With the release of the trailer for The Matrix Resurrections making the rounds, a lot of people are getting excited to see the movie. But before that, we should probably take a minute to go back and see where we left off.
Read on below to see what happens in the original trilogy and just in case it wasn’t clear, spoiler warning.
Let’s Review
To properly reflect on the events of the original trilogy, we will take a quick look at the first two films and then a more detailed exploration of events at the end of the third instalment.
All three movies contain similar narratives of human exploration and self-discovery alongside the idea of questioning reality is and what it means to be real.
The Matrix
The flagship film that invited people to question everything on any level. This movie became a massive box office success as well as a cult film due to the concepts which seem to resonate with viewers on a deeper level.
Here, we met a young Thomas Anderson, a computer programmer with the hacking alias “Neo” (very subtle reference to his being the One) repeatedly encounters the phrase “the Matrix”.
Confused by this occurrence and tired of his mundane daily life, he follows clues and quickly descends into the rabbit hole as he meets Trinity and Morpheus in his pursuit for answers.
The iconic choice between taking the red pill to reveal the truth about the Matrix and be unable to turn back, or taking the blue pill and waking up blissfully unaware of anything that has been uncovered in this journey, Neo chooses the red pill and wakes up in a red liquid-filled pod, naked and plugged into a massive machine where numberless other humans share this fate in pods of their own.
The rest of this film explores Neo’s unique relationship to the Matrix as both Trinity and Morpheus believe him to be a chosen one who will restore power to humans over the machines. By the film’s conclusion, it becomes apparent that Neo does possess powers beyond the typical human within the Matrix as he performs feats that only the program known as the Agents could perform and then exceeding them.
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix reloaded pushes the story forward in leaps and bounds in some ways and takes a few steps backwards in others.
Agent Smith, one of the security programs that attempts to stop Neo and the other humans in their activities within the Matrix has become a rogue program due to his encounter with Neo in the previous film. This separation from the Matrix’s base code appears to give him new abilities to clone himself within the Matrix and as is explored in the film, travel outside the Matrix through a viable host, in this case, Bane.
Through the course of the film, Neo sparingly uses his powers within the Matrix but does uncover a great deal about its inner workings through meeting the Keymaker and eventually, the Architect. The Architect explains to Neo that the Matrix is actually in its sixth iteration, and he is a part of this program. Like the “One’s” who preceded him, he is presented with a choice to reboot the Matrix at its source and set it on a course to repeat and improve, or to do nothing, allow the Matrix to crash and essentially cause the oncoming extinction of humankind. (This could be an important concept to remember for the new film.)
The stakes in the film are high and Neo learns to control new powers even outside of the Matrix as he controls the Sentinel machines but this film was more a way to establish the setting and events for the conclusion to the trilogy.
The Matrix Revolutions
Revolutions is the explosive conclusion to the trilogy. Warring between men and the machine, Neo fighting a real-world Agent Smith in Bane’s body and becoming blind and the spectacular sights of Machine city, this movie has a lot going on.
Following on from the events of the previous film, Agent Smith is consuming the Matrix, the humans on the outside can see the malfunctioning programming but there is nothing they can do to prevent it.
Neo spends the early part of the film in what appears to be a coma but he is actually in a space between the human world and the Matrix. When he finally wakes up, the humans are preparing for an assault from the machines as they are fast approaching Zion.
While the human’s fight to defend their city, Neo and Trinity travel to the heart of Machine city in order to stop the invasion of Zion and the Matrix. Neo approaches the leader of the machines in an effort to broker peace between them and the humans and rid the Matrix of the virus that is Agent Smith.
The machines agree and together, Neo and the machine leader are able to permanently delete Agent Smith from the Matrix. At the conclusion of the film, Trinity is dead, Neo appears mortally wounded and his body exhausted as the machines carry him away and the humans are safe.
Inside the Matrix, the Oracle speaks with the Architect establishing that any humans who wish to leave the Matrix will be able to.
Along with this, The Oracle in speaking to the young program Sati clearly expresses her belief that they will again see Neo;
Sati: “Will we ever see him again?”
Oracle: “I expect so. Someday”
All very exciting stuff with another sequel on the way.
And Now?
At this point, there is only speculation to be made about what the events unfolding in The Matrix Resurrections will be, but the trailer does make some things clear.
1. Trinity is back
2. Neo is back
3. They do not have a clear memory of prior events
4. Morpheus is de-aged (If this is in fact a Young Morpheus as has been eluded)
So, what does all that mean?
When looking at these events in relation to the original trilogy, it is entirely possible that the machine-human peace broke down, or that the Matrix was rebooted and Neo and Trinity have safely been placed back into it to repair their wounded bodies, or some crazy mishmash events are going on and there is little point in speculating.
As future trailers are released, we will revisit these theories and see what fits but for right now, that is as much as we know.
What do you think will be happening in The Matrix Resurrections?
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Ben Gibbons
@benjaminblogs1