After 27 Years, It’s Officially The End Of An Era For The Matrix
While the news of a new movie in The Matrix franchise should be exciting, the announcement that neither of the franchise’s original creators will be involved in its writing or direction is not just disappointing but potentially disastrous. The Matrix franchise has what could only be termed an unpredictable trajectory. Inspired by seminal works of cyberpunk literature like Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and William Gibson’s Neuromancer, the original 1999 movie The Matrix was unexpectedly huge upon its release. The Matrix earned not just staggering $467 million on a budget of only $63 million, but also widespread critical acclaim and awards attention. Viewers and reviewers alike agreed that The Matrix was a landmark piece of sci-fi filmmaking, and the movie had a huge impact on the genre in the decades that followed. However, although the second and third movies in the original trilogy, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, were just as successful at the box office, they failed to recapture the original movie’s magic. For critics, the sequels were too convoluted, and their spectacular action couldn’t excuse some truly knotty, almost incomprehensible lore and world-building. Given how muted the response to the later movies in the trilogy was, it was a welcome surprise when 2021’s reboot The Matrix Resurrections revived the franchise with original stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss returning alongside a bevy of newcomers including Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Christina Ricci, and Jessica Henwick.
The Matrix With A New Director Is A Big Risk
Keanu Reeves as Neo in The Matrix Reloaded
While The Matrix Resurrections underperformed at the box office, the reboot was relatively well received among critics and fans. Broadly speaking, the consensus seemed to be that, while a revival of the franchise wasn’t entirely necessary, the clever, self-aware writing of The Matrix Resurrections managed to engage with reboot culture itself and critique its relentless re-imagining, remaking, and reviving while simultaneously offering viewers a satisfying addition to the original franchise’s story.
Movie
Release Date
The Matrix
March 31, 1999
The Matrix Reloaded
May 15, 2003
The Matrix Revolutions
November 5, 2003
The Matrix Resurrections
December 22, 2021
Thus, the news that a new Matrix movie is on the way should theoretically be exciting. However, the revelation that this fifth movie in the series will be made without the involvement of either of the franchise’s original creators, the Wachowski sisters, is more than a little concerning. Since the inception of the series, the Wachowski sisters have been the creative backbone of the franchise. While Lana directed The Matrix Resurrections alone, she collaborated on the screenplay with David Mitchell, the novelist and screenwriter behind the Wachowski sisters’ underrated 2012 epic Cloud Atlas. Now, it has been revealed that The Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard has been tapped to pen a fifth Matrix movie without the involvement of the Wachowski sisters. Thus far, Goddard has been relatively tight-lipped about any potential plot details, and the Project Hail Mary screenwriter refused to even confirm or deny whether his movie would involve any of the original characters in its story. Starting his career as a writer for the classic TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Goddard is undoubtedly a fitting pick for the future of the franchise.
After Resurrections, Perhaps The Matrix Needed To End
Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Resurrections© Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
Goddard’s time on Lost and The Good Place saw him pen TV shows that made wild sci-fi concepts accessible and fun for mainstream audiences, while his screenplays for the movies The Martian and Project Hail Mary provided the genre with acclaimed blockbuster hits. His directorial debut also had a lot in common with The Matrix Resurrections, as The Cabin in the Woods was another smart, subversive, and self-referential sci-fi that mocked the conventions of its own genre and challenged well-worn tropes.
However, this gets at the issue underlying the very idea of a fifth Matrix movie. The Matrix Resurrections already saw Lana Wachowski bring back the franchise and mock its own waning relevance and long cultural history, meaning there doesn’t seem to be anywhere new or original for The Matrix to go after this installment. Another self-aware sequel could feel unbearably smug and utterly inessential. In contrast, a full-blown reboot or a re-imagining that moves on from the franchise’s original story to tell a new tale runs the risk of feeling unrelated and derivative. At a time when sci-fi TV shows like Altered Carbon, Foundation, and Dune: Prophecy feature plots that are far more ambitious, complex, and byzantine than the Matrix movies could have ever hoped to be, it seems the small screen is the best place for original takes on the genre.
Should The Matrix 5 Be A Sequel Or Reboot?
Keanu Reeves as Neo in The Matrix Resurrections
Another Matrix movie will need to be both a smart sci-fi parable with deep philosophical roots, like the original movie, and a satisfying mainstream blockbuster with crowd-pleasing potential. Even The Matrix Resurrections struggled to capture this balance, and that revival had one of the franchise’s original creators on board, so it’s hard to see how Goddard will manage to replicate the original movie’s appeal without the help of the Wachowski sisters.
If their underrated Netflix series Sense8 proved anything, it is that there are many sci-fi stories that are simply too complicated to work well on the big screen. Already, The Matrix Resurrections and the later movies in the original trilogy may have fared better in a long-form story format, something Goddard’s movie will lack thanks to its blockbuster aims. Thus, for the best chance at success, the Bad Times at the El Royale director’s movie should be a straightforward sequel rather than a reboot. Trying to reinvent the entire mythology of the Matrix franchise will inevitably lead to unflattering comparisons with the original movie, a uniquely powerful piece of prescient sci-fi with few equals even decades later. In contrast, trying to expand the existing story of the Matrix franchise means Goddard could at least bring back some fan-favorite characters and story elements, thus making the fifth movie feel like part of the same universe.
Related
The Best Matrix Viewing Order (Including All 4 Movies & Shorts)
The best Matrix franchise viewing order, which includes all four feature-length Matrix movies, The Animatrix short films, and video games.
That said, there is no guarantee that this approach will work. Even if original cast members agree to return, missing out on the creative direction of the Wachowski sisters could derail the entire franchise’s story. As such, the news that the next Matrix movie is happening, but without the involvement of the original creators of the movie series, is concerning at best and outright bad news at worst.
Release Date
March 31, 1999
Runtime
136 minutes
Director
Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Writers
Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Diterbitkan : 2026-06-02 20:01:00
sumber : screenrant.com
