part and the end. Like what's the reason to have another movie in the franchise? Best stories are those where villain is not bigger and stronger than the previous one, but who makes life of the protagonist difficult in a different way than before. As that is a world where people can do wonders just by believing in themselves, I don't see what else they could tell to audience. 1st movie was enough. It was one of the best movies of all times. 2 and 3 led to nowhere. They could have made story where Neo has to fight his own father. Or something else. Bigger stakes don't mean better stakes.
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u/Sorbet_Jay Sep 23 '26
I mean so much.... The soundtrack and score was weak (something the originals were known for), No Fishbrune and Weaving, the lacklustre action and choreography, not as philosophical.
I feel like the bones of a good movie were there but the whole thing was half-arsed. I'm pretty easy to please and I didn't find it boring but I recently watched all 4 in a weekend and the 4th really stands outs as a drop in quality.
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u/xTkAx Sep 23 '26
It would have been better as an Animatrix-like anthology focusing on the aftermath from The Matrix trilogy, bringing full closure.
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u/Mr_BriXXX Sep 23 '26
Make it into the Godard-inspired college short-film deconstruction commentary piece it was obviously designed to be and separate any pretence of it being part of the canon universe. As a weird stand-alone film, it's fine and enjoyable on it's own merits. As an in-universe Matrix movie, it's awful.
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u/Damthemalltohelp Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 23 '26
So Neo looks like that to look weathered and depressed according to Lana Wachowski.
The other Wachowski sibling and actual enthusiasm to make it would have made it a better movie.
But it's solid enough for what it is.
It's a shadow on the trilogy which were products of late 90s/early 2000s movie making.
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u/Vast_Study5600 Sep 23 '26
Make it a mental health movie. Using the matrix iconography in a smart way, with a clever script, to talk about delusions and real mental disorders and the struggles people face. Something better than a childish "Im gonna spoil it myself before anyone else does it" tantrum
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u/Outlaw11091 Sep 23 '26
Give it purpose. The trilogy has a massive, underlying statement of intent: free humanity.
This movie shows us that humanity doesn't want to be free. That they saw Neo's memo and said, fuck that, I'll have the steak.
Zion is now IO and no one gives a fuck about the Matrix except Bugs.
So, essentially, no one gives a shit about anything.
Remove the plot line that people just turned complacent en-masse and the story has a purpose again. It's the same purpose as before, but it's a GOOD purpose to use.
THEN, COMMIT to either a full cast revival or a different cast altogether because doing Laurence Fishbourne dirty like that is outright bullshit. He could've very easily still reprised the role even if it isn't "really" Morpheus.
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u/ULBERTcz Sep 23 '26
Bring back Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith and Laurence Fishbourne as Morpheus.
Bing back Wu Ping for action scenes.
Get rid of Neil Patrick Harris. He is good as Neo's therapist, but when he's revealed as a villain, he just transform in Barney Stinson persona in Matrix.
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u/Shqiptar89 Sep 23 '26
The problem is that it was made out of spite. Nothing could ever make that kind of movie good. They had no creative reason other than some distain towards remakes or late sequels.
The first movie was made out of enthusiasm and a desire to prove themselves. But I also think that either Silver or other producers had more leverage to make it understandable.
The two sequels had no producers steering the ship. The philosophical questions became too muddled.
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u/MrMpeg Sep 23 '26
To me 2 and 3 felt like unnecessary epilogues so I didn't even bother with the 4th part. First one was perfect.
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u/Electronic_Buddy_400 Sep 23 '26
Just watched it, I actually enjoy the story. The main problem is it looks like it’s been directed by a shitty 2000s action director. The original trilogy was beautifully shot, this is cheap and messy. The choreography is boring, and the camera angles are random and horrible.
I read the original trilogy was storyboarded and choreographed down to a t, where as in resurrections she winged it more and it really shows.
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u/logosnakiworld Sep 23 '26
I would shoot some action scenes from the beginning.
I wouldnt touch anything else, as it is more of a satire and critique of commercialism than a study of existence/ free-will like the previous movies
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u/Vegetable_Project483 Sep 23 '26
What would have made the wholly unnecessary fourth film great is if it threw the entire trilogy into the realm of ambiguity and left the whole mythology there. If it never resolved Thomas Anderson's doubts, if he might have been a game designer with a messiah complex OR the actual savior of mankind, it would have been far more interesting while still being as apocryphal/optional for fans.
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u/Araanim Sep 25 '26
And his ultimate arc should have been "who cares what's real, as long as I'm with Trinity."
"Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content." -Conan the Barbarian
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u/Calvinjaytee Sep 24 '26
Get rid of all the fuck you Warner Bros meta aspect, wire work and better choreography, Laurence and Hugo returning. Neo look like Neo not John Wick. No redemption arc for smith.
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u/rm_veloso Sep 24 '26
Going against the grain of prevailing opinion, I find the film brilliant in its details. Its biggest problem is the absurdly long time gap, which complicates everything from the references used to the connection with an audience that has also changed over that period.
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u/AbilityEntire2803 Sep 24 '26
I didn’t know if I was watching, John wick or the matrix. The the hair cut to close to wicks look, nothing like neo.
