'The Matrix Resurrections' film review: It’s time to unplug from the Matrix

Spoiler-free review of 'The Matrix Resurrections' (opening in theaters and streaming on HBO Max Dec. 22), a flaccid and boring action flick that proves the franchise should have stayed dead.

In short: Decades after Neo's apparent death, Thomas A. Anderson (Keanu Reeves) leads an unassuming life as a video game creator suffering from headaches and delusions. Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff and Neil Patrick Harris also star.

Just to be clear - 'Resurrections' is a sequel. Some might call it a 'soft reboot' of the series, but the events of the first trilogy still very much matter. And at least 900 percent of this derivative sequel is either a scene lifted straight out of a previous movie or just a straight up flashback clip. Neo very much died in the previous film, 'The Matrix Revolutions' - yet he's apparently alive and well, without a single memory of his sacrifice which ended the war between humans and the machines. Oh, there's an explanation for this (ahem) resurrection - and it's unsatisfying to an eye-rolling degree.

Director Lana Wachowski returns to direct 'Resurrections' (albeit without her sister Lilly Wachowski, who co-directed the original trilogy with Lana). Maybe Lana was the one in charge of giving the 'Matrix' films their signature look and feel, and Lilly was the one with new ideas. 'Resurrections' looks and sounds like any previous 'Matrix' movie - yet it's somehow a worse sequel than either ‘Reloaded’ or ‘Revolutions,' maligned sequels in their own right. This fourth 'Matrix' flick only works as a movie that some big box store will play on massive TVs get people to buy 4k or 8k or 32k high-definition TVs. It sorta works as a toothless meta-comedy - but as an alleged "action" or "adventure," this fourth movie is a great argument against any sequels ever.

With its imposing two hour and twenty-eight minute runtime, 'Resurrections' is long ... and arduously monotonous. All of the action sequences look beautiful - but that's their only saving grace. None of these bullet-riddled, explosion-heavy set pieces have any tension, so it's impossible to care about the supposed 'danger' because there's no real danger to the characters. It's tiring to watch the same action scene over and over and over: a hacker defies gravity while an Agent fires unlimited bullets, which rarely (if ever) hit their target. There's some martial arts thrown in periodically . The action sequences in 'Resurrections' are just inferior knock-offs of similar sequences from any of the three previous flicks. Any film with this many car chases, brawls and gun fights should not, absolutely cannot, be as monotonous as 'Resurrections.'

Everything about 'Resurrections' is basically a warmed-over rehashing of the franchise's most memorable moments ... just tweaked a little - but never enough. The film's opening scene is a barely updated version of the first film's opening scene. Essentially the entire first act of 'Resurrections' is just the first act of the original film ... but with a coy self-awareness. See, 'Resurrections' is so meta that it literally just has characters discuss the merits of endless, corporate mandated sequels. Lana Wachowski wants fans to know she was practically forced to make another 'Matrix' film - but it's insulting to endure a sequel that practically looks straight into the camera, winks at the audience with a 'this is all a joke' sensibility - then proceeds to go through the requisite motions of an inert 'Matrix' movie. It's difficult to enjoy any of the film's cutesy meta commentary when 'Resurrections' just ends up giving into its cynical fate and becomes exactly the bland retread the characters would detest.

'The Matrix' was packed with a wealth of exciting ideas - yet 'Resurrections' barely has any mildly intriguing ideas and certainly nothing bold or refreshing. Without getting into spoilers, actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II does indeed play Morpheus ... if that's what you want to call him. His 'character' has a backstory that's mildly intriguing - but aside from some unexpected aspects of his character, Morpheus all but disappears into the background noise after the first act. He's merely a pawn with some 'neat' little character backstory ... that's never explored. Arguably the only new character in 'Resurrections' is Bugs, affectionately played by Jessica Henwick, who might be the closest to a multi-faceted, dimensional (daresay 'human') character that's ever been featured in any 'Matrix' movie.

Theoretically the actual Matrix is a massive simulation populated by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. Yet, four movies in now, the entire franchise just anchors the entire premise on a half dozen characters or so. After the film introduces its new, younger crew of hackers - they're quickly brushed aside, and like Morpheus, they just become faceless pawns. Don’t bother remembering their names, they don’t matter. Instead, 'Resurrections' casts aside any potential new characters with new character motivations and trajectories ... to once again revisit the same core characters, while throwing in some needless little cameos from familiar characters from previous movies. One of the few things 'Resurrections' does get right is finally exploring the connection and romance between Neo and Trinity (or at least 'Tiffany,' a woman who looks exactly like Trinity). No one would ever call the Neo and Trinity relationship a smoldering romance for the ages - but at least in this fourth film, the script takes some time to let them connect as characters.

One of the key reasons why 'Resurrections' is so aggressively long is because the plot is - in true 'Matrix' form - overcomplicated. These scripts LOVE to say in 120 words what could be said in less than a dozen words. This plot isn't brilliant or complicated - the script is just verbose. Characters talk in circles around what they're really trying to say. This comes off as trite as someone wearing a monocle and a top hat just to look more sophisticated. It's silly. The plot is basic - and it doesn't wildly reinvent the Matrix, as a concept or as a franchise. But most damning of all: 'Resurrections' knows it is a cash grab. The franchise has become self-aware. But it doesn't care that the audience is in on this grift. 'The Matrix' franchise knows it can just crap out any sequel, so long as it includes some slick gun-fu and slow-mo explosions mixed in with faux big-brain pseudo philosophy.

Final verdict: Forced to choose between taking the red pill of watching 'Resurrections' to see the parody this franchise has become or taking the blue pill and pretend none of the 'Matrix' sequels exist ... take the blue pill.

Score: 1.5/5

'The Matrix Resurrections' opens in theaters nationwide Dec. 17. This film has a running time of 148 minutes and is rated R for violence and some language