The Matrix Resurrections (4 Stars)

When this film was announced, 15 years after the third part, I groaned. What's the point? The Matrix trilogy was perfect as it was. Neo forged an alliance with the machines in order to eradicate the virus, Smith. Peace was made. The machines no longer tried to destroy Zion.

That's the question that I took with me into the cinema today. What's the point?

Let me explain it in a few words, without giving away any spoilers.

The film takes place 60 years after "The Matrix Revolutions". The peace treaty between the machines and the free humans has held. However, the Matrix is still necessary to provide the machines with the power they need. Neo died at the end of "Revolutions", but the machines somehow revived him and plugged him back into the Matrix to use him to keep the people in the Matrix contented. They also revived Trinity, though I don't understand why.

That's what the point is. The Matrix (a new version of the Matrix) is continuing without a war in the background.

The film is acceptable, though not up to the standards of the previous films. It's enjoyable, but it's unnecessary. It didn't need to be made. If it had been made at all, it should have been made shortly after the third film, when it was still fresh. Being made now, it looks like the studios are just trying to squeeze the last drops out of a cash cow. Will they succeed? I don't know. A friend of mine who works in the cinema told me that it wasn't performing as well as expected. Today, less than a week after it was released, the theatre was less than a quarter full. In comparison, "Spider-Man No Way Home" is still sold out every night in its second week.

Nobody wants to return to the Matrix.

P.S. Nobody except for me remained in the theatre to see the after-credits scene. Didn't they know about it, or didn't they care?