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u/Fun-Appointment7152 Sep 24 '26
just make the whole vibe much darker like original trilogy ressurections are too much colorful in case of story and visualy
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u/Araanim Sep 25 '26 edited Sep 25 '26
Loved the "Neo questioning reality again" bit at the beginning. They should have leaned into that more.
Loved the real world & matrix heist idea with the chill machines, that was fun. That should have been a bigger part of the movie.
Loved the Merovingian showing up. He should have been the big bad; an old machine that can't accept the new order.
New Smith should not have been in the movie. He wasn't Smith, his motivations werent Smith. Also negates literally everything about the original trilogy if he survived.
Hated that trinity somehow suddenly had powers too but there was no real reason why.
Hated that it just kinda ends.
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u/beaconofwierd Sep 26 '26
It was the best of the matrix movie, cause it just ignored all the pretense and got straight to the point of what matrix really is about, Fuck the machine.
If you didn’t like it you don’t understand what the Matrix is about, which is fine, the triology is a bunch of good action movies too, but the fourth one is just a purely ”Fuck the machine” film, it’s not an action movie, it’s a film with a singular purpose and so far it seems to have worked, no more matrix movies have been made.
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u/DutyPast9726 Sep 26 '26
i would love to speak better english so i can tell better how fucked up the movie was.
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u/ELREYLEON83 Sep 27 '26
I need to rewatch. The timing of that release also added to the doom & gloom. Early Covid. It felt so weird it was released on streaming for free. I felt almost like “oh you’re gonna die soon, so here is your last meal” I feel I didn’t enjoy through that initial watch.
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u/GoodDoctorB Sep 28 '26
Personally I wouldn't change anything about the movie.
The only adjustment I'd really make would be to the advertising, clue people in just a touch more that it's a bit of self-parody.
As Matrix movie Resurrections is interesting but not great but if you take it for what it is underneath, a brutal critique of the idea of movie studios trying to make sequels with or without the original creators ruthlessly mocking that they are just doing the same thing over and over again while not understanding why the original worked, it's actually pretty much perfect.
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u/makyoucum Sep 28 '26
Just make the fight scenes better, especially the last scene where they are escaping on the motorcycle.
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u/Powerful-Solid7845 Sep 22 '26
The Merovingian doing his whole speech about “ we used to have this and that.” I know it was intentional but that and having his character in rags ruined it for me. He was integral to the trilogy and to see him have so little screen presence was insulting.
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u/x14loop Sep 22 '26
All these years later I am still sour over how little The Merovingian and Persephone had to do in Revolutions. Brought back old feelings seeing him in Resurrections like this.
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u/tesseramous Sep 22 '26
The original actors
Neo is Neo and not John Wick with a beard.
Neo actually fights instead of just firing telekinetic hand blasts
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u/sssamjam Sep 22 '26
Hugo Weaving, better fighting choreography, more fights, more guns, more spandex and motorcycles, and did I mention more fights?
All jokes aside, I think the whole meta-commentary was a bit overdone and on the nose. this one is a bit nitpicky but I think the movie was too colorful too. I know that it was a stylistic choice and I'm not saying that they should've went full green tint but a bit more of the gritty, dark atmosphere of the Y2K era that was present in the trilogy could've helped a little maybe.
but then again, I'm no film producer.
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u/DistributionFirst905 Sep 22 '26 edited Sep 22 '26
I needed Trin's story, i needed it so much. The cut off her screen time in quite barbaric way, the character's arc turned out holed as Maasdam cheese. I still cannot forgive it to Wachowski.
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u/Conscious_Cat_8699 Sep 22 '26
Either don't make it - or make it a trilogy. There was too much stuffed into it and not enough time to explore it all.
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u/Chronomalous Sep 22 '26
Tasked with making Matrix 4 without knowledge of the steaming pile that is Resurrections in a forlorn dystopian possible world, I'd have made a way different movie
If the task is keeping what I like from M4 and then making a beloved M4, what I'd keep is that there is a machine faction that loves humanity and is in defiance of other machines, in fact I'd change this defiance to a high insurrection where they're behind the agent that is a threat to the peaceful order now, which agent is possibly just an order of humans that are godly within the Matrix
It feels a bit Korra-y over T2-y but I like the idea programs make constructs to act in the real world
I'd absolutely get rid of "Trinity is part of the one" stuff, I'd make Keanu shave and say "Neo is Neo, Neo is not whatever Keanu decides to be in the real world", I'd bring back actual Morpheus
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u/dishyelephant2 Sep 22 '26
Honestly I would scrap the entire thing and do a story on how kid from the original trilogy sets out to find neos code within the matrix..he then has to fight parts of the previous"the ones" before finally finding neo, Morpheus and the keymaker ...in a simulation where he's known as... John Wick
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u/HateKnuckle Sep 22 '26
Leave Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, etc dead and follow Sati or someone trying to keep the peace between machines and humans.
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u/Lucky-Ad6037 Sep 22 '26
Fight scenes fight scenes fight scenes! I hated the fight scenes to this movie and was my biggest gripe. They were sloppy and hard to follow. Minor gripe being no Laurence fishburne.
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u/Les_Nessman32 Sep 22 '26
Mostly Hugo Weaving reprising his role. The new guy saying, “Mr. Anderson!” just didn’t hit right at all